How to Manage Hunger When Making Nutrition Changes
The Biggest Challenge to Initial Adherence
The half marathon has been run and won. Well, ‘run’ is a bit of a stretch - it was more of a hobble towards the back end.
The Gold Coast weather put on a truly awful display of howling winds and intermittent rain, which made keeping a consistent pace difficult, but at least it kept the temperature on the cooler side.
The run was relatively smooth up until the 16km mark, which was roughly where my training had taken me to. Within 500m of hitting this point, my legs started to cramp and this remained for the final 2km.
Overall I finished in 2 hours and 32 minutes. My primary objective was to finish, but I was also keen to go below 2 hours 30 minutes, which I probably would have done with slightly better weather conditions.
Here are a few thoughts to share from my experience.
Carry more water
I didn’t carry any water and had to rely on bubblers along the route. Aside from the potential exposures from Gold Coast Council’s finest water outlets, this probably wasn’t the best approach for managing hydration because I had no control over when water was consumed.
I don’t like holding anything while I run, but I did consider getting a hydration vest towards the back end of my training, which would have been a good idea.
Spend more time on a food plan
I run first thing in the morning, about 20 minutes after getting up, which means I run fasted (not faster).
I like this approach day-to-day because I can come home, shower and eat, and then get into some work. However, it’s not ideal for endurance performance, particularly for any activity lasting longer than an hour.
I took a couple of energy gels with me and despite not trying them out in training, they seemed to work OK. However, being more attentive to pre- and intra-event nutrition intake would have a decent impact on performance next time.
If you’re like me and go early, you can always wake up a couple of hours before, eat something and go back to sleep. While I wouldn’t do this for every training session, it’s a viable option for events or a few big training sessions.
Running lighter is much easier
I ran at 96.5kg on Saturday. Most of my best running times were in the 86-88kg weight range in the months after getting gastro on the Inca Trail and dropping 8kg in a few days.
There’s no doubt running at a heavier weight is not conducive to optimal performance. However, my training isn’t exclusively about running.
It was interesting to compare some of my shorter runs at lighter weights and see my heart rate was higher now than it was back then. However, as the program continued, heart rate ended up in a similar position.
At the start of the program, my heart rate during shorter runs was much higher than during similar runs when I was lighter. However, as the program progressed, my heart rate at these runs reduced to similar levels as when I was lighter.
I’m hoping it means I’m fitter now, and by dropping a few kg, running will become significantly easier!
Did my training go the distance?
I used the 8020 endurance program, which involves a lot of slow running to build an aerobic base. My only concern with the program is that the longer runs topped out at 2 hours, which meant I was only going to cover 15-17km in training based on the slow speeds.
Many people online said this wasn’t an issue, and it was easy to run the extra on the day, especially when coming off a tapered training program.
This made sense because the 2 hr run I did a few weeks ago felt OK despite already having done 35km of running that week. However, running the extra distance on the day was difficult for me.
It wasn’t long after reaching my training max that my legs started to cramp, and my speed slowed dramatically. However, this was also around the point where the negative effects of insufficient hydration and nutrition were likely to take hold.
So it’s possible that my training had prepared me well, but ironically it was my nutrition and hydration plan that let me down.
Summary
That’s the wrap-up of my first half-marathon. I enjoyed the process of training for something I am very bad at. While I would have liked to have run better, I’m happy that I made it through the program and have developed a base for further training… maybe a full marathon.
Managing Hunger and Body Recomposition
Hunger will likely increase when we create an energy deficit for body recomposition goals. But to what extent and the exact cause will vary depending on the nutritional approach we take.
Many people eating at an energy balance or slight energy surplus experience relatively little hunger throughout the day, especially when they have a consistent routine. They get a bit peckish 60-90 minutes before a meal but it’s pretty manageable.
When we make changes to this routine, it’s normal for hunger to become more noticeable in terms of duration, intensity and frequency
The duration of hunger comes down to feeling hungry earlier than usual before the next meal.
Let’s say you eat breakfast at 7 am and lunch at 1 pm. Usually, there’s some pre-lunch hunger starting at around 11:30 am or so, but when we are in an energy deficit, this can begin earlier at maybe 10:30 am or 11 am.
This can be uncomfortable and distracting, especially when we’re at work.
The intensity of hunger tends to increase with duration. The longer we go, the more intense it becomes. This is the biggest challenge in the early stages of making nutrition changes.
Let’s say there are three stages of hunger. The first is being a bit peckish, the second is more hungry and the third is being ravenous. Most people are rarely going into that third stage.
We start out peckish and then get hungrier, but the transition to ravenous doesn’t always happen. We might get into the zone on a task or be distracted by something and then the hunger subsides, so we have more control over when we eat.
Of course, it doesn’t always work like that. Sometimes we are just ravenous and need to eat!
Changes in the frequency of hunger only tend to happen when we reduce meal frequency.
The Hunger Challenge
Hunger leads us to make nutritional choices that aren’t aligned with our goals.
Behavioural economist Dan Ariely calls these hot and cold states. When we are fed and thinking about our next meal, we are in a cold state and plan to eat in line with our goals.
However, when we are hungry and ready for that meal, we are in a hot state. We want to eat something with more taste, which usually means more energy.
This is why shopping on an empty stomach is a bad idea - your decision-making will be too heavily biased towards taste and pleasure, which probably isn’t aligned with your nutritional strategy.
