Had my calories for the day but still hungry.....what now?

I just started the calorie countining this week and am finding that I eat my 2100 calories suggested for the day, but am still pretty hungry after I have all the calories gone.  What am I doing wrong?  Is there something I can do.. Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

what kind of food are you eating?

You could try drinking more water sometime you might think that your hungry but acturally your body want water.

I don't know if this will work for you but when I feel hungry and it isn't time to eat I drink water, or diet coke or diet tea and the next thing I know i'm not hungry any more.

I also chew gum.  Some times its the chewing that I want not the food.  If you know what I mean.

Hope this helps

Good Luck 

There are several ways to make your calorie allowance go further.....

• Base your meals around lots of vegetables... these are low in calories but righ in fibre and nutrition so they are filling and satisfying
• Choose good quality wholefoods.... foods that need some preparation and cooking tend to be more satisfying than ready-made, packet or 'diet' foods
• Choose high-fibre versions of foods such as brown rice instead of white, high-fibre cereals, wholemeal bread instead of white bread... the fibre slows down the digestion process.
• Eat home-made soups.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8068733.s tm They are filling and take longer to digest
• Have some protein at each meal... Could be an egg with breakfast, some nuts on a salad, some beans in a soup, some meat/fish etc.... Protein adds to the satiety of a meal
• Keep in some healthy fats.... Oils also add to the feeling of satisfaction. Low fat diets tend to be counter-productive
• Avoid sugar....  Sugary foods (anything with more than 20g sugar per 100g is a sugary food) set up hunger-pangs and cravings.

Finally... if you get to the end of the day and you're still hungry even after all the above, it's OK to have a light & preferably healthy snack.  It's better to have an extra 100 cals and go to bed feeling happy than to try to 'tough it out' , kid yourself you're not hungry and go to bed with a growling stomach and feeling miserable.  You won't lose weight any slower if you have an extra 100 cals from time to time.  This is about finding a healthy 'liveable' lifestyle... it's not an endurance test.

You have to break the Carb addiction.  You have to eat but it is a question of what you eat.  Keeping lean on carbs is the trick.  I handle 1500 cals daily and have very little problem.  Protein, vegs & fruit and little on other carbs.  Smaller meals but more of them. 

The carb craving will subside with a little time.

I find that high grade foods keep me fuller for longer, so I try to eat only foods that are grade A or B. That way I can manage to keep them under my suggested 1900 calories, even if my diet profile says that I'm an excessive eater (and I am). I won't tell you that it's easy, if it was, I wouldn't be here, but I can manage it. But when I eat lower grade foods, I can spend half my calories in a meal and am looking for something else after an hour.

Plus, if you just started, it might be that your body needs to get used to the significantly lower amount of food. I was miserable at first - before I started watching what I eat, I could easily go through 4000 cals in a day, so to go back to 1900 was a big change. After about a week it gets easier.

Hope this helps and good luck!

I have the opposite problem, I have to work to eat all my calories. Here's what I do:

I eat protein at every meal

I eat lots of low-calorie foods (leafy veggies, etc). I have a salad every day.

I don't eat any refined sugar or white flour (because they really have no nutritional benefit). In fact, I try and only eat foods that have some benefits besides calories: antioxidants, protein, healthy oils, vitamins, something. I find avoiding 'empty' foods helps me control hunger

I cook my own meals

I plan to evenly distribute my calories throughout the day.

With all of these, 2000 calories worth of food turns into a LOT of food, I can seldom eat it all. I used to do the lean cuisine meals, but I would stay hungry. Then I discovered that prepared at home, I can eat a lot more for the same calories.

Thanks so much everyone...especially Jane...what you said has helped a great deal. 

I do have one question yet though.  When you prepare your own meals I find it harder to track the exact calorie amount.  Any hints on this?

Practice. It is hard. But if you try it religiously for a week or two, you'll learn to estimate quite effectively. I let CC calculate most of it. Jot down everything you use and what amount (don't forget any oils), compute calories for whole dish/meal, then divide by the number of servings you eat of it. (If you eat half of it, just divide in half).

If you're looking for recipes, I recommend recipezaar.com, which computes and lists nutritional information (including calories) for every recipe listed. Almost any common recipe is there, and I frequently will try and find a recipe close to what I already use to estimate the calorie content.

Like I said, it can be pain to count cooked meals, but you'll be suprised at how well you can estimate it after counting it for a bit. Also, don't beat yourself up if you can't get it down to the exact number. I assume in any given day I may have eaten plus or minus 200 calories. Hope this helps a bit

OKAYY first of all don't chew gum. When your chewing it makes your body think its getting food when it's not, and ergo making you hungry. Spread your meals out!  Drink waterr, whole grain,  you know the deal!

Don't snack with a lot at a time, have some nuts then get some liek 30 min later or something when your hungry again, it will keep your metabalism going and you;l be able to lose weight

hope i help!, can you please help with mine too?

thank you

xx ellygirlxxo

I not only chew gum and drink ice water, I also brush my teeth. 

Original Post by jefferyr1973:

 When you prepare your own meals I find it harder to track the exact calorie amount.  Any hints on this?

 Try the CC recipe analyser.  Under 'foods' and 'new recipe'.  There are a few little wrinkles but it's relatively easy.   You can input the amount of ingredients and the number of servings and get a very good breakdown of calories and other nutrition info.   Very useful, you can then save the resulting recipe so that you can add a portion to your food log the next time around without repeating the exercise. 

This is my recipe for Carrot and Coriander Soup, for example...

Weigh your food. You'll know exactly what you're eating and how many calories are in it.