CJ C

So since I upped my "training" my appetite has been crazy lately. I am constantly hungry no matter what or how much I eat. I understand my body is taking on a larger load and needs to repair itself. Its just going against one of my goals to slowly get out of Clydesdale status.

The hunger has me eating some bad bad stuff, and even that doesnt fill the need either. I try to eat good but the appetite, humidity and bad habits are like a a one two punch followed by a right hook.

Funny how when its really hot out i USED to eat less, not this year. And when its this humid we wont cook in the house, that leads to evil decisions on take out food.

Any ideas or tips?

chasm54

Drink a lot of water. Don't have "bad stuff" in the house. Lay in a store of carrots and celery and eat them, raw. If they bore you, have an apple or a pear. At mealtimes, eat salads and green vegetables on an industrial scale. Chew gum.

steve2k

cycle to the take out place?

Eat more of the good stuff and less of the sugary, high carb stuff.

1nterceptor

Try to find some healthy alternatives to the bad stuff you're eating.
Me for example, I know I have to eat more fruits instead of cookies
or pastries. But some fruits I buy in the stores make my lips/mouth
itchy and/or numb; apples, plums, peaches, etc. But while I was
staying in China, I came across some fresh lychee fruit. They were
sweet and at a $1 a pound, were cheap. Same thing with veggies,
there are hundreds of vegetables you can try and see which ones
you like.

[h=6][/h]

CJ C

BTW;

i am not addicted to the sweets and sugars. Its the full on sandwiches, meat, potatoes, bread, and pasta. plus the fast food. I always have eaten a lot of veggies, i love vegies but once I am done with the veggies I am still hungry.

I may have to STOP cycling to loose weight!!!

Beanboy

How's your lean protein intake? Adding in more lean protein or even smoothies made from milk/powder protein/almond butter can help for the cravings between meals.

TrojanHorse

CJ C - if it were easy there wouldn't be so many of us on this forum.

Keep up the good fight!

mcrow

Best ways to solve hunger issues is to:

#1- Increase protein intake.
#2- Increase fiber intake (fruits, veggies)
#3- Limit carbs to fruits, veggies and whole grains.
#4- Make sure your getting enough fat or use olive oil on your salads and cook with it.

indyfabz

Yes. Make better decisions. You live in, what, the third largest city in the United States? I find it hard to believe that not cooking inside leaves you with only unhealthy takeout options. I have an antique range. Even the burners can warm the first floor of my small row house (which already gets hot from full southern exposure) in a short time. That doesn't lead me to evil decisions on take out when I don't want to cook inside. I will go somewhere like WF and get prerared chicken breasts and add them to salad greens and other vegetables, which require no cooking. And what about cooking outside? Grill some fish and vegetable kabobs, for instance. Sockeye salmon is available now. Wild, tasty, filling and good for you.

indyfabz

Yep.

CJ C

protein intake is about ~ .5 per pound of body weight. When i lifted i upped that to 1 to 1.

Just look at this morning so far and i am still hungry and its only 10:30;

Right after my ride 6:30-Glass of milk
6:45 two scrambled eggs
7:30 - banana
8:00 - Bagel & cream cheese
8:30 - organic yogurt
9:00 - apple
9:40 - Vending machine Famous Amous cookies
10:30 - still starving (craving a Italian beef sangwich w/ hot pepers and fries)

what i have waiting for me at lunch is 1.25 grilled chicken breasts with mozzarella with about 2 cups of mixed veggies and beans, and for a snack 1 cup of baby carrots. what will happen 1 hour after i eat i will be starving again and run to the vending machine for pretzels or chips. and still be hungry

tonight i am cooking a steak with broccoli and slice of sourdough bread w/ olive oil. what will happen an hour after that is I will probably eat my kids perdue chicken nuggets and make a ham sandwich too.

BTW this is not my typical food intake this is just what i am eating because i am starving all the time now

Regular breakfast would be a glass of milk two eggs and a yogurt (sometimes replace the yogurt with a banana)

CJ C

100% true.



Yes i know better decisions, if it was that easy i wouldnt be in the clyde forum and would have this thread. I have been making good decisions but the increased hunger has been killing this. It is more about after i make all the good decisions my body is still knocking on the door for something else.

its not the options its the so many options plus the hunger and the fact i just ate a salad with chicken says hmmm that fried ravioli on your menu sounds good, and oh free bread thank you.

