As I’m one week into my family’s Biggest Loser Contest, my body is going through withdrawals. I’ve gone from eating all day long and anything I wanted, down to 3 healthy meals and 2-3 snacks in between. I’ve cut back on the fats and trying to have better portion control. And to be honest, I’m hungry… Me Want Food! I’m trying really hard not to even go into the kitchen, but it’s impossible. So I’ve decided I need some hunger weapons. Here’s a few healthy ways I’ve found to cut back my eating.
- Chewing Gum: I’ve bought packs of it. It’s only 5 little calories and gives me an hour or two. And I’m also improving my bubble blowing. I’ve been teaching my son how to blow a bubble. It’s a harder skill teach than I thought it would be!
- Water: Good old fashioned water. When ever I want food, I drink a glass of water first. I try to keep a pitcher of water in the fridge and make sure it’s full. I’m also planning to buy a large water bottle to take with me everywhere I go.
- Easy to grab Fruits, Veggies & Nuts: I made a grocery list of these snacks and actually bought them. Now they’re at the ready for me to grab. I love carrots, snap peas, grapes, clementine oranges, whole almonds and bananas.
- Dinnertime Trick: I’ve also figured out a way to lower my portions at dinner. Before I set the food on the table, I take out enough for lunch the next day. If I do this first, then I won’t over eat at dinner. It’s been working great, yay!
I found that just snacking on fruit still left me really hungry. Now I have some full-fat yoghurt mid-morning and it satisfies me. I think that eating sugar, even natural fruit sugar, or sugar substitutes can leave you with that empty feeling in your belly. Small amounts of healthy fat are necessary.
Almonds!!! When you get hungry, munch on 10-15 almonds and they help curb your appetite between meals…they are kinda high in calories, so don’t go overboard, but a few will do the trick!
Love the brushing the teeth trick…also, writing down what you eat definitely works. I lost 30 lbs. doing that last year. Drinking lots of water, too. Having a big waterbottle filled with cold ice water on hand definitely helps me drink a lot more than usual. Add some lemons to give it a little “kick” once in a while. Switch it up!
I just stepped on the scale to discover that I’d lost 3.8 lbs in a week. Like you, it’s because I’ve started eating “good for me” foods again, instead of crap foods that simply feed my addiction.
I know that most of this weight is water loss, but that’s okay. At least I’m no longer feeling like *such* a bloated sausage!
… I’ve discovered that writing down what I eat every day helps me be much more conscious of what I’m putting in my mouth. That’s what I’ve been using my blog for. It really helps!
Bloberella – I totally agree about eating lots of food, but good food. I haven’t been eating good for me food for a long time. And now that I am, eating sensibly, I feel much better.
Instead of saying in the post “Me want food” I should have said “Me want greasy fries and juicy sloppy burger!” But I’ve changed and am eating lots of good food.
It’s been over a week now and I’ve lost 5 pounds already, just from cutting my calories. Yay for me! Anyone else have good healthy news?
I have a real problem with portion control. As in, I don’t think it’s a very good way to establish healthy eating habits. All it does is make you think about how little you’re eating, and how hungry you are.
… Personally, I think it’s far healthier to eat LOTS of food — so long as it’s the right kind of food, in the right proportion. I went on a huge rant on this subject just this afternoon. If you’re interested, you can check it out here:
http://blobarella.blogspot.com/2009/01/hunger.html
In the meantime, good luck with your eating habits! I hope you come up with an eating plan that helps you shed those extra pounds and still leaves you feeling satisfied.
Oh, the water tip is the best one. I’m a huge advocate of water. (Is that even a thing to be an advocate for?)
I’m with Micha B. I brush my teeth.
Our family is doing a Biggest Loser contest, too. :-)
We are in week 14 of 17. There are 7 of us participating…each chipped in $20. The winner takes all. :-)
I have lost 35 pounds over the duration of the contest and have TOTALLY changed my eating habits and activity level.
I, too, carry Trident with me all of the time. I may only chew a piece for a minute or two…just to satisfy my sweet tooth.
I only drink water now….and am very happy in doing so. I was a huge Dr. Pepper drinker…but stopped cold turkey when the contest started. I do have skim milk with my cereal in the morning.
Speaking of cereal…I LOVE Kashi “Go Lean” cereals. In fact…I have grown to love almost all of Kashi’s foods. Natural ingredients and their foods do tend to fill me up faster and keep me satisfied longer. I also have switched to whole wheat pasta and breads. (no more white for me)
Finally…regarding activity level. I love my iPod shuffle and walk frequently. I also bought some bands and use them almost everyday…even if it is only for a few minutes.
