How To Stay Full On A Calorie Deficit

Have you been scrolling through the inter web trying to look for tips on how to stay full on a calorie deficit?

Well I urge you to let the scrolling cease because I got your back.

I am going to give you 9 tips and tricks I have used coaching thousands of online clients, as well as a list of 10 foods that are going to fill you up the most on your diet.

I know you have been there.

Your diet is going great. You are killing it.

Only until a random Thursday night rolls around where you are like I need ice cream.

You go back and forth thinking of things you can do to push out the thought of wanting that wonderful, voluptuous ice cream sitting in your freezer waiting for you.

Maybe you try a board game, until you flip the board game over, open the freezer, and pound some ice cream.

You then feel bad for “giving in”, which compiles and makes things that much worse.

Don’t worry, like I told you I got your back.

I am going to give you 9 tips for hunger on your diet, as well as some the best foods around you can eat during the day to help this situation from happening again.

All I ask is you read the entire article. Up, down, left, right.

Ready? Let’s dive in.

9 Tips On How To Stay Full On A Calorie Deficit

1. Protein

Protein is arguably the most important factor when it comes to how to stay full on a calorie deficit (I guess that is why I put it first, right?).

Protein has a slew of benefits but lets start with the simple fact it is the most satiating macro nutrient.

If you do not know what macronutrients are, they are simply just protein, carbs, and fats.

So out of those three protein is the most satiating, meaning it is going to satisfy your body the most.

How can this help you on your diet?

Well if your body is satisfied from protein, it is not going to want more calories, thus leading you to not get as hungry.

Protein also takes time and energy to digest in your body.

Think about the time it takes to chew on a good piece of steak or chicken.

Then your body has to digest that which takes up energy and time as well.

This actually also helps with fat loss. If you want head HERE To listen to my podcast on why protein helps burn more fat.

80% of the time when I onboard a new online coaching client that individual is severely under eating in protein.

Boost your protein up, and you will immediately notice a huge difference.

Want to know how much protein to eat throughout the day?

Remember, I always got your back. Take your body weight (in lbs) x (.7-1) = grams of protein for the day.

So if you weigh 150, 150 x .8 = 120.

2. Veggies 2-3x A Day

There is a reason why vegetables and salads are a staple of any successful weight loss journey.

Yet do you actually know why that reason is?

Besides the fact your mom made you eat your vegetables as a kid and mom is always right.

It is because when you have salads or vegetables, you can eat a ton of food.

The actual food volume you are eating is high which fills up your stomach.

The best part of this is they fill your stomach up for not that many calories.

Obviously if you are looking to stay in a calorie deficit you want to be able to optimize that calorie deficit, aka eat as much as you can while staying in that deficit.

Salads and vegetables are a staple in any weight loss routine and I recommend getting vegetables 2-3x a day with your meals.

A great coach in the space Jordan Syatt really popularized the overall idea of having one big a** salad a day.

A quick hack for you to get some veggies in, keep you full, and fight off the hunger.

3. Don’t Eat 800 Calories

I feel as if this one should be self explanatory, yet unfortunately I see entirely too many people making this mistake on their weight loss journey.

You could do every single one of these things I am going to mention in this article to a T and if you are only eating 800 calories, you are going to be starving.

It is not smart, don’t do it.

You are setting yourself up for failure trying to eat this incredibly low calorie amount.

You will not be able to stick to it consistently. You will get upset and frustrated. You will go off and binge because you are starving and feel like you messed up not sticking to your diet.

Then this cycle will happen over and over again.

Avoid this from the beginning and take a more moderate approach to your calorie deficit.

If you want to know exactly how many calories to eat for fat loss head HERE to find that out.

4. Avoid High Calorie Drinks

These can be a bit sneaky. The marketing on the bottle above would lead you to believe it is a healthy drink option.

Do a double take.

This drink has 270 calories with 63 g of carbs.

Yup you read that right. That “healthy” drink is incredibly high in calories.

Too many times I have seen people drink one of these while out grocery shopping, not realize it was damn near 300 calories, and come home having to eat less at dinner because of it.

