A rampaging appetite can destroy your fat loss diet. There are various ways you can reduce your appetite to make your fat loss journey significantly easier.

One of the main reasons why so many fat loss diets fail is because dieters reduce their calories to excessive amounts, making it impossible to lose fat for the long term.

You might think “screw this” and give up if you’re constantly hungry.

This happened to me SEVERAL times on my weight loss journey which spanned three decades.

And it can make life a living hell.

There’s nothing worse than feeling awful around the clock and losing fat at a snail’s pace.

The warm embrace of delicious, high-calorie junk food becomes too alluring when your suffering doesn’t bear fruit.

But we will look at ways you can reduce your appetite when dieting to make the fat loss experience less unpleasant.

OE Zeus Juice Banner

1. Reduce Appetite By NOT Eating too Little

reduce appetite

The first tip is something of a no-brainer — of course you’re going to be hungry if you’re running a calorie deficit of over 1000 calories per day.

Anyone would be.

You need to understand that you have GOT to be patient in order for your diet to succeed.

You cannot expect to half-starve yourself for a few months and look like your favorite fitness influencer.

It doesn’t work like that.

It took years for you to be overweight; you won’t be lean in a couple of months.

Take a more sustainable approach and shoot for a 1-2lb a week weight loss unless you’re super obese and immediate intervention would be life-saving.

A calorie deficit of 500 calories per day from eating less and doing more is a typical place to start.

You can ramp this up to closer to 1000 calories if you need the extra motivation.

But you shouldn’t be going further than this to maintain weight loss long term.

Eat in a deficit, but your appetitie will go through the roof over time if you’re consistently starving yourself.

Try our Mythical Bundle to help take your fat loss to the next level.

2. Get Your Sleep on Point

This point is another no-brainer, but sleeping less than 7-8 hours per night can dysregulate your hunger hormones, forcing you to crave high-fat, high-sugar, calorie-dense junk foods.

A good night’s sleep can help you stabilize your appetite so that you do not overeat.

Trying to keep a healthy diet in a slight calorie deficit will be very difficult to do if you’re hungry due to poor sleep habits.

Sleep well and watch your appetite decrease in the short term.

A big part of dieting for fat loss is also to create the best conditions to facilitate this fat loss process.

3. Stress

You’ve heard of the term “stress eating” — well, it is a real phenomenon.

You will need to figure out ways to curb your stress levels — whether it is work, family, or life-related.

There are various supplementation routes you can take, but here at Herculean Strength we always urge for natural approaches before reaching for the pill bottles.

Diet, exercise, sunlight, and healthy habits are a better way to attack stress over others in our opinion.

Stress induces excess cortisol production.

Cortisol — the stress hormone — is release for our survival in pre-industrial times.

When you’re in a sustained calorie deficit, your body releases cortisol to spare its preferred backup energy source — fat — over muscle.

Stress can also cause your appetite to rise, which we want to avoid.

4. Over-exercising

If you increase your caloric expenditure, your body will signal to you that it needs more food to help redress the balance and repair itself after strenuous exercise.

There is a known phenomenon in the running community known as “runger” — a portmanteau of “running” and “hunger”.

Many endurance athletes will recall how after a taxing event, they will want to binge eat on all their favorite junk foods.

That is because their bodies are screaming for replenishment.

Some dieters with a penchant for comfort eating may decide to perform excessive amounts of cardio to induce a calorie deficit without having to sacrifice their favorite foods.

This is unsustainable in the long run as they will be in a state of fatigue and their appetites may push them to overstep their daily calorie goals.

I was one of these guys.

When I was younger, I would do up to 3 hours of brutal cardio per day to lose fat only to eat several thousand calories in junk foods to quell my bestial appetite.

Try to keep your calorie expenditure to a moderate level when losing fat so that you don’t want to consume your entire pantry.

Try our Mythical Bundle to help take your fat loss to the next level.

5. Black Coffee/Green Tea

High caffeine drinks can help you keep appetite at bay.

Caffeine is a stimulant, and like most stimulants, they are also appetite suppressants.

An added bonus is a mild thermic effect that they promote, helping you burn additional calories at rest while increasing your athletic performance and endurance, allowing you to burn more calories for longer during exercise.

One of the main reason various dieters consume them — especially those who practice intermittent fasting — is to keep their appetite levels down.

Black Coffee and Green Tea can also help regulate blood sugar levels, further lowering your appetite.

6. Sparkling Water/Sugar-free sodas

Some members of the fitness community disagree with the inclusion of sugar-free sodas, but carbonated drinks, on the whole, can create the illusion of satiety.

Even though it is a temporary fix, fizzy drinks can help keep your appetite down between meals.

As many of these drinks have low-to-no calories, they are a great way to help make your fat loss easier.

7. Low Calorie Foods

There are many foods you can include in your diet that can enhance your total food volume while simultaneously suppressing your appetite.

These foods can include frozen fruits, cruciferous and leafy vegetables, shirataki noodles; high protein, low fat dairy products and cuts of meat.

Whatever works for you.

But a fat loss diet should include various foods that allow you to eat as much as possible without going over your daily calorie limits.

I couldn’t think of anything worse than trying to lose fat by eating junk foods that do not fill you up.

8. Eat More Dietary Fiber

Dietary fiber — found in various fruits, vegetables, root vegetables, and some grains (be careful with this point) — are hard to digest and therefore keep you fuller for longer.

A diet high in fiber should be consumed to facilitate digestion, but also to help with curtailing your appetite when dieting to lose fat.

Try to include fibrous foods such as spinach, broccoli, berries, and exotic fruits to make you feel fuller.

Try our Mythical Bundle to help take your fat loss to the next level.

9. Eat More Protein

Protein also takes longer to digest which can make you feel fuller for longer.

A high protein meal will kick your appetite to the curb over other diet options.

Protein has the added bonus of a high thermic effect, with 25-30% of protein’s total calories burned in digestion alone.

If you eat 1000 calories of protein a day, 250-300 of those calories will be expended in breaking those foods down.

10. Avoid Refined Sugars

Refined sugars are one of the worst things you can consume in a fat loss diet.

Most of the time they provide no nutritional value, a ton of easily consumed calories, with a one-two punch of increased appetite and energy crash.

This means that you will be more hungry with less energy to burn off the calories you have consumed.

Additionally, refined sugars are addictive, making you crave more refined sugars down the line.

So not only will be hungrier, but you will also want more of the culprit causing you to sabotage your diet.

Refined sugars can also dysregulate your hunger hormones, eliciting a sense of hunger even when you’ve entered a calorie surplus.

This means that piling on the pounds is easier than ever since your body doesn’t know when it has had enough calories.

It is easier to drink a giant soda or eat an ice cream sundae when you’re full than a sirloin steak and a pound of boiled potatoes.

The choice is yours.

Don’t hesitate to email us at [email protected] for personalized coaching and a client questionnaire if you’d like DEDICATED tailor-made personal training on strength training, building muscle, losing fat, developing athleticism, and more — all to your liking, lifestyle, habits, and taste!

Otherwise, don’t forget to claim your FREE eBook detailing how to lose 20lb of fat while building muscle in 12 weeks! You can claim it here.

Alternatively, you can pick up a FREE eBook on fundamental strength principles offering an introductory workout program.