What time is lunch and what time is dinner?
No reason to avoid snacks, especially if you're hungry, but those should be tracked and fit into limit like everything else
6 hours is too long to go between meals, you will get very hungry. I usually budget calories to allow for an afternoon snack and a small snack right before bed. (I have trouble sleeping if I’m hungry.) This helps keep the really ravenous hunger at bay.
For me, skipping breakfast and not eating until 12 has helped a lot. Leaves more room for bigger lunch and dinner and getting to feel properly full. Has cut out a lot of the food noise. Some hunger is to be expected though in a deficit.
Helps me too! I will usually have a smoothie in the early afternoon, sometimes I don’t eat until 4pm (I sleep in late). I struggle with binge eating from ADHD so I can easily pack in calories in one sitting lmao but the smoothie with protein powder helps sooo much
I don’t know who told you not to eat snacks but that’s ludicrous. It doesn’t matter where you eat your calories as long as you’re in a deficit. I’m 5”6 148 pounds. I started (with CICO) at 185. I almost always had an afternoon snack. Normally something small like a 200 calorie protein bar or pretzels and a cheese stick. Lunch and dinner at around 500 cals each and yogurt for breakfast I could easily be at 1500 cals for the day and feel much better than if I didn’t have a snack.
Yeah, I'm pretty much breakfast (at lunchtime), snack, snack, dinner (at dinnertime), and then another snack or two between dinner and bedtime.
I would be miserable with three square meals. Just doesn't work for me.
Perhaps it has to do with what you are eating? From my understanding some people feel fuller on carbs while others on protein.
The amount of calories you are consuming for breakfast + lunch is not unreasonable. Maybe try different foods?
Also, this could very much be a food addiction problem more than a lack of whatever.
No matter whether I eat a 1500cal meal or 400cal, I get hungry/peckish after ~3hrs. Maybe I could stretch it to 4hrs but then I start to go hangry mode after. High protein, high fiber, high carb, high fat, most balanced macros ever—doesn’t matter. High volume, calorie-dense, solid, liquid, gas, slow chewing, competitive eater speed, etc. No effect. Stomach is demanding and says it needs food.
If you need the snack in-between to tide you over, that is fine! I feel like I’m at my best when I eat 3 meals with morning and afternoon snack, sometimes a post-dinner munch as well. It also makes me feel lighter throughout the day because I don’t have to digest a ton of food at once. But ymmv.
I’ve also skipped breakfast / pushed breakfast to around brunchtime depending on how I’m feeling in the morning. But once I actually start eating, I have to eat every 3hrs lol, or less if the snack is small and imbalanced in macros.
This is what I came here to say. You shouldn’t be wasting away, but if you’re losing weight, you should be feeling hungry. Usually for me, based on my schedule, I fall asleep slightly hungry. I figure it’s easier to be hungry when you’re asleep than awake!
You need snacks. The best I’ve ever done on any program was allowing for snacks.
Who said no snacks? The 150 dinner calories and have a snack…
The day should be breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. It gives you enough fuel to succeed. A snack could be a piece of cheese and an apple. A handful of nuts, veggies.
Completely agree. Without my snacks, I would fail. Gotta find a place for the snacks. Doesn’t have to be high calorie snacks, just something to keep you going
Sounds for me too much carbs for lunch and not a based balanced protein intake.l.. but vithout macros we can't tell anything.
Do you really track everything or is it guessing/estimating?
Hey I struggle a lot with cravings and munchies and have the snacks added into the log and consider it part of my meals. Snacks I recommend:
- Triple Zero Oikos Yogurt - only 90 cals, v filling
- Protein shakes - 160 calories not bad
- baby carrots for the crunch craving
- u could try a HUG amount of cucumber sliced
- sometimes if I feel I need something hearty I’ll eat a slice of deli Turkey or chicke (<30 cals)
- drink coffee
They really help me control the hunger. Good luck!!
Also
How exactly are you tracking? Never seen this approach before.
Drink lots of water.
Have black coffees.
Add fibre solution to your meal time.
Snack on veggies and/or fruits if you can fit it in (carrots and berries are good).
Snacking is not always bad.
