Hello!

So it’s day 4 for me today so I’m still quite new.

I’m finding it fairly easy to stick to 800 calories and I’m finding that I’m eating well and that my food is fairly varied; yesterday I had eggs and veg for breakfast, shirataki noodles and stir fry veg for dinner and chicken and white bean stew for tea. But I’m feeling so, so hungry. I mean I feel full when I’m eating; I’m eating slowly so I can tell that I’m full, and after my stew last night I felt really full – but maybe an hour and a half later I was starving and had to have a carrot.

Is this normal – does it go away? I’m thinking of adding in a little bit of overnight oats for breakfast. But with fewer oats and more yog and berries. Maybe I need to up the fat too?

Also shirataki noodles – where have they been all my life??😍

Hi aims, it’s normal to feel that hungry in the early days. For me it took about 6 days to go away. There’s no easy solution to it other than willpower and keeping yourself busy. Good luck

The first few days I felt very hungry, especially in the evening. For me personally, the strong hunger went away around day three. It’s different for everyone so hang in there!

I find tea very helpful. Instead of snacking I make myself a hot cup of herbal or fruit tea with a couple of slices of lemon. My favorite is licorice and mint tea. It tastes almost like candy, and a big cup lasts a long time.

Welcome. The hunger should quieten down soon. A while ago I read about quitting something is hard as the brain keeps checking to make sure you are not doing what you are trying to avoid (hope that makes sense). Like stop biting nails, the brain checks you are not doing it which brings it back to mind again and again. I think that’s why advice to do something different to usual routine can work – instead of sitting, or watching tv, after a meal do something else to give your brain something to think about other than is it snack time – or I must be hungry I haven’t eaten for a bit. As Lindarina says a hot drink can work wonders, low cal if you are out of rations for the day, or my favourite – coffee with a tablespoon of double cream on top.

Thanks everyone, this is really, really helpful. I’m going to try the hot drink trick @lindarina suggets – a hot drink in the evening is nice anyway 🙂

I’m also going to add in a bit more fat; @annie the cream in coffee sounds amazing. I keep forgetting I’m allowed real butter and cream!