A lot of people who start on their weight loss journey find it hard to fight food cravings. They realize that they are feeling hungrier than usual. This can happen because when you slash your calorie intake significantly, your body naturally sends signals that it’s not getting as much energy as it’s used to. These signals can make you feel hungrier than usual, causing intense cravings for food.
During dieting, your mind also tends to focus more on the foods you’re trying to avoid. Over time, these cravings can become harder to resist, leading to feelings of frustration or guilt, and in most cases, we tend to get off the weight loss wagon without achieving success. In this article, we list out 4 ways to fight food cravings while on a weight loss diet.
4 Ways To Fight Food Cravings on Weight Loss Diet:
1. Make sure you eat enough food throughout the day, especially those that are rich in protein and fiber. If your meals have enough protein and fiber, they help you feel fuller for longer and help fight intense cravings for food. Also, eating at fixed timings would help to control frequent snacking.
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2. Get enough sleep because when your body is tired, it seeks sugar and fast food to get quick energy. Experts recommend getting at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night to keep hunger and cravings in check. This article on the website Mattress Clarity mentions a study that connects junk food cravings to poor sleep! The study also mentions that 60% of the people who participated in the study stated that they indulged in night-time snacking due to lack of sleep at night. Hence, it’s extremely important to get good-quality sleep every single night to fight food cravings in check and lose weight loss successfully.
3. Add enough snacks in your diet because slashing down your food intake to just three square meals can make you crave for sugary treats and unhealthy foods when there’s a dip in energy. Healthy snacks like nuts, fruits, roasted chana, sweet corn, etc., would not derail your progress and may in fact be beneficial to boost metabolism. Having healthy snacks between meals helps keep your blood sugar levels stable, preventing sudden dip in energy levels. They also provide the body with nutrients and energy throughout the day. Hence, including these snacks can help tackle overeating at main meals and support your weight loss goals significantly and by a great deal.
4. Increase water intake! Drinking more H2O can be a gamechanger in your weight loss journey because being dehydrated can make you really hungry. Most of the times, when we have hunger pangs during the day, it’s a sign of dehydration. An effective tip to fight food cravings while dieting is to increase water intake to 3 or 4 liters because sometimes all we need is a glass of water and not a bag of potato chips.
Summing up, indulging in cravings occasionally, evne while on a diet, and trying to lose weight, can actually help with your weight loss journey. It helps prevent feelings of deprivation, making it easier to stick to the diet plan for long. Allowing yourself a treat or a cheat meal can keep you motivated and help fight frequent cravings. So, if you are craving for a samosa or a piece of pizza on the diet, do indulge, but do remember to get back on track right after. Essentially, moderation is the key and enjoying in small treats occasionally can keep you on track without derailing your progress.