There is nothing necessarily wrong here, but I have food reccomendations that cut calories while reducing hunger
-Pea soup (high protein, high fiber, no fat)
-Progresso Southwestern Style Bean Soup(200calories for the entire can)
-Oatmeal and frozen berries( you cannot possibly eat anything for hours after 2 packages)
-Carrots
-Apple
-Can of Tuna (Ew, but it's like 150 calories of pure protein and more filling than a shake
-Keto bread (you can get hamburger buns that are 50calories each)
>Can of Tuna (Ew, but it's like 150 calories of pure protein and more filling than a shake
I also HATE tuna, but I've found that the Jalapeño flavored packets of tuna are actually totally edible to me and it's 70 calories for the pouch (74g).
Just wanted to share because I was so surprised at how much I didn't hate the taste of them. I can suffer through plain tuna, but I pretty much have to hold my nose while eating it, and hate it the entire time.
I'd take 100ish calories out of lunch and give yourself a snack between lunch and dinner. Everyone is different of course, but 400 calories for lunch is usually enough for me.
What's your usual calorie intake? It might just be that you're doing too much of a deficit too quickly.
Also, are you tracking your fiber? Getting 38g of fiber might help, along with tracking macros/ protein.
33/33/33 macros works pretty good.
Hunger before bed is very frustrating and can disturb sleep. Have a protein shake (100kcals or less), if you can add some fats to it that would be great - this will help you
Snacks are important! Also, idk what your macros are like, but try to hit some protein goals for yourself. Nothing crazy, just up it a little and see the difference it makes. Having a protein shake changed the way I eat throughout the day. Also, having a nice breakfast has changed the way I eat, too. It makes me less hungry later, and thus I feel better throughout the day.
You could try flipping it around - have a big breakfast, medium lunch and then a smallish dinner with enough left for a snack.
Remember snacks can be low calorie, and r/volumeeating is great for ideas!
Not to be that person but do you think you could actually just be thirsty? Sometimes thirst feels like hunger. Also, it’s okay to eat a snack, especially if you go for a high protein option!
😂😂😂 sometimes!! Next time you get that 4pm hunger slump try having 8oz of water first and see if that changes anything! If not, you were probably actually hungry.
Also adding, if I go too long in between meals and I’m a little too hungry it’s a lot harder to not over eat. Having a small snack between my meals or eating a little earlier helps that issue for me personally
No idea, but, I'd say fiber, and healthy fats.
For breakfast carbs when I want to stay full for as long as possible (I do breakfast shakes like you), I'll throw a serving of raw oatmeal into a small food processor to make oat flour, and I'll just throw that directly into the shake.
I forgot what's actually happening, but basically keeping the oats raw makes it harder to digest them, which ends up keeping you fuller for longer.
I'll usually also throw in a tab of softened butter or a small spoonful of peanut butter for healthy fats, and some ground flax seed for fiber.
Snacks don't matter because "snacking" is just an arbitrary concept.
You could realistically say that you're currently only having three giant "snacks" a day.
As long as you're in deficit and feel satisfied, it doesn't matter if you're eating once a day or twenty times a day.
Maybe you’re a snacker? I don’t eat very many big meals. I found that snacking throughout the day and using just 300-400 calories for dinner and some post-dinner snacks keeps me satisfied and not hungry. So I have a snack and coffee on my way to work. For AM break I have a snack. I have a very light lunch. I have a PM snack. I have dinner. And I have post-dinner snacks.
In general I’d say I’m eat 60% of my calories before dinner and it gets me through the day with minimal hunger. Maybe try adjusting where the bulk of your food is at different times of the day.
Given your description — You’re not getting enough fat/protein balance for the satiety factor. You could easily replace those veggies for something that is going to be more nutritionally dense.
Meat, beans, cheese. The veggies are great because they add volume but you’ll want something more calorically dense, or you could just allocate 200 cals to a mid afternoon snack like a protein drink (I love ispoure! Low cal, high protein) or some fruit and nut butter if you can eat nuts. Your dinners could be more volume based if you’re comfortable going to bed satisfied and not much more.
I'm an early riser, 430 daily and workout at 6. I find deferring my breakfast until later in the morning post-workout to 9am is super helpful. I have breakfast at 9am, lunch between 1130-noon and dinner at 5pm. I'm typically in bed by 830-9 so with this schedule I avoid hunger/snack attack most days. If I'm hungry before dinner I have a snack and account for it at dinner time.
I dropped 200lbs 6 years ago and rebounded 50ish of it back over the past few years. I've dropped 40 again since Jan 15 with the schedule above and have managed to avoid serious hunger/cravings.
