A few background details. I’m a 60 year old female, trying to lose weight. After some experimenting, I have found I can lose weight, albeit sloowly if I go down to 1,000 calories a day. Am 9 pounds down in the last 6 weeks.
In general, I’m trying to do hi-protein/low-carb. I have a Quest protein bar for breakfast. A small Noosa yogurt and a serving of fruit for lunch. A small piece of salmon or chicken and green beans or beets for dinner.
But I’m hungry all the time! When I go to bed at night, all I think about is food! Anybody have any helpful hints?
Replace the Quest bar with some eggs and oatmeal (unsweetened) or cereal (unsweetened) or a good quality multigrain bread. There are natural nut butters available that have no addes sugar. have that on toast. Add a banana.
Replace the Noosa with a sugar free, low fat greek style yogurt. Enjoy with fresh fruit or berries.
Add a large salad with all the raw vegetables you can cram in it (greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, edamame, onions, etc, etc, etc…), include a good fat like avocado or small amount of olive oil and vinegar dressing.
Before going to bed, eat a palm full of almonds and have a large glass of water.
Good luck.
You’re consuming way too much sugar and wasting those calories on food that healthier and more filling.
Also what is your activity level like? If you’re barely losing weight on a thousand calories a day then I would imagine you’re fairly sedentary. Please correct me if I’m wrong. A moderate increase in your activity may let you boost your food intake and continue to lose weight.
You don’t look like you’re trying to eat low carb at all. I looked up Noosa yogurt and found it had 29 grams of sugar per serving. How do you justify calling that a low carb choice, especially combined with fruit, which is loaded with sugar as well?
If you don’t want to be hungry you need to get more fat and less sugar in your diet. I do best when 65% of my calories come from fat and 5% or less from carbohydrates.
I was in the grocery store last week buying a bag of dog food. The woman behind me asked if I had a dog. I first thought, it’s pretty damn obvious isn’t it?, but then decided to have a bit of fun with it. I told her, no, I was restarting my dog food diet. You just fill your pockets with the kibble and every time you feel hungry you just eat a bite or two. The dog food contains all of the nutrition you need, in fact the last time I did the diet, I had lost 18 pounds over the course of 6 weeks, before I woke up in the ICU with tubes and cables attached to me. The woman asked me if the dog food was what sent me to the hospital. I said, no, I got the urge to sniff a poodle’s butt, stepped of the curb and got hit by a bus! The man behind the lady asking me the question laughed out loud for about 30 seconds.
Vegetable soups. You get a lot of bang for few calories. Cheap and filling. Do roll-ups of a slice or two of deli turkey (or ham), chopped tomato, a pickle and a bit of mustard. A couple of eggs and one slice of bacon is very satisfying and high in protein, with just enough fat from the bacon to satisfy that craving. Try a large chef salad for dinner, but not too much sliced ham/turkey plus dressing. Probably three ounces of meat plus a couple tablespoons of oil/vinegar would be plenty. A measured cup of chili plus one tortilla is filling.
My wife and I are presently following Weight Watchers guidelines (using their point system, but not going to any of their meetings). I’m presently down 28 pounds since the first of June. I feel hungry at meal time, but am generally fine with what I’m eating. If I get a craving for something, I often give in to it, but in moderation and in keeping within my point range. The available points are based on your present weight. As you lose weight, you gradually reduce your point intake until you reach your goal.
A night snack for me is a tablespoon of jam mixed into a cup of Chobani vanilla yogurt. Small bites and savor them.
My doctor recommended My Fitness Pal to use for calorie counting, and you can also log exercise with it. It’s free to join and use online, plus there’s a mobile app if you’re inclined to use it on your phone (but not necessary!). I’ve been very satisfied with results from it so far, the other benefit of joining up is there’s extensive blogging happening, you can friend and follow people undergoing the same journey (or not if you don’t want to), they publish recipes and articles on the website and via email to you, for low-cal ideas, tips and tricks for food and exercise, and motivation.
I started a month ago and have lost 5 pounds as of today. I have the calorie counter set to make me lose a pound a week, hoping to make the plan stick for the long term, I’m working on a lifestyle here, not just some weird diet that makes me lose weight and not learn how to eat properly. Exercise is the other half of the equation for me, too, though. Incorporating moving, just walking more and engaging in my neighborhood has helped my mood and I must say, my appetite too!
I’m pretty sure if I had the yogurt and fruit you’re having, it would warn me when I log lunch that it’s too much sugar. It’s really been a useful tool, and I’ve learned a few foods to definitely stay away from, not realizing before this that they’re hugely wasteful calorie bombs (croutons, I’m looking at you!).
Then the OP might wake up in the middle of the night to pee and be hungry and raid the fridge . I agree that is lot of sugar and that will made your blood sugar high and when it goes back down you want more sugar.
What **Bill Door **said. The OP’s “diet” is exactly how fat people usually cut calories and end up fatter yet. You’re living on two junk meals throughout your waking day then eating a decent though bulkless dinner. No wonder you’re always hungry.
Zero sugar, zero sweeteners, nil white carbs, mostly plant fats and fairly lean proteins with veggies for bulk, spice for flavor, and a smidgen of fruit or dark chocolate for treat. Eat simple stuff you make, not complicated stuff with paragraph-long ingredient lists you can’t pronounce.
There’s a tremendous variety of foods available within those strictures. If you’re eating the same lunch or dinner meal more than once every week or two, you’re doing it wrong and preparing to get burned out on the project. If meals are joyless dutiful chores you’re doing it wrong.
And moderate exercise every single day to maintain metabolic rate. “Moderate” is whatever degree of exertion is appropriate for your age, weight, & condition. If you’re pleasantly stimulated and a bit tired afterwards, you’re doing it right.
You can do this. Without danger or extreme measures or will power. But it does need to be tackled smartly.
1,000 calories is ridiculously low, of course you’re hungry! And a Quest bar is not food. It’s nearly 300 calories of wood shavings and fake sugar. You could have a couple of eggs (78 calories each) and fresh fruit for breakfast for the same number of calories, and it would be more satisfying, more filling, and healthier.
Instead of regular yogurt, eat a reasonable lunch. A salad – fill up on veggies, lean meat, and beans. Dressing on the side. Don’t mess with reduced-fat, that’s more crap. You can easily make your own dressing and control the sugar and fat in it. It’s easy to make a basic vinaigrette dressing, and change up the ingredients to change up the flavour (example, I like honey-mustard, so I add some honey and Dijon mustard to the vinaigrette dressing).
Please see a doctor for tests to find out why your restrictive diet is not causing weight loss, and then see a science-based dietitian. You’ll know the person is science-based if they don’t demonize any one food, don’t claim any one food is THE ANSWER, have you eating a range of foods, and teach you how to work comfort foods and treats into your routine.
When I get really hungry, and don’t want to eat anything solid, a nice hot cuppa tea really does feel good. It’s “pseudo-filling.” It makes the tummy feel warm and happy.