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Comment by netheril96 | Hacker News Reader

My biggest problem of dieting is that I cannot sleep or maintain sleep with the slightest feeling of hunger. Even melatonin helps only a little.

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Most likely your deficit is waaaay too steep. You should not be starving to the extent that you have hunger pains, or are unable to sleep, or your reproductive system or your immune system shuts down :)

Hungry ape gets woken up early because he needs to go and invest his remaining calories from body fat in to digging up a tuber, or trapping a squirrel or whatever...

Edit. Because obviously the ones with the hunger -> no sleep behavioural repertoire survived to pass on their genes.

I agree with this comment.

I've been on a calorie deficit of 400 for months now and I feel fine. Lost 10 pounds and am pleatueau-ing at 145.

I also work out so my diet is very protein heavy and light on carbs. I don't feel full after meals, but I also don't feel really hungry.

Don't go on an unsustainable calorie deficit. Accept that it'll take time.

You might try reducing your caloric intake during the first half of the day (skip breakfast or breakfast & lunch) and then eating dinner like you normally do.

Try Keto, lots of fat makes you feel full much longer. Takes a couple of weeks or maybe a month to get used to though.

I had a similar problem, and found that it was much easier to deal with hunger in the morning. I generally skip breakfast (curbing hunger with coffee), have a light lunch, and a normal dinner. If I am still hungry before bed, maybe a glass of milk or some yogurt to get me through the night.

Yes, I think that most of the fast/IF style fad diets really boil down to this which is more a diet hack "don't eat in the morning when you are not hungry", which gives you a few hours where it's a slam dunk of easy adherence. And adherence to the plan being the number 1 predictor of successful weight loss (almost tautological, since a superior plan cannot lead to weight loss if it is not adhered to).

Is it real hunger or a false hunger feeling? I ask that because I've had issues with feeling hungry at night even though I ate a full dinner a few hours before, then getting up and eating cereal.

I've found that eating less overall can reduce this issue. I assume the stomach and/or mind is adjusting based on food availability.

Having a very good reason not to sucummb to the hunger pains is helpful as well, such as family, sport, etc. I know when I wrestled in high school the feeling of some level of hunger between meals became to be a positive feelings.

Hunger pains that actually wake you up are much more likely to be "actual hunger" than any false hunger you might deal with while you're awake and your waking psyche is in control.

It's similar to how having thirst wake you up is a much stronger sign of potential diabetes than "feeling thirsty" during the day.

If it's happening while you're sleeping, it's probably not psychogenic (or psychosomatic).

I feel “hunger pain” only when I overeat. If I have a normal dinner I sleep well. It probably has something to do with over production of stomach acids. (Just a sample of one to be clear)

I believe it is false. Because whenever I eat until I don't feel hungry, my weight grows. So obviously my body is lying to me.

I haven't found a solution yet.

The Hackers Diet suggests sticking to a highly restricted (500 calories? I can't remember. It is free and online) diet for a couple of days at the beginning of your diet.

That way when you increase your intake to something that won't kill you in the medium term, your body is much happier than it would be otherwise.

Works for me. YMMV.

Try drinking a high protein very low sugar shake. It really helps against the feeling of hunger.

In my experience, you need to be very gradual when reducing your daily calorie intake. People get overweight over long periods of time, then one day, they look in the mirror and panic.

Next thing they make a kind of moral judgment of themselves and decide that to attain for their sins, they need to be punished.

So, they completely change their diets and try to stick to this entirely different diet through sheer will power. It is not going to work.

My brother uses an app to track calories and get down to a moderate caloric deficit. It is impressive how over the course of a year he just slowly loses weight consistently. If he can just keep around a neutral caloric intake for the rest of his life he is set, but that has not happened in the past. Maybe this time (fingers crossed).

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