How to Beat Hunger in Six Simple Steps
One big enemy of dieters is hunger. If you’re making serious attempts to diet – counting calories, or cutting out snacks between meals, for instance – you might well end up feeling hungry at times.
Sometimes, this is good: when you go on a diet, you get back in touch with your natural appetite. In the modern world, with food available 24/7, we often end up grazing between meals, snacking constantly, and never feeling a real sense of hunger.
On the other hand, it’s easy for hunger to go too far. Being hungry makes us irritable and snappy; it can make us tired, and sap our ability to concentrate or make sensible decisions. Yet, when every calorie counts, it’s sometimes hard to see how we can eat enough to avoid getting over-hungry.
Here are six steps to beating hunger when you’re on a diet:
1. Set A Sensible Calorie Intake
Firstly, you’re going to end up too hungry if you try to restrict your food intake excessively. You should be eating at least 1,100 calories per day – and probably more. To find out a sensible rate of weight loss, use the Calorie Calculator.
Losing weight shouldn’t feel like a mad dash: if you take your time, develop good healthy habits, and lose the weight slowly, it’s much more likely to stay off. Losing weight too quickly means you’ll be losing muscle, not fat – and you can also end up left with loose, baggy skin.
2. Drink Plenty of Water
It’s easy to mistake mild thirst for hunger. Make sure you’re staying adequately hydrated – experts recommend six to eight glasses of water per day. (You can count the water in tea and coffee towards this.) If you don’t like the taste of plain water, try sparkling, or flavored waters.
Keeping a bottle of water on your desk or in your bag is an easy way to make sure you can sip regularly throughout the day.
3. Choose High-Fiber Foods
When you’re limiting your food intake, it’s critical that you get as much “fillingness” as possible for your calories! That often means choosing high fiber foods: these take time to digest, and they’ll stay in your stomach for longer. Wholegrain breads are a great option, as are breakfast cereals like oatmeal.
Fruits and vegetables are all high in fiber and low in calories – they also make great snacks, often requiring little or no preparation.
4. Include Some Protein At Each Meal
As well as looking for high-fiber foods, try including some protein at every meal. If your usual breakfast is a bagel, you might well end up peckish again within a couple of hours. Try having eggs for breakfast instead – the protein will keep you full for longer.
Low-fat protein sources include skinless chicken, many fish and seafoods, cottage cheese, skim milk, and lean cuts of meat.
5. Snack More – And Eat Smaller Meals
Some dieters mistakenly believe that it’s “wrong” to snack. In fact, most experts suggest eating “little but often” as a way of encouraging your body to burn energy effectively. This could mean eating a smaller portion of lunch and then having a snack at 4pm: you won’t get that sluggish feeling after lunch, and you’ll stave off hunger until dinner.
It’s the number of calories you eat overall in the day which matters – rather than how often you eat.
6. Exercise Regularly
Getting some exercise not only helps you burn calories (see the Activity Calculator) – it keeps your appetite under control. If you suspect your “hunger” pang might actually be boredom or a craving, try going for a brisk walk. If you’re still hungry afterwards, have a healthy snack.
Remember, though, that you’re going to be exercising at a moderate to vigorous intensity – such as in the gym – you shouldn’t try to work out on an empty stomach.
Is hunger holding you back from dieting success? What tips or trick do you have for avoiding getting too hungry – whilst curbing your calorie and fat intake?
Written by Ali HaleRelated posts:
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