Being hungry is part of dieting, while learning how to control your hunger for weight loss is a valuable skill that leads to success. Here’s how to do it.

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The goal of a well-programmed diet is simple in nature. You should be able to eat as much food as possible and still lose weight.

The foods in your selection should include options that you enjoy, that fit your lifestyle and taste preferences, and they should compliment your calorie deficit by packing protein and nutrients.

Simple. Effective.

The execution of a diet is the hard part. And you know why. It sucks. It’s a long drawn out process. If you’ve never really committed to an effective diet before, then it could still be a massive difference to what you’re used to consuming on a daily basis.

And then, of course, there’s the hunger. You will be hungry.

I’ve written about a few strategies to keep you sane while dieting so you can enjoy the process a little more.

But, today, we’re going to talk about that damn hunger bug. Being hungry sucks. And if you don’t figure out a way to control your response to hunger cues, you could end up failing on your diet before you even begin.

In this article, we’ll break down how to control your hunger for weight loss progress, and it starts with learning:

• How to tell if you are really hungry
• The difference between actual hunger and boredom
• Strategies to beat those hunger cues

Let’s get into it.

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Are you really hungry?

Sounds like I’m trolling you when I toss out this question. But when we talk about how to find the strategies to control your hunger for weight loss and avoid bounce-back weight gain, this is the most important question you can ask yourself.

Your goal is to become familiar with your hunger and sit in the process for a while to determine what real and meaningful hunger means to you. Because in many cases, that hunger could just be your mind playing nasty tricks on you.

Allow me to explain. 

You see there are two types of hunger, physical and psychological. They each carry different symptoms and levels of perceived urgency. Both need to be understood in order for you to start repairing your relationship with eating.

Physical Hunger:

• Comes on gradually 
• Rumbling stomach
• Low energy
• Stomach pangs
• Cranky
• Can be satisfied with any kind of food

Psychological Hunger:

• Craving food in response to stressful situations
• Comes on suddenly and feels urgent
• Typically results in craving certain foods (usually hyper-palatable or “junk” foods)
• Satisfaction not always possible and can lead to overeating as a result
• Can lead to feelings of guilt or shame from overeating and giving in to the cravings

It’s that psychological hunger that can prove to be the most problematic. This is where the yo-yo dieters have the biggest issues. 

Not understanding the various hunger cues associated with real physical hunger versus the perceived psychological hunger can lead to overeating an abundance of high calorie foods. Doing so can destroy a calorie deficit and lead to continued overeating and weight gain.

And the majority of this overeating approach is not because of actual physical hunger, but a need to find comfort from stressful situations. 

I know firsthand what that’s like when I allowed myself to give into the constant cravings during stressful times. Food was comfort. Food was an escape from reality, which at the time was not awesome.

I was eating to cure boredom. I was eating to get my mind off of a shitty job. I was eating because high caloric food was readily accessible. 

My weight gain was almost 40 pounds. But by applying some of the strategies I’ll share in a moment, I was about to lose the weight and get back into the best shape of my life. 

So trust me when I say that I get it. Also trust me that I know firsthand that it’s important to understand what kind of hunger you are experiencing when the time comes.

Once you get familiar with those cues, you can have a more informed and nuanced approach to battling with the underlying issue.

In some cases, if this is physical hunger, you should go on and eat. 

But, if you’re experiencing psychological hunger or even boredom hunger, it might be best to hit the pause button and sit in that hunger for a few minutes to really determine what the root of your hunger pang is trying to tell you.

This is easier said than done. But it could be the most important skill you develop over your entire fat loss journey. Potentially the most important decision you make in your life. 

Now that being said, you’ve also got to realize that hunger is part of the dieting game.

You are eating fewer calories than your body actually needs to maintain its weight. And the human body hates change and wants to fight you.

But there is definitely a difference between being hungry because you are in a deficit and being absolutely ravenous. 

A mild “wish I could eat a little bit more” from time to time is acceptable.

But a serious “damn I need to devour an entire pan of lasagna” is not something you should experience often while on a diet. 

If that is the case, then you’re likely doing something wrong (you should check out the most common dieting mistakes that are keeping you overweight for the reason behind this one).  

Now that you’ve got at least a baseline understanding of hunger and how it can influence your eating habits, it’s time to find a few simple tips to control your hunger for weight loss success.