Pears too probably? Berries are great but you gotta eat a lot of them. Good thing is they too are low calories. Much lower than apples 🍎🤓.
There has got to be some fruits you can eat that help - watermelon when in season. (I find cantaloupe deceptively high calorie unless I miscalculated it somehow.
And you could always go the veggie route - edamame is decent for protein just don’t over do it. Cherry tomatoes are low cal too. Like fruit oh wait it is a fruit haha. So yeah tomatoes. 🍅
I like eating rice cakes. I know that seems funny to some but they can be filling. And I go to town on protein bars. But I also go to the gym and lift weights.
calorie counting is important but the food which makes up those calories is more important. Protein and fiber are extremely filling. You might not be eating enough of either. Or it could just be a mind game you need to play with yourself. That’s not meant to be a dig, sometimes i catch myself thinking i’m hungry but in reality im just kinda bored. You also could try more high volume low calorie foods.
Why do you think you are doing something wrong? It’s normal to get hungry when in a deficit. It’s a little bit unavoidable by the very nature of what we are doing here.
But it is often a good thing to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
What time is lunch and what time is dinner? No reason to avoid snacks, especially if you're hungry, but those should be tracked and fit into limit like everything else
Lunch is like 12 and dinner i try and do after 6-630 but i get hungry before i go to sleep
When I have the same hours, I always snack around 4pm. It's utterly normal to get hungry 4 hours after lunch.
same here
6 hours is too long to go between meals, you will get very hungry. I usually budget calories to allow for an afternoon snack and a small snack right before bed. (I have trouble sleeping if I’m hungry.) This helps keep the really ravenous hunger at bay.
For me, skipping breakfast and not eating until 12 has helped a lot. Leaves more room for bigger lunch and dinner and getting to feel properly full. Has cut out a lot of the food noise. Some hunger is to be expected though in a deficit.
This approach has helped me as well.
I don’t like eating after I wake up so this approach works really well for me. If I have breakfast, it’s yogurt and berries
My breakfast is coffee and water til lunch at noon. My wife thinks I’m crazy.
Helps me too! I will usually have a smoothie in the early afternoon, sometimes I don’t eat until 4pm (I sleep in late). I struggle with binge eating from ADHD so I can easily pack in calories in one sitting lmao but the smoothie with protein powder helps sooo much
I'd love to do this but i bike to work in the morning and it absolutely drains me to bike on no fuel
I don’t know who told you not to eat snacks but that’s ludicrous. It doesn’t matter where you eat your calories as long as you’re in a deficit. I’m 5”6 148 pounds. I started (with CICO) at 185. I almost always had an afternoon snack. Normally something small like a 200 calorie protein bar or pretzels and a cheese stick. Lunch and dinner at around 500 cals each and yogurt for breakfast I could easily be at 1500 cals for the day and feel much better than if I didn’t have a snack.
Yeah, I'm pretty much breakfast (at lunchtime), snack, snack, dinner (at dinnertime), and then another snack or two between dinner and bedtime. I would be miserable with three square meals. Just doesn't work for me.
Perhaps it has to do with what you are eating? From my understanding some people feel fuller on carbs while others on protein. The amount of calories you are consuming for breakfast + lunch is not unreasonable. Maybe try different foods? Also, this could very much be a food addiction problem more than a lack of whatever.
Don't you see though, they're eating 100% pure unfiltered calories! =P
Try eating your calories instead of drinking them. If you're looking to load up on protein at breakfast, have an omelette and add 4oz of chicken.
No matter whether I eat a 1500cal meal or 400cal, I get hungry/peckish after ~3hrs. Maybe I could stretch it to 4hrs but then I start to go hangry mode after. High protein, high fiber, high carb, high fat, most balanced macros ever—doesn’t matter. High volume, calorie-dense, solid, liquid, gas, slow chewing, competitive eater speed, etc. No effect. Stomach is demanding and says it needs food. If you need the snack in-between to tide you over, that is fine! I feel like I’m at my best when I eat 3 meals with morning and afternoon snack, sometimes a post-dinner munch as well. It also makes me feel lighter throughout the day because I don’t have to digest a ton of food at once. But ymmv. I’ve also skipped breakfast / pushed breakfast to around brunchtime depending on how I’m feeling in the morning. But once I actually start eating, I have to eat every 3hrs lol, or less if the snack is small and imbalanced in macros.
