I used to snack on dried pineapple or cashews, but I found I was still getting hungry frequently, sometimes within an hour of snacking. I've also tried to yogurt and granola snacks, to similar results.

If I don't just "be hungry", I overeat.

My "best" snack so far is popcorn, because the kcal/volume is so low, so it takes me longer to eat.

Well, I'm down 100 lbs from where I started. But, between work and caregiver duties, I can usually only get to the gym 3 days a week, and sometimes less.

I buy quinoa and beans in bulk, so there's not exactly a barcode to scan for those either. I actually need to avoid pre-packaged food even more than I do currently. The low-calorie ones tend to be high sodium, and a lot of just too many calories.

My weight also fluctuates more than I'd expect. I take it on the same scale, and the same part of my morning (nearly first thing in the morning, just after I brush my teeth) and I'll routinely lose more than a pound (or after a bad day, gain more than 10), tho experts really say losing more than about a pound a week is unsustainable.

I'm absolutely sure I experience "lonely mouth", but that's what I mentally refer to a "desire to eat" vs. "hunger". My desire to eat is nearly unlimited. I'll literally be leaving a restaurant and start thinking about the next flavor palette to send to my tongue.

No, the hunger I'm currently having problems with is coming from my guts, a tightness or emptiness usually just below the sternum (or as low as my innie), sometimes but not always accompanied by noise that while generally internal-only is sometime externally audible.

I can ignore it. I often initially choose to quiet it through consuming water or other zero-calorie fluids, but when it doesn't go away within a few minutes of fluid consumption, that approach isn't going to work. I can just ignore/suffer it; I have done 72-hour fasting before, but I found it neither enjoyable nor very productive (didn't seem to affect weight loss rate overall). After a while it does fail to distract me as much, but then comes back at irregular intervals.

I know there's probably a happy medium out there. And, it's even possible I don't need to lose quite as much weight as I think. But, I'd really like to have visible abs -- I can do 100 body-weight sit-ups, or 190lb. sitting abdominal crunches, but I still have a fat cap that hides whatever muscles are there.