Need help on my journey!
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Have you done any measurements? Are they going up or is it just the weight?0
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If, IF, you have an issue with spiking insulin it can many times decrease blood sugar more than it needs to - leaving you feeling hungry - not because your body needs more food.
You can usually test that by after going say 4 hrs since last meal, have a bagel and observe how tired you feel for how long.
If no issue - that's not it.
If issue - always eat the fat and protein in a meal/snack first.
That aside - if eating more has you feeling more energetic and moving more - you are probably now burning more than estimated TDEE. If not much stress in life could actually start losing weight with that effect.
If by creep upward you mean maybe 2 lb in 4 weeks implying a daily surplus of 250 calories - might examine if logging accurately by weight is being done, how much eating out and estimating, ect.
Sometimes just being super vigilant and perhaps restrictive for a couple weeks will point out where the inaccuracies are - and then you can go back to normal routine knowing how much they are to adjust for them.
But 1 lb a week would imply 500 cal surplus each day - and that would have to be some sloppy logging or much inaccuracy.
So it's usually water weight. especially if workouts have gotten better and harder.0 -
Okay I just did some measurements. The waist and hips are pretty much the same as 2 moths ago, the beginning of July, when my weight was 155. The waist at the belly button seems to have gone down by maybe 1/2 inch, interestingly!
I am very careful with measuring and tracking my calories. I am afraid to go out to eat! I actually mustered courage to take my husband out for lunch for his birthday a few weeks ago. I estimated calories, but later figured out I was 150 calories short that day. That's one of the nights I woke up hungry in the middle of the night and got a snack.
I don't know if I ever go 4 hours without eating! Except maybe before bed. But I just added a bedtime snack this week, as my dietician recommended. Just giving it a try for a while.
I do have adrenal fatigue issues, and my cortisol level is the high side of "normal." It is higher than normal when waking up. The rest of the day is the high side of normal.
Could cortisol be causing weight gain, especially around the belly?
Could cortisol be up because I need more calories?
So, how do I know if I need more calories based on hunger, vs what the scale is doing?1 -
As long as you have knowledge about why you may feel hungry, you can usually adjust diet enough to stop those issues.
The scale on infrequent basis can be backup to that - if that in itself doesn't stress you out. If it does, just use measurements of body parts you know you gain first at. Usually at belly button is repeatable and the spot, but perhaps you have another spot worth noting.
Diet is a stress on body to some degree (depends on amount of deficit), piled on to all other stresses in body and life, and when it goes high enough - yes to cortisol increase.
And belly water gain is exactly an area that gets it because of that.
As to elevated cortisol all the time, that is bad. Shots of it from workouts and the flight response is great, constant not at all. I guess if nothing was told was reason for it - just trying to cut back on stress you can control will be very beneficial.
You can still lose fat while elevated water from that, but the body in that stressed out mode doesn't benefit as much from workouts and such.
So good job on logging food then, I'd even suggest some times out with no stress may be very good for you.
When you say measuring though - you mean weighing, right, when you can?
Because calories is per gram, not spoon or cup measures. Only liquid is measured for volume to get calories.
What kind of daily macro % do you end up at for normal daily eating?
What does it appear each meal or snack is at?0 -
I'm hungry today! I'm not sure why, the only reason I can think of is I need more food!
I just realized something . . . I am at the same calorie level now that I was at last fall! That's when I was going up or down by 100 calories. I went up to about 2300, and felt pretty good. But then I lowered the cals by 100 because I gained 1 pound per week for 4 weeks. After that I went up and down 25 calories between 2150 - 2225 for many months.
But now I weigh about 20 pounds more! So in some ways it seems maybe 2300 is low for me now? Would 2400 be more like where I should be?
My macros are around 40 carbs, 35 fat, and 25 protein. I know that 30 protein would be good, but I'm proud of myself for getting up to 25 most days! It's a process, right?
Most meals have at least 30 grams of protein. Carbs are usually 60-90 grams. Yes I weigh food.
I'm hoping someone will give me permission to eat more food, even though my weight hasn't "stabilized" yet! (I don't need permission, of course! But I'd appreciate any advice!)0 -
Everything is a process for sure. If you are finding you are still hungry, I would start by taking that as a sign to increase your protein from 25% to 30%.. You may find thats all you need to do and still hit your TDEE.
This is your journey. So if you feel you aren't getting enough food and need more, then by gosh give YOURSELF permission to eat. Restricting your level just because the scale isnt saying what you want it to say is diet mentality. You may find you still arent at the correct level, so an increase cal be a great thing, especially if you are finding your energy levels are zapped.
Finding and maintaining TDEE isnt an exact science. Its a lot of trial and error. All I will say is that if you let the scale dictate what it should be, you might not like the results. Since you already suffer from a spike in cortisol levels, keeping your stress levels lower is essential. That may mean getting rid of the scale.
