Maintainers - a question if you don't mind....

ewhip17

Hi all - I don't normally post things like this but I have a question. I've recently decided to move into "maintenance" and, like a lot of people, I really only know two ways of eating: unmonitored and weight loss. So, this is new to me. I've been slowly ramping calories up and what I'm finding is, the more I eat, the hungrier I am. Like ravenous stomach growling hungry. Normally I'm pretty level headed about stuff like this but I'm just wondering if any of you also found this to be the case and therefore normal? And if so, does it settle down?
Thanks in advance....

Aviva92

I've been the opposite. Struggling to eat enough because I'm so used to eating too little. good luck.

ewhip17

Yeah actually, I get that too. I feel like I'm stuffing myself just to add calories but then I'm starving an hour later. Really strange. My body is probably just freaking out a little. Trying to keep my brain from doing the same thing.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

What was your intake like when you were losing?

Are you getting enough fat and protein?

ewhip17

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

What was your intake like when you were losing?

Are you getting enough fat and protein?

Hi there.

Was hovering around 1650 per day. Ramped up to around 1850 last week and now trying to get to 2050 per day.

And I believe I am - I'm over 100g of protein per day (sometimes 120 or more) lately and my fats are usually within 10% of the MFP macro goal. Weight is 187ish.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

ewhip17 wrote: »

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

What was your intake like when you were losing?

Are you getting enough fat and protein?

Hi there.

Was hovering around 1650 per day. Ramped up to around 1850 last week and now trying to get to 2050 per day.

And I believe I am - I'm over 100g of protein per day (sometimes 120 or more) lately and my fats are usually within 10% of the MFP macro goal. Weight is 187ish.

That's not too bad. If your intake had been 1200 or something really low like that it would make perfect sense.

Just keep in mind that hunger cues change with time. When I went to maintenance I had a really hard time eating 1900 calories. Then 6 months later, it never seemed like enough. Now it's too much again.

ewhip17

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

ewhip17 wrote: »

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

What was your intake like when you were losing?

Are you getting enough fat and protein?

Hi there.

Was hovering around 1650 per day. Ramped up to around 1850 last week and now trying to get to 2050 per day.

And I believe I am - I'm over 100g of protein per day (sometimes 120 or more) lately and my fats are usually within 10% of the MFP macro goal. Weight is 187ish.

That's not too bad. If your intake had been 1200 or something really low like that it would make perfect sense.

Just keep in mind that hunger cues change with time. When I went to maintenance I had a really hard time eating 1900 calories. Then 6 months later, it never seemed like enough. Now it's too much again.

That's helpful - appreciate it.

LivingtheLeanDream

Are you doing more cardio? I know that makes me ravenous on high cardio days or if I've eaten lighter the day before then the next few days my body just wants food food food!
For a guy you will be able to eat much more than you currently are to maintain. Up your cals each week by 200 cals, monitor your weight. Don't freak out when scale fluctuates up, ride it out and it will come back down again, that's completely normal when you add extra calories. It wont be real gain. If after a month you are continually seeing a higher number then cut back just a little. It takes