Not getting enough food: snacks vs bigger meals

[iomchris]

On Day 6, going decent so far, but I am hungry a lot and I don't think I'm eating enough food. I feel quite full after meals. But after a couple hours I'm quite hungry and it feels a long wait to the next meal.

I have tried a couple times eating a piece of fruit and some nuts at the end of my meal, even after I already feel full, and that does help but not totally solve the problem. Whereas having that piece of fruit and nuts 2 hours after the meal does solve it.

Is this something I need just to wait out, my body will adjust and I won't feel so hungry in between meals after a couple weeks?

Should I be pushing myself at meals to eat past the point of feeling full in order to stave off the later hunger pangs? Is that better than snacking?

[Tom Denham]

I used to eat every 3 hours and had 5 or 6 meals per day until my body got better adjusted to eating real food. Rather than snacking on fruit or nuts, it would be better if you had a mini-meal with protein, fat, and veggies when you got hungry. So maybe prepare more for each meal, eat until you are full, and then save the rest for when you get hungry in a few hours. I started being able to go longer after each meal after a few months of this way of eating until now 3 meals per day works fine.

[Aberrantatavia]

Thank you, I was going to ask this same question. I am on day 15 and I've adjusted to having a couple of bites of food when I get up, then eating meal 1 around 730 or 8. Meal 2 at 12, but then I'm hungry at 3 or 4. I was having fruit and nuts but I switched to an actual meal around 4 and it seems to have helped. It did take me a couple of weeks to adjust to eating breakfast earlier and also not snacking.

[iomchris]

Thanks Tom and Melissa. Melissa, how big a meal are you having at 4pm, and what time are you having dinner at?

[Aberrantatavia]

I have a really big breakfast, normal lunch, and around 4 I'm having a smaller meal. I guess my meals taper in quantity and calories as the day goes on. At 4 yesterday I had a serving of "meatsa" which is essentially a layer of ground meat with veges and pizza sauce on it and baked. Then at about 8 I had a banana with hazelnut spread. The night before I was hungrier and ate some more meatsa and then a frozen banana.

Essentially I'm switching the 4 pm snack for a meal and only eating a small meal or a snack at 7 or 8. I don't know if I'm explaining the quantities very well, sorry!