Millions of people around the world are using the COVID-19 pandemic for whatever good they can. For many people, the coronavirus has meant hours, days, and months now of limiting movement. We haven’t been able to go to work, to the gym, or get together with friends like we used to. Life is totally different, so we are trying to find normalcy and feel productive any way we can. For many people, getting physically more healthy has been a good way to channel our stress, anxiety, and frustration with the entire situation. Diets have been started and millions of running apps have been downloaded.
For everyone who has been unhealthy at some point or tried to lose a few pounds, we all know that diet is just as important as exercise. What you put into your body has a direct correlation to how it looks and performs. The food you eat, how much you sleep, and what you drink will affect how you feel, and how much weight you can lose. Anyone who has dieted knows that it’s hard to get in the habit. For many reasons, getting through a week or two of dieting is a challenge, but the real struggle comes in the later weeks as our bodies try to fight for the old routine of more calories, more booze, and more sugar. So, how can you stop feeling hungry when you want to stick to a diet? Indeed, controlling your appetite is a crucial part of any diet. We have to condition our bodies to the new normal, and that doesn’t mean we just have to suffer through hunger until our body is used to it.
There are things you can do to stop feeling hungry to make dieting and exercise easier. With these tips, you’ll see better results out of your time getting healthy in quarantine and the years after. Here are some things you can do to limit and overcome hunger.
Drink More Water
Many people eat too much because they feel like their bodies are telling them to eat when in fact what they are feeling is dehydration. Americans are so dehydrated they confuse thirst with hunger. Your body is telling you it needs some water, so you grab for a coke or some ice cream. Wrong move!
Drinking water has so many benefits that it’s the foundation of fighting feelings of hunger. By drinking more water, you are going to speed your metabolism, which makes you burn calories more efficiently. You’ll feel less hungry because your stomach will have some water in it throughout the day. You’ll also eat less because there’s less room. Drinking a big drink of water before or during a meal will get you to that full feeling much quicker. You’ll consume fewer calories as a result.
Most experts recommend drinking a gallon of water every day to help facilitate weight loss. That may be a big ask for people unaccustomed to drinking a lot of water every day. Work your way up to a gallon step by step. You will also burn more calories taking more trips to the bathroom every day to shed the water!
Go to Sleep!
For everyone dieting, let us say this now: Late night snacking will sabotage the most disciplined diet. You can be good all day and eat salads all week, but if you find yourself bored in front of the tv at night thinking about the carton of ice cream in the freezer, sabotage is around the corner.
Cut off late-night snacking by going to sleep earlier. It will fight off hunger feelings and you will get more health benefits by getting more high-quality sleep as well. Getting better sleep will also give you more energy for exercising as you work to burn off more calories.
Some Interesting News in the Peptide World
The world of peptides and what kind of benefits they provide is becoming more interesting. Specific peptides have gotten notice lately for some very positive research results tied to hunger reduction in animals. The peptide Melanotan 2 has been shown to reduce fat storage and hunger behaviors in animal models. In tests done on mice, the mice who took Melanotan 2 showed a decreased preference for fatty foods and ate less food overall. The results are an exciting look into what Melanotan 2 might be able to do once it’s developed to a greater degree. This peptide is available online, you can buy Melanotan 2 here.
Eat Low-Calorie Snacks
Sometimes everyone just has a craving they can’t beat. When that happens, whatever you can do to fend off hunger feelings without sabotaging your diet will help you long-term. Popcorn, for example, is a great low-calorie snack that can fill you up a bit without spiking sugar levels or adding hundreds or even thousands of calories to your daily intake. Have some carrots or cucumbers cut in the fridge that you can grab and eat in a pinch if the hunger becomes too much.