How to Suppress Appetite

For anyone who is looking to partake in any diet, knowing how to suppress appetite gives one a big advantage in achieving long-term results.

What I have here are some great tips on how to suppress one’s appetite. There are many different supplements out there that aid in appetite suppression.

Nicotine Use – No Not Smoking!

Yes, smoking is very harmful for one’s health. But what if one could harness the appetite-suppressing effects of nicotine without having to settle for the dangers of smoking? Enter Nicorette Gum. It may sound weird, but nicotine is awesome for lowering one’s appetite (I’ll be buying a couple packs of it when I enter the fat loss stage of Visual Impact).

You can get the gum pieces in 1mg, 2mg or 4mg amounts. I recommend taking the 1mg or 2mg amount. Although the label says you can safely take up to 24 pieces a day, I’d recommend staying under 4 pieces to prevent addiction. The chances of addiction are low, but it’s still important to be cautious.

Ephedrine for Appetite Suppression and Fat Loss

Ephedrine is a beast of a supplement that many of the people I work with in achieving their fat loss goals have had great success with. It is a two pronged weapon in that it increases the metabolism and suppresses appetite. It is no surprise that many fitness athletes use ephedrine while trying to diet down for contests. It also increases one’s energy throughout the day, which can be very helpful while in a dieting state.

Note: Although ephedrine is legal in Canada, and the United States over the counter, it may not be legal in your country. I have found it to be safe, but regardless of your opinion, make sure to stay within the suggested dosage amounts while taking it. More is not always better, no matter how effective this stimulant is.

Other Fat Burner Supplements

Many fat burning supplements have appetite suppressing qualities due to a unique blend of natural compounds they contain. Some famous ones are Hydroxycut, and Lipo-6.

Drink Up

There’s a reason why at all-you-can-eat restaurants the servers are always eager to fill your glasses full of water – drinking water will make you full faster and for longer. Drink lots of water on a regular basis.

Start Your Meals Right

Start your meals with vegetables. Plain and simple. Vegetables are filled with fibre and will fill up your stomach, making you satiated for much longer. Even if you’re about to eat a big meal, at least start with vegetables. You’ll notice the vegetables will lower your appetite significantly and you won’t eat as much of the other high calorie foods during the rest of the meal.

Proteins Keep You Full, Longer

Eat meals high in proteins, with less emphasis on carbohydrates. Proteins have proven to keep people full for much longer. Lean meats are a great choice, especially chicken breast. For those that have a busy lifestyle, whey protein shakes are also a great low-calorie choice that is very high in protein.

Carbs on the other hand spike insulin, which can increase one’s appetite. Especially try and stay away from very sweet, artificial foods which have a larger impact on insulin levels.

Caloric Density Should Be Noted

Caloric density is also a concept that must be understood. Some foods are just more calorically dense than others. What this means is that a bite of one food may contain many times more calories than a bite of another food.

By focusing on less calorically dense foods for the most part, you will be able to suppress your appetite more effectively. This is why starting one’s meals with vegetables is so important.

Periods of Non-Eating

Many people find it easier to not eat for a certain period of time, rather than consistently eating, but in limited amounts. It’s like the famous Lay’s tagline “I bet you can’t eat just one”. Most people are like this. Once they take one bite into something, they can’t stop!

This is why intermittent fasting can be very powerful. It also has some amazing physiological benefits. Brad Pilon’s Eat Stop Eat goes way more in depth on this topic. His insights have helped me greatly in losing fat while in a healthy way that doesn’t constrict one’s lifestyle.

Exercise Doesn’t Only Burn Calories

Exercise more. From a fat loss perspective, exercising is obviously very important because it burns calories. This is a no-brainer. But I just read a study that shows vigorous exercise has other positive benefits, specifically with one’s appetite. This study says that natural appetite suppressing hormones are released during exercise:

“The finding that hunger is suppressed during and immediately after vigorous treadmill running is consistent with previous studies.”

Researchers found that intense aerobic exercise caused the body to release more of these hormones than “resistance training” (weight lifting), although both forms of exercise decreased appetite in all subjects.

Note: This appetite suppression has only been proven to occur for a short period of time – perhaps a few hours. For people who have trouble fighting cravings before bed, perhaps a quick aerobic work out would help suppress the appetite during the evening hours.

For those of you who have heard that appetite actually increases after physical exercise, all the studies I looked at concluded that this is not the case. On a personal note, I notice my appetite decrease drastically directly after exercise.

The Psychological Aspect of Exercise

Even ignoring the physiological aspect of appetite suppression from exercise: I feel much more inclined to eat less, and eat healthier on days I have exercised in some way.

I think this has something to do with the fact that a) exercising makes me feel good, so I don’t feel as drawn to use food for “pleasure”, and b) I feel greater “momentum” in terms of my health, and feel less inclined to ruin this momentum.

Of course, other people may view exercising as an excuse to eat more than usual. This is a shame because this mindset can make exercise more of a hindrance than a benefit.

The only way to stop this is to see exercise as a part of your life. If you see exercise as an action that you “deserve a treat” after performing then you will be forever trapped in this way of thinking.

Time to Get the Body of Your Dreams

Sure, you can follow all these tips to suppress appetite. But in my experience, one needs to accept that dieting will never be a walk in the park – especially at first. Once you’ve accepted this, it won’t be that big of a deal to go through a bit of discomfort to get the body you want.

Yes, dieting is hard. However, putting in the effort to adopt proper eating habits will yield lasting results for years to come.