Actionable tips to finally control your hunger for weight loss

The first step in determining how to burn more fat and have less hunger at the same time is to make sure that you aren’t setting your calorie intake too low.

No, this is not some post about starvation mode. That is not a thing.

If you’re curious about what starvation mode even is, well … let’s get into that a bit, shall we?

You see, there’s this theory that by dieting too hard and dropping calories too for too long, your body will fight the fat loss and instead trap fat, or even increase fat storage causing you to gain weight.

Sound silly? Of course it does. 

Think of it this way: Can you lose weight by eating too many calories for too long? No. Of course not. Because science doesn’t work that way. 

Energy balance (calories) is the key to weight and fat loss.

That energy balance (again, calories) is influenced by many different factors. And metabolism does slow a bit as you continue to lose weight and diet. But, the science is undefeated:

If you eat fewer calories than your body burns, you will lose weight. Period.

For more on why starvation mode isn’t a thing, check out the research behind the Minnesota Experiment, where subjects were starved with extremely low calorie diets for an extended period of time.

They did not go into starvation mode. They did not gain weight.

Instead, they lost a ton of weight. And muscle. And looked every bit like a bunch of dudes that needed to eat a full pan of lasagna.

So, now that we’ve debunked that whole situation, let’s set you up for a moderate calorie deficit that will allow you to sustainably lose weight without being ravenous.

It starts with a quick calculation that I shared in my guide to setting up your calories for a weight loss diet:

Multiply your CURRENT bodyweight (IN POUNDS) by 10-12

• 10 = completely sedentary (i.e., and office desk job or just sitting on the couch watching way too much Netflix)
• 11 = somewhat active
• 12 = moderately active

From here, we can add in a few strategies to keep those hunger pangs at bay. And it starts not with food, but with liquid.

Drink more water

Remember the question I asked at the top of the article: Are you really hungry?

While we’re talking about the effects of hunger and the psychological games it can play, we should point out the role that hydration plays.

For many of us, the hunger games comes down to drinking more water. When most of my online coaching clients initially sign up to work with me, they have been lacking in the hydration department.

When dehydrated, the body gives similar cues to being starving for some grub.

The benefits of water are countless. Here are just a few things you should know about hydration with the good old DiHydrogen Monoxide: 

• Aids in bowel movements (prevents constipation)
• Natural detox by flushing out waste and toxins
• Better nutrient absorption
• Improved metabolism
• More efficient muscle productivity and contraction

How much water should you aim to drink per day? Great question.

Without getting too far down the rabbit hole, there are a few simple guidelines you can utilize to find out how much H2O you should be drinking.

Take your bodyweight in pounds and divide it by two. That’s the amount in ounces of water that you should aim to drink per day. It’s a general rule, but works well.

I’ll do the mathz for you:

Jenny weighs 150 pounds. She’ll divide 150 by 2 to get 75. Jenny will set a goal of 75 ounces of water to drink daily.

In doing so, you’ll know you’re drinking enough water based on what the pee situation looks like. You are not looking for crystal clear waste fluid. That’s overkill. 

Instead, you’d want a kind of watered-down lemon Powerade kind of appeal to it.

Warning: Do not taste the urine, it will not taste like your favorite sports drink (I feel like it’s important to say these things since kids are eating laundry detergent and shit). 

How do you make sure to drink enough water throughout the day? Similar to the rules of protein, you’ve got to make it a priority.

• For you that might mean chugging a glass of water before every single meal.
• Or, it could mean getting one of those obnoxious jugs that hold enough water to hydrate a Kindergarten class and sipping on it all day.
• For every cup of coffee you have, drink one additional cup of water.

You’ve got to find what works for you in order to make it happen. But, please do make it happen.

You’ll notice an immediate impact on both health and reduced cravings.

Eat more nutrient rich foods

Are you eating enough vegetables? I promise you, that answer is most assuredly a big fat, no. 

If you’ve been under a rock since grade school and forgot why the green stuff is so important to long term health and happiness, let’s count the ways with a quick memory flush:

• Lower in sodium and cholesterol levels
• Improve digestive function
• Protect against cancer and other diseases
• Help maintain healthy blood pressure
• Aids in nutrient absorption

If the above isn’t sexy enough for you, then let’s just hit the most important part of the benefits and the reason why you’re here today: vegetables are low in calories, yet higher in volume, which keeps you full (a dieter’s best friend).

