Everyone has their own reason why it is difficult for them to lose weight. Unless you are one of those lucky people who are genetically slim and fit, you probably understand the struggle of trying to lose weight efficiently.
Although there are many different issues for people looking to drop a few pounds, one of the most common problems is dealing with hunger while dieting.
For many people, dieting involves eating less than normal. Regardless of how badly you want to lose weight, it is difficult to reduce the amount of food you eat each day drastically.
Developing a stable diet and eating routine is one of the best weight loss tips, but it is difficult to stick to a proper eating routine if you are constantly hungry.
Check out these tips to manage how hunger while you are on your diet and successfully lose weight fast!
Slowly Decrease the Amount of Food You Eat Each Day
The easiest way to manage hunger while on a diet is through helping your stomach realize how much food you need to eat per day.
Even if you have the right intentions, beginning your diet by cutting the amount of food you eat each day in half will ruin your efforts. Instead, start by cutting 500 calories at a time from your normal diet.
If you reduce the number of calories you are eating by 500 per day, your body will not experience any drastic shock.
As you continue to reduce how much food you eat per day, your stomach will naturally adapt, and you will not feel intense hunger.
Having a long-term plan is necessary if you want to lose weight and be healthy for a long time.
Drink Coffee or Tea Throughout the Day
Many people drink coffee or tea each morning to wake up their mind and body, but not many understand that both these drinks have appetite suppressing effects. Caffeine itself is an appetite suppressor, and properties unique to coffee and tea increase this effect even more.
In fact, appetite suppression is one of the main ways that most “fat burning” pills help you lose weight since they’re loaded with caffeine and other stimulants that reduce your desire to eat.
If you are going to use caffeine to reduce symptoms of hunger while dieting, you need to remain conscious of how much caffeine you are consuming overall.
For most people, consuming about 200mg of caffeine each day is enough. 200mg of caffeine is generally about three cups of coffee, which is a healthy amount.
Drinking too much caffeine can have many negative side effects, including causing jittery and shaking feelings throughout your day. Although caffeine is a great way to reduce your hunger while dieting, it is very important you control how much caffeine you consume each day.
Practice Yoga
It might sound unique, but practicing yoga is potentially the best way to deal with hunger while you are dieting.
Unlike other methods of reducing your appetite and dealing with hunger, yoga helps you manage these issues through deep-breathing and internal-awareness.
There have been many studies conducted on the beneficial effects of yoga, mindfulness, and meditation on weight loss, and the consensus is that these activities help you lose weight and control the amount you eat through internal body awareness.
When you practice yoga (especially slow, deep-breathing yoga), you generate a stronger connection between your mind and your body. Over time, you will start to learn more about how your body is feeling, what it needs, and how to improve it healthily.
In fact, yoga is even a potential-cure for people suffering from true eating disorders!
According to Advances in Eating Disorders,
“The basic tenets of yoga, anecdotal reports of its effectiveness, its high accessibility and low cost, and initial research findings suggest that yoga may offer promise for the field of eating disorders.”
If practicing yoga can help manage true eating disorders, it can certainly help you manage hunger while on a diet!
Along with increase body awareness, yoga also helps reduce hunger through deep-breathing. The slow and dramatic breaths involved in many yoga classes are an excellent way to reduce the sensation of hunger and pass the time until your next scheduled meal.
Especially for those people who have developed an eating routine for their diet, practicing yoga is one of the best ways to manage hunger until you eat again!
Eat a Diet High in Protein and Healthy Dietary Fats
Although there are many tricks,you can use to reduce your hunger throughout the day while you are on a diet, eating a day that will “keep you full” is the best solution.
It might seem complicated to choose foods which will satiate you throughout the day, but it is very simple.
Proteins and healthy dietary fats are digested much slower in your stomach than carbohydrates, and they will keep your stomach feeling full longer.If you are going to eat carbohydrates, choose high-fiber carbs or complex carbohydrates which are digested slower as well.
The key to reducing hunger while on a diet is to continue to eat a large amount of food, but eat nutrient-dense food which will fill your stomach for hours.
Sugary foods and foods high in refined carbohydrates digest through your stomach very quickly, and you will become hungry shortly after eating.
Contrarily, it takes a lot of effort and time to digest healthy dietary fats, lean protein, and high-fiber foods.
Examples of foods that will keep you full longer are:
- Eggs
- Chicken
- Fish
- Hemp
- Sweet Potatoes
- Oatmeal
- Peanuts
- Almonds
Sack on Apples When You are Hungry
Apples contain an important type of dietary fiber known as pectin, which is specifically impressive for reducing your hunger throughout the day.
Pectin is a form of soluble fiber, and one of its main health benefits is that it prevents blood sugar crashes following meals. Although apples are full of sugar, the pectin in apples allows your stomach to digest apples much slower.
If you are looking for a snack between your meals to keep you full, an apple is an excellent choice!
If you have trouble limiting how much food you eat during each meal, you can eat an apple about an hour before to “fill” your stomach.
You can easily eat up to four or five apples per day, and the additional fibers should fit in to your diet perfectly anyways!
Concluding Thoughts on Dealing with Hunger While Dieting
Many people advise managing hunger by “not thinking about it,” or other ridiculous suggestions. Fortunately, there are many actions you can take each day to reduce hunger and stick with your diet.
For most people, eating nutrient-dense foods is the only solution for reducing hunger they will need. Choosing high-protein and high-healthy dietary fat foods will keep your stomach full much longer than high-carbohydrate foods, and it is likely you will make it to each new meal without intense hunger.
If this is not enough for you, use the other tips listed above as well! Intense hunger can ruin anyone’s diet strategy, which is why you should utilize various tips to reduce hunger while dieting.
The tips listed above are natural and effective, and you will be surprised how well they work for you!
