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Never feel full...?
Alright so I'm 17 years old, and a female. I am over weight, (... About 220 lbs...) and I loooove to eat. But I never seem to feel full...
Let me explain. No matter what I eat, small meal or huge, mainly meats and veggies or junk food, I can never satisfy my stomach! You see, maybe I'll feel full for a minute or two, but then a hunger comes back. I can feel my stomach is extremely full, like when I take in a big breath? But It's like there's this hunger on top of it... I don't know. But to sum it up, I'm always hungry, so I eat a lot. And it scares me!
I'm trying, on and off, to lose weight. Atkin's always seems to work for me. (I love meat.) And I'll do Jillian Michaels work-outs too, and I do good! For a while... I always fail a few weeks in because I eat and eat, and eventually I just give up and eat junk. I hate it, and I always feel ashamed of myself. But it's embarassing too because on my mother's side of the family, basically everyone's skinny. And they judge people's looks and size. I feel outcast because at their family gatherings, the girls my age have a tiny bit of food and are full. And I have this huge plate and I'm still hungry after. I sometimes have to sneak and hide food just to get by.
It's humiliating, and I want it to stop. I want to live a better life, a happier one. So, can someone help me out?
Here are some other weird stuff about me that might help: I am always tired, at night it takes me an hour or more to fall asleep and I wake up frequently, I get chronic head aches, I get hot easily and I sweat a looot, I crave lots of sugar, I consume a lot of salt everyday and... I'm kinda like a camel. (XD) I'll drink a lot of water at one time, and then not for a while, so on. That's about all I can think of. Please help me, people! I want to change, but with my stomach it's way too stressful and challenging. Anything will do. Thanks for your time. :]
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I used to have the same exact problem, and I thought I was crazy. I could eat a disgusting amount and my stomach would be stuffed but I'd still be starving.
For me, the problem was that I was eating tons of carbs and unhealthy food that left me unsatisfied. I was literally addicted to sugar, and cutting back was so so hard. But now I eat healthy- for example, I'll have fresh fruit for breakfast, scrambled egg whites and avocado for lunch, and spinach and a turkey burger for dinner. Fruits and vegetables, fiber, things with protein make me satisfied and full and I'm not starving all the time.
Drinking enough water constantly- a little bit at a time throughout the day- really helps, too.
Also, I have certain times of day when I get starving and crave carbs/junk- like at 3/4 in the afternoon. To make sure I'm not tempted, I will go for a walk or exercise instead to keep my mind off of it, and the craving will go away.
You are probably so tired all the time from eating junk- I used to be the same way. I won't lie, it's very hard to change at first- the first week feels impossible. But it's worth it, you will look and feel so much better. Make sure to keep healthy snacks (apples, carrots, veggies and hummus, greek yogurt, etc) on hand and maybe hide the junk food.
If you have the money, Tone It Up is incredible. It's not a diet where you lose the weight then gain it back as soon as you eat real food again. It's a nutrition plan and way of living where you will lose weight and keep it off. You get to eat, not just drink a gross slimfast or something, and there's tons of really good recipes (I don't work for them or anything, I just love it.) here's the information:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Best of luck. Remember, nothing worth having is ever easy.
-Krista, 20/f
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OctoberBeat gave some excellent advice so I wont repeat any of that, but I want to add a few things.
While fruit juices are healthier than soda and are a good source of some vitamins, they are extremely high in sugar. Some juices are also somewhat acidic, so this combined with all the sugar can wreak havoc on your teeth in the long term. Most doctors recommend eating whole fruit for the benefits and limiting how much juice you drink. But drinking water regularly is very important, especially if you consume a lot of salt! Dehydration leads to a lot of problems, and if you don't drink enough water to flush the wastes in your kidneys (salt, first and foremost), you could develop kidney stones. I've never had one, but I've heard that they are horrifically painful. Start carrying a reusable water bottle with you, and sip from it throughout the day.
If you get sick of the taste of water, experiment with different teas (with little or no sugar added) for different tastes. Arizona has a good diet green tea sold in large jugs, and Celestial Seasonings sells boxes of tea bags without a lot of added sugar. I like to brew a bag of blueberry tea with two bags of honey vanilla chamomile, refrigerate the mixture, and carry it with me when I leave the house. But if that flavor combo doesn't appeal to you, there are plenty of others to choose from.
Something that helps keep you full is whole grain. Whole grains take longer to digest than refined grains (like in regular pasta and white bread), so they are more satisfying overall. As long as you can accept the taste difference, it's pretty simple to switch the type of pasta, bread, and rice you use around the house. They aren't lighter in calories, but they are more nutritious, and hopefully they will help you eat less overall.
In addition to lifestyle changes like calorie counting and changing eating habits, I recommend you see a doctor and have a blood test done. Chronic headaches and exhaustion can be signs of a serious medical condition and should be evaluated by a professional. It's possible you have a medical condition contributing to both these things and your excessive hunger. And you are supposed to consult a doctor before any major diet changes, anyway. Most people ignore that step, but if you haven't had a blood test and/or a general check-up in the last year, it's important that you do.
