By: Chris Gates

Struggling with being hungry all the time when dieting is one of the biggest challenges that can derail progress.

Eventually, you just get sick of dieting, and being in a calorie deficit, and restricting yourself of all the foods you enjoy.

Trust me. I know that pain. It’s not fun.

But what if I told you the process didn’t have to be so long, arduous, and painful? What if you could diet down, lose weight, and not absolutely hate the process?

Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to show you how to do in this article!

I’ve got 10 tips that you can start using immediately to make your weight loss journey easier. These tips will help you not be hungry all the time while dieting, and they’ll also help you make progress you can sustain.

So let’s dive into the basics about dieting and what you need to focus on to lose weight, and then we can break down each of these 10 tips!

How Not to Be Hungry All The Time When Dieting: A Calorie Deficit is Key

Let’s establish the most important piece of any weight loss program: a calorie deficit.

In order to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. If you’re unfamiliar with what a calorie deficit is, I’ve got an article that will walk you through exactly how to know you’re in a calorie deficit. Check that one out.

But in the simplest of terms, a calorie deficit is when you’re eating fewer calories from food than your body burns.

It means you’re in negative energy balance.

Now, the cool thing about a calorie deficit is you can achieve it in any number of ways, while eating any number of foods. All that matters is at the end of the day, you need to be taking in less than your body burns.

I’d highly recommend tracking your nutrition to help you get in a calorie deficit. It’s the most precise and efficient way to get in a calorie deficit and stay there.

If you track your diet for 1-2 weeks, it will help you get an idea of what your average daily calorie intake is. And once you know that, you can focus on simply reducing your intake slightly to see how your body responds.

So now that we’ve covered the core, fundamental principle for weight loss … let’s dive into my 10 tips on how not to be hungry all the time when dieting!

Tip No. 1: Don’t Get Too Aggressive, Too Soon

A big mistake people often make is getting too aggressive right off the bat.

It’s super common to want to lose weight, and rationalize that you can just cut your food intake in half until you make the progress you want. And then you can get back to eating the foods you love.

That’s the wrong approach for so many reasons.

Yes, you can make a lot of progress this way. But it won’t be sustainable progress.

And at the end of the day, if you can’t maintain your weight loss progress, then whatever you’re doing probably won’t be as successful as you want it to be.

You want to lose weight. And you want to keep it off. So let’s take a different approach.

You can lose weight by making slight adjustments to your nutrition, so why not do it that way and allow yourself to enjoy the process a bit more?

By getting too aggressive, too soon, you’re going to be setting yourself up for a lot of hunger pains while you’re dieting. You’ll probably eliminate a ton of the foods you enjoy, and be eating such a small amount of calories that it won’t be sustainable for longer than a couple of weeks.

Don’t go that route. Track your nutrition, get a feel for what your average calorie intake is, and then reduce your food slightly. A 10 percent reduction in calories is typically a great place to start.

And then see how your body responds.

You can always reduce calories if you need to. Give yourself the flexibility to eat as much as you possibly can while dieting.

It will help you feel more satisfied, and help make the entire process more sustainable.

Tip No. 2: Don’t Put Yourself on an Aggressive Timeline

Just like you shouldn’t be too aggressive with your calories, you shouldn’t set up a timeline for yourself that is too aggressive.

For example, don’t try and lose 20 pounds in two weeks. Don’t go into your diet expecting a dramatic transformation in a short period of time.

Real, meaningful, sustainable change takes time.

You’ll set yourself up for failure if you try to achieve everything you want in a week.

And by creating that type of timeline for yourself, you’ll actually encourage that aggressive slashing of calories I discussed with tip No. 1. As we already discussed, that’s going to lead you down the path of poor eating habits and hunger, which is what you’re trying to avoid.

Give yourself time. A healthy, sustainable rate of weight loss is anywhere from 0.5-1.5 pounds a week.

Don’t set your expectations at a rate of weight loss higher than that. It will only complicate your process over time.

