I'm really hungry!

[Larry Wright]

I didn't know exactly where to post this question. I started SS about 5 weeks ago. I follow a zonish/paleo diet here is a typical day of eating:

7am- 4 hardboiled eggs, 1 orange, 30 raw almonds

10am- 4-6oz. protien (fish, chicken, steak, etc.) 1 apple, 1/4 avocado

2pm- 4-6oz. protien, 1 to 2 fist size portion of veggie (celery, raw or cooked cabbage, etc.) 1/4 avocado

6pm- 4-6oz. protien, 2 fist portion of veggies, 1/4 avocado or 30 raw almonds

The problem is since starting SS I've made great progress but I sometimes get REAL hungry between meals. My goal is fat loss while keeping/building lean mass so I don't want to sabotage myself. Sometimes though I'll eat a couple more handfuls of almonds or an extra piece of fruit or both. I hope I am not hurting my efforts by doing this but I don't know what else to do. Is this common? Any reason why? Anyone else experienced this?

[Mike ODonnell]

Why I'm not a fan of the zone.....insane cravings and hunger....drink lots of water

[Larry Wright]

Originally Posted by Mike ODonnell

Why I'm not a fan of the zone.....insane cravings and hunger....drink lots of water

Any suggestions? I've been tweeking my diet trying to optimize fat loss. Since starting SS I've been hungrier.

[Garrett Smith]

More fat.

[Frank Needham]

My experience with SS led me to believe what others pointed out, that SS is a program designed to build oneself up. Kinda pointing out the obvious, I know. Therefore it was very hard for me to restrict eating. Being hungry all the time does suck. My solution? Eat, whatever I wanted. I didn't lose weight either but I did get stronger. Building strength on a program that makes no bones about also causing one to get bigger is not real easy without eating, a lot.

[Mike ODonnell]

Originally Posted by Garrett Smith

More fat.

Like Dr G said....drop your carbs and add more fat....see if that helps with cravings.

As for me....I just eat IF....a little hunger in the AM fasting hours (but coffee seems to help with that), do workouts fasted and then eat as much as I want in my eating window....I never feel deprived at the end of the day. If I wanted fat loss I'd focus more on meats/fats/veggies....carb up on weekends. If I don't care about weight loss...I eat whatever and can maintain bodyweight. The IF window helps keep the total calories in check.

Zone works....IF works....Paleo works....just all what you like to do.....and I hate the zone personally....but it's a good learning tool for people just starting out.

[Derek Weaver]

Originally Posted by Larry Wright

Any suggestions? I've been tweeking my diet trying to optimize fat loss. Since starting SS I've been hungrier.

SS and hunger, and in turn fat loss, do not go hand in hand. If you want to do well in the program you gotta get enough food in ya.

[Cal Jones]

IF didn't work for me - I put on half a stone (7lbs) doing that. I've had to go on V-Diet to lose it all again. I am female, though, and we're wired a little differently when it comes to storing fat.
Main culprit in my case seemed to be the nuts I was eating, so if you're trying to drop fat, I'd actually advise caution on these.
But yes, trying to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time is a hiding to nothing. Trust me because I tried for 20 years and never had a satisfactory improvement either way. It's one or the other and you need to decide which is your priority at the moment.

[Darryl Shaw]

Originally Posted by Larry Wright

I didn't know exactly where to post this question. I started SS about 5 weeks ago. I follow a zonish/paleo diet here is a typical day of eating:

7am- 4 hardboiled eggs, 1 orange, 30 raw almonds

10am- 4-6oz. protien (fish, chicken, steak, etc.) 1 apple, 1/4 avocado

2pm- 4-6oz. protien, 1 to 2 fist size portion of veggie (celery, raw or cooked cabbage, etc.) 1/4 avocado

6pm- 4-6oz. protien, 2 fist portion of veggies, 1/4 avocado or 30 raw almonds

The problem is since starting SS I've made great progress but I sometimes get REAL hungry between meals. My goal is fat loss while keeping/building lean mass so I don't want to sabotage myself. Sometimes though I'll eat a couple more handfuls of almonds or an extra piece of fruit or both. I hope I am not hurting my efforts by doing this but I don't know what else to do. Is this common? Any reason why? Anyone else experienced this?

If you're hungry between meals eat more fruit such as apples or pairs instead of handfulls of nuts. The increase in fibre will fill you up and because fruit have a far lower calorie density than nuts you'll be eating fewer calories which will speed up your fat loss while at the same time boosting your performance thanks to the increased carb intake.