Diet-always hungry!

[Youreds]

Hi all,

Despite trying to maintain a healthy diet, my running (I average around 50km/week) means that I am always hungry, even after eating a substantial evening meal. What food would you suggest as a good snack to keep the hunger away without resulting in me putting on weight?

[misswobble Marathon]

I try to eat enough at meal times so I'm not hungry. I try and do my runs to coincide with a meal time when I get back. If dont tend to snack really as it's a habit i got out of while losing weight. I do like nuts, berries, fruit, live natural yogurt. A stack of banana/egg pancakes are good with fruit and yogurt and only use one banana and one egg but makes a goodly stack of American style pancakes Avocado choc mousse, Vegan mug cake with peanut butter centre. Red apple with almond butter. Slice of toast with peanut butter. Toast with mashed avoc, red onion, tomatoes, chilli and lime I was peckish last night and had a bowl of wholegrain cereal with milk I make my own running snacks too and generally have a stash of those in the freezer to call on if needs be

If you avoid the usual suspects you'll be ok Good luck!

[Flyingred 10 Miles]

To keep hunger away without packing on weight you need to favour foods that will fill you up without adding loads of calories. Salads are pretty good (lettuce/rocket/cucumber/celery/peppers/tomatoes) but spare the dressings. Also, vegetable soups (my favourites are broccoli, celery and leek and potato). Home-made muesli consisting of porridge oats, chopped fruit and soaked with almond milk works well. Avoid anything fried, processed or containing sugar. As misswobble suggests, eat plenty at mealtimes and wean yourself off snacks – drink water instead.

[UnfitNoMore Metric Marathon]

Carbs are great run fuel but digest quickly and so don’t keep you feeling full... proteins and fats take much longer to digest and so keep you feeling fuller for longer... first choice for me would be protein for the aminos needed for muscle repair and strengthening, but some extra fats could help a lot.

[GoGo_JoJo Ultramarathon]

Are you actually consuming enough healthy calories to sustain you or are you in deficit to drop more weight.

I eat well and healthy but consume 2500 cals a day to ensure I can do all I need to and not lose more weight. I get hungry between meals but I know when my next feed is (breakfast 05.20 snack 11 am lunch 2ish and dinner 6.30) so I can usually hold out. I do carry a couple of emergency snack bars, frusili or nakd just in case.

[Sadie-runs Half Marathon]

I am a hungry runner too, as I increased my distance I noticed my weight dropping. I am a healthy weight and don’t want to go any lower! So, on the advice of my sports massage guy (who also does sports nutrition) I upped my protein intake - and it seems to have worked! I don’t eat meat apart from fish, so added to that has been more eggs, nuts for snacking, more pulses and some high protein yoghurt. It took me ages to realise that as I ran more I needed more calories - doh! You can increase calories healthily, so don’t worry about that. I swear by nuts, avocados and eggs!

[misswobble Marathon in reply to Sadie-runs]

Yeah, me too!