Nutritionists and coaches don’t agree on much when it comes to the perfect diet, but we do all unequivocally agree on the following:

You should eat a variety and an abundance of vegetables. Period.

All of the other stuff, like carb versus fat breakdown or how much protein you should consume or what kinds of protein you should be eating are all up for debate with us health gurus. But, the vegetable part remains the one constant that you find across the board.

So, eat those veggies. Your mommy was right about that.

But, how many vegetables should you be eating in a given day? This leads us back to the original point of this section: More than what you’re probably eating. That one salad at lunch time is likely not enough.

Your task moving forward is to aim for at least one fist-sized portion of veggies at every single meal. Toss in one to two additional servings of fruit to add more nutrient variety to your day. 

At the end of the day, you should come away with at least 5-6 portions of vegetables and another round of fruits to boot.

Adding this kind of fiber and volume to your day will work wonders to control your hunger for weight loss progress to resume. In addition, the extra nutrients will boost performance and health.

It could also lead to a small boost in fat loss results.

Eat more protein

Here’s what we know about macronutrients, or what our food is comprised of:

• Protein
• Carbs
• Fats
• Alcohol (is the stand-in fourth macro)

For more on the impact of alcohol on your fat loss diet, you should check out my guide to drinking and losing weight.

How much protein do you need to boost fat loss?

A good starting place is to aim for about 100 grams of protein per day. Get comfortable in this area and then you can take things to the next level to ensure you’re eating an adequate amount of protein to preserve lean muscle tissue.

To make sure you’re getting enough protein, take your current body weight in pounds and multiply it by 0.7 to 1.0 to get the most bang for your protein buck.

For example:

Kevin weighs 180 pounds. He’ll take his current body weight and multiply it by 0.7 to 1.0 to get  a good range of 126 – 180 grams of protein per day.

Since 180 grams is a ton of chicken and protein powder, Kevin might want to opt for the lower end of this spectrum. And that’s totally fine. As long as he’s within this range, he should still reap the benefits of getting enough protein.

Now, due to the Thermic Effect of Eating (or TEF), it’s important to note that protein is almost like an extra credit fat booster. 

Your body utilizes calories as fuel to function and do just about everything. I’m burning calories simply by typing. You’re burning calories when scrolling through this article.

You are also burning calories while your body digests food. 

But digesting protein is tougher on the body than carbs or fats and therefore your body will burn more calories digesting protein than it does the other macronutrients. 

In essence, even though we consider protein and carbs to carry an equivalent caloric expenditure of 4 calories per gram, in reality, protein ends up being more like 2.5 to 3 calories per gram thanks to TEF. 

In other words, eat more protein and nail that calorie deficit and you’ll likely see a small boost to your fat loss progress. 

You don’t need to go much higher than that top end of 1.0 – 1.1 grams per pound of bodyweight, though.

But if fat loss has stalled and you really and truly are doing everything else right, sometimes a boost in protein is enough to get things moving again.

Keep that in mind.

Stay busy

This works incredibly well to cure that boredom hunger situation. Simply put: You can’t eat if you’re busy doing something else.

Beating back that hunger could be as simple as jumping up off of the couch and just doing something for a few minutes to keep your mind occupied and off of the hunger cue.

If it is boredom hunger, the craving will likely subside.

How to make this work in action? 

Set a timer for 20 minutes as soon as the snack attack cravings kick in. For the next 20 minutes, it’s up to you to distract your mind away from the hunger and focus on a task.

Need some inspiration? I’ve got you covered:

• Start writing that novel you’ve been wanting to start.
• Pop up and start dancing or chasing the kids around the house.
• Work on that grueling puzzle that’s collecting dust in your closet.
• Spend a few minutes working on some light stretches and mobility work to loosen up the joints and balance out all of that sitting you do all day.
• Knock out some pull-ups and push-ups and squats for a full body workout.

Even better for long term adherence would be to find a few things that you are passionate about, or a hobby.

Something that you can fall back on and focus on when you have the spare time to prevent you from falling face first into that jar of cookies in the pantry.

For me, that’s reading or playing a round of video games (if my kids let me). Doing so will do you much better in the long run than just plopping in front of the TV or scrolling through social media to try and pass the time and beat back the hunger.

Let me help you learn how to control your hunger for weight loss … 

I’m here to help you out. 

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “How to control your hunger for weight loss” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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