Tip No. 3: Eat High-Volume Foods

One of the best ways to feel more full and satisfied while dieting is to prioritize high-volume foods. I’ve got an entire section about high-volume foods in my article about how to make your calorie deficit easier that you can check out to learn more!

But in a nutshell, high-volume foods are foods that you can eat a large amount of for a very small amount of calories.

Examples of this are:

• Most vegetables
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Raspberries
• Potatoes
• Lean meats

The more of these you eat, the fuller you’ll feel. And that will make it easier to stay in a calorie deficit.

If you’re wondering how not to be hungry all the time when dieting… High-volume foods are a major key!

Tip No. 4: Eat More Food Earlier in the Day

Whenever you hear “eat more,” you probably don’t associate it with dieting and losing weight.

But eating more at the right times can actually help you reduce your total calories for the entire day.

Let me explain…

Say you have a small breakfast, or possibly even skip breakfast, in an attempt to reduce calories as much as possible and lose weight. This is a popular strategy, and it can be effective, but it also has some drawbacks.

Oftentimes, people think restricting food earlier in the day will help to eliminate as many calories as possible, when in fact it often leads to overeating later in the day because you’re so hungry.

You restrict, and restrict, and restrict until dinner time, and then you’re so damn hungry that you overindulge and actually eat yourself out of a calorie deficit.

It happens all of the time.

Instead, you might be better off by having a more robust breakfast with high-protein and high-fiber foods that fill you up to start the day. The fuller you feel early on, the fuller you’ll feel throughout the day, and the less you’ll feel like you need to go crazy at dinnertime.

Tip No. 5: Create An Eating Schedule For Yourself

This tip ties in pretty well with the previous one, in that structuring your meals for the day is going to help you not be hungry all the time when dieting.

You’ve probably heard the claim, “eating five smaller meals a day is best for weight loss.”

There are both truths and flaws to that claim, but the overarching idea of meal frequency is one that can be really helpful when you’re dieting.

The more you’re able to eat throughout the day, the less you’ll feel like you need to overindulge and have a monster meal that obliterates your calorie deficit.

It doesn’t have to be five meals a day, but it can. The point here is really to think about what your days typically look like, think about if you have times of day when you’re most hungry, and then structure an eating schedule to make those times of day less of an issue.

For instance, sometimes I’ll have my clients break up their lunch into Lunch 1 and Lunch 2. Both of those meals are smaller and they occur during non-traditional lunch times, but they help to curb hunger during those times of day when hunger is most present — in between breakfast and lunch, and lunch and dinner.

So in this example, we’ll do Lunch 1 at 11 a.m. and Lunch 2 at 2 p.m. Two smaller meals, but they’re timed appropriately in order to help you get through the day.

This is something for you to think about. When are you most hungry throughout the day? Plan meals earlier on in the day to help you avoid feeling hungry all the time when dieting.

Tip No. 6: Prioritize Protein in Your Diet

Protein is the most filling macronutrient you can eat, so prioritizing it in your diet is going to help you avoid feeling hungry all the time when dieting.

Research has also shown protein to have a higher thermic effect of feeding than fats or carbohydrates, meaning your body has to burn more calories to digest, absorb, and store protein.

When I say I want you to prioritize protein, I mean I want you to build your meals around a protein source.

Take a chicken breast, or a piece of fish, or steak, or whatever you prefer and make that the focal point of your meals. Build around it with a nutritious carb source and some fruits and vegetables, and you’ll be creating meals that are designed for a successful weight loss journey.

Higher protein in your diet will also help you:

• Recover from any exercise that you’re doing.
• Feel fresher and perform well when you exercise.
• Put more effort and energy into your training.

And all of those things combined can lead to more progress!

All told, protein is going to support your goals in more ways than one, and it will certainly help you to not be hungry all the time when dieting.

Tip No. 7: Hydrate

Drinking water often gets overlooked when it comes to dieting, but it shouldn’t.

For starters, most people don’t hydrate well enough, or consistently enough. So from a general health perspective, drinking more water is going to help you. And if you’re contributing positively to your general health, you’re going to be putting yourself in a good position to diet down and lose weight.

