hungry hungry ... will my body adjust?

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4leighbee
4leighbee Posts: 1,275 Member
in Getting Started
I've been back on MFP for almost two weeks.

I'm a nibble all day long kind of person. I have about 100 calories every few hours, and I run (hard) at noon. I am purposefully staying just at my 1200 or under my 1200+(run calories) so I can lose about 20 pounds to make running less stressful on my knees/hips/back. All that said, I am hungry which is distracting and taunts me - I want to eat easy junk food when I'm hungry. Will my body adjust to this? I'm not one to go overboard on this sort of thing - I can't set up a situation that isn't sustainable.

Thanks very much for your insight.

Replies

  • sugaraddict4321
    sugaraddict4321 Posts: 15,779 MFP Moderator
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    Your body is telling you it needs more fuel. ;) If you only have 20 pounds to lose, setting your goals to 2 pounds per week might be too aggressive. Figure out your TDEE and eat at 80% of that. Odds are it's way more than 1200/day. You don't need to starve in order to lose weight. :)
  • BeTheChange352
    BeTheChange352 Posts: 253 Member
    edited January 2015
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    are you staying properly hydrated? if so and if you're consistently hungry I would really consider upping your calories, maybe set your goal to lose 1 pound a week if you're currently at 2, or perhaps cut back on how often or how long you run. there's no reason to stay miserable.
  • Amanda4change
    Amanda4change Posts: 620 Member
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    Where did you get the 1200 calorie goal? From MFP? They use a very generic number for everyone. When I started that's what they have me as well and I not only was hungry all the time the quality of my workouts suffered. Using a TDEE calculator gave me a higher daily goal of 1654 (plus I eat 25%) of my exercise calories. I'm losing more weight now on the higher calories than I was losing on 1200. I believe this change is because my workout quality is higher because I have adequate fuel for it.
  • 4leighbee
    4leighbee Posts: 1,275 Member
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    okay, thank you! I will look up TDEE - I see lots of people talking about that. Don't know what it is yet.
  • 4leighbee
    4leighbee Posts: 1,275 Member
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    holy cow - it says I should eat 2490 calories a day.
  • 0somuchbetter0
    0somuchbetter0 Posts: 1,335 Member
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    I like this site for figuring out TDEE: scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • 4leighbee
    4leighbee Posts: 1,275 Member
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    Okay - no, I think more like 1990 to lose basically one pound a week, given my activity level. That's a lot more calories. Now ... if I do this, can I adjust MFP so I don't always feel like I'm screwing up?
    -
  • 4leighbee
    4leighbee Posts: 1,275 Member
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    when the calculator tells me 1990, then do I get back more calories when I work out? It seemed like it already took into consideration my workouts when it came up with that number. Thanks for all of your help!
  • 0somuchbetter0
    0somuchbetter0 Posts: 1,335 Member
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    Yes you can manually adjust it. I do. I hate getting red numbers. The TDEE method builds in the exercise calories, MFP does not. When I use the Scooby calculator above I put in "desk job" and then try to figure out my exercise calories on my own, usually with my Fitbit if I'm running or using MFP's database for other stuff. I try to eat back only half my exercise calories because Fitbit and MFP are not very accurate. Sorry it's all so vague!
  • 4leighbee
    4leighbee Posts: 1,275 Member
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    It is a bit, but I don't think that's you! :) Or ... actually for some people it's so scientific that I am left with a blank look on my face. Either way ... I will try TDEE ... at 43, I don't want to risk another stress fracture from running because I'm low on nutrients (which was a contributing factor the first time). My body tells me I'm hungry - then I should probably eat. Thanks, y'all!

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