Unquenchable Hunger?!

alli_v
alli_v Posts: 11
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello!

So.. I've been doing really well with my diet and exercise. I'm eating 1600 calories a day, exercising 4 times a week (30-60 min of cardio each workout, +weights and resistance training), and my body looks significantly different. I don't plan on weighing myself because when I do, I become so fixated on small gains and losses that it drives me to failure.

My main dilemma is that for the last 3 weeks I have such an increased appetite and I don't really understand why. I can't stop thinking about food, and I ALWAYS have to be eating something. I feel so deprived if I don't, and I'm afraid I will ruin all of my efforts if I continue this way. I would say I probably weigh around 175 and I'm 5'10" (medium on top, size 10-12 pants). I'd also like to include that I don't eat wheat or dairy, and have been considering to cut out ALL starches in hopes that it will help me.

I'm just wondering if it could be stress (I work part-time and am studying audio engineering), or something else? It's driving me crazy!! Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!!

Replies

  • Mrsallypants
    Mrsallypants Posts: 887 Member
    Low blood sugar cravings caused from eating sugary food or white processed starch or not consuming enough calories.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,972 Member
    Curious as to no wheat or dairy? Are you allergic to both or is it something you've read?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • alli_v
    alli_v Posts: 11
    Curious as to no wheat or dairy? Are you allergic to both or is it something you've read?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Dairy makes my stomach hurt and wheat products make my skin swell :s
  • auroranflash
    auroranflash Posts: 3,569 Member
    Are you eating back exercise calories? Remember, if your 'diet' is not sustainable, then it's just a crash diet and you will not stick with it. Do what you can do for the entirety, not just right now.
  • alli_v
    alli_v Posts: 11
    Are you eating back exercise calories? Remember, if your 'diet' is not sustainable, then it's just a crash diet and you will not stick with it. Do what you can do for the entirety, not just right now.

    I eat back some of the calories if I feel like I need to. And it's not just a diet, the changes I've made work great for me. I can see myself eating this way forever lol.
  • heatherloveslifting
    heatherloveslifting Posts: 1,428 Member
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/9-ways-to-deal-with-hunger-on-a-diet.html

    I just read this today- maybe it will be helpful? But honestly I was like that in January and finally just ended up increasing cals to maintenance for a couple of weeks, and it went away.
  • crocop1891
    crocop1891 Posts: 11 Member
    if you find yourself still unsatisfied maybe your body wants more carbs (squashes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots etc.)
  • Mrsallypants
    Mrsallypants Posts: 887 Member
    Are you eating back exercise calories? Remember, if your 'diet' is not sustainable, then it's just a crash diet and you will not stick with it. Do what you can do for the entirety, not just right now.

    I eat back some of the calories if I feel like I need to. And it's not just a diet, the changes I've made work great for me. I can see myself eating this way forever lol.

    Sounds like you need to.
  • kindasortachewy
    kindasortachewy Posts: 1,084 Member
    I've just started running in the past 3 week and feel the same way you do, I am SO MUCH MORE HUNGRY after running 3 miles twice a day - This may be TMI but have your bathroom habits changed, are you going more frequently, I know I sped up my matabolism some how because my hungry and bathroom habits are very different - but in a good way
  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
    Are you eating back exercise calories? Remember, if your 'diet' is not sustainable, then it's just a crash diet and you will not stick with it. Do what you can do for the entirety, not just right now.

    I eat back some of the calories if I feel like I need to. And it's not just a diet, the changes I've made work great for me. I can see myself eating this way forever lol.

    Sounds like you need to.

    This. If you've got increased appetite perhaps you should spend a few weeks eating back more of your exercise calories.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    Are you eating back exercise calories? Remember, if your 'diet' is not sustainable, then it's just a crash diet and you will not stick with it. Do what you can do for the entirety, not just right now.

    I eat back some of the calories if I feel like I need to. And it's not just a diet, the changes I've made work great for me. I can see myself eating this way forever lol.

    Sounds like you need to.

    ^^^ this

    you say you eat exercise calories back "if you feel you need to" yet you're hungry all the time and obsessing about food. Excessive hunger and obsessing about food are natural survival responses to eating too little, so this suggests that you're not eating back all the exercise calories that you need to.

    It takes overeating by 3500 calories to gain just one lb of fat... that means 3500 calories over and above your TDEE. You are not going to undo your progress by eating more, if anything you will ensure that you continue to progress. It will take raising your calories by a lot before you actually start gaining fat.

