Why am I always hungry?

Hollister11

As er the title. I'm always hungry. Now I'm not obese by any means, but I could do with loosing a stone. I'm 21 male and weight 12.5ST

I'm always hungry at night and end up eating ****.

My diet today
Breakfast

2 WholeGrain Toast
2 Fried egg
8 fried mushrooms
4 fried cherry tomatoes
1/2 tin baked beans

Lunch
Pasta with some salad

Dinner
Mash Potatoes
Corn and Peas
Quorn meatballs

Snacks
Apple
Orange
Bandana
3*tea

coffee_cake

At a glance I'd honestly say you're probably hungry because you're not eating much protein
Pasta and salad is all carbs
snacks of fruit is all carbs and while I'm not here to tell people not to eat fruit, you're gonna be hungry living off sugar like that
I also don't know about your portion sizes and someone will probably have more suggestions and questions there, but that's my initial guess

Alf Veedersane

Not much fat either.

ford2600

You're a vegetarian?

Increasing protein and fibre are two ways of reducing appetite generally. You'll have to look at your options, maybe get some more dairy in there and more beans/pulses/lentils along with high fibre wholegrain carbs; think millet/wild rice.

In saying that appetite is a complicated thing and is controlled by the brain, one part controlling homeostatic eating and the other hedonic eating. The hedonic one is tricky, even if full after a large meal, you'll find room if house is value of hyper palatable food low in fibre/protein and high is sugar/fat i.e. junk food .

So take control of your food environment; stop buying junk and having it in house, don't shop hungry etc, avoid the junk food aisles.

The drive to over eat probably was critical in our evolution but we don't need it anymore

Macy0161

Could also be dehydration - well for me I crave sugar when I'm dehydrated anyway (which is a real pain after I've been drinking and the willpower is non-existant!)

Zillah

Hollister11 wrote: »

Breakfast
2 WholeGrain Toast
2 Fried egg
8 fried mushrooms
4 fried cherry tomatoes
1/2 tin baked beans

Good! Carbs, fats, protein, fibre.

Lunch
Pasta with some salad

Bad! Carbs. Maybe a bit of fibre. No fats. No protein. Put some cheese in there. Handful of nuts.

Dinner
Mash Potatoes
Corn and Peas
Quorn meatballs

Mostly bad! Lots of carbs, bit of fibre, no fats, almost no protein.

If you look at the stats for Quorn products most of them are only ok protein wise, which means they're not the best meat substitute. You need dairy, more eggs, tofu - a lot of the Linda McCartney range is better than the Quorn stuff in my experience - nuts, even a whey shake if you're bothered.

Snacks
Apple
Orange
Bandana
3*tea

Fine but basically all carbs with a bit of fibre.

I notice you also left out all the stuff you're ashamed of, like the biscuits and bread or whatever it is you're eating at night. I bet it's almost all carbohydrates.

As said by others, your diet is mostly carbs, which is exactly what will cause blood sugar fluctuations and hunger cravings. Fibre, fat, and protein provide satiety and you're not getting enough of any of them. Have an omelette for dinner, glass of milk on the side. Put cheese in your salads and reduce the pasta content. Have a small handfuls of nuts as a snack instead of sugary crap.

Smoked Tuna

Can you have too much protein?

Doesn't carbs give you energy for training? So if your energy balance is okay it won't be a problem?

sbsquarepants

I'm no dietician - but I'd lay off the bandanas:D

Throw in a few nuts and seeds (which will fill you up to a surprising degree) and that looks a fairly healthy diet to me.

Could be simply down to the amount. If you're constantly hungry (as opposed to craving something) that's a sure sign you are not eating enough.

Alf Veedersane

Smoked Tuna wrote: »

Can you have too much protein?

Doesn't carbs give you energy for training? So if your energy balance is okay it won't be a problem?

Yeah but (a) it depends on the training and (b) that doesn't mean all of the carbs even when carbs are appropriate for the training.

You also need protein. Especially if you're training because repair and recovery.

Anyway, the OP is a long way off having too much protein.

Zillah

Smoked Tuna wrote: »

Can you have too much protein?

In theory. Not possible without guzzling whey.

Doesn't carbs give you energy for training? So if your energy balance is okay it won't be a problem?

If your energy balance is ok, sure. But if you eat nothing but carbs then you're highly unlikely to be in balance, because your blood sugar will be too unstable and you'll have too many cravings and experience - like OP says - cravings for junk outside of normal meals. Eat a decent balance of carbs, fats, protein, and fibre and you won't get that.

Smoked Tuna

Zillah wrote: »

In theory. Not possible without guzzling whey.



If your energy balance is ok, sure. But if you eat nothing but carbs then you're highly unlikely to be in balance, because your blood sugar will be too unstable and you'll have too many cravings and experience - like OP says - cravings for junk outside of normal meals. Eat a decent balance of carbs, fats, protein, and fibre and you won't get that.

I'd find it easy enough to eat well above the recommended 1g per pound of protein without monitoring it.

Smoked Tuna

Smoked Tuna wrote: »

I'd find it easy enough to eat well above the recommended 1g per pound of protein without monitoring it.

Although, it's probably just a habit I've gotten into. Probably not enough protein prior to that.

Zillah

Smoked Tuna wrote: »

I'd find it easy enough to eat well above the recommended 1g per pound of protein without monitoring it.

That's the maximum amount you can usefully use for protein synthesis/muscle building, not a threshold above which is dangerous. You'll just burn the excess for energy. I haven't actually seen any studies which claim to demonstrate a point at which too much protein is medically dangerous for otherwise healthy people.

There are popular myths about protein causing organ damage and leaching calcium that have no scientific backing.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

cnocbui

Not enough saturated fats.