How to Decrease Your Appetite Permanently: Killing Old Habits
If you’re struggling to lose weight because hunger cravings are getting the better of you, it’s time to kill old habits and decrease your appetite permanently. Here’s how…
The war against fat is as much about controlling you appetite and hunger as it is eating healthily or working out in the gym.
You could run for an hour every day or try to focus your attention on wholesome foods. But if your appetite always beats you and you’re finding yourself reaching for the cookie jar late each night, you’ll sabotage your progress for sure.
There’s no need to worry though.
And in this article we’ll show you the very best ways to turn off that hunger switch and drop your body fat levels easier, faster and with minimal effort.
Read on to find out more….
Calories, Appetite and Energy Balance
Calories. Those little units of energy that either make or break a diet.
When it comes to your body mass, calories are king. If you eat more of them than you burn off each day, you’ll slowly but surely pile on the pounds.
An energy surplus forces your body to store excess energy from food in your fat cells – no matter whether you follow a diet that’s filled with junk food or a healthy eating plan.
A calorie deficit – where you eat less than you burn off each day is the key to weight loss.
Giving your body less calories than it needs forces those fat cells to open up and use the stored energy to make up the difference.
From a purely mechanistic point of view, fat loss all comes down to the physics of energy in versus energy out.
Hunger and appetite can ruin a fat loss diet if not controlled
The human body might abide by the laws of physiology and physics, but you’re much, much more than just an energy balancing machine. You have emotions, habits, motivations and feelings.
The psychology of weight loss can be pretty brutal at times.
Take appetite for example.
You absolutely know that you need to achieve a calorie deficit to lose weight. But late at night when you’re catching up on the latest box set, the feelings of hunger are a constant annoyance. The cravings you get for sweet treats or savory snacks can be unbearable.
And before you know it you’re sat in a haze of chips or donuts wondering what went wrong.
Whether you’re an emotional eater, you genuinely feel hungry all the time, or you just find yourself eating too much out of routine; it’s all about killing old habits.
Decreasing your appetite permanently will help you manage the calories coming into your body, making it easier to balance what’s going out from exercise and daily activity.
Decrease Appetite Permanently – Hacks, Hints and Tips
Appetite is an important part of your body’s protective, lift-preserving mechanism. When you’re body senses that it’s low on energy, it releases hormones that communicate directly with your brain, telling it that you need to eat.
These include chemical the messengers:
- Ghrelin (makes you feel hungry)
- Peptide YY (specifically stimulates carbs cravings).
These hormones basically whisper in your ear, reminding you of those fantastic cream buns in the refrigerator and the corn chips in the cupboard.
If you can’t stop these hormones hijacking your brain, you’ll struggle to balance your eating behavior.
You’ll be pleased to know though that there are loads of ways to decrease your appetite permanently and kill old habits.
Here’s how…
#1. Drink more water
We all know the importance of water. Not only do you need it to maintain blood volume, temperature regulation and digestion, it’s also important for physical performance.
Boosting the amount of water you drink each day has been shown to help increase metabolism and promote weight loss.
For example, a study from the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology [1] found that when a group of overweight men and women ingested 500 ml of water before a meal, metabolic rate increased by 30% and energy expenditure increased too.
And another paper reported that when over 170 women looking to lose weight ingested 1 liter of H20 each day, they lost 5 lbs in weight over 12 months – that’s 2 kg of fat and an energy burn of over 17,000 calories [2].
Without any other changes to their diet or exercise regime too.
#2. Eat more protein
One of the easiest fixes to decrease your appetite permanently is to eat more protein. We’re not talking about protein shakes or bars, but actual food.
- Meat
- Dairy
- Eggs
- Vegetarian foods such as soy
More protein means lower calorie intake overall.
Protein is low in calories at 4 kcal per gram but has the highest thermic effect of all foods. It takes your body much more energy to break it down and digest it – as much as 30% of its calories.
This makes protein high in satiety.
A diet rich in protein helps to keep you feeling fuller for longer. Even high protein snacks such as jerky, Greek yogurt or turkey rolls can help to reduce appetite and keep your diet on track.
One study found that higher-protein intakes not only result in lower energy intakes (by a huge 441 kcal per day), but also weight loss too – nearly 4 kg in 16 weeks [3].
#3. Add glucomannan to your diet
Some scientists have called it ‘the next big thing for weight loss’.
Glucomannan is the fiber of the konjac plant – a very low calorie food source that is also high in fiber. Glucomannan has a long-chain structure that makes it hard for your gut to digest it quickly.
It’s essentially a complex polysaccharide carbohydrate.
Not only is glucomannan high in fiber, it also absorbs as much as 50 times its weight in water when you eat it. Because of its unique and complex chemical make-up, the fiber of the konjac has been shown to decrease the risk of metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity.
It acts like a sponge for sugars and fats that circulate around your body.
Glucomannan has been shown in robust clinical trials to decease appetite. The gel-like consistency of the food expands in your stomach, tricking your brain into thinking your stoma full and you’re body is satiated.
A large scale critical review reported that glucomannan leads to significant weight loss, and could in fact be one of the best supplements on the market for weight loss [4].
And a growing number of clinical research papers have found that glucomannan is effective for both short-term and long-term weight loss [5].
#4. Sleep more
If you’re after a simple fix for decreasing your appetite permanently, sleep is your greatest weapon.
It’s free, it’s healthy, and there’s nothing better than a good snooze after a heavy workout.
Sleep is an essential physiological process. It boosts your immune system, improves your health, enhances physical performance and improves emotional well-being.
Those that sleep less tend to be overweight.
Sleep is also an important regulator of both metabolism and appetite.
From 23 published studies linking sleep quality and obesity, 17 found that poor sleep results in weight gain [6]. Adults that don’t manage 8 hours of unbroken sleep are 55% more likely to carry excess fat.
A study published in a prestigious physiology journal found that a lack of sleep triggers an increase in ghrelin. Remember, this hormone boosts hunger and appetite so any increase is sure to leave you feeling hungry and ramp up your appetite [7].
Authors of the large scale study said that volunteers sleeping less than 5 hours per night had ghrelin levels that were 15% higher than baseline.
#5. Get spicy
Spicy food might not be your thing, but it’s definitely worth adding to your diet if you want to control your appetite and reduce food cravings.
Chili peppers are naturally low in calories and high in antioxidants.
The most important benefit of chillies for body composition though is that they contain a biological compound called capsaicin.
As a chemical that triggers pain-sensing nerve receptors, capsaicin gives chili peppers their intense heat. But because it stimulates an anti-inflammatory response, chilies have been shown to reduce symptoms of arthritis, auto-immune illnesses and diabetic nerve pain.
Chili peppers have a thermogenic effect on your body.
They increase energy expenditure by increasing your core body heat, increasing blood flow and boosting the breakdown of energy from fat. Studies also show that spicy foods reduce appetite as well.
A large meta-analysis report (published in a journal called Appetite) concluded that adding the fat burner cayenne pepper to food resulted in better appetite control and a reduction in energy intake of 80 kcal each meal – that soon adds up when you’re looking for weight loss [8].
Another research project said that when volunteers were given chili peppers with their meals, energy expenditure increased significantly [9].
Summary – Decreasing Your Appetite Permanently
Losing weight and shredding fat all comes down to energy balance – take in more calories than your body needs and you’ll gain weight; but eat less than you burn off and you’ll trigger some favorable changes to your physique.
Regulating your appetite is a big part of weight loss dieting. But it’s not easy – especially if you’re an emotional eater or you’ve got bad habits you need to kill.
Use our easy-to-apply hints and tips to decrease your appetite and change your body forever.