That is a not a good strategy for how to stay full on a calorie deficit.

Beyond that, let’s talk alcohol.

I tell everyone of my online coaching clients what I am about to tell you below.

I don’t care in the slightest if you drink.

With that being said, if it comes to a point where you are not seeing progress because throughout the week and every weekend you are going over your calories and that is because of alcohol.

You simply have to have a conversation with yourself about what your goals really are.

If you are struggling with being hungry on your diet yet you are having 700 calories from mimosas and beer, you simply will not be able to see results.

So choose wisely.

5. Diet Soda / Sparkling Water

Following up on the high calorie drinks above are going to be the best low calorie drinks for how to stay full on a calorie deficit.

I want to first make this very clear because there is some confusion about diet soda and weight loss.

Diet soda is 0 calories. It has 0 sugar. Your body does not recognize the fake sugar as real sugar and all of a sudden turn it into 500 calories. If it is 0 calories, it has 0 calories.

Also the artificial sweeteners in diet soda are not going to kill you.

Let me ask you think question. If the options were lose 50 lbs while drinking diet soda, or not lose any lbs and not drinking diet soda, what do you think is better for your overall health?

Losing 50 lbs is going to be better for you every single time.

All of your blood markers are going to be better. All of your cholesterol levels are going to be better.

As with everything in life moderation wins. Should you have diet soda with every meal? Probably not. That doesn’t mean having one here and there throughout the week is awful either. Moderation. Live it, learn it, love it.

Throwing into the mix sparkling water, both of these can help keep you full because of the carbonation can suppress appetite.

Feel free to utilize both of these to your advantage.

6. Sleep Like A Baby

Let’s talk a little science quickly, shall we? After we get past the cute baby sleeping.

There are two hormones in your body called Leptin and Ghrelin.

Leptin is the hormones that suppresses appetite.

Ghrelin is the hormone that promotes appetite.

When you sleep leptin is increased and ghrelin is decreased, essentially telling your body you are not hungry and you do not need to eat.

If you are not sleeping then leptin cannot increase. This can lead to ghrelin being increased even more, which means you will be hungrier for the simple fact you are not sleeping enough.

Not to mention that when you don’t get adequate sleep (7-9 hrs a night) you are just more hangry to being with.

You have less mental and physical energy. It takes mental energy to be on a diet, to say no to over eating, to workout and cook your food.

The less sleep you get means the less mental energy you have. The less mental energy you have the poorer the choices usually get.

So take after babies and get your sleep.

7. Adequate Hydration

I bet your first thought when to drinking water, didn’t it?

That is actually not what I am going to talk about here because water doesn’t necessarily depict how hydrated you are.

Hydration comes from two major nutrients for the discussion of this topic, sodium and potassium.

If you are lacking in sodium or potassium you are going to be dehyrated.

How do you know this? If your pee is super dark yellow it could be a sign you are dehydrated, and if your pee is clear white it could be a sign you are dehydrated.

Yep you actually don’t want your pee to be clear because this means you have no nutrients in you to pee out, aka being dehydrated.

You want your pee to be more of a lemonade color.

Now that we have gotten very personal talking about your pee color here, how can you make sure you get adequate sodium and potassium?

Well as far as sodium, I would simply look to lightly salt a few of your meals through out the day.

For potassium, stay tuned for when we go over the 10 foods to stay full on a calorie deficit.

If you are dehydrated this could easily mask itself as hunger, sneaky isn’t it?

This will lead you to eat more calories and going out of your calorie deficit.

Make sure hydration is in check and you will be more successful keeping your hunger at bay.

8. Stop Cutting Out Your Favorite Foods

This one is a bit counter productive in most peoples minds.

I am telling you to tips and tricks to stay full on a diet, but I am also telling you to eat your favorite foods knowing dang well they are high in calories?

Yep I am and here is why.

What happens when you tell your kid “don’t touch that”.

Within .8 seconds they go and touch it.

When something becomes “off limits” you automatically want it that much more, so you will crave it that much more.

