Is it common to get hungrier while losing weight?

[az81]

I'm in my second week of dieting, and I'm pretty much almost eating the same amount of food as before (but lower calorie choices, of course)

The thing is, I'm very hungry lately - the first week, I would eat a certain amount but feel satisfied. This week, I'm eating the same amount but feel a lot hungrier.

Is this a common thing to happen when you start on a diet?

[Blitz]

You've asked a big question.
The short answer is yes.
Understanding the underlining reasons and developing life skills to manage it is the key to successful weight loss (and maintenance after).

Firstly, one must understand that after a good week weight loss the following week is usually harder. The body is naturally trying to readjust itself. It isn't interested in weight loss but rather more concerned about managing resources and maintaining "normal". Rapid weight loss signals to the body that it must regain that lost energy reserve. It does it by slowing metabolism down and also increasing eating desire. That is some of the reason why after a "good" week it is usually followed by a weaker result the week after.

Rapid weight loss will cause the body to respond more severely.
That is why most experts recommend losing at a modest steady rate of a kilo a week.
Rapid weight loss also tends to lose just not fat but also muscle and fluid (water) creating a greater demand on the body to replace these essentials.

So what to do to manage this?
1) Small weight loss steps are surer than giant ones in the long term.
2) Psychologically switch your response to hunger. Hunger = not starvation but signals to your mind that your body is ready to lose weight.
3) Learn the rhythms of how your body responds when losing weight. Learn how to ride and maximise them.
4) Eat smarter. Learn what low calorie foods can supply "gut satisfaction". You can literally eat buckets of lettuce compared to two pieces of chocolate for the same price in calories. By eating smarter you will waylay most of the hunger pains.
5) Drink liquids. This will fill your stomach. Teas, soup and watered down juices (just to add flavour to the water) are helpful.
6) Lose weight steadily. It is no good shipwrecking yourself for one or two good weeks only to fall flat on your face and fail. Weight loss is a marathon not a sprint. You've got to conserve yourself so that you can last the distance.

Those are the main points. If you want to explore some of them further please go ahead and ask.

One thing above all that you may want to consider...stop calling it a diet.
A diet implies a beginning and an end. In your head that presents the idea that this can end sooner rather than later.
I never used the word diet. I was eating healthily and eating proper portion sizes (like normal people do).
All foods were permissible but some foods were not very helpful for me to eat in order for me to achieve my goal of weight loss.
It was always all about trying to work out a healthy lifestyle forever and not something to be done for a little while only.

Kim

[az81]

Kim, nobody could ever accuse you of being vague!

Thanks for all the great info. I definitely recognise a lot of what you mention - I can almost hear my body saying, 'what happened to all that lovely junk food?!'

I probably did go overboard on my first week - exercise every day, eating well below my calorie limit - but I ended up losing 4.2kg, so I'm claiming it as a victory. The second week has been harder, but only in the sense of the hunger. I think that will pass in time, however.

[Blitz]

I can almost hear my body saying, 'what happened to all that lovely junk food?!'

Well it better get use to the idea...

One of the interesting things that happens in your weight loss journey is the reorientation to junk foods and the like.
There was a time when I would daily partake of fast foods - the greasier the better.
Now the very thought of it makes me queasy.
I would starve myself rather than make food for myself until I finally lumbered off the couch and got a load of takeaway.
Nowadays I've been known to cook healthy food for the entire family.
The healthy lifestyle has certainly taken over this old boy that's for sure!

Really get point two into your head - it does help you power through those hunger pangs.
Going to bed hungry always gave me a smug feeling...knowing that good results would arrive with the morning weigh in.

Kim

[az81]

I can't even tolerate anything slightly resembling junk food any more - last night, beef sausages were on the menu. I grilled them and patted off excess fat with a paper towel, and managed to come in under my calorie limit. Unfortunately, my stomach didn't welcome them, and it got rather upset.

[admin]

Unfortunately sausages are one of those things no matter how much you pat them off they can tend to churn you stomach...what we do is use chicken or even Coles have in their organic meat section a mini sausage which is mint and lamb, they are little ones and taste quite good, not fatty at all....compared to the ones we used to eat.....anyone else have a suggestion for sausages? BBQ season is coming up and we need some sausages!

[az81]

And as Australians, we have no choice in the matter - sausage consumption is mandatory, and must be accompanied by bread and tomato sauce. Onions are optional, but must be fried on the same surface as the sausages and contain burnt parts of the sausage.

[Blitz]

Back in the day when I was a signwriter I did a lot of work for butchers.
Often I was presented by a butcher's tale of woe that he had just been done in by the meat inspector because his sausages contained too much meat.
If you've ever been in the back of a butcher's shop and seen them make sausages - it would put you off them.
Basically the sausage meat is made from all the leftover meat scraps of the good meat cuts.

In the 80's there was a real trend in butcher shops to offer "gourmet sausages","low fat sausages" or "weightwatcher sausages" as a way around the sausage content regulations and as a way to hook into extra sales to the health conscious.

Probably the best way to survive an Aussie BBQ is to bring some good quality steak, fish (beer and Vegemite added) in foil or make some trendy kebabs.

During weight loss I rarely ate sausages. Declaring them to my wife as rubbish meat.
My wife and daughter love them so we now occasionally have them.
But my wife usually gives me a small serve or gives me some quality meat instead.

Kim

[admin]

Blitz, how can you not go past a sausage sizzle at Bunnings!.....

[Tams]

Once you've had a good home-made sausage, you'll never go back. The Bunnings sizzle always smell SOOOO good...but if I weedle a bite from hubby's, it always tastes foul. Genuinely foul. Even he now acknowledges this and says he feels sick every time (guess my cooking has trained his body!).

We are very fortunate to know someone who makes amazing sausages and buy from them - we like the chicken and sundried tomato they make. When you cook them, zero fat comes out; and they have no gluten fillers or onion or garlic. Happy!

[Blitz]

Blitz, how can you not go past a sausage sizzle at Bunnings!.....

Stick your head down and run the gauntlet!

Tams is right...it never tastes as good as it smells.

Kim

[tinkerbella]

Oh I love a good sausage,hadnt had one for ages..Then the other night I had a pork one and I don't think I left a tooth mark,am I bad!!!
No don't answer that,anyways I just had too let you all know how much I enjoyed it with salad...

Get some pork on your fork..

[Blitz]

Natasha makes some good points.
Moderation ("haven't had one for ages")
Potion Size ("had A pork one")
Healthy Choices ("enjoyed it with salad")
That's the skill of an experienced hand at work for you.

Kim