How to Stay Full While Dieting

The concept of fat loss is simple.

Consistently eat less than your body uses and you’ll lose fat.

Period.

Unfortunately, simple does NOT mean easy.

If fat loss were easy, everyone would be 6% body fat with a fresh set of washboard abs.

That’d be pretty sweet, huh?

I digress.

Now the question becomes…

How Can We Make Fat Loss Easy(er)?

Hunger sucks.

Like…a lot.

If hunger wasn’t an issue dieting would be easy peasy.

Unfortunately, hunger is an issue…a really, really, really big issue.

But what if you could control your hunger?

What if you could not only reduce the frequency and intensity of your hunger pangs, but predict when you’ll get hungry throughout the day?

Believe it or not…you can!

Through using a few simple and easy-to-implement strategies you can make dieting easier, more enjoyable, and significantly more sustainable in the long-term.

How to Stay Full While Dieting: 3 Simple Tips

1) When in doubt…lean meats & veggies is your go-to meal

Low in calories, high in protein, and extremely filling, meals largely consisting of lean meats and veggies are unquestionably your best bet while dieting.

Not only does the protein help to maintain your lean muscle tissue, the veggies are packed with healthy nutrients and tons of fiber to keep you satiated (full) throughout the day.

Best of all?

These meals are extremely versatile.

You can choose from a variety of animal proteins (chicken, turkey, fish, pork, etc) and non-starchy vegetables (pretty much all veggies except potatoes, corn, & peas) to create a healthy, delicious, and satiating meal.

2)  Stick to a Consistent Eating Schedule

Strictly in regard to fat loss, meal frequency (how often you eat throughout the day) doesn’t matter.

Seriously, it doesn’t.

Recent research on fasting has actually shown that, regardless of whether you eat 1, 3, 6, or even 17 meals throughout the day, the most important determinant of fat loss is total calories consumed.

That being said, sticking to a consistent eating schedule can reduce both the frequency and intensity of your hunger pangs.

Even better, sticking to a consistent eating schedule will allow your body to regulate your hunger hormones (leptin, ghrelin, peptide yy, etc) and help you predict when you’re going to be hungry.

Pretty sweet, huh?

With this knowledge you can prepare ahead of time and have your meals in place so you’re never left stranded, starving, and looking for a quick hunger fix.

So what should you do?

Plan a meal frequency that works best for you and stick with it!!!

Regardless of whether you eat 1, 2, 4, 6, or 10 meals throughout the day, stick to the same eating schedule so your body can regulate its hunger on a consistent basis.

3) Fruit Is Your Friend! <—(click me!)

Fruit is amazing.

Seriously…who doesn’t love a generous helping of sweet, delicious fruit?

Trick question: everyone loves fruit. And if you don’t, well, your opinion doesn’t count.

Back to the topic at hand….

With the exception of some starchier types (think banana’s), fruit tends to be low-calorie, high-fiber, and very filling.

Some of my personal favorite options include watermelon, cantaloupe, oranges, grapefruits, apples, and strawberries.

Generally speaking, those are the most filling fruits on a per-calorie basis.

For example, an entire pound of strawberries is only 150 calories.

Let me repeat myself.

An entire POUND of strawberries is only 150 calories!!!

Not to mention…they’re ridiculously tasty!

What Am I Getting At?

Don’t be afraid of fruit!

Some nutrition “guru’s” have recently made the outlandish claim that fruit is inherently bad because of the relatively high sugar content.

Malarky!

Who has ever, in the history of mankind, gotten fat from eating fruit?

No one.

Not a single person.

So What Should You Do?

Eat fruit!

You don’t need to have it every hour on the hour of every single day.

But eating a couple pieces of fruit on a daily basis will not only provide a variety of health benefits, it can also help to keep you full when dieting.

Wrapping Up

Hunger sucks.

Unfortunately, it’s a normal and expected side effect of trying to lose weight.

The good news is that through utilizing the 3 tips discussed above, you can reduce both the frequency and intensity of your hunger pangs while simultaneously predicting when you’re going to get hungry.

I hope you enjoyed this article and that it helps you move one step closer towards achieving your ultimate goals.

To your success,

-J