How do I find "filling" low calorie foods?

I am going through the most frustrating part of my journey.

I lost 5 pounds over the course of the month with calorie watching and excercise. I gained it all back overnight and about to give up.

I am STARVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to lose about 30 pounds in 5 months but have decided that there is absolutely NO WAY i CAN do it on this diet. So I set my goal for a weight loss of 20 pounds in 5 months. I am on a calorie diet of 1,350 calories per day. Which is actually not that bad.

My problem is that I have NO IDEA how I can find foods that are filling with a low calorie content. If I eat breakfast (bowl of cheerios and milk) I am hungry 10 minutes later and am already facing 300 calories. 4 bowls of cereal a day and I've already reached my calorie goal and am famished!

Every time I plug in a food to find out it's calorie content. My mind is blown. I am drinking so much water to try and fill my stomach so that I dont think about food all day long but it's not helping. I am so frustrated I could cry.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I am a food addict and I literally think of food every moment of the day. I am starving to death (not really but you get the picture) and feel like jumping off the wagon for good.

Any ideas will help me get back on track as mental dedication is key to me following through with what I've started.

Thanks so much!

Shapray

You might try the SouthBeach meals, snacks, cereal bars, meal replacement bars..They are low cal, very high in fiber and very high in protein - so they keep you full longer. Its worked for me and I constantly thought about food and when I could get my next "fix" ~ Good luck and hang in there!

fruits and veggies are pretty much the lowest you can go with calories. You get a lot of them for a low amount of calories. If I were you I'd up your calories on the days you're really hungry. I'm supposed to be doing 1300 calories for my goal, but I have days where I eat 1500 and sometimes even 1800, which is my maintenance. It's the only way I can do it because there are days where I feel really hungry and if I just stuck with 1300 then I would definitely give up. I haven't met my goal as fast as I would like, but I'm getting there and that's the most important thing :)

also, instead of cereal, try some oatmeal. It fills you up much more and is pretty much similar with the calories. I use instant oatmeal, but you could do whatever.

First of all, 1350 calories per day IS starving if you ask me.  I would suggest getting 30 minutes walking in so that you can eat more.  I can only recommend prepping ahead and eating carrots with Ranch, or celery with peanut butter or lite cream cheese as snacks, choosing a chicken/turkey breast salad with no croutons for one of your meals (I use full fat dressing and still keep that meal under 500 calories).

Also, a 5 pound fluctuation is totally normal from my experience and that weigh should be thrown out.   Take care of yourself!  -CQ

I'd recommend reading the South Beach Diet book. A lot of what they said was counter-intuitive to me, but turned out to be just what I needed to feel full.

Sometimes you need to spend the extra calories if it means being fuller longer. Whole grains, lean meats, and lots of vegetables help so much more than I could have ever realized!

Vegetables really fill me up! It's amazing. I can munch on sugar snap peas, bell peppers, and carrots and feel full. And they are all low calorie.

Another thing you can do is eat lots of dark, leafy greens. I sautee mine in a little broth to boost the flavor, toss in some garlic, and spray some lemon in. Also, baby spinach is amazing at filling me up. Just a little low calorie dressing and I'm in heaven (I particularly love spinach with grilled chicken over it, cucumbers, asparagus, and drizzled with Newman's Own Lighten Up Honey Mustard).

Also, think soupy! I have found some great soups. I found that low calorie soups are great for me.

Here are my favorites:

http://caloriecount.about.com/recipe/69393.ht ml

http://caloriecount.about.com/recipe/46576.ht ml

http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/item/105523. html (Or anything by Pacific Naturals)

And Progresso has "0 Point" soups that are low cal and filling!

 

Also, nix the refined carb cereal and go for whole wheat cereals, oatmeals, or, even better something hearty and easy to make in the morning, like my breakfast wrap:

1 Mission Low Carb, 8 inch whole wheat tortilla (or any other high fiber, low calorie tortilla you want) (around 110 calories)
1 wedge of laughing cow light cheese (35 calories)
4 egg whites, microwaved or scrambled in a pan -- I microwave them, just a quick spritz of Pam in a microwave safe bowl, pour in the egg whites, and set it for about 2-3 minutes. (15 calories each = 60 calories)

Your whole wrap is 205 calories, then you can add in an apple (always makes me full, I think it's how much water it has in it) and have a filling breakfast for under 300 calories. Or you can add salsa, peppers, onions, spinach, or asparagus to your wrap to make it even better!

Something a little less healthy, but still filling...I will eat a bag of microwave popcorn and have a can of diet soda. And yes, a full sized bag, not the mini bags. Each cup of popcorn has about 30 calories, and there are approximately 4 cups per bag, so only 120 calories. It fills me up and it is a treat! Good luck!

Hello Shapray,

I can completely sympathize with you! :)

My goal has been very similar to yours. I started in September with the goal to lose 35 pounds and I have been on a calorie diet of 1350 a day since then. I found it very difficult at first, so I can totally understand your situation. What I did for myself seemed to have worked, however, because I've lost 25 pounds so far!

