7 Tips to help you deal with hunger

When I was over 300lbs I literally had several months of stored calories in my body fat and I was baffled as to why I always felt hungry. 

It's important to understand that the hunger you and I feel has little to do with the amount of food we eat and more to do with the time's we normally eat. The hormone Ghrelin causes us to feel hungry and it's released just before we'd normally eat. So whenever we change the routine you can expect to feel extra hungry.  The good news is Ghrelin will adjust to your new plan and if ignored it generally goes away. 

It's also important to note that hunger is not the same as cravings and that's a topic that deserves its own space.

Hunger goes with weight loss like muscle soreness and going to the gym. It's more difficult at first but gets better the longer you go. *Cravings do the reverse as they tend to increase with time.

Here are 7 tips I used to battle hunger in my weight-loss journey:

1. Large glass of ice cold water with fiber powder

2. Strong mint gum! Ever eat after brushing your teeth? It makes ice cream taste like cigarettes. I always carry mint gum with me in case of an emergency so I can quickly pop one in my mouth when tempted.

3. Like #1 I'd chew ice chips

4. Sugar-free popsicles (Coolness is a trend)

5. Lots of protein, it helps me feel full and boost to TEF

6. Adding coconut oil, protein powder and fiber powder to almost everything

7. Last but most important. Accept who you are.

You are a beautiful person who loves to eat. After you lose weight, you are still a beautiful person who loves to eat just a smaller version. You can't fix who you are and there's nothing wrong with it. Food is meant to be enjoyed, it's a gift. All food can have a purpose which is why I despise calling foods "good" or "bad". If you eat something "bad" you feel "bad" and there's no place for guilt and shame on the journey to success.

The truth is if you are skinny but have to eliminate your favorite foods to get there you will still be miserable. And if you eliminate those foods to lose weight and bring them back after, there's a strong probability you'll just gain the weight back. 

You want a fun and healthy lifestyle, not a diet.

A successful lifestyle will allow who you are on the inside to coexist with how you want to look on the outside. This is extremely important and It took me half my life and many failed diets to finally figure that out.

True, a lifestyle takes longer to lose weight than extreme dieting but it will guarantee long-term success. Because if you're not miserable while losing weight you can follow it forever.