But beyond that, water can actually help increase your feeling of fullness throughout the day. Some research has found increased water intake reduces the total amount of calories consumed in a day.

What worked in the research is actually something that’s really easy for you to try. So let’s do this…

I want you to try something at your next meal…

Before you eat that meal, chug a tall glass of water. And then after the meal is complete, chug another glass of water.

Chances are, you’ll feel considerably more full by eating that meal AND drinking all of that water.

That feeling of fullness won’t last forever, but often you’re searching for that “full” feeling when you eat. You want to feel full when you’re done — and drinking water can help you get that feeling!

If you’d like a benchmark to help you drink more water throughout the day, here’s a great one…

Take your bodyweight, divide it in half, and then try to drink that many ounces of water each day. So if you’re 180 pounds, try to drink 90 ounces of water. And once you get the hang of that, bump that number up slightly, more and more over time.

Tip No. 8: Exercise

When you’re wondering how not to be hungry all the time when dieting, you’re probably focused on what you’re putting in your body.

And that makes a ton of sense.

But exercising can help, too.

Yes, regular strength training and cardio can make dramatic changes to your body composition. And yes, that’s a big part of any weight loss journey.

But we’re focused on feeling less hungry here, so how can exercising help?

Well, there is some research that actually suggests exercising leads to reduced calorie intake. This could be due to any number of factors, spanning from the possibly release of appetite-regulating hormones, to simply keeping your goals top of mind and prioritized.

But beyond that, exercising is just a nice release and can allow you to get your mind off of the monotony that comes with dieting.

If you’re feeling a little bit hungry, and you decide to go for a walk or go to the gym, chances are you will forget about that hungry feeling for a while and focus on the task at hand — exercising.

Exercising isn’t going to magically cure your hunger, but it can be effective in moments where you need to get your mind off dieting.

And it will help you improve your body composition, so this is really a win-win scenario!

Tip No. 9: Avoid Hyper-Palatable Foods

Hyper-palatable foods are those foods that just taste so damn good that you can’t put them down.

I know that’s not an overly scientific description of them, but it’s the easiest way I can help you understand what I mean.

In fact, I’ll make it even easier.

Doritos.

That’s right. Doritos.

You don’t know what they’re made of, or why they taste so good, but the minute that flavor dust hits your taste buds you have to have more.

The real scientific breakdown of hyper-palatable foods is that they light up the reward centers in your brain. They’re so good, and they hit your palate with such ferocity, that your brain tells your body you’re hungry — whether you actually are, or are not.

As you can imagine, this can easily lead you down the path of overeating and feeling hungry all the time when dieting.

There’s just something about the combination of sugar, and salt, and fat. None of those things are inherently bad, but when combined in a single food or meal it makes dieting hard.

Try to avoid foods like candy, cakes, chips, and other desserts as much as you can. You don’t have to completely abstain from them. But limiting them will certainly help you feel less hungry.

Tip No. 10: Stop Drinking Calories

In my opinion, drinking your calories is one of the worst things you can do when dieting.

Liquid calories rarely ever fill you up, which means you’re downing hundreds of calories a day that do nothing to support your weight loss goal.

And what’s even worse is that those liquid calories take up some of the room allotted in your calorie deficit. That means if you’re drinking calories, you have less room for actual food in your diet.

And if you have less room for food, you’ll have fewer opportunities to feel full.

Which means you’ll likely be feeling hungry all the time when dieting.

This one just comes down to approaching your diet sensibly. If you want to be consistent, hit your goals, and make as much progress as possible, right now is probably a bad time to drink calories.

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I hope this helps! This article was a lot of fun to write, because it honestly answers a lot of questions my clients ask in our check-ins. These tips are real, and they work, and if you can be consistent with most of them you’ll probably feel way less hungry when dieting.

And if you’re interested in getting a little bit of customized programming and support with your dieting goals, check out my coaching page! I work with clients all over the world to lose weight, build muscle, feel more confident, and life a happier, healthier life. I’d love to talk to you about your goals!

Thanks for reading 🙂

~ Chris