I'm never satisfied.
I don't know what's going on with me lately. I'm hungry ALL. THE. TIME. It's not my emotions this time. Things have been good lately. I'm just genuinely hungry.
The result -- I just came home and ate an entire box of kraft dinner.
All 22 points of it.
WTF!!!!
(Don't worry, I'm still on point thanks again to my extra weekly WW PointsPlus)
Now I know I should have probably ate something a tad more nutritious, but what can I say? I had a craving. I planned to eat two portion thinking that would be more than enough. Instead I ate four.
SO. NOT. GOOD!
I feel like I've been fighting this 'hungry all the time' feeling for the last few weeks and let me tell you, it's making dieting so challenging. I'm still determined and motivated don't worry about that, but feeling hungry all the time is just getting annoying.
I'm not sure why it's happening.
First off, it's not because of TOM. He just came and went. Secondly, I already drink a lot of water. I take a water bottle to work and drink a ton throughout the day. The other day I drank around 3L. I ended up going to the bathroom A LOT and I was still hungry. On top of getting regular protein from eggs, and cheese etc.... (I'm lacto-ovo vegetarian), I also try to eat a protein bar or shake (22g protein) at least once a day. Sometimes it helps, but not lately. Bananas have been my life saver, but sadly I don't have any in the house at the moment. Bananas are zero points, but I swear I'm going to turn into a monkey if I eat any more in one day.
I'm just not sure what's going on. Do I need more fibre? Even more protein? Even more water? Maybe. I seriously need to buy more fruit and veggies to snack on to help fill me up so I don't dip into any more weekly points. I say that though but today I had a huge fruit salad for lunch and still managed to go over my points. ugh....
I fear this feeling will continue. I also fear I'll have even more trouble handling it as I lose more weight. As my weight goes down, my daily PointsPlus target will also go down. This means I may have to dip into my weekly points to cover my daily eats even more. As a result, if I end up having more days like tonight going forward, my weekly points may not cover me. That scares me, as that is when I'm at risk of falling off the wagon. As I said, feeling hungry all the time is annoying and one can only handle it for so long.
So what can I do? ugh.... I'm really not sure. HELP! (no seriously HELP!)
For now I'm going to use distraction and see if that helps. Ta-Ta... I'm off to watch The Walking Dead.
For now I'm going to use distraction and see if that helps. Ta-Ta... I'm off to watch The Walking Dead.
Chickie, I understand EXACTLY how you feel. No, seriously – I've been going through the same exact thing lately. Just late night I had a minor meltdown about it, a real fit of the "poor mes."
ReplyDeleteDon't blame yourself. I'm convinced that it is, at least in part, due to the weather and the shorter days. We're naturally craving heavier, more substantial foods.
In addition to that...it may not feel like it, but this is an EXCELLENT sign. It means your body is adjusting to the new regime and you ARE losing weight. If you never felt hungry, that would be a problem. Your body WILL adjust; you just have to give it some time.
You're doing so well! Good on you for hanging in there and not giving in; you'll be soooo happy you didn't. In the meantime, all I can offer by way of suggestion is, try to fit in as many satisfying, substantial foods as possible. Soup is good; that fills you without blowing all your calories/points. This morning for breakfast I had a whole grain English muffin with a table spoon of almost butter topped with bananas; much more satisfying and substantial than my usual. If you're a tea drinker, herbal is a good way to get your waters in, and the heat can be very comforting.
Plus...are you planning to indulge a little at Christmas? If so, you have that to look forward to, and if you hang on now you can do so with a clean conscience.
Hang in there! This too shall pass, and next summer when you're showing off the new bod this will be just a distant memory.
Sorry to hear you are also struggling Jean. It's so hard and I"m definitely not sure of the answer. I like your idea of soup. I'm gong to try to see if that helps in the future. I also am a fan of English muffins. I choose peanut butter though with banana ;)
DeleteHi Sonya--I've been maintaining my loss from doing WW in 2007, and I have a couple of suggestions for you:
ReplyDeleteTry not to rely on the protein powder for too much of your protein needs. Because it's dissolved in liquid, it passes through your system before your body can digest very much of the protein, and just makes expensive urine. Your body can only digest a limited amount of protein per hour, and it has no way of storing excess(unlike excess carbs, which store as fat). You should try to time your egg whites and non fat dairy throughout the day so your body can get its protein with food without using muscle tissue instead. This will probably also help you feel fulller.
Second, healthy fats are your friend, more so than fruit. I know they are worth a lot of points (and I sure do wish WW would adjust the points system to favor healthy fats), but fat will help you feel full longer than fruit. I personally found that if I snack on an apple, I will feel ravenous 90 minutes later(worse than if I ate nothing!), but if I pair the apple with serving of peanuts (just as an example), I can go another 3-4 hours comfortably before feeling hungry. I believe it's because pairing the two doesn't spike blood sugar, plus fats alone give a great feeling of satiety. Just be sure to weigh out your portions, because it's easy to go overboard.
As you probably know, will power is a finite resource, so it's best to fine tune your diet to be satisfying and healthy, rather than try to white-knuckle it, which doesn't work for the long-haul (or in maintenance!)
Thanks so much for the comment Sherijung. All great advice. I definitely have to pair more carbs with protein more often. Tonight I ate a salad that had nuts in it and cheese. I did feel more full tonight thanks goodness. I definitely was thinking of your advice as I decided what I should eat. Thanks!
DeleteQuick question--how long have you felt super hungry? Usually it doesn't last long--like a week. I go through super hungry spells too even though I am eating the same.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE what Sherijung said. YES!!!! This is stretching it and you would need more coaching on this but ditching the point system would really help you. I am surprised that bananas are 0 points. Bananas are very high on the glycemic index scale and spike your blood sugar--which spikes your insulin--which tells your body to store fat.
It's very important to eat balanced meals--protein with a carb--in order to control that insulin. So...nuts, avocados, nut butters, olives...they are your friends. You can check out my site for more info on low glycemic food--but I don't want to confuse you either. For now, healthy fats are your friend, and wait out the hunger...it will go away soon enough...I hope. Or just eat a lot more healthy food to satisfy you.Good luck my friend!!!!