So, here's a low down on what my usual food intake is like:

For breakfast, I eat a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and a glass of fat free milk. I usually have a cup of coffee to go with it.

For lunch, I've always tried to vary what I ate. For awhile, I would eat a salad, some kind of fruit and some protein based food (like tunafish or a hard-boiled egg). Protein is great because it fills you up longer than carbs will. A couple of months into dieting, I started to buy a lot of frozen organic food (I LOVE Amy's!). You can get a frozen burrito ranging from 270-300 calories and they are usually pretty filling (especially with beans - more protein!)

Sometimes, if I was still hungry, I would bring one of those 100 calorie popcorn bags with me to work and pop a bag mid afternoon.

I won't lie, I was very, very hungry at first during the day. But I can tell you that it WILL pass. You have to give it about a month, and those extreme hunger feelings will start to go away and you'll get used to the amount of calories you are putting in your stomach. Your body just needs time to adjust.

For dinner, I like to eat a bit more. (I like to come home from a day of work and exercising ready to eat a bigger meal). I usually would leave about 700-800 calories for dinner. I had food like salmon, all beef hotdogs (although not anymore since I've gone vegetarian) mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, stuffed shells, soup - you get the picture!

Of course, it might work better for you if you split lunch and dinner calories more evenly. More for dinner just worked for me!

I'm actually having a little bit of difficulty now because my calorie limit for weight loss is around 1200 (no lower, of course!) since I'm at a much lower weight then I used to be. You'd be amazed what a difference 150 calories can be! It's definitely a struggle - but that brings me to my main point:

You CAN do this. It's definitely not easy. If it were, I never would have gained weight in the first place! As you get used to a diet routine, cravings will start to subside. You just have to be patient - I promise you'll start to see results. What you're getting out of this lifestyle change is far better than any bite of pizza or extra bowl of cereal can be. You'll feel better inside and out.

I hope that helps! I know I rambled on a bit :)

I find that Natures Own double fiber wheat bread is an awesome filling snack. I toast it, then I put spray no calories butter on it, then I might put peanut butter or sugar free strawberry preserves on it. I can eat like 4 pieces a day and hardly take in any calories except for the peanut butter. In which, I split the 2 tbsp of that into two. So I have peanut butter on one piece , then later on another and I only have to account for just the calories of two tbsp. Course, I just confused myself so I know I did you. Anyhoo....that bread and cereal does good for me.

I agree with you that dieting can get pretty hard...especially when you are hungry.  I did a lot of research and found that if you eat a good healthy bfast...u wont get as hungry and munch unnecessarily snack the rest of the day, also I read spreading out your meals to about 6 times a day increases ur metabolism as well as helps your weight loss:

BFAST:  If u go with cereal, add an egg or 2-3 egg whites and a fruit like banana or apple..., or OATMEAL or CREAM OF RICE

Mid morning:  A handful of almonds, a fruit or a smoothie

Lunch:  Salad greens+2 hard boiled eggs (if u didnt have it in the morning) or chicken breast with olive oil, vinagerrette or salad dressing

Mid afternoon snack:  Celery, carrot sticks and hummus (good source of protein-very healthy and filling but measure so u dont go overboard)

Dinner:  Salmon, green beans, and 1/2 to 1 cup rice

Evening snack: 1/2 Toast+peanut butter+apple or dates

I think the important PROTEIN and FIBER!!!

Hi there!  Your not alone!  The trick is to find foods that are high in FIBER!  Foods that are high in FIBER and the ones that are the most FILLING!

Oatmeal is great!! Trythe weight control Quaker oatmeal, which is low in sugar AND in cals.  There are a bunch of yummy flavors and one packet is around 150ish cals.

steamed vegetables are awesome & filling. when you get hungry, slice a yellow squash or zucchini or cut up some broccoli or cauliflower and eat 1-2 cups of that. it's filling without taking up too many calories since they are delicious with just a little salt & pepper, lemon juice, and maybe a 20-calorie tablespoon of grated parmesan on top.

1 cup cauliflower = 28 calories

1 cup broccoli = 44 calories

1 cup yellow squash = around 35 calories

1 cup zucchini = around 35 calories

good luck!

I usually go to the grocery store or farmer's market on the weekend and buy a huge bag of veggies, mostly dark green veggies such as swiss chard, broccoli rabe, bok choy, etc., which I blanch and put into containers. Sometimes I'll cook the veggies in broth so that they have more taste to them. Otherwise I just blanch them in water. Blanching them takes out the bitterness of the greens without overcooking them, and gives them a nice bright green color.

