Does weight loss cause increased hunger?

A recent study followed weight-loss participants for two years and found that although the individuals lost weight and kept it off, their feelings and hormones associated with hunger actually increased. Meaning as you lose weight, you may feel hungrier! Below are some tips you won’t want to miss.

Experts in weight loss say there are tactics to manage your hunger pangs: first, eat things that are high in protein, fiber, and fat.

“When we think of fats, there are fats that are healthier and fats that are less healthy,” explained Lori Brizee, Registered Dietician at the Duke University Diet and Fitness Center.

Adding heart-healthy fats to a fiber-rich plate will help keep you feeling fuller longer. It’s all about mind games and feeding your body the right foods, so try two to four fistfuls of vegetables and eat your meals off of smaller plates so it seems like more food. Add fats such as avocado, olives, or nuts.

“There have been a few studies that have shown that when you eat nuts, about an ounce of nuts a day, so 160 to 200 calories of nuts a day, they actually help you feel more full to the extent that you don’t eat as many other calories,” Brizee told Ivanhoe.

Consider adding more protein if you tend to make lower-protein choices, but make sure you’re choosing leaner cuts. If you feel like you’ve tried everything and have reached a plateau, it could be your body telling you that you simply aren’t eating enough! If not fueled properly, your body will choose to drop calorie-burning muscle rather than fat. So the solution to losing more weight may simply be following that feeling when hunger strikes and eating more of the right things each day. You can also split up your meals and eat six times a day instead of three.

Everyone is different, and you just have to find out what works best for your body.

Remember, food is not the enemy. You have to change your relationship with food and train yourself to treat healthy food as fuel. And don’t resist cravings, just follow the 80-20 rule. Eat healthy 80 percent of the time and indulge the other 20 percent.

Contributors to this news report include: Gabriella Battistiol, Producer; Katie Campbell, Assistant Producer; Jamison Koczan, Videographer and Editor.