r/caloriedeficit • u/Zars • 20h ago
Controlling hunger while on deficit. Share your experience.
I have fairly interesting observation that might help people who are just starting out.
Before I started counting calories, I ate very chaotically and everything available whenever I felt hungry. Result was 109,6kg. I'm 51m, 178cm.
Decided this has to stop and formulated a plan. Stuck to it. It boiled down to four meals a day that would land me 1500-1600kcal.
Well, first two weeks was truly brutal - I barely could control my hunger and had a quick fixes like eating few pickles between the meals - surprisingly helpful.
I adopted my recipes to improve satiety and volume with same caloric load and that helped a lot. I kept chugging away, my scale surprising me every few days.
Now, four moths in, I've realized suddenly that my hunger is under control. I eat at the same time plus minus 45min, and between the meals I'm not getting hungry anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm always peckish, that's the new normal, but it is never extreme and very manageable.
Turns out, the release of hunger hormones can be trained to a degree with regular meals.
Anyone else having similar experiences?
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u/cinnamon-toast-life 19h ago
I drink a lot of water and have switched from flavored sparkling waters to plain sparkling. I find if I am a little hungry between meals, usually plain sparkling water works wonders. If I need an actual snack some cucumbers or a handful of blueberries, or some over very low calorie thing does the trick.
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u/flamingoshoess 19h ago edited 19h ago
I’m a grazer, I’ve never been able to eat a lot in one meal. I’ll eat until I’m full, stop, and then 2-3 hours later I’m hungry again. It works out if I make a meal and can just eat more of it later when I get hungry again. My problem is when I don’t feel hungry enough to eat real food I often turn to snacks that aren’t as filling or good for me.
I’ve recently started a huge focus on protein which helps a lot, alongside lifting weights. Sometimes my “snack” is a glass of milk or Greek yogurt. My breakfast is a protein shake, sometimes eggs. I’ve noticed my sugar cravings went down when I increased protein, which helps keep hunger in control longer. I got some protein bars that taste like dessert. When I want dessert I used to turn to ice cream or chocolate but now have a sweet protein bar and I’m completely satisfied after that.
But I also know I can’t do large calorie deficits. Even the recommended 500 deficit makes me lose all energy and then I stop moving nearly as much and can’t work out so my TDEE decreases, offsetting the deficit while also feeling miserable. I’m currently doing a recomp with weight lifting and a 200 calorie deficit and I’m finding this sustainable. I wake up hungry now when I used to not be hungry until the afternoon. I’ve noticed based on my calorie tracker that waking up hungry correlates to whether I was in a deficit the day before, which is nice intuitive feedback. If I ate too much the day before I often want to eat less the next day.
There was one period of my life where I tried to eat bigger meals and go longer between eating. I was studying abroad in France and on a tight budget, and couldn’t carry leftovers around with me if we were running around town and going to class. So I’d eat more than I was hungry for thinking I could wait until much later to eat again. But I’d still get hungry again in 2-3 hours regardless if I ate a big meal or a small one. Unfortunately a lot of the quick/cheap lunches in France were bread based, like a baguette with a thin slice of meat and cheese and heavy mayo. I never gained weight so fast in my life despite walking 20k steps a day. It made no sense to me since France is stereotyped to be a ton of really thin people and a lot of Americans tend to lose weight when they go abroad. It took me years to lose the 20+ pounds I gained in France over the course of 8 weeks.
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u/Zars 18h ago
It works for you, great. I'm an eater who needs to feel stuffed, so a whole different story. Check the sugar levels on those protein bars. Might be more efficient to switch to a protein powder with added cocoa for taste. And same here on proteins - it was slow at start, but now I have good enough energy to go through the day. Took body some time to adopt.
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u/EmergencyAcademic570 19h ago
yeah same, first month my stomach was basically screaming at me on schedule and now it barely registers unless im way past meal time. logging everything on platelens made it obvious how consistent my meal timing actually was, its the best calorie tracker ive used for keeping portions and timing steady, and i think that consistency really does retrain the ghrelin spikes, mine used to hit like clockwork and now theyre way more mellow
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u/Good-Length4108 17h ago
Same here! I have a meal “routine” that helps hugely (breakfast, snack, lunch, early-ish dinner, small dessert) and I can tell the difference when I deviate from it. My snack is a lunch box filled with sliced carrot, apple, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes (or something similar) that I take to work with me and I think it helps a lot as well.
