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Hah, maybe what I should have said is “without feeling any hungrier than usual”. Obvs people have different experiences but I find I feel hungry whether I eat 1500 or 3500 calories in a day. I find it way easier to stick to the old calorie budget if I snack on something substantial and low calorie (carrot or apple for instance) than if I snack on something more calorie dense.
Definitely valuable, as you say, to skip a meal or two in order to assess what hunger feels like over simple bored snackishness, but for me the two feel pretty much the damn same.
Hunger isn’t just about how full your stomach and intestines are, but also your blood sugar levels, and various hormone levels.
Some foods and types (typically higher fat) have higher satiety levels.
Some diets work better (low sugar, or complex carbs) because it doesn’t spike blood glucose as quickly and doesn’t surge insulin levels, which can trigger the desire to eat food/sugar.
I’d agree with you that eating lots of nuts on a calorie restricted diet is challenging, partly as it is so difficult to portion control. Not everyone is as nutritionally strict as a pre comp bodybuilder eating 8.5 unsalted almonds per serving.
Eating 500g of celery a day might bulk up your meals for no added calories, but I doubt that it would stop you from feeling just as hungry as if you didn’t eat it.
On the whole, people will get hungry and have huge cravings when on a diet.
If there was a diet where people didn’t feel hungry, then the weight loss industry would practically disappear.
I’m just saying to expect to be hungry, and plan for it. Otherwise someone will put a couple of packets of chocolate bourbons out at work and you’ll go through the entire plate, then feel terrible afterwards.