Spicy Food?

TheBashar

Member
I was wondering if other people have trouble with spicy food and dieting? I've read other places where spicy is supposed to help curb hunger. But I have the exact opposite experience. When I get spicy food (boy do I love my thai) I find not only do I eat more than I should because it tastes so good but I am hungry again in just a couple hours.

I don't really understand why I feel hungry. But it's that same sort of quick return hunger as when I eat sushi. Which is ironic because the sushi I eat is far from being spicy. I was just wondering if any other people have this kind of reaction from spicy food. I'd love to find a way around it because spices are (I thought) a good way to make all this low cal food palatable.

Cheers,
Steve
 
I don't eat spicy food, but I read that it is meant to satisfy hunger quicker.

Perhaps it depends what you are having? If you are having rice, it should really fill you up - tho obviously brown rice more so than white.

Are you drinking plenty with it? Water makes rice expand in your tummy.

I don't really know what else to suggest, sorry!
 
I suppose it depends on the ingredients in the meal. Do you make your own? Hot spices such as chili raise your metabolism, (that's my excuse anyway!) As long as there's plenty of protein and your portions are a decent size, this really shouldn't happen. Are you eating enough? Remember guys can lose weight on 2000 cals/day)(I'm not familiar with the hackers diet). Disregarding your bmi, I would have thought at your height your goal weight was way too low. Bmi is NOT an accurate tool to measure fat. Athletes who look very slim are always classed as obese because of their muscle. Why don't you get your body fat checked out at a gym, you might be surprised.
You may be mistaking hunger for thirst, so yes water. Post what you are eating and we can advise you.
 
I love my spicy food, too. And my sushi! I've found that sushi isn't very satisfying unless I eat a very greedy 800 calories' worth of it, which really isn't a great idea. But spices, thai food, curries, chilli beef... I find them quite satisfying. I do add at least 250g of broccoli to all my evening meals, though, and usually a sliced up red bell pepper and some carrot too, so I suppose that helps with fullness!

I think if you can find some vegetables that you really love and add around 200 calories of them to your evening meal, you'll find it much more satisfying. I try to drink a glass of water before my main meal, too, and another glass while eating. Maybe some fruit for afters would help, too? Cleanse the palate and mentally draw a line under your meal and help you feel full. Worth a try.
 
Thank you all for the feedback and thoughts. Judimac, I think you may be on to something with the water and amount that I'm eating. Now that I think about it, I drink more water when eating spicy food. It could be that the extra water is triggering a full sensation sooner when in reality I haven't eaten very much at all. Then a short time later the stomach is able to drain the water and I'm left hungry again because I didn't eat a lot afterall.

I'll try to pay more attention to that. You mentioned about my target weight. I agree, 155 is kind of low. My arms and legs are fairly thin, but I've got a lot of abdominal fat that I need to get rid of. My long term plan is to try to bulk up my arms and legs with muscle. But before I can eat properly for strength training, I really need to cut this excess abdominal fat. If I could cut down to 155, I'd be happy bulking up to around 175 as a final weight by adding muscle. But stopping at that weight on the way down would be a mistake since it would leave a lot of belly fat.
 
You can't spot reduce Huney, I wish you could! But if you do weights then you will naturally burn fat from everywhere and reveal your six-pack! The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be, even at rest! You will totally change your shape. Good luck!
 
You can't spot reduce Huney, I wish you could!

Oh I totally agree with you. Luckily, since most all my fat is in one area, it really has no choice. I really just meant that I was taking a two phase approach. First, lose the excess fat through calorie restricted dieting. Second, increase muscle mass through strength-training in combination with higher calorie (protein, carbs) eating. That's why my goal weight looks low. It's not my final goal, only the goal of the first phase. I'd like to put back on 15-20lbs of muscle after losing the fat down to 155.
 
But if you build your muscle up now, then it will get rid of the fat anyway and quicker. If you go to some of the fitness magazine websites it will give you some pointers.Just want you to do it as painlessly as poss. (motherly tendencies coming to the fore!)
 
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