CommuteCommando

Fast food has a lot of hidden sugar. Most french fries from fast food joints even have a light sugar coating, that turns to caramel coloring in the deep fryer. Most canned foods, and breads, from the grocery store have sugar pretty high up in the ingredients list.

Ronius_Maximus

For me, drinking lots and lots of water consistently and constantly works. Also... a big appetite fighter for many I know is tea. I just started drinking some tea and now i've even moved up to some quality tea from teavanna. Also, try to stay busy! I usually get hungry at night so I try to clean or work on my bike, clean around the house, and as a last resort- play some modern warfare or NBA2k12 (video games =) ).

Sixty Fiver

Needs more protein, and dare I say, fats and less carbs and sugars.

Constant cravings are often a result of a diet that is too high in carbs and sugar because of the swings in blood sugar this causes.

mcrow

Just to be clear, when losing weight, it matters little the type of the food just the calories. You can lose weight eating just twinkies but it's not optimal for maintaining muscle mass and getting you vitamins and minerals. It's not reasonable to say someone can never eat out if they want to lose weight, the key is planning for it and limiting the frequencey.

mcrow

Tha's a lot of carbs, not much fat, not much protein, not much fiber.

I always enjoy a protein bar or two in the morning (pure protein makes good ones and they're cheap). That way I get 40g of protein right away in the morning and it really helps so that I don't get hungry before lunch. Sometimes if I ride in the morning I'll eat 2 bars and a packet of nuts (~540 calories) and that will hold me over until lunch time and gives me 45g of protein. It also gives you enough carbs that you don't bonk during the day and the nuts give you some good natural fats which also help with hunger.

Keep in mind that if you don't get enough fat your body cannot produce proper amounts of hormones like testosterone. Longterm low fat diets will reduce your testosterone levels quite a bit, particularly if you cycle a lot or lift weights.

rumrunn6

add a chicken cutlet to every meal. seriously.
eat your eggs and bagel 1 hr before your ride and a banana or small box of raisins immediately before the ride
then a scoop of protein powder with fruit juice immediately after the ride
your afternoon snacks should be chicken cutlets, nibble on 1/2 then a little later eat the other half
no pretzels cookies donuts bananas or other fruit
yogurt is OK

hang in there, don't give up, you'll fine tune it eventually

indyfabz

I think you should focus on changing your approach to the part highlighted above. I cheese steak always sounds good every day of the week. I choose not to eat like that with any degree of regularity. I did when I was fat.

szewczykm

I've been doing pretty good, not a lot of extra hunger, even with the riding. People have said it, but I'll help compound it a little. There are a ton of carbs in what you're eating. Also, you don't list what you're drinking other than the glass of milk.

I've read from many sources that thirst is often mistaken for hunger. Make sure you're drinking enough that your urine is mostly clear/light yellow. If you're not peeing fairly often, you may not be getting enough water.

I'll usually start the day with a glass or two of water and yogurt. If I have time, two eggs (sometimes I add an egg white in there too to bulk it up) and two slices of bacon.
Lunch is usually some kind of lean meat, a vegetable, more water.
Snack is yogurt.
Dinner is the same as lunch.
After dinner - another yogurt.

Studies have shown that those eating 18 ounces of yogurt a day lose more weight than those only eating 6 ounces. Also, the weight is heavily lost in the belly area. (https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recip...its-of-yogurt/) Not the Yoplait yogurts either. Chobani, or something like it. Lots of probiotics, calcium, protein, and less sugar.

Any snacks along the way are berries and fruit. I really love berries. #1 on this list: (https://www.marksdailyapple.com/best-...#axzz22E70raid) So many berries are considered super-foods. I haven't seen a single thing to help hunger in our vending machines.

I won't say that I am doing a "no carb" thing, but I'm definitely avoiding superfluous carbs. I don't eat anything that is all carbs unless I think I need carbs for a ride. Pretty much anything that qualifies as a Sub, Grinder, Hoagie, whatever is off limits. Just SO much bread. I will eat a sandwich, but I cut out a lot of the bread. I'll snack on peanut butter (or sunflower butter which is great too) with some quality preserves on a piece of whole grain bread folded over.

I would limit these things to 1/2 or 1/4 portion and only eat them in combination with proteins and fats:
Bread
Potato
Pasta
Starchy vegetables and fruits like banana "They have a glycemic index of 56, not that far below the index of pure sugar (64)."