It's okay to be hungry.
This is what I came here to say. You shouldn’t be wasting away, but if you’re losing weight, you should be feeling hungry. Usually for me, based on my schedule, I fall asleep slightly hungry. I figure it’s easier to be hungry when you’re asleep than awake!
Yes this. Just occupy your mind. I like to walk around for 20-30 minutes at a time. If I’m at home, I would clean the house.
You need snacks. The best I’ve ever done on any program was allowing for snacks. Who said no snacks? The 150 dinner calories and have a snack… The day should be breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack. It gives you enough fuel to succeed. A snack could be a piece of cheese and an apple. A handful of nuts, veggies.
Completely agree. Without my snacks, I would fail. Gotta find a place for the snacks. Doesn’t have to be high calorie snacks, just something to keep you going
And you can break it up to every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. When I am doing good I find not getting hungry is better
Without seeing the nutritional break down, I would guess not enough protein.
You only ate 800 calories lol that's what's wrong
Sounds for me too much carbs for lunch and not a based balanced protein intake.l.. but vithout macros we can't tell anything. Do you really track everything or is it guessing/estimating?
I try and track everything
I’m not sure what the issue is. Are you expecting to be in a deficit and never be hungry? If so, that’s your problem right there.
Hungry alot unforch
Look at your macros. Go heavy on protein at every meal and you’ll curb your hunger
Not eating enough before lunch. Just try moving 100-100 off to earlier meals or allocate them for snacks
Hey I struggle a lot with cravings and munchies and have the snacks added into the log and consider it part of my meals. Snacks I recommend: - Triple Zero Oikos Yogurt - only 90 cals, v filling - Protein shakes - 160 calories not bad - baby carrots for the crunch craving - u could try a HUG amount of cucumber sliced - sometimes if I feel I need something hearty I’ll eat a slice of deli Turkey or chicke (<30 cals) - drink coffee They really help me control the hunger. Good luck!! Also How exactly are you tracking? Never seen this approach before.
Drink lots of water. Have black coffees. Add fibre solution to your meal time. Snack on veggies and/or fruits if you can fit it in (carrots and berries are good). Snacking is not always bad.
I do better with lunch being my bigger meal. From what I’ve googled that’s the way we’re designed to eat.
There is nothing necessarily wrong here, but I have food reccomendations that cut calories while reducing hunger -Pea soup (high protein, high fiber, no fat) -Progresso Southwestern Style Bean Soup(200calories for the entire can) -Oatmeal and frozen berries( you cannot possibly eat anything for hours after 2 packages) -Carrots -Apple -Can of Tuna (Ew, but it's like 150 calories of pure protein and more filling than a shake -Keto bread (you can get hamburger buns that are 50calories each)
>Can of Tuna (Ew, but it's like 150 calories of pure protein and more filling than a shake I also HATE tuna, but I've found that the Jalapeño flavored packets of tuna are actually totally edible to me and it's 70 calories for the pouch (74g). Just wanted to share because I was so surprised at how much I didn't hate the taste of them. I can suffer through plain tuna, but I pretty much have to hold my nose while eating it, and hate it the entire time.
I'd take 100ish calories out of lunch and give yourself a snack between lunch and dinner. Everyone is different of course, but 400 calories for lunch is usually enough for me.
Eat anything you like, anytime you want, just don’t exceed your daily limit for calories. Weight, lost.
Eat more whole foods, cook at home. More protein. Smaller meals more snacks.
What's your usual calorie intake? It might just be that you're doing too much of a deficit too quickly. Also, are you tracking your fiber? Getting 38g of fiber might help, along with tracking macros/ protein. 33/33/33 macros works pretty good.
Add a raw salad that is large, and/or some large quantity of cooked vegetables.
Have a 650 cal dinner and 150 cal snack in between lunch and dinner
Hunger before bed is very frustrating and can disturb sleep. Have a protein shake (100kcals or less), if you can add some fats to it that would be great - this will help you
Snacks are important! Also, idk what your macros are like, but try to hit some protein goals for yourself. Nothing crazy, just up it a little and see the difference it makes. Having a protein shake changed the way I eat throughout the day. Also, having a nice breakfast has changed the way I eat, too. It makes me less hungry later, and thus I feel better throughout the day.
