Everyday Systems

I am having very little luck in Vanilla No S. I always feel hungry and what's more, at each meal I am unable to eat more than I am used to. If I do, I feel overstuffed.

For example, my typical breakfast is two pieces of whole wheat toast (dry) with a small tomato, an egg, and either a medium roasted potato or two roasted chicken salami pieces. Sometimes, I replace egg with a small onion and 10-15 gms of processed cheese. This is accompanied with a cup of tea with minimal sugar and that has double toned milk.

Lunch is usually a whole wheat chapatti (6 inch & dry) and one cup of home made vegetable curry (usually doesn't have more than 1 tsp oil) or a cup of soupy lentils.

Dinner is similar to lunch but I also take a medium fruit with it.

I feel super hungry between lunch and dinner and always fall for sweets. Should I make it four meals a day with the post lunch meal something light like a salad or roasted veggies or a plain sandwich and tea?

Any ideas would be helpful!

You seem to be making a point that your meals are very low in fat. Fat and protein are what lead to feeling satisfied.

Instead of, or before, adding a fourth meal, try adding some more fat or protein to your meals. This could be by using butter or oil or by adding nuts, seeds, avocado or other foods higher in fats.

None of those things would significantly increase the volume of your meals, but might help keep you from feeling hungry between meals.

So your problem is that period between lunch and dinner.
Maybe experiment with eating different things for lunch? Most people find that meat and fats fill them up so try making a lamb stew or a creamy pasta sauce.

I think you should vary your meals a bit. You say you usually eat veggie curry or soupy lentils for lunch and dinner. Don't you get bored of that? I find the best way to deal with hunger pangs before dinner is to think of how much more I'll enjoy my meal on an empty stomach. I wouldn't be looking forward to dinner so much if it was similar to what I had at lunch.

Oh I had massive problems at the beginning with hunger. What really helped me was to have:

a coffee with milk
another hot drink with milk
a glass of milk

in between lunch and dinner. Full fat is best suited for this purpose.

Your meals sound quite substantial so I wouldn't add another meal if you want to lose weight to be honest, unless you would take it from your lunch and dinner and not add anymore food.

Hunger isn't an emergency. You will be hungry the first few weeks but less and less so. I'm now barely hungry anymore between meals.

As the others have suggested, try adding a bit more protein & fat to your meals.

I agree with Eschano - try having a milky coffee (or two) between lunch and dinner. This will also help up the fat which helps keep you fuller. As the others have suggested, try adding a bit more protein & fat.

I also battle with the 3pm snack urge but the milky drink (or just a glass of milk) really does help.

Hang in there.

((((((Hugs)))))))

To add to what the others have said (milky drinks worked well for me when trying to get the habit established), I've found it suits me best to have a small breakfast, bigger lunch and bigger evening meal. I find hunger easier to deal with earlier in the day. You could try moving some of what you would normally eat for breakfast forward to lunch and see if it works for you (I think it's an individual thing, so it might not).

The other thing I wondered is whether it's a timing issue: having the evening meal too late, or lunch too early? I prefer not to go longer than 6 hours between meals (except at night).

Thanks guys! I thought that milky drinks, or any sweet drinks, were part of the sweet and therefore, not to be had.

But I think a nice, hot cup of coffee or tea would help. It should help tide me over. I will also see if I can add more protein to my meals. Breakfasts aren't a problem, and I am usually okay with a small lunch. But 4 to 5 PM are a pain. The coffee should help and it would even help my intake of calcium!

PS: I don't usually have the same thing for lunch and dinner. I'll be bored to death.

CuriousAT wrote:Thanks guys! I thought that milky drinks, or any sweet drinks, were part of the sweet and therefore, not to be had.

Coffee and tea, even if they have milk and sugar, are absolutely "vanilla" No S. So is a glass of full cream milk, which is what I used to have in the middle of the night when I was still breast feeding. Obviously you still need to use your common sense, if you're drinking a double extra large hazelnut mocha with extra cream and chocolate sprinkles every day, you're not fooling anyone.

Full on sweet drinks (like iced "sweet" tea, Coke, Fanta, etc) are considered sweets, as they deliver a lot of sugar.

I would definitely try an afternoon hot drink before introducing another meal.

Your meals do sound pretty low in fat and very precise (exact grams of cheese?) - is there a reason for this? For some of us (me included) coming from a background of diets with counting calories or grams of fat, protein, etc, it can be hard to let go of preparing "diet" meals. Anyway, that may not apply to you, but you'd be amazed at what a little bit fat in a meal can do. Just some avocado on that dry toast, for example. For me - bowl of oats at breakfast => starved by lunch, but bowl of oats with small dollop almond or peanut butter => no worries

Also, do give yourself time. If you're like most snackers or those of us who were on the "6 small meals a day" diets, your body is used to a regular stream of little inputs. It will take a while for it to get used to the idea that you're going to feed it 3 squares instead. It will protest somewhat

You'll get there - getting No S worked out for each individual takes a while and a bit of trial and error. I think oolala expresses it well when she says to take a mindset a bit like a "curious scientist" - don't judge yourself or start saying "I just can't do it", but take each day and meal as an interesting experience that can teach you about what works and what doesn't. Then you'll wake up one day and find that you've arrived at the CuriousAT Diet (TM) and you find it humane and maintainable, and perhaps even pleasant.

Phew! I actually used to calorie count and that is the reason I decided to reduce fat in my meals to add that extra sweet treat. And that is the reason I can estimate the exact amount of grams of cheese. Haha. I am gradually adding fat back into my diet. Added it at breakfast. Let's see.

My go to drinks are usually coffee or tea, homemade lemonade, or if I ever get around to making it a raw mango drink yum. I actually detest anything with extra cream. Sodas are a weakness but I think those are a weakness only when Im either sleepy or dehydrated.

The good news is that yesterday was finally a success. I even resisted sweets even though I craved them. (Wasn't feeling hungry though.)

To prevent a sweet attack, I have decided to not buy any sweets that last. Plan to make carrot and milk pudding for tomorrow.

Thanks again everyone. I will post whatever little success I have.

CuriousAT wrote:I will post whatever little success I have.

Even little successes will get you to your goal. There are any number of people here who have had success without being compliant 100% of the time.

Just to be clear, you weren't ALWAYS feeling hungry, but just between lunch and dinner. It can really help to be clear with ourselves, so we don't give up on the whole when we need only adjust a part. I'm tickled that it sounds like you think you have some good suggestions to experiment with.

If you are sticking with the plan, basically, I'd call that a success in itself, at least for now.