Three days in -- very hungry and too much fat?

[mcjule]

So here is what I ate yesterday and my hunger:

 

9 am:  egg white frittata w/bacon and spinach, coffee

10:30 am:  STARVING, but didn't eat

1 pm:  large salad (4 cups of spinach/lettuce) with two cups chopped turkey breast, dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, handful of macadamia nuts

3:30 pm:  STARVING, ate two hard-boiled eggs, black tea

6 pm:  STARVING, ate fish fillet cooked in leftover bacon fat, chorizo sausage and another huge salad made with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  

11 pm:  went to bed feeling slightly hungry

 

So am I overreating?  Undereating (that can't be the case, I feel like my portions are big!).  Eating too much or too little of something?  Or is this just my body adjusting to this way of eating?  I love the food, just don't understand the hunger and worried about the amount of fats!

[GFChris]

How are your portion sizes? Are your meals meeting the recommended template of 1-2 palms of protein, 1-3 cups of veggies, and the appropriate amount of compliant fat? (FWIW, your fat portions look fine - hard to tell on the other two.)

When eggs are your protein, the serving size is the number of eggs you can hold in one hand.

Also, check to ensure your bacon, turkey breast and chorizo sausage are compliant: no sugar, sweeteners, gluten or other nasties in the ingredients.

Are your staying sufficiently hydrated? Aim for drinking water, in the amount of at least half your body weight in ounces, daily.

If you need to snack in between meals, have a mini-meal that contains a protein and fat.  In the meantime, work on upping your portion sizes until your meals satiate you for 4-5 hours.

Try having a carb dense vegetable at at least one of your meals and see if that helps. Carb heavy veggies include sweet potatoes, winter squash, jicama, carrots, parsnips, plantains and rutabaga.

[nikki5577]

I'm not sure how many eggs were in your breakfast, but I would definitely eat whole eggs, not just whites. They will keep you more satisfied. And make sure you eat enough of them. 

 

I'd also suggest trying some veggies other than salad - lettuce/spinach doesn't really fill me up for an extended period of time. We eat a lot of zucchini, broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc... Even add some starchy veggies like butternut squash if that doesn't work.

 

You are better off to eat more compliant food at first than going hungry, then you will be less tempted to go off plan. After awhile your hunger should even out and you will figure out how much you need to eat at each meal.

[mcjule]

Thanks, that is helpful!  I checked the ingredients on my meat and it was all compliant (the bacon was from the farmers market and has no additives at all, the turkey breast and sausage I bought but checked labels carefully).  I definitely had enough protein at lunch so not sure why that didn't tide me over, but maybe not enough at breakfast.  Also, usually I would eat the whole egg but I ran out and only had a carton of egg whites so I'll remedy that next week.

[Carlaccini]

Ummmm - check your carton of egg whites.  There are a few brands that have "ingriedients" so make sure that they don't have any.  Carageen sneaks into a lot of cartons.

 

Actually what you eat at breakfast will play a big part in how hungry you are later in the afternoon.  So yeah I can see myself getting hungry in the afternoon based on you ate for breakfast and lunch.

 

Also I will second the mention to add a starchy carb somewhere.  I would make the recomendation of adding it to breakfast (still include the spinach)

[APOCrunch]

I find that if I can get enough protein in the morning, it helps with the hunger later on. Definitely whole hard-boiled eggs are a huge help. I usually have 2 or 3. I eat breakfast around 7:30am and don't get lunch until about 12:30. If you don't like eating the inside of a hard-boiled egg, try scrambling them with some veggies, or even chicken to increase the protein even more. I'm no expert but I hope it helps!

[namtrag]

I find that 3 scrambled eggs with leftover chicken, ground beef, etc mixed in, fried in ghee really fills me up for quite a while.

 

The portion is huge, but it's technically the same amount of food as eating 3 boiled eggs and some chicken.  

[runninglawyer88]

It doesn't look like you're undereating in the slightest. I generally eat something like this and I'm not a large person by any account: 

 

M1: 3 eggs, a chicken sausage, sautéed kale and mushrooms, cup of tea with almond milk, and a grapefruit or other fruit 

 

M2: 8oz chicken breast cooked with veg and coconut milk over cauliflower rice, sweet potato with almond butter, piece of fruit

 

M3: similar to M2 

 

Snacks: 2 hardboiled eggs, at least 1 piece of fruit, and possibly 1-2 ounces of nuts 

 

Maybe once a week I eat SUBSTANTIALLY more than this and then feel awful because then I have truly overeaten and feel terribly full. Since you're not overly full you're not overeating. Overeating would mean you're eating past satiety and you're not doing that.