Real Life Diet Questions Answered

Hunger pangs at night

Hiya. I've just started on here and I'm sticking to the calories and the exercise but of a night I'm so hungry and I'm getting pains in my stomach plus my stomach grumbles constantly. I cant sleep because of this and the next day have no energy or no appetite. Can you help please? Thanks

Our expert says...

Hi,

Thanks for your query, and sorry to hear you are struggling. It’s likely to be a temporary thing as your system gets used to having less food, but if you are having your sleep interfered with through hunger; this is clearly not good as it then affects your energy levels next day.

In any healthy diet plan it’s a good idea to eat regularly over the day, as it will help balance your blood sugar and guard against you getting so hungry that it becomes hard to control what you eat. Starting the day with breakfast is important, even if you aren’t actually feeling hungry at the time, so do make sure you do this. Later on it would be good to stick to a modest lunch, if you can, to save yourself some leeway for the evening when it’s clear you are struggling with hunger pangs the most.

For your evening meal do be sure to include some carbohydrate like pasta, rice or potatoes to raise your blood sugar level, and combine with an appetite-curbing protein source like fish or lean meat plus plenty of veg. You might also want to save some calories for a milky drink made with skimmed milk, which can both help to keep you feeling full and help with sleep.

Don’t forget also that your tum can get a bit gripy when you change what you eat, and if you have introduced more fruit and veg for example, it may take a little while for your system to get used to!

If nothing improves in a week or so, do remember it is more important to lose weight sustainably, rather than fast. If you need to, eat a few more calories to ensure you don’t go off track altogether. It is better to do this and lose weight slower than to give up altogether. I do hope this helps!

Best wishes

Angela