NO soda of any kind. Diet soda is especially bad for driving hunger. That artificial sweeteners wreak havoc with your hunger sensors.

Iced tea - unsweetened, black coffee, and water -maybe with some lemon. Iced tea and coffee are limited because they are diuretics. I'll have 8 ounces of lowfat chocolate milk after a ride.

Using an app/web site like "My Fitness Pal" is great because you track more than just calories. You can see fat/protein/carbs/vitamins/sodium and other things. There have been times where I've been high on some thing like sodium so I knew to cool it the rest of the day with salt. I've also seen myself low on vitamin c or vitamin a and so I ate something to balance that out. It's not a perfect balance, but it helps to decide what to eat next. Using the app is easy. There is a huge database of foods and a lot of times you can just scan the UPC with your smart phone and it will pull the product up. Unless I'm sure of the content of a food, I'll look it up before I eat it to see how it fits in my day.

I've been really happily surprised that keeping everything in balance and staying well hydrated has really kept me from being all that hungry. Usually when I start feeling hungry I notice that it's time for lunch or dinner. It used to happen well before actual meal times.

It's hard to do. I took things in stages. First, no pop. After a couple of weeks, no potatoes. Another two weeks, cut way back on bread. Another two weeks, no more sugar or cream in my coffee. Taking things one at a time really made it much easier when I was ready to really start working hard at it.

Also, check this out, many of the things you listed show up here: https://life.dailyburn.com/diet-and-n...make-you-full/

Sorry, I just started rambling...

In short, give this a shot it worked for me: Avoid foods that make you hungry and use My Fitness Pal. Keep track of what you're eating. Try to keep it all balanced. I've done that and I find that I'm only hungry when I actually need food.

mcrow

I would also add that in the beginning, when you just start losing weight, you have to remember that your body is going to fight the change. The body is programed to not want to lose weight, as a matter of survival programing. Yes, you may be very obese, but the body will the decreased intake of food as potential starvation. It assumes that if you are eating less it's because there is less food availible. To ensure survival it will make you feel hungry, sometimes even when you are still in a calorie surplus.

After a few weeks this should be less of a problem.

szewczykm

This was written to be funny, but I take #4 on this list to heart.

https://www.cracked.com/article_18611...school_p2.html

An excerpt:

Mithrandir

What's everyones opinion on Chicken Sausage?

I recently discovered this and I love the taste of it. Perhaps a bit saltier than is optimal, but I can't see anything really wrong with it.

szewczykm

And another thing!

This may or may not apply to you, it's just something I heard a guy say in the bike club the other day that I thought people might appreciate.

sstorkel

Let me re-state what you're eating:

6:30 - Simple carbs, small amount of protein
6:45 - Protein
7:30 - Carbs, small amount of fiber
8:00 - LARGE amount of carbs, minimal fiber and protein
8:30 - More simple carbs, small amount of protein
9:00 - Carbs, decent fiber
9:40 - Simple carbs

As you can see, most of what you've eaten today is carbohydrates. In my experience, proteins and fat help to curb hunger while carbohydrates don't. If anything, simple carbohydrates tend to exacerbate hunger, at least for me. Foods which contain complex carbohydrates and fiber may also help curb hunger. Your apple probably qualifies, but not much else that you've eaten today.

Unfortunately, being hungry is part of losing weight. You don't need to feel gnaw-your-arm-off starving, but there will be some hunger. If this meal doesn't make you feel full there are a couple of things you can try:

1) Drink more. I'm not a huge fan of water, so I drink a variety of different 0-calorie beverages: diet soda, sugar-free lemonade, tea, etc.

2) Eat a salad with a low-calorie dressing or no dressing. By low-calorie I mean 10-15 calories for 2 tablespoons. You can eat a lot of lettuce and other salad veggies without adding too many calories to your daily total.

3) Stay active. If your after-meal routine consists of sitting in front of the TV or at a desk staring at paperwork/computers you'll notice hunger much more readily than if you're involved in something that actively uses your body or brain. If I'm busy doing something that requires me to focus, I'm much less likely to notice hunger!

Skip the milk and the yogurt. Too many simple carbs. Add another egg or two (or perhaps egg whites, if you're worried about cholesterol). Or a piece of whole wheat toast with a piece of cheese melted on top. I usually get by with a protein bar and a cup or two of coffee...