So eventually you are going to have it because you are craving it. Except when you have it, since you are not supposed to have it because it is “off limits” you don’t have it in moderation.

You binge and eat all of it.

Simply for the fact that you aren’t supposed to have it and after that moment in time you will go back to not having it so might as well enjoy it while you can.

Stop doing that.

When you stop cutting out your favorite foods and have them in moderation the cravings go away.

Less cravings normally equals less over indulging on calories.

You can enjoy your favorite foods in moderation and still lose weight as long as you are in a calorie deficit, it is called flexible dieting.

I got your back with an entire article here I wrote on flexible dieting.

9. Hunger Is Not A Panic Button

I just spent the last 8 points teaching you ways to control your hunger on your diet.

Now this point is going to tell you that hunger is not necessarily a bad thing.

Let me explain.

How does your body burn fat?

You know to be in a calorie deficit but how does it actually burn the fat.

When you eat less calories than your body is burning you are intaking less energy than what your body requires to maintain your current weight.

This means your body is going to have to go to stored energy (fat) to use.

You have to remember your body is much smarter than you. It doesn’t want to lose fat it wants to maintain homeostasis right where it is at.

So what does it do? It plays mind games and tells you “hey we aren’t having enough calories to maintain our weight we need to intake some more calories.”. This is taken in the form of being hungry.

Sneaky body. Smart for survival, not smart for losing body fat.

You must realize some hunger is going to be normal and expected on a diet.

Now am I telling you to go starve yourself? Absolutely not I explained that in point #3 above.

Yet that doesn’t mean a little bit of hunger is going to be normal and what you should expect. You are intaking less calories than you are burning your body is going to try to counteract that.

On a scale of 1-10, your hunger should be anywhere between a 2-5, 6 max.

Hunger is not a sign of panic. When it comes, know it is normal, it is expected, and deal with it accordingly from the tips above and the foods I am going to cover below.

10 Foods For How To Stay Full On A Calorie Deficit

Now that we have our 9 tips covered, let’s dive into foods that can help keep you full on your diet.

1. Greek Yogurt. This is a quick and easy protein source with not that many calories. As we learned above, protein is the number one most important tool for keeping you full.
2. Spinach. Eat 3 cups of spinach for a whopping 20 calories and tell me how full you are after.
3. Oatmeal. Oatmeal is a great fibrous carbohydrate that can give you long lasting full-ness and energy throughout the day. That is why it is so popular for breakfast.
4. Strawberries. For an entire lb of strawberries it is only 150 calories. A whole pound!
5. Watermelon. For an entire lb of watermelon it is only 140 calories.. Again, a whole pound!
6. Cottage Cheese. Similar to greek yogurt, cottage cheese is a quick and easy grab and go protein source to keep you full.
7. Popcorn. This carb has a good amount of fiber in it to keep you satisfied, just don’t overdo it on the butter.
8. Protein Shakes. Protein shakes are a super simple way to get in extra protein especially if you are struggling to hit your goal with just food alone. I will link some of my favorite ones HERE.
9. Potatoes. Remember how I talked about hydration and potassium? Potatoes not only will fill you up but they also are loaded with potassium to help with hydration.
10. Steak, Chicken, Fish. Really any quality source of lean meat is going to be beyond beneficial for how to stay full on a calorie deficit.

These foods come straight from my YouTube video 5 ways to make dieting suck less, feel free to check that out for some more free tips as well.

Are You Confident On How To Stay Full On A Calorie Deficit Now?

I hope this article gave you some solid, immediately actionable tips you can take with you to start implementing on your diet today.

Hunger sucks, which makes dieting suck.

Yet it doesn’t have to.

Use these tools above to help you out on your journey.

If you want some extra help, I would love to help.

You can leave a comment below or shoot me an email at coacheric@ericrobertsfitness.com with the subject title “how to stay full on a calorie deficit”.

I would love to help you out.

Beyond that if you are looking for some extra help and guidance along your specific journey, you can head HERE to fill out my coaching application form to see if we may be a good fit to work together.

Either way I am always here to help.

Look to hear from you soon.

-E