Key Points
Gun to the head, what’s the first thing that comes to mind that sucks about dieting?
FOMO?
Temptation?
Not having the foods you enjoy?
For me, it’s constantly feeling like I’m starving.
There’s no quicker way for me to go elbow deep in a bag of Chex Mix then then the feeling of always being hungry.
Thankfully that’s not the case anymore with myself and what I teach my online clients when they are dieting.
Dieting doesn’t have to suck and you don’t have to be hungry all the time to lose weight.
When it comes to feeling full, what do you think of?
Tons of food?
Big ass meals?
A nice Five Guys burger and fries?
While all of those will fill you up, they all have two things in common, 1) tons of calories, and 2) lots of volume.
When it comes to feeling full, our bodies know one thing, how much space is taken up in our stomachs.
Dats it.
Little space left, you won’t feel hungry.
All the space left, you’re hungry.
This is regardless of calories.
Need proof?
Chug a shaker bottle of water right now.
Do you want to eat right after or do you feel bloated as hell?
Odds are you’ll be content for a few mins. If you were hungry, you prob aren’t right now. This well hydrated experiment just proved my point. Water has zero calories and you feel like you just had Thanksgiving dinner.
You feel full based on how much space if taken up in your stomach, not from calories.
So how can you use that knowledge bomb to help you lose weight and not always be hungry while dieting all the time?
Eat satiating foods.
Da fuq is a satiating food?
Glad you asked.
Satiating foods are foods that take a while to digest so they take up more space in your stomach for a longer period of time.
And when it comes to satiating foods there are a few things you want to look for:
High Volume=more volume = more space taken up in your stomach
Low calorie = we are dieting need to keep the calories in check
Fiber= takes a while for the body to digest
Protein=takes a while for the body to digest
Unprocessed = takes more work for your body to break down the food
So let’s run through a few food comparisons to drill this point home:
Peanut M&M’s vs Lettuce
M&M’s per 220 calories
Volume/calories: 1.5 oz
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 4g
Processed
Lettuce per 220 calories
Volume/calories: 59oz (3.25 lbs) of lettuce
Fiber:20g
Protein:20g
Unprocessed
Taking what you know from what I’ve already told you in this article, which would you choose when you’re dieting?
While I love me some peanut M&M’s, I’d much rather feel full so I’d go with the lettuce.
Next showdown, chicken breast vs protein shake.
Chicken Breast per 220 calories
Volume/calories: 5 oz per 220 calories
Fiber: 0g
Protein:43g
Unprocessed
Protein Shake per 220 calories
Volume/calories: 2 scoops in 28 oz water
Fiber: 2g
Protein:48g
Processed
Ahh a tricky one here.
Which would you choose?
This is a trap I see a lot of online coaching clients fall into. Downing protein shakes in lieu of whole food protein sources.
Don’t get me wrong, protein shakes are a great quick way to get extra protein in, however they digest quickly leaving you hungry pretty quickly. The unprocessed chicken breast on the other hand takes a while for the body to break down which allows it to take up hunger inducing space in your stomach for longer periods of time.
When looking for “diet foods” make sure they check at least 4 of these boxes:
High volume
Low calorie
Fiber
Protein
Unprocessed
Before I give you a list of foods, I want to dig into some #science for a bit.
Way back in the greatest decade ever, the 90’s, scientists in Australia compared the satiety of different foods and compared them to white bread.
Why white bread was the control? Not sure. Many scholars don’t know either. Just like they are still debating how San Diego got it’s name.
Either way, participants in the study were fed different foods and they were asked to give satiety ratings every 15 mins for the next 2 hours.
The result…The Satiety Index List.
Foods at the top of the list are the most satiating and the ones at the bottom not-so-much.
So let’s dig into the list now.
What do you notice about foods at the top.
They check all the boxes, right?
Potatoes
✅High volume
✅Low calorie
✅Fiber
✅Protein
✅unprocessed
Oatmeal
✅High volume
✅Low calorie
✅Fiber
✅Protein
✅unprocessed
And the bottom of the list?
Croissants
✖High volume
✖Low calorie
✖Fiber
✖Protein
✖unprocessed
Cake
✖High volume
✖Low calorie
✖Fiber
✖Protein
✖unprocessed
So if you’re going to start dieting, fill your day with foods high up on the list, sprinkle in some foods at the bottom of the list and you’ll be alright.
For my general population online coaching clients, I recommend a 80-20 breakdown of foods. This way you can eliminate the constant hunger and the feeling of restriction all while losing weight.
For my clients that want to get more shredded for a photoshoot or a specific event, then I would adjust that to more of a 90-10 or 95-5 breakdown. Just because the cut here is a little more aggressive and because you’re pushing your body to a leanness that it doesn’t want to be at.
Right now, I’m in the midst of a photoshoot prep. At the time I’m writing this…OK, typing…I’m in week 12 of a 16 week cut.
Weeks 1-5 were absolute hell.
I’m not going to beat around the bush on that one. Absolute. Fucking. Hell.
Constantly starving. Cravings all over the place. Temper flaring like a pack of hemorrhoids. The absolute worst time of day was between 2-4pm.
That’s when my coach, Jeremiah Bair, introduced me to the Big Ass Salad.
A premade bag of lettuce. A giant bowl. 6-8 oz of grilled chicken breast or ground turkey and I’m good. I did use black beans as well for a time but I had to stop because they were doing horrible things to the air quality of my house.
This meal checks all the boxes.
✅High volume
✅Low calorie
✅Fiber
✅Protein
✅unprocessed
Lettuce provides a ton of low calorie volume with fiber. The chicken breast provides the protein and both are unprocessed.
This was a complete game changer for the rest of the prep. Cravings are non-existent and my hunger has dropped.
Once I’m done with the prep I’ll detail out month-to-month what we did, but for now, I just wanted to show you what the satiating food list and checking the boxes can do while pushing your body hard while dieting.
Dieting gets a bad wrap. Too many people make their lives living hell because they think that’s the only way or it’s because it’s how they did it in high school.
This doesn’t have to be the case and it’s one of the biggest things I help educate my online coaching clients on. Because if it sucks you’re not going to be consistent. But if you can incorporate the satiating foods and the treats you enjoy you can enjoy hunger free dieting that tastes good while losing weight.
AKA the holy freakin grail.
If you want your customized Holy Grail diet plan so you can stop always being hungry while dieting, apply for online coaching with me.
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