I've read that regular exercise is supposed to curb your appetite. I find that the more I exercise the more my appetite increases. In fact, on those occasions where I can't make it to my workout for a few days (sick kids, crazy work schedule, travel, etc), my weight actually drops and my appetite decreases. I figure I'm probably losing muscle mass when this happens since when I start my workouts again, my weight and appetite increases.

In the hours after my workout, I find that I'm feeling hungry constantly and then I tend to eat too much. I believe this is the reason my weight loss seems to have leveled off. I've tried drinking lots of water, but the full feeling doesn't last long. Any suggestions on healthy, low-cal foods that will help me get past the hunger pangs?

Thanks!
Darren

I do the following:

Drink Water
Chew Gum
Do Something To Keep My Mind Off Of It...

In the hours after my workout, I find that I'm feeling hungry constantly and then I tend to eat too much. I believe this is the reason my weight loss seems to have leveled off. I've tried drinking lots of water, but the full feeling doesn't last long. Any suggestions on healthy, low-cal foods that will help me get past the hunger pangs?


My workout at the moment is a 45-minute Nordic Track session, because I'm a lot more concerned about my long-term heart fitness than I am about building muscles. I'm already married, so I'm not trying to attract women, and my family has a history of heart disease, so "not dying" is more of a motivator to me than "getting ripped." ;) I'm trying to build the routine I plan on doing every day for the rest of my life, and cardio is my biggest focus. That said, there is some muscle-building element from the arm and leg resitance, and I have in fact dropped an inch and a half off my waist in the past three weeks while gaining a pound, so I'm obviously building some muscle.

Anyway, I mention all this to preface that we are different people, your workout and body chemistry probably differ from mine, and what I'm doing may not work for you. My basic dietary clock looks like:

Get up, have a serving and a half of oatmeal, with a generous amount of non-trans-fat butter substitute (and a light flavoriing of brown sugar). Give this a good half an hour to digest before dong anything else. I find if I go for more refined carbs, or drop the fat in the butter, the calories don't take me through the workout and I'm pooped halfway through. As well, if I try to excercise too quickly after eating, my body hasn't processed the energy and is trying to pull it from reserves and really wants me to sit down, instead. I can push through either situation, but why make it harder than it has to be?

Next, workout for 45 minutes, take a shower, get dressed, go to work.

When I arrive at work, pretty much as soon as I get settled in, I try to have a high-protein snack. A serving of cottage cheese does me well, as does a few pieces of plain-old cheese. I find that protein here really helps settle down my hunger, and I think my body likes it for muscle-building from the recent excercise.

Then, the way I fight hunger in general, I try to have a wide variety of foods available all day and snack all day. My typical lunch bag looks like, a PB&J, a ham and cheese sandwich, a serving of cheese (for the aforementioned snack), an orange, and a double-serving of carrot sticks. Sometimes I'll throw in some leftovers instead of one or both of the sandwiches, or vary the fruit. Point is, I tend to have a snack about 10:00, lunch about noon, a small snack about 1:30 and another snack about 3:30. Since I have small kids, we have dinner early, about 5:30, and I usually have a final snack about 8:30 or so. When you add it all up, I'm running a 750-1000 calorie per day deficet, but, since my stomach always has something to work on, I don't feel hungry during the day.

Another big one for me is really actively listening to my stomach while I'm eating. If I hit the point where I'm full, I stop eating, and put it away for later. I've found that 500 calories broken into a 300 calorie chunk and a 200 calorie chunk, eaten two hours apart, can keep you feeling satisfied for four hours, when if you ate all 500 at once, you might be hungry again in two and a half.

I will admit, I'm looking forward to getting to the end of my weight-loss phase (about the middle of July, if I stick on it) and being able to consume 2800+ calories per day to maintain. That's gonna be fun. :D

TQ

I find fresh raw fruit or veg works.
I eat cucumbers apples bananas carrots etc, anything with a high water content,
I only eat fruit on an empty stomach, that way its digested within 30 mins or so.
Fruit seems to work well because it digests very quickly and uses almost zero energy to digest.
But then I am a monkey.

right now I keep a 3lb bag of fuji apples next to my food stores, so when I get a craving after my post workout meal (usually happens around twenty-twentyfive minutes after), I grab an apple and eat it. The pectin in the apple keeps me from feeling hungry, and it's a great way to get my servings of fruit. i just realized looking at the three apples left, that I've been eating 2-3 apples a day to have gone through the bad this quickly. Better than binging on chips though. :)

Like cuttingking...

Chewing sugar-free gum is a good way to kill cravings/hunger pangs. Also, drinking a lot of water does the trick. I drink over 2 gallons a day and since beginning drinking that much, I can't really remember having any hunger pangs.

Like cuttingking...

Chewing sugar-free gum is a good way to kill cravings/hunger pangs. Also, drinking a lot of water does the trick. I drink over 2 gallons a day and since beginning drinking that much, I can't really remember having any hunger pangs.

