Hungry on the 21 Day Fix? While this is relatively uncommon for most brackets (most people have a difficult time eating all of their food in a day), I’ve definitely heard this from time to time from folks on the lowest bracket who get the least amount of food per day. The good news is I have some great tips and tricks that you can try that have worked for me and for other awesome peeps that are in my accountability/support groups*. You can try some or all of these and see what works best for you.
- The first question I always ask is “Did you get in all of your water?” Water is so important for so many reasons and feeling full is one of them. Sometimes what you register as hunger is really just your body needing hydrated. If you don’t already know, you should be drinking half of your weight in ounces. So a 180 pound person should be trying to get in around 90 oz of water per day.
- The next question is “Did you eat all of your containers and teaspoons?” Be sure you’re getting in all of your containers, because if you haven’t eaten all of your Greens yet, then frankly, I don’t want to hear that you’re hungry (a little window into my children’s lives).
- Double check your bracket calculation, just in case. If you’re supposed to be in a higher bracket than you are, than of course you’re going to be hungry!
- If you tend to get hungry at night, plan for that! Plan to have a snack or “dessert” that’ll keep you full in the evening. You can see in my example meal plan below that I have ricotta with berries and honey as my dessert. Unless I’ve prepped another dessert, this is what I always have in the evening because it satisfies my sweet tooth and the protein keeps me full for the rest of the night. Yogurt or cottage cheese would be great substitutes for this. Smoothies work really well too!
- Have you been using your yellows for alcohol? Yes, it’s allowed (3 times a week!), but drinking your calories could be keeping you hungry.
- Shout out to my girl Kay for this truth bomb: If you aren’t hungry enough to eat carrots, then you aren’t hungry. Just something to keep in mind.
- If you feel hungry after your workout, plan a filling snack. I like to have a protein, a carb and sometimes a fat. That combo works every time!
- Try drinking a cup of hot flavored tea. Something about a hot drink seems more filling than cold water, plus it tastes good!
- Try spacing out your meals. Eating 5-6 smaller meals and snacks per day instead of 3 larger meals keeps your metabolism up and your belly full. Below is an example of what I might eat in a day and when. I recognize that this may not be possible for everyone, but if it’s possible for you, it’s definitely worth doing.
8:00 am
1/2 banana and coffee : 1 Purple, 1 1/2 tsp of sugar
9:00 am workout
9:45 am
2 eggs, toast with butter: 1 Red, 1 Yellow, 1 Tsp
12:00 pm
Salad with Chicken, Fruit & this dressing : 2 Greens, 1 Red, 1/2 Purple, 1 Orange
2:30 pm
Homemade pita chips with hummus: 1 Yellow, 1 Blue
5:30 pm
Thyme Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Garam-Masala Cider Sauce : 1 Red, 1 Tsp
Roasted Green Beans and shallots: 1/2 Green
Pecorino Mashed Cauliflower with Sherry-Rosemary Mushrooms: 1/2 Green
7:30 pm
Ricotta Cheese with Strawberries and a drizzle of honey: 1 Red, 1/2 Purple, 1 tsp sugar
And last but not least…
10. If you’ve eaten all of your containers for the day, drank your water and you’re still hungry… then for the love of everything that is holy, please eat. Not just anything though, have an extra Green or Red container. You should not be starving. You don’t need to go to bed hungry for this to work (I promise, I absolutely NEVER have), that’s the beauty of it.
The 21 Day Fix is a great way to learn proper portion control and the right things to put in your body. Thank goodness it’s not a starvation diet (or a “diet” at all!) because this girl really likes to eat. I hope that these tips keep your belly full and happy and that they help you to be successful on the 21 Day Fix!
Hey guys! We’re temporarily not accepting new folks into the below groups so that the peeps that we recently let in can get the attention from us that we’d like to give them. I hope you understand and we’ll be reopening again, I’ll keep you posted!
*Need more support?
Check out these Facebook groups that I co-host with my awesome 21 Day Fix blogger friends, Nancylynn from Confessions of a Fit Foodie, Becca from My Crazy Good Life and Carrie from Carrie Elle!
Click here to join our 21 Day Fix recipe, tips and support group
Click here to join our Instant Pot 21 Day Fix Community group
We’d love to have you!
Thank you Stephanie! I’m definitely bookmarking this to share with my customers! On Round 1 of the 21DF after a 3 year hiatus. I struggled to eat all my containers last time but this time around I always seem to be hungry (I’m at the highest grouping sadly). I figured an extra green wouldn’t hurt but didn’t think of also having a red!
I’m so glad you found it helpful! Hope your round is successful and you get back into the swing of things!
Hi, I’m a little confused about the ricotta dessert. Why isn’t the ricotta counted as a healthy fat like other cheeses?
Hey Mimi! Ricotta cheese doesn’t have the right amount of fat and calories to be considered a Blue or a healthy fat. It has 1/2 the calories and 1/3 of the fat as shredded mozzarella cheese, for instance. It’s closer to cottage cheese, which is also listed as a Red by 21 Day Fix. 🙂