Begging!

My Persian follows me around all hours throughout the day absolutely begging and pleading for food. He is 5 months old. I leave hard food out for him 24/7 and he gets 2 cans of wet food a day along with treats some days. Normally I can ignore him but here lately it’s getting to the point where I’m just giving in to him. I can’t ignore the loud crying. Does anyone else have this problem?