Best of luck! :-)
Love these ideas!
– Brushing my teeth!
– Salad plates, but they’re so small :(
– Fiber
– Soup
And BN – You’re going down!!
I try to eat really high fiber meals. It’s good for me and helps me to last longer between meals. Breakfast generally has more than 15g of fiber.
Here’s my advice…
Just give up. You’ll never win the contest anyway!
-B
Oh Marie I am having the same problems! And I have been working out each evening, and then I come home and want to raid the fridge. Thanks for the tips!
Also, warm herbal tea helps me with my appetite. Also, flossing and brushing my teeth makes my mouth feel fresh and I don’t want to spoil it with food.
Great ideas! I’ve had success by having a big salad for lunch with a lot of nice lean protein ( I like rotisserie chicken in mine, yum! or salmon from a pouch, or tuna! hard-boiled eggs!), and I calm my sweet tooth by adding a packet of the powdered Crystal Light “Immunity” drink (it’s pomegranate and cherry-flavored, double yum!) to my big, pretty, stainless drinking bottle full of water. I love the bottle so I drink a lot and fill up on water.
Oh, and soup! I love soup for dinner and it’s very filling.
Really, great ideas, though!
Great tips! Of course it would be better were I not eating a package of goldfish crackers while reading them!LOL!
Ok I need to read all of these comments and this post a few times to learn what to do to help myself with this problem! Since Dec. I have been eating every meal healthy and training for a marathon. And I am ALWAYS hungry, always always. And I am just going through stacks of gum! You know what I started doing for portion control for dinner. I actually serve myself (along with my girls) on the small salad plate, it works for me!
Me Want Food–ha ha reminds me of that 30 Rock episode :)
Lots of great ideas here as always! I tried the animal guessing game with the kids at bathtime last night and it went over really well. My 4 year old asked to play it again this morning…thanks for the ideas!
This is timely advice, as I’m feeling the “me want food” urges that inevitably accompany eating goals. Thanks.
You’re hilarious. Me want food! That made my day.
These are such simple and practical ideas! I’m going to try them. Thanks.
another thing i do is i put my dinner on a kids plate they are small and all! a great sweet treat is frozen grapes i love them!
Thanks for the great tips! I love your site!
These are great tips! Same with these comments! I was going to mention the salad plate trick. That’s a good one. Another trick is grapefruit juice. If you are feeling hungry, poor a cup of grapefruit juice into a glass and then fill it up with water. The grapefruit juice helps curb your hunger and reduce cravings. Also grapefruit scent is supposed to do this as well.
Another thing I was going to mention is fiber supplements. We all know how great fiber is for our body in making it work better but it can also be used to help curb our appetite in a pinch. In fact, last night I was really jonesing for something sweet and I was so close to craving. My husband told me to go take some Metamucil (orange flavored, sugar free). I did and it totally stopped my craving and hunger feelings.
I’m rooting for you!!!
Jessica
http://www.MomShots.com
I agree with Deanna- pickles are weirdly awesome at curing a sweet tooth. I don’t do this often cuz I’m not one to just grab a pickle, but it works!!
The other thing that is a no fail for me is to brush my teeth. Seriously, having that fresh breath thing going on is a great deterrent to unnecessary snacking.
1. Pickles- when I want something to eat (or am bored or cannot choose what to eat) I grab a refrigerated Clausen’s pickle.
2. I bulk up my tuna (or chicken, salmon etc) salad- I add drained and rinsed large curd cottage cheese, loads of celery and some bacon. DH likes boiled eggs in his.
3. I chug a full glass of water before each meal.
4. Know your own body’s hunger clock – I am not hungry until about 9:30 so I do not force myself to eat breakfast but wait to have a brunch meal. Then I am hungry again about 2 so I eat lunch then.
I do the gum, water, and fruit and veggie trick. For portion control, we switched from using dinner plates to using salad plates – you can still fill your plate, just with smaller portions.
Thanks for the great! tips.
I love the one on the end about taking out enough for lunch the next day.
We are always eating too much trying to finish that last bit…
These are really good tips. A couple days ago I was about to leave to go grocery shopping, but I was scouring the house for a stick of gum before I left. I’ll buy fewer (so we’ll eat fewer) snacks if my mouth isn’t salivating over every chocolate thing I see.
Also, sometimes when we feel like we’re hungry we’re actually just thirsty so the water trick works for me too.