Kelly
Team EM2WL0 -
As well as additional protein when you can fit it in - might try eating the fat and protein first in any meal or snack if at all possible, carbs last.
Test to see if that has any effect to feeling hungry later.
You could have overreaction of insulin to carbs. Actually, protein causes insulin response too, just not as bad or as high.0 -
Thanks for the comments! I always read the comments right away, but might not post again until I have something “interesting” to report!
I ended up adding 50 more calories 4 weeks ago, up to 2350. Some calculators have me at 2400, others at around 2180.
I’ve only gained 1 pound with this increase so far, and have been pretty stable between 161.0 and 161.8. (I did have a couple of 162s this week.) I even thought I might be losing weight, because last week I had 3 days in a row at 161.0. (I am not stressing about the scale, I feel pretty okay with it right now.)
Now in the last week or so, I’m getting hungry again! I’ve also been feeling very tired. I even skipped 2 workouts this week because of feeling tired! That’s unusual for me.
I am seeing signs in the past week that seem to tell me I need more calories. Like feeling hungry in the middle of the night sometimes. And the tiredness, not having energy to do the things I want to do.
Maybe I should add another 50 calories?
There seems to be a pattern where I add calories, then feel good for 2-3 weeks or so. Then I start feeling hungry at times, and might even be hungry enough in the middle of the night to get up for a snack.
Does that mean my metabolism has caught up with the new calorie level, and I need to eat more?
I am trying to work on more protein. I’m usually around 140-150 grams, and should be at 160 to get the 1 gram per pound of weight.
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This process has been hard because I’ve tried to find my TDEE by increasing calories and watching the scale for my weight to stabilize. And it doesn’t seem to work for me, because my weight has never really “stabilized” for very long, it just keeps going up over time.
On the other hand, my weight has looked very stable for periods of 2 weeks or so recently. And in the past it has looked pretty stable for 4 weeks a couple of times. Maybe that’s what “stabilized” looks like for me? Maybe it’s different for everyone?
I have wondered if maybe I’m still below TDEE, and that could be causing stress on the body, which increases cortisol, and that leads to fat gain. Would that make sense?
I don’t have a normal level of energy yet. Today I had some ambition, at least mentally, but didn’t have the body energy to do what I might have wanted to do. I haven’t had normal energy in years! Maybe that’s because of undereating?
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Your body's first reaction to undereating is to slow you down daily in some manner.
Basic metabolism is last action actually (BMR).
So with eating more - you easily could have become slightly more active, burning more.
Shoot, even seasonal changes for amount of activity.
And workouts could have become better, burning more there too.
So while feeling hungry is not of itself a good sign (isn't that how most gain weight - feel hungry and eat when they don't need to) it can be useful if sign is read with understanding (does that red arrow pointing up on sign mean go forward, red so don't go forward, something is up ahead to be alert, what other colored arrows are used?).
But that is very good stabilized then.
Considering 50 calories is well below the amount of allowed inaccuracy in food labels even when food is weighed, let alone less accurate nutritional info (eating out, fresh stuff) - I wouldn't stick with 50.
Make it 100.
Keep in mind that even IF you actually went over your true potential accurate TDEE by 100 cal daily - it would take 35 days to slowly gain 1 lb if TDEE stayed exactly the same.
Now - that is how people slowly gain fat weight over the years of course - but for a test - that's nothing.
But even if you went over - your workouts would probably become better, you might be even more active and increase calorie burn by 150 daily on most days - wiping out what is thought to be a deficit.1 -
Thanks, that's very interesting!
So, if it takes 35 days to gain 1 lb if I was over TDEE by 100 cals . . . Then why am I gaining weight now, and for the past year?
Could it be because I'm under my TDEE, and my body wants to store fat due to being in "starvation mode"?
I had another 162 today. So this week my weight has trended up slightly, after being very stable for 2 weeks.
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The effects that go along with Starvation Mode are myths - you body doesn't store or hold onto more fat. You don't stop losing weight, it doesn't start if you skip a meal, or have a day eating too little.
It's why so many say that mode doesn't exist.
The mode does - more accurately called Adaptive Thermogenesis - the claimed myths do not though.
Because water gain/loss obviously doesn't follow those averages regarding excess/short calories - they have no calories.
And your body will gain/drop water for all kinds of reasons.
Why gaining weight the past year - because you are simply eating more than you burn.
If it was short term fast loss or gain - water weight reasons.
Plus you have a literal change of BMR during the month, therefore TDEE, and water retention changes anyway.0 -
Hey June
Hopefully the info we discussed will work for you.
Please update here!
Ichel
Team EM2WL0