    Eating too little, after a while you'll start to lose strength and lean body mass, and you're already constantly battling with hunger... you can foresee yourself sticking with this in the long term... but surely feeling constantly hungry is undermining that? Try upping your calories by 100-200 and see if that fixes the constant hunger. Also, don't stress about scale weight gains from upping your calories, it is water and glycogen, *not fat* - unless you overate by 3500 calories, you did not gain even 1lb of fat. If you're constantly hungry you probably are glycogen depleted, so you may see a gain on the scale of several pounds, but none of it is fat, it's just your glycogen stores refilling (which is a good thing!). Upping your calories by 100-200 will not result in gaining that much fat in a short time. Do this for a while and give your body a chance to settle down. Once your glycogen stores are refilled, you will probably find you have more energy and your workouts improve and also you stop feeling constantly hungry. If you still feel constantly hungry after you've given your glycogen stores a chance to refil, then do the same again, i.e. add another 100-200 calories a day.

    Check your calories against a BMR/TDEE calculator, such as the one linked to from the "in place of a road map" thread.... if you want to maintain your current weight you want to eat all your TDEE calories (this may not be the exact number predicted by the calculator, you have to go by real world results and adjust the numbers a little based on that, but eating at TDEE your weight will be stable (once the initial glycogen weight gains are done with) and you shouldn't feel hungry except right before meal times).... if you still want to lose weight, then as you're already lean, stick to eating just 10% less than your TDEE number. Eating too much less results in problems like excessive hunger, and in the long term, loss of lean body mass. Those with more fat to lose can get away with eating fewer calories, i.e. 20% below TDEE, and the fact you were fine on your calorie number before, suggests to me that this number was okay before because you had more fat to lose, but now you're much leaner, you'll need to have a smaller deficit. The less fat you have to lose, the harder it is to lose fat without also losing lean body mass. This hunger seems to me like your body's way of telling you that you need to eat more.
  • alli_v
    alli_v Posts: 11
    Are you eating back exercise calories? Remember, if your 'diet' is not sustainable, then it's just a crash diet and you will not stick with it. Do what you can do for the entirety, not just right now.

    I eat back some of the calories if I feel like I need to. And it's not just a diet, the changes I've made work great for me. I can see myself eating this way forever lol.

    Sounds like you need to.

    ^^^ this

    you say you eat exercise calories back "if you feel you need to" yet you're hungry all the time and obsessing about food. Excessive hunger and obsessing about food are natural survival responses to eating too little, so this suggests that you're not eating back all the exercise calories that you need to.

    It takes overeating by 3500 calories to gain just one lb of fat... that means 3500 calories over and above your TDEE. You are not going to undo your progress by eating more, if anything you will ensure that you continue to progress. It will take raising your calories by a lot before you actually start gaining fat.

    Eating too little, after a while you'll start to lose strength and lean body mass, and you're already constantly battling with hunger... you can foresee yourself sticking with this in the long term... but surely feeling constantly hungry is undermining that? Try upping your calories by 100-200 and see if that fixes the constant hunger. Also, don't stress about scale weight gains from upping your calories, it is water and glycogen, *not fat* - unless you overate by 3500 calories, you did not gain even 1lb of fat. If you're constantly hungry you probably are glycogen depleted, so you may see a gain on the scale of several pounds, but none of it is fat, it's just your glycogen stores refilling (which is a good thing!). Upping your calories by 100-200 will not result in gaining that much fat in a short time. Do this for a while and give your body a chance to settle down. Once your glycogen stores are refilled, you will probably find you have more energy and your workouts improve and also you stop feeling constantly hungry. If you still feel constantly hungry after you've given your glycogen stores a chance to refil, then do the same again, i.e. add another 100-200 calories a day.

    Check your calories against a BMR/TDEE calculator, such as the one linked to from the "in place of a road map" thread.... if you want to maintain your current weight you want to eat all your TDEE calories (this may not be the exact number predicted by the calculator, you have to go by real world results and adjust the numbers a little based on that, but eating at TDEE your weight will be stable (once the initial glycogen weight gains are done with) and you shouldn't feel hungry except right before meal times).... if you still want to lose weight, then as you're already lean, stick to eating just 10% less than your TDEE number. Eating too much less results in problems like excessive hunger, and in the long term, loss of lean body mass. Those with more fat to lose can get away with eating fewer calories, i.e. 20% below TDEE, and the fact you were fine on your calorie number before, suggests to me that this number was okay before because you had more fat to lose, but now you're much leaner, you'll need to have a smaller deficit. The less fat you have to lose, the harder it is to lose fat without also losing lean body mass. This hunger seems to me like your body's way of telling you that you need to eat more.

    You know what... that actually made SO much sense! I'm going to up my cals a bit and see how I feel. Thank you!

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