What Keith ate
Asked what he ate to keep hunger down while losing weight, Keith’s answer was: high protein, complex carbs like mash, and healthy fats.
Start with the meal before the hunger
Was it a meal or just a snack?
A cereal bar and a coffee at your desk is a snack, even if it was your lunch. If the meal before the hunger was small, mostly sugar or mostly fat, that is usually the answer.
How long until you could eat again?
Breakfast at 7 and nothing until 1 is a long gap for anyone. Sometimes the fix is moving a meal, or planning a filling snack, rather than eating less.
Build a meal you can repeat
A protein food you actually like
In feeding trials, higher-protein meals gave a modest boost to how full people felt, although they did not lead to people eating less at the next meal.1 Chicken, eggs, fish, Greek yoghurt, lean mince and beans all count. The Protein Swap Lab shows which ones give you the most protein for the fewest calories.
Potatoes, fibre and food with some volume
In a study that fed people equal-calorie portions of 38 different foods, boiled potatoes kept people fuller than anything else, more than three times as filling as the same calories of white bread. Croissants were the least filling.2 Foods with more protein, fibre and water scored higher. So spuds are not the enemy on a diet. The study tested boiled potatoes, not mash, and butter or cream in mash adds fat and calories.
Fibre may help too. Diets higher in fibre are linked with lower body weight, though intervention results are mixed. Vegetables, fruit, oats, beans and wholegrain bread are easy places to find it.3
Fats: useful, but they add up fast
Healthy fats like olive oil, nuts and avocado earn their place in a meal. But fat is the most calorie-dense thing you eat, and in the same study foods higher in fat were less filling per calorie. Use them, and measure them. A glug of oil in the pan is easily 120 calories that never gets logged; hidden calories shows where the rest goes.
Examples from an ordinary Irish shop
- Breakfast: porridge made with milk, a spoon of Greek yoghurt and berries, instead of toast and jam.
- Lunch: chicken, boiled potatoes or mash, and a bag of microwave veg, instead of a meal-deal sandwich and crisps.
- Snack: a high-protein yoghurt or an apple, instead of a biscuit with your tea.
- Dinner: lean mince chilli with beans and rice, instead of a takeaway curry.
To make these easier on a busy week, see meal prep for beginners. The 7-day meal plan puts a full week together from Aldi, Lidl, Tesco or Dunnes, with the macros worked out from the labels.
Change one thing, then see what happens
Do not overhaul everything at once. Pick the meal before your worst hunger and change one part: add a protein food, swap bread for potatoes, or add veg. Give it a week. If the afternoon gets easier, keep it and move to the next meal.
Check the plan is not too tight
If you are hungry all day, every day, the deficit might just be too big. A deficit of 300 to 500 calories under maintenance is a sensible starting point for most people. Recheck yours with the TDEE calculator, remembering it is an estimate. Short sleep makes hunger worse too.
When to talk to a professional
If food thoughts are taking over, if you feel dizzy or unwell, or if eating and weight are tied up with a health condition, medication, pregnancy or disordered eating, talk to your GP or a qualified professional. That is not something to fix with another rule.
Starting out?
The free Day One pack gives you a calorie starting point, a shopping list and a checklist. For the whole method, read how to lose weight in Ireland.
Questions about hunger and fat loss
Does feeling hungry mean the diet is working?
No. Hunger on its own tells you nothing about fat loss. Judge progress from your weekly average weight over a few weeks, not from how hungry you feel.
Do I have to stop snacking?
No. If a planned snack gets you to the next meal without overeating, it is doing a job. Count it, and make it one that fills you up, like yoghurt or fruit, rather than a biscuit.
Can I make a ready meal more filling?
Usually, yes. Add a bag of microwave veg, a side salad or a pot of Greek yoghurt. Check the label of the ready meal itself so the calories still add up.
What if food thoughts take over or I feel unwell?
Talk to your GP or a qualified professional. Constant preoccupation with food, dizziness or feeling unwell are not things to push through with another rule.
Sources and limitations
- Leidy HJ et al. The role of protein in weight loss and maintenance. Am J Clin Nutr (2015). Acute feeding trials show a modest satiety effect from higher-protein meals, but do not show lower energy intake at the next meal.
- Holt SH et al. A satiety index of common foods. Eur J Clin Nutr (1995). Equal 240 kcal portions of 38 foods in groups of 11 to 13 people; boiled potatoes scored 323% of white bread, croissants 47%. A small, short-term study of fullness ratings over two hours.
- Slavin JL. Dietary fiber and body weight. Nutrition (2005). Fibre intake is inversely associated with body weight; intervention results are more mixed.