100% agree with Famous. I drink 6 quarts of water a day. This doesn't include drinking green tea in the afternoon and the odd glass of OJ during meals. I have a hard time eating 1500 calories and at my body weight I need almost 3000 calories to maintain my weight!!! Once you eliminate soda and snack food (chocolate bars, chips, crackers, etc) it's easy to get a negative calorie balance. I find I have been a LOT less hungry when I increased my protein intake to 40% of my calories as well.

I thought the water thing was a myth but once I actually did it rather then speculate what I think it would do, I really did see the benefits of drinking so much water, not only to curb your appetite, but also to improve your overall health. Don't knock it (like I did) 'till you try it.

Xtropy

I drink lots of water as well but sometimes that does not work

When water doesnt work I drink a cup of black coffee. Low Cal's and kills the hunger for about 1-2 hours which is all you should need untill your next meal.

I drink lots of water as well but sometimes that does not work

When water doesnt work I drink a cup of black coffee. Low Cal's and kills the hunger for about 1-2 hours which is all you should need untill your next meal.

Thanks for all of the suggestions - these are great! I have also found that a cup of joe right before a meal seems to really curb my appetite, but I usually avoid this at dinnertime so I am not wired all evening. Sorry, I can't really chew gum that much because of a TMJ problem in my jaw. Lot's of folks recommending water consumption here...I think this is sound advice and I do drink plenty of water throughout the day, especially in the late day/evening. My kidneys must be super efficient because it runs right through me in 15 mins and then I'm feeling those hunger pangs again.

I like the suggestion on increasing overall protein intake, perhaps this will help level out my appetite throughout the day. I also think that one of the reasons I get so hungery after workouts is a drop in blood sugar so making sure I have plenty of apples, bananas, oranges, etc on hand should help this.

Thanks again!
Darren

First, make sure you're eating enough! I didn't count calories my first week, but when I went back and reviewed my diet, I realized that I wasn't eating nearly enough. Second, you may want to drink a glass of water when you feel hungry. Sometimes hunger pangs are your body's way of telling you you're thirsty.

My biggest problem is the afternoon stretch between lunch and dinner. I have my afternoon snack, but that usually doesn't completely satisfy me, so I brew up some green tea or white tea. I've noticed that they do an excellent job at curbing my hunger, and if I'm feeling queasy to my stomach they settle it down pretty well. I'm not affiliated with them, but I like to get full-leaf tea from www.republicoftea.com. Big Green Hojicha is my favorite, especially for the afternoon!

Good luck and keep up the good work!

:eat:

-CP

What works best for me is Eclipse sugar free gum. Any strong mint gum should do it.

*SNIP*

I like the suggestion on increasing overall protein intake, perhaps this will help level out my appetite throughout the day. I also think that one of the reasons I get so hungery after workouts is a drop in blood sugar so making sure I have plenty of apples, bananas, oranges, etc on hand should help this.

Thanks again!
Darren

Read up a bit on the Glycemic Index (google or yahoo search should do) and that should explain blood sugar's effects on your body better then I can in a few paragraphs. Basically it all boils down to whole grains and raw food. No white bread, potato's etc. If you eat low on the GI scale, I am sure you'll feel fuller longer because your body takes longer to digest low GI foods. Carbs are not evil...

Xtropy

Sorry for such a late reply. I just now noticed the thread. I keep a bottle of diet snapple next to my bottle of water. Normally, I drink the water. When there's a hunger pang, I drink a small bit of the snapple. That usually works for me.

If you want to beat your hunger pangs, I suggest you eat.

The trick is to eat things that are good for you. Eat fruit, eat vegetables, microwave a potato, skip condiments.

My thought on it all is that you have to beat the urge to go out and eat a calorie bomb - fast food, candy bars, a soda, whatever.

If you're like most people, you are used to hit-and-run nutrition: eat a heavy meal, and then go hours without. You're body knows your style, and holds onto those calories as long as it can. Then, when you do finally eat again, your body says: Load me up, fatboy! Gimme sugar, salt, and fat!

It's been my experience that it takes about 2 weeks to re-gear yourself - your body needs to recognize that it's never really far from that next meal. The first few days are the worst, but the benefits come quickly.

Discipline!

If U r eating once in every 3-4hrs and drinking 1 liter of water in between, after few days U dont need all those chewing gums etc.

I go for celery when I'm hungry between meals.

Also, I've found Brussel Sprouts to be extremely filling at meal time.

Gum...Water... and then look into the mirror for some time. That always gets me motivated to not eat a bunch.

I find that eating smaller/more frequent meals a day, and drinking plenty of water has kept me from any real hunger pains, since I've started this (on Jan 18th) 'transformation'. I don't feel hungry at all unless I've some how slipped and gone >4 hours without eating.

Also, like CattleProd I drink a couple of cups of green tea every day. I've done that for quite a while now, and that can be used to stretch yourself until your next meal (which shouldn't be too far away if you eat 5 or 6 a day!).

Good Luck
Jerry