Hunger can also lead to an increased meal frequency. We are hungry earlier, so we bring lunch forward by an hour.
Then we get hungry during the mid-afternoon because of an earlier lunch. Dinner is still a way off, so we have an afternoon snack. Or if we don’t do that, maybe dinner comes forward and we eat something else before going to bed.
As you can see, hunger can impact our choices in both type and frequency of food intake.
Your Body Adapts
The energy content of food has only a small impact on our hunger. The type and volume of food and habitual intake play a significant role.
Adding fibre and protein to the diet helps keep you feeling fuller for longer, even if the energy intake is the same. Also, processed foods tend to be digested more quickly, as there is less to break down than whole foods.
What’s more important is habitual intake. If our body is used to eating a certain way, it takes some time to adapt to the new approach. If the meal timings and food types stay the same, but we start eating smaller portions, we feel hungrier earlier than usual.
But the body is quick to adapt and after a couple of weeks, hunger will settle down and be similar to what it was before. This is why the first few weeks are critical for adherence.
If we can adhere, the body will adapt, and future adherence becomes easier. However, if adherence is low or moderate, those changes don’t take hold and it feels hard for longer.
This goes both ways - for both eating more and less. I used the be built like a garden rake and when I developed an aggressive strategy to add size, I started eating six times per day (every three hours).
Within a month, I was hungry two hours after a meal. While it was aligned with my goals at the time, I much prefer eating three times a day now. In fact, I would probably eat twice a day if I wasn’t running in the morning, but I struggle to get the fuel in eating only twice.
How Much is Too Much Hunger?
While a little bit of hunger is OK, there is too much. If you’re unable to focus or get tasks done, then it’s likely your energy deficit is too high, and more food is required.
My quasi guide that I personally use for hunger - if my stomach is feeling hungry but my focus is OK, it’s likely a food volume issue and I will eat more fibre (typically vegetables).
However, If my performance is suffering, it’s an energy issue and I need to increase my intake.
It’s not a perfect formula but it is useful to reflect on how the current routine works. Other people find that hunger can often be overcome by drinking water, staying on task or finding an engaging distraction.
But when performance slows, it’s rare to be able to overcome it. In this case, I would bring the meal forward and then adjust intake over the coming days.
How to Manage Hunger, Not Just Avoid It
Adherence is critical in the early stages of we want to drive adaptations, which means staying consistent. However, we must develop strategies to adhere to the plan while managing hunger.
There are a few ways to do this.
Adding more fibre to your meals by increasing vegetable intake makes a significant difference in how long it takes to get hungry before the next meal.
Reducing processed food intake also makes a difference. Many processed foods are high in sugar or partially broken down forms of carbohydrates, which quickly exit the stomach to enter the bloodstream.
Complex carbohydrates are chains of sugars (simple carbohydrates). It takes time for the body to break down these chains into sugars, which can then be released into the bloodstream.
When we eat sugar, it can go straight into the bloodstream as no further digestion is required. While this isn’t exactly how it happens in real life because we are consuming sugar amongst other nutrients that slow digestion somewhat, the outcome is sugar being absorbed quicker than other foods.
Drinking water or tea can be another strategy to manage hunger. Green tea was all the rage about five years ago but seems to have waned in popularity. I personally find green tea doesn’t sit well on an empty stomach, so will stick to water, but I’ve had clients who found it effective.
Caffeine intake can suppress appetite, which can often prolong the issue. You get hungry, have a coffee and then feel less hungry. However, then it comes back later in the day, which can lead to eating snacks with coffee or increasing caffeine intake.
These previous strategies focus on delaying the onset of hunger, not necessarily managing hunger itself.
The first thing to know about managing hunger is to try and embrace it. Keep going with your work or whatever else you are doing - you don’t have to eat; your stomach is just signalling it is ready for food.
From working with clients and my own experience, the best approaches are staying on task or getting completely distracted, which sounds contradictory.
Staying on task means continuing with what you are doing. If you are working on a report, keep going and try to get into a flow. However, hunger can mess with this flow and once you lose it, you’re almost certain not to get it back.
This is where getting completely distracted comes in. Take a break from the big task and focus on a series of smaller ones. This might be getting up and doing some errands or ticking off a bunch of simple administrative tasks that you can do at work.
This is an effective way to keep the task stimulus novel and keep you somewhat distracted.
The real killer is trying to do something in between. You lose focus on the report, do some admin, and then try returning to it. There is zero chance you will hit a flow state coming back from something else and now being hungry, so don’t do it.
You can set up your day to complete these tasks closer to meals. So instead of ticking off those smaller admin tasks for early wins in the morning, leave them until lunchtime to keep you going.
The big challenge for most people is in the evening when they are hungry and preparing a meal. It’s so easy to eat parts of it as you cook or grab something from the cupboard to reward your work as you go.
Replacing the biscuits with beans is a good start, but it’s also developing a habit of eating before meals that won’t serve you in the long run.
Drinking a cold glass of water with some lemon or spice it up with some soda water. I know it’s not an exciting strategy, but it helps keep you on track.
Bringing it Together
Hunger is an inevitable part of creating an energy deficit for body recomposition goals. However, using these strategies to help manage hunger can help drive adherence during the critical early stages of your strategy.
Q&A
If there is anything fitness and nutrition related that you are trying to get your head around, post it below or reply to this email and it will go straight to my inbox. All questions are posted without names unless you specify otherwise.