Also, be aware that there are different types of hunger. Here is a basic guide on different types of hunger:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
One part of losing weight is learning to be aware of the source of your hunger and training yourself to ignore it when it isn't welcome. But this is a simplified model of hunger in the body, and it only applies if you are mostly healthy. There are medical problems which can cause you to eat more or less, and they can alter the signals your brain sends regarding hunger. Like I said before, it's important that you go to a doctor to rule out these types of conditions.
Good luck. :)
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It's good that you're looking for help and wanting to change! You'll get a lot of health benefit from it, you won't feel tired all the time or constantly hungry. Once you get on the right track! I've struggled with my weight as well, I started losing weight last year and still am, I should be at my goal by next summer.
First off, don't do diets. I've done many and I always fail because I feel restricted. And I hate being told what not to eat. lol. I wasn't as heavy as you but I was overweight, about 60 pounds over my ideal body weight for my height, I'm very tall.
Anyways, what you want to do, is plan your meal and count your calorie intake. You should join Calorie Count, it helps with this sort of thing, it's easy and free! In order to lose weight you need to consume less calories than you burn. For instance, if you've ever read the nutrition facts on the lable of any bagged or canned food. It will say "based on a 2,000-2,500 calorie diet." One pound is equal to 3,000 calories. If you want to lose weight you'll need to eat about 1,500 to 1,800 and do some brisk exercise. Don't push yourself to hired.
Also, don't look at it as all or nothing. If you slip up, it's ok we're only human. Drink some water and start keep at it tomorrow.
Your constant cravings for sugar and or salty things because you've been eating it for so long that your body has become addicted to it. Believe it or not people can get addicted to food. Especially sweets. Ever heard of comfort foods, like chocolate or ice cream? They refer to these foods as comfort foods, because sugary foods release endorphins which give you a happy feeling. So that's why in movies you mostly see girls eat ice cream after a bad break up, which is a bit ironic since they're usually always skinny. <_<"
It's hard I know, but I know you can do it! As for exercise, I'm amazed you do Jillian's routing, even with all the weight I've dropped I can't keep up. It might be do to my asthma. I do plenty of running and swimming and dancing, I love swimming! Find something you like and keep doing it, you like her workout videos great! Most importantly keep at it. You'll lose inches quick. Don't get stressed if you don't see the numbers on the scale going down, as long as they don't go up any more, you're still doing a good job!
Keep motivated! Take your family's negativity towards the way you look and use it as a positive for you. When you feel like you're about to give up, say "No! I will do this, because I can! I want to succeed and I will, then they will see who I really am! I'm strong." Or something similar. I used to get teased by my older sister all the time, but now she has nothing to tease me about! n_n
She's even asked for low calorie menus and exercise tips!
You need to be drinking water! Even if you don't feel like it. Try to drink more healthy things, fruit juice like apple, strawberry kiwi,orange and or mango are very good for you! Stay away from artificial flavoring. No koolaids! Frozen is much better. Go for Welch's.
Keeping full. Water will keep you full. Drink a glass of water before every main meal, you'll eat less and still feel full. Snacking is ok! Just snack on healthy stuff, veggies and fruits nuts and grain. Fiber keeps you full and is found in all the things I just listed. In order to stop cravings it would be better to keep away from those low calorie junk foods. Like the Nabisco 100 calorie packs. But give it a try if you like.
Don't rush, you can't do 2 hours of exercise and expect to lose 5 pounds over night, it takes time. Keep yourself occupied, read, draw, hang out with friends, do what you like other than eat. If your eating is do to some emotional problem, like mine was and sometimes still is, then work on that aspect too.
If you want more advice on meals and such message me or email me. I have a lot of low fat meals that taste great and I'd be happy to help you as much as I can! :D
Good luck and stay strong!
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Yes! Of course, glad to help! And giving up sweets is hard but the more you work at it the easier it gets! So you could start by switching out regular sweets for sugar free sweets, or lower your intake, for instance if you used to eat say 6 oreos, limit yourself to 3 and be firm about it! No matter what! I know you can do it.
Here's a list of some sweet but healthy alternatives for your regular tasty but bad junk food.
1 sliced banana and honey. Or a plane banana, you can even make a milkshake with half a cup of skim milk and a banana, add some cinnamon too, cinnamon raises your metabolism so that's good! Try to keep from adding sugar. And if you do, not so much.
Trail mix! It's crunchy, peanuts are a good source of protein which is good for you and helps you keep full longer, while getting some dry fruit for extra fiber like raisins or dry apricot. Some even have soy chocolate, or yogurt clusters! Just be sure to read the portions guide on the back, and measure with a measuring cup.
Sliced strawberries with some sour cream or low fat vanilla yogurt. Make some fresh smoothies in a blender with sweet tasty fruit, like blueberries, raspberries, kiwis, pomegranate or mango. Add some spinach in it! You won't even taste it, but you'll sure get the good nutrition of it!
Celery or carrots with peanut butter.
You can make some home made granola bars.
Here's a link for easy recipe: [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Basically you wan't to try eating regular healthy sweet things like apples and such and limit yourself of say Hershey bars.
If you're going to buy some sweets, compare calories. Do so by reading the nutrition panel on the back label. For example something good would read:
Calories 170 Calories from fat 65
Something bad would say:
Calories 170 Calories from fat 110
If your calories from fat are much lower than the overall calories, it's a better choice. And always try to stick to the serving size.
Special K is really good and their cereal is a good sweet tooth terminator.
Good luck.
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