You can take the pre-cooked veggies and dress them up any way you want during the week when you're more pressed for time. For example, you can put lemon on them, stir fry them, etc., or simply microwave them. I usually just microwave them and eat them because I have gotten used to the taste of plain veggies, and I actually like that taste now. Go figure. I didn't think I could ever get used to eating veggies without lots of olive oil. :-)

As carrihound notes above, the calorie counts for (non-starchy) veggies are really low considering their volume.

For additional ideas, you could check out the book "Volumetrics" which includes other examples of how to stretch your calorie budget.

But I'll acknowledge, as someone else has above, that you will feel like you're starving initially, until you gradually get used to eating less. I still have days when I blast through my calories for the day and I'm STILL HUNGRY! It's infuriating! But thankfully it happens less often now. Exercising helps a lot, if for no other reason than it provides a distraction from eating. :-)

Hang in there!

I agree with those that said 1350 calories isn't very much, I eat low calorie half of the week and much higher on other days (I calorie cycle!). And I've lost 70 lbs doing so.

 You can take a look at my shopping list and blog if you'd like some meal and shopping ideas: http://www.j3nn.net/shopping-list

Original Post by smvinz:

Something a little less healthy, but still filling...I will eat a bag of microwave popcorn and have a can of diet soda. And yes, a full sized bag, not the mini bags. Each cup of popcorn has about 30 calories, and there are approximately 4 cups per bag, so only 120 calories. It fills me up and it is a treat! Good luck!

 

Not to be discouraging, just a point of clarification...a full sized bag of popcorn has much more than 4 cups--measure it out next time and see. The mini bags have about 6 cups fully popped. The labels on popcorn are confusing, you have to look at the tablespoon amount. Also, the fat-free versions typically have 15-20 calories per cup, so you will save calories eating it rather than the 30 calorie/cup version.

oatmeal is the one thing i can eat in the morning that will get me to lunch. quaker oats maple & brown sugar for weight loss has 6 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein. the best thing is its fast. on days when i'm dragging in the morning i can put it in a small plastic cup and eat on the way to work.

thanks for asking this question. i struggle with thinking about food all the time too, and there are a lot of good ideas here about how to stop craving and the annoying, ever present tummy-grumble.

Anything that's high in fiber like RAW not cooked fruits & veggies, lean proteins like baked chicken & fish and drinking water will fill you up for a long time by suppressing your appetite

It's like using your own FREE form of hoodia 

 

Yes, high in fiber is what you need. start reading the boxes of cereal. I eat grape nuts at 7 grams fiber. that keeps me filled all morning. when I want variety, a bowl of oatmeal @140 calories is 4 grams fiber.

Watch for fiber content. you can eat a lot of veggies and fruit, whole grains (whole wheat pasta brown rices/basmati rice which tastes great) and that are loaded w/fiber.

The thing about fiber is that it's dense w/o being calorie dense so you FEEL full longer. It takes longer to move through your system. It also keeps your colon clean so it helps in prevention of diseases.

stay away from the high sugar/white flour based products. they are processed foods and are low in fiber and make you hungry faster.

even tho diets like south beach rev up your metabolism they are now saying that these high protein animal diets can also make you very sick in the long term.

    I think its the kind of food you're eating. I would say to eat more fiber and protein. Someone mentioned egg whites, thats a good one. So are turkey, chicken and fish. Also lots of raw veggies. Start looking through the vegetable category and you will be surprised how much you can eat.

Honestly, I don't consider things like cheerios to be real food because they contain nothing but refined carbohydrates. For cereal, I cook whole grains - that will fill you up.

Here's an example: Yesterday my calorie intake was 1,258. I ate:
Breakfast
1 c. whole milk
1 banana
1.5 cups cooked oat bran cereal
coffee

Lunch
11.5 oz. can V8 juice
18 All Bran crackers
piece of string cheese

Dinner
3 oz. cooked chicken breast stir fried with frozen asian veggies in a little sesame oil, ginger & garlic. (Includes the sauce in the frozen veggies)
.75 c. white rice (I'm out of brown, need to go shopping)
1 serving (6 pieces) Whole foods mini dim sum (frozen)
about a tablespoon Mae Ploy sauce for dipping

Snacks
1 banana
10 m&m's

Don't deny yourself sugar entirely, craving can drive you nuts and lead to falling off the wagon. I chose m&m's because if you only eat 10, its only 34 calories, and it satisfies the sweet tooth. Also don't let yourself go hungry for long periods of time or the temptation to overeat gets overwhelming. Just remember to stick with raw fruits and veggies and lean protein. After awhile, your tastes will change, and you will love real food, but you have to give your tastebuds and your body a chance to adjust. Good luck.

I am sure all of these replies covered large ground, but just one thing I'd like to point out is: watch your sugar intake.

Aside from the calories ingested, sugar consumption can make you hungry sooner than something without sugar. So I avoid it as much as possible (not to a crazy extent--I still eat fruit). Also, fake sugar like Splenda, acts just like sugar in your body. So it can have the same wacky effects on your blood sugar level as eating real sugar.