How To Reduce Hunger When Losing Fat - Dean McMenamin

How To Reduce Hunger When Losing Fat

Most guys never lose fat and keep it off. It’s easy to slip back to old ways when you fail to nourish your body or change routines.

During last weeks live training with the men I coach, one of the lads asked me:  

“What’s best to eat later at night? I’m always hungry and this is when I raid the kitchen” 

Great question. But lemme ask you one…

Are you physically hungry? Like, do you feel hunger pangs, or are you craving because you normally snack late at night? 

Hunger and cravings are different, amigo. I’ll show you how to fix both of them in this article.

Cravings are often boredom or related to routine habits.  If this is the issue? You need to work on it. Because if you’re always eating when not physically hungry?  You’ll have a hard time losing fat.

4 Steps To Crush Cravings

1) Brush your teeth at the same time every night after dinner. 

A signal to the brain to stop eating for the day.  It works for me.  

2) Have a consistent bedtime. 

If sitting up late watching TV is something you associate with eating, get to bed earlier. Your body will thank you for it. 

3) Do something else. 

Association habits are hard to break. I struggle to go to cinemas or have a movie night without eating ice-cream. So I do other things 5 evenings outta 7.  

A nice evening walk, some reading, meditation, journalist or playing guitar. Just something you get pleasure from other than eating. 

4) Have dinner later. 

If you normally have 4 hours between dinner and bedtime? Try bringing bedtime forward or pushing dinner back a little. 

But what if it’s none of that. What if you are physically hungry? Go through these 5 steps…

5 Steps To Kill Hunger, Feel Great & Get lean

Step 1: Drink 2L water per day.

The full belly effect is something that helps kill hunger. We get this easier when we’re drinking enough water. If you hydrate properly every day, you’ll feel fuller, have good energy and lose fat.

Step 2: Eat enough protein.

It’s the most satiety fulfilling nutrient there is. When you eat more protein you feel fuller for longer. Plus you use more energy digesting it than any other food. So you lose fat easier, too. Shoot for 6-8 palm-sized portions of meat, fish or eggs per day. (You can get more guidance on this by downloading my free busy dads eat-better package).

Step 3: At least 5 veg + fruit/day?

We get a lot of fibre from fruit and veg which helps us feel fuller too. Plus some vitamins act as co-enzymes to help absorb protein. In other words, if you’re not eating enough fruit and veggies? You’re not absorbing all that protein you’re eating.

^^ After nailing those 3 steps consistently… 

Step 4: Eat smarter carbs

Carbs get a pretty bad rap these days. But most people actually feel and perform worse when they take carbs out the diet. Rather than eating fewer carbs, make better choices. Rather than white breads, pastas and rice, choose brown. They have more fibre, nutrients and take longer to digest so keep you feeling fuller, longer.

If you want to go one better, stick to mostly whole-food sources like steel-cut or rolled oats, brown rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes and fruits.

Step 5: Eat Healthier Fats (In Small Portions)

A lot of people screw up here by munching on nuts all day because they’re healthy. True. But they’re also super high in calories. They’re mostly made of fats which have more than double the calories of protein and carbs. 10-15 almonds is probably more than any grown man needs in a day.

The good thing is they help slow down digestion when eaten with a meal. So sprinkle them into your main meals in small doses. Nuts, seeds, avocado, organic butter, or even a square or 2 of dark chocolate are good options.

Start with step 1 and follow the process. Commit yourself and you’ll see big progress. 

Or if you need a little more professional with your body goals?  Reach out and we’ll see if I can help.

Get after it.

– Dean 

PS – Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 more ways I can help you be the fit, strong and healthy Dad who leads by example: 

1) Check out my videos: 

I’ve posted hundreds of live videos on my Facebook page to inspire, motivate and educate men to become the healthiest, strongest versions of themselves.

Go here to check them out: 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/deanmcmenamin20/videos/?ref=page_internal

2) Read the articles on my blog:  

Learn how I transformed my habits and body, how I help my clients transform theirs (and how you can do it too).

Go here to read it: 

https://deanmcmenamin.co.uk/blog

3) Have me personally coach and mentor you: 

I’m taking more clients into my body transformation coaching program. It’s for men who want to gain more energy, get fitter, stronger and regain their body confidence.

It’s a remote coaching program so you can join me from anywhere in the world. The spaces on this are limited. 

Need help? Reach out to me and we’ll see if I can help.

About the Author Dean McMenamin

Dean McMenamin is an Army veteran, father, dog-lover and body transformation coach to every day men all over the UK & Ireland. He's also a big eater of ice-cream.

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