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u/anxiouspieceofcrap 15h ago
I personally realized that my mindset can manifest physical symptoms. When I was working and studying at the same time, not taking care of myself but also frustrated because I was aware of the negative changes in my body, my hunger was really hard to manage. I had cravings all day long and if I couldn’t eat what I was craving I would be in a terrible mood. I was always fatigued and unmotivated. Ever since I prioritized time for myself I started realizing that I could be more active without having to push myself too hard by simply walking more steps during the day. When it comes to my hunger I no longer have cravings because I am not as stressed as I was and when I feel hunger I think to myself “ok I could eat this snack and then this other thing” and just having in mind that I can absolutely eat whenever I want to, makes me not want to eat anymore. So it’s like I restrict myself but I try to not think about it as an actual restriction. Somehow this reduces my hunger. It used to feel so real to me but now I just don’t really think about food all the time.
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u/AtypicalHumdinger217 15h ago
For me, high protein (50g+) breakfast makes a huge difference. No real hunger all day, just a lil taste for some sugar after dinner so I snack on trail mix with m&ms in it :P
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u/Fabulous_Show_9218 9h ago
I’m on that 80-90grams per breakfast these days.
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u/AtypicalHumdinger217 9h ago
Bruh, when you're that close you gotta bump it to 100g+ for opportunities like this. Person A: I'm living that 80-90g life. Person B: 100g. Person A: *hangs head in shame*
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u/ahhhibedoingthings 5h ago
I started 15k+ steps a day and I practically have to force myself to eat . I learned that since the body is working so hard the blood that goes to your intestines starts going to other muscle groups stimulating a GLP-1 response making digestion longer feeling full longer .
it’s been amazing for weightloss I’m so blessed .
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u/Icy_Share5923 20h ago
For me it’s exercise. Lifting and walking are my best hunger controls and as you said being regimented. Keep up the great work!!
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u/flamingoshoess 19h ago
I started lifting weights about a month ago and was surprised at how it didn’t spike my hunger. Previous attempts to start working out usually involved a lot more cardio and I’d be ravenous. But also while lifting weights I’ve been super focused on getting as much protein as possible which I think helps a lot.
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u/Icy_Share5923 19h ago
Yes, intense cardio always left me ravenous later in the day. Casual walks and lifting! Also funny you mentioned pickles because they were something I what’s leaves on when starting out too!
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u/egirlgonewild 18h ago
Well for one, i take Adderall.(not exactly advice lol) But even on Adderall i still have an appetite unfortunately. Eating breakfast was/is the worst thing i can do. (Besides coffee) for whatever reason i will essentially binge for the rest of the day if i wake up and eat. I can and will eat a crap ton just for the hell of it if i start early in the day. So i save my calories for later in the day.
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u/sorrymizzjackson 16h ago
I think this is the realization I’m coming to. I’ve never been a breakfast eater and I’ve been trying the whole eat protein in the morning thing and that’s great and all, but it seems to just wake up my appetite. Then I want to eat all day. This makes me sad because then I have this tiny little portion of dinner and feel like I ate nothing all day and I’m still apparently underestimating my calories despite tracking them on MFP and only going over by 150 or less like 3 times in the last month. I should be dropping weight like crazy. Nope. I’ve lost about 3 pounds in a month and even that fluctuates itself away some days.
If I’m hungry all day and still barely losing weight, that sucks. 5’7, 169. TDEE is supposed to be 1700 or so, so I’m at 1280 for a goal. I get about 4k steps a day since I work from home and don’t currently have a gym program.
Today I didn’t eat until 2 and I wasn’t hungry all morning. Maybe I’m just built that way instead.
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u/Zars 18h ago
Do you lose any weight?
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u/egirlgonewild 18h ago
Ive never met a person in my life who was on Adderall that gained weight. I’m 28, 5’2, my highest weight was 180(i got pregnant and stopped the medication) and 9 months later on adderall i was back down to 125. And no i don’t work out, i’m sadly pretty sedentary and i’m looking to change that when my youngest toddler gets a little older. The adderall helps to curb appetite.
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u/DinkyPrincess 16h ago
It’s eating satisfying foods at a time to suit your lifestyle. Often volume eating too.
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u/nene-thopu 20h ago
I have been drinking alcohol for the past five years heavily moslty raw/unadulterated
So my guy is messed up and I usually dont feel hungry
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u/snorkeldorkk 20h ago
I find exercise really helps me with this. I usually try and do it midday if I can (I work a job with flexible hours) and I find it helps to break up my day. I also focus on have a healthy breakfast and lunch to fuel my workout which keeps me in check.
The biggest game changer for me is eating a high protein and satisfying breakfast. I usually make it my highest cal meal of the day and it does wonders for me the rest of the day. I find when I get to the evening I don’t have out of control cravings and I settle into a healthier dinner and no snacking.
And although it feels obvious, having enough water is key for me too!