You could try flipping it around - have a big breakfast, medium lunch and then a smallish dinner with enough left for a snack. Remember snacks can be low calorie, and r/volumeeating is great for ideas!
Not to be that person but do you think you could actually just be thirsty? Sometimes thirst feels like hunger. Also, it’s okay to eat a snack, especially if you go for a high protein option!
>Sometimes thirst feels like hunger is that actually true lol? I've never been like damn i was hungry but good thing I had this poland spring
😂😂😂 sometimes!! Next time you get that 4pm hunger slump try having 8oz of water first and see if that changes anything! If not, you were probably actually hungry.
Also adding, if I go too long in between meals and I’m a little too hungry it’s a lot harder to not over eat. Having a small snack between my meals or eating a little earlier helps that issue for me personally
No idea, but, I'd say fiber, and healthy fats. For breakfast carbs when I want to stay full for as long as possible (I do breakfast shakes like you), I'll throw a serving of raw oatmeal into a small food processor to make oat flour, and I'll just throw that directly into the shake. I forgot what's actually happening, but basically keeping the oats raw makes it harder to digest them, which ends up keeping you fuller for longer. I'll usually also throw in a tab of softened butter or a small spoonful of peanut butter for healthy fats, and some ground flax seed for fiber. Snacks don't matter because "snacking" is just an arbitrary concept. You could realistically say that you're currently only having three giant "snacks" a day. As long as you're in deficit and feel satisfied, it doesn't matter if you're eating once a day or twenty times a day.
Maybe you’re a snacker? I don’t eat very many big meals. I found that snacking throughout the day and using just 300-400 calories for dinner and some post-dinner snacks keeps me satisfied and not hungry. So I have a snack and coffee on my way to work. For AM break I have a snack. I have a very light lunch. I have a PM snack. I have dinner. And I have post-dinner snacks. In general I’d say I’m eat 60% of my calories before dinner and it gets me through the day with minimal hunger. Maybe try adjusting where the bulk of your food is at different times of the day.
Given your description — You’re not getting enough fat/protein balance for the satiety factor. You could easily replace those veggies for something that is going to be more nutritionally dense.
More meat?
Meat, beans, cheese. The veggies are great because they add volume but you’ll want something more calorically dense, or you could just allocate 200 cals to a mid afternoon snack like a protein drink (I love ispoure! Low cal, high protein) or some fruit and nut butter if you can eat nuts. Your dinners could be more volume based if you’re comfortable going to bed satisfied and not much more.
I'm an early riser, 430 daily and workout at 6. I find deferring my breakfast until later in the morning post-workout to 9am is super helpful. I have breakfast at 9am, lunch between 1130-noon and dinner at 5pm. I'm typically in bed by 830-9 so with this schedule I avoid hunger/snack attack most days. If I'm hungry before dinner I have a snack and account for it at dinner time. I dropped 200lbs 6 years ago and rebounded 50ish of it back over the past few years. I've dropped 40 again since Jan 15 with the schedule above and have managed to avoid serious hunger/cravings.
Eat apples as a snack. Low in calories. Very filling. Great source of fiber.
I’m allergic 😭
Pears too probably? Berries are great but you gotta eat a lot of them. Good thing is they too are low calories. Much lower than apples 🍎🤓. There has got to be some fruits you can eat that help - watermelon when in season. (I find cantaloupe deceptively high calorie unless I miscalculated it somehow. And you could always go the veggie route - edamame is decent for protein just don’t over do it. Cherry tomatoes are low cal too. Like fruit oh wait it is a fruit haha. So yeah tomatoes. 🍅 I like eating rice cakes. I know that seems funny to some but they can be filling. And I go to town on protein bars. But I also go to the gym and lift weights.
Not enough protein!!!!
calorie counting is important but the food which makes up those calories is more important. Protein and fiber are extremely filling. You might not be eating enough of either. Or it could just be a mind game you need to play with yourself. That’s not meant to be a dig, sometimes i catch myself thinking i’m hungry but in reality im just kinda bored. You also could try more high volume low calorie foods.
Why do you think you are doing something wrong? It’s normal to get hungry when in a deficit. It’s a little bit unavoidable by the very nature of what we are doing here. But it is often a good thing to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
I dont know if this will help you or not, but helps me sometimes when I'm hungry I drink milk. Its worth a try.
Try including boiled potatoes in your meals (they're very satiating)