third day of dieting and want to chew off my own arm...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drink more water and go to bed early

Not OP, but I never understood the drink more water advice. The only thing that did for me was make me pee more often. Never made my hunger go away.

Gum did help a bit, though.

Normally you drink water (16 oz or so) before you eat. It fills up the stomach before you start eating so that you'll feel more full sooner and hence, eat less. It's not designed to curb the hunger, but to fill up the space so that you get full. When your stomach is full, your body will trigger the hunger signs to stop. But drink the water first, wait 5-15 minutes to get your body used to the fullness, then eat. You should eat less and get full and stop the hunger feeling sooner. If you drink as you go, yes, it will not cause the hunger to stop until later after you've eaten more.

For OP, if you need to snack to stop the hunger, look for veggies that are mostly water to help you fill up. Celery, cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower are all good. Red peppers and sugar snap peas in moderation (there is some sugar and hence some limited calories there). Keep stocks of these items precut and in a cup or container that is easy to get to. Often a cup of water with a 5-10 minute wait followed by some veggies will curb hunger.

Also, deyhdration is a frequent cause of "hunger pians". Men should drink on average 100 ounces fluid per day. Women should drink on average 75 ounces of fluid per day. A good general rule is that you need to drink enough so that you need to go to the bathroom at least once every 3 hours. If you aren't, then you likely are not drinking enough water.

[Anonymous]

Consider building in a cheat day once a week - let yourself eat what you like. It makes it easier if you can say, ice cream day is Friday! instead of missing your favorites all week long, with no respite in sight.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I don't get the idea of cheat days. Maybe a day of zero calorie deficit, but to me "cheat day" says "go crazy and don't count." To me, that seems like a recipe for failure. If you are running a moderate to aggressive 500 calorie deficit (i.e. you are hungry) for 6 days , but then on a cheat day you eat a muffin (800 calories), a pint of ben & jerry's (1000 calories), a whopper and small onion rings (1360 calories), there your calorie deficit for the previous six days and you are in fact 160 calories over. Am I misunderstanding what people mean by cheat days?

[Anonymous]

The idea behind the cheat day is that it keeps your metabolism from going into starvation mode from the restricted calories. Some people feel that the feast-and-famine model is actually more like our ancestors ate. Hence the cheat or free days and the popularity of the Fast Diet (2 days of near fasting + 5 days of normal eating). Your mileage may vary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I don't get the idea of cheat days. Maybe a day of zero calorie deficit, but to me "cheat day" says "go crazy and don't count." To me, that seems like a recipe for failure. If you are running a moderate to aggressive 500 calorie deficit (i.e. you are hungry) for 6 days , but then on a cheat day you eat a muffin (800 calories), a pint of ben & jerry's (1000 calories), a whopper and small onion rings (1360 calories), there your calorie deficit for the previous six days and you are in fact 160 calories over. Am I misunderstanding what people mean by cheat days?

Well you are forgetting that some of those 3160 calories consumed on your cheat day will be used by your body - so if your body needs 2000 calories a day (just throwing out a random number for simplicity's sake) and you normally eat 1500 a day, you'll really only be 1160 over. But yes, that basically ruins 2 days plus that extra 160 calories. This is why I don't believe in cheat days - I believe in eating whatever I want as long as it fits within my calories and macros for the day.

[Anonymous]

Have a mug of tea with lemon and sugar or splenda, and a big bowl of plain salted popcorn.

[Anonymous]

Cheat meal. Not day. And exercise that day too!

[Anonymous]

i drink coffee all day

[Anonymous]

OP, are you losing weight? I also started the 1300-1400 cal/day thing 8 days ago and lost a half pound, lost another 1.5 lbs, then gained it all back and I've been good so I do t get it!!! It's killing my motivation.

And I'm not hungry, but never fully satisfied. I also was eating 2-3000 cAls a day for 5 years and need to lose 20-25lbs.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP!

[Anonymous]

OP, 1400 calories is not sustainable, unless you are very short and inactive. You were probably eating well more than 2000 calories a day before, which is why you are experiencing such shock. What does myfitnesspal tell you to eat, when you shoot for 1 lb/week weight loss? (How much do you have to lose? If less than 10, .5 is probably more reasonable.) I eat about 2100-2300 to lose weight, but I'm tall and pretty active.

[Anonymous]

Don't limit calories until you try losing weight just by improving your diet. If you eat nothing but good vegetables, some fruit, high quality protein, no sugar and no or few grains, you will lose weight. You will NOT be hungry. Your cravings for bread and sugar will decrease substantially.

Find The Smarter Science of Slim blog and webcast. His new book isn't coming out until January, I think.

Counting calories is not the answer.

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys! This is OP. Well, it has gotten a bit easier. I'm basically sticking to 1500/day and I'm down 6.5 lbs.

I did cheat one day over the weekend (wine, guac and chips) but still kept the day under 2200. I noticed the next day when returning to the normal 1500 I was more hungry again in the evening and had to stave off hunger pangs with herbal tea and raw veggies (carrots and radishes).

All in all it's working so far. I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't limit calories until you try losing weight just by improving your diet. If you eat nothing but good vegetables, some fruit, high quality protein, no sugar and no or few grains, you will lose weight. You will NOT be hungry. Your cravings for bread and sugar will decrease substantially.

Find The Smarter Science of Slim blog and webcast. His new book isn't coming out until January, I think.

Counting calories is not the answer.

OP here. I wish my carb cravings would diminish, but I think I'm one of those carb addicts that woould always eat potatoes and bread if given the choice. i have cut back a lot, though. I'm eating more whole grains and beans/legumes, which seems to help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't limit calories until you try losing weight just by improving your diet. If you eat nothing but good vegetables, some fruit, high quality protein, no sugar and no or few grains, you will lose weight. You will NOT be hungry. Your cravings for bread and sugar will decrease substantially.

Find The Smarter Science of Slim blog and webcast. His new book isn't coming out until January, I think.

Counting calories is not the answer.

OP here. I wish my carb cravings would diminish, but I think I'm one of those carb addicts that woould always eat potatoes and bread if given the choice. i have cut back a lot, though. I'm eating more whole grains and beans/legumes, which seems to help.

I'm the same way. I totally get it. But eating 1400 calories of even high quality food is not a long term plan. You are screwing your metabolism. And you have to eat more in the long run. Eating huge amounts of high quality foods, not grains and sugar, is not harder than eating 1400 calories a day, I promise you. It's easier. And when you've reached a weight you like you can gradually add in more of the "bad" foods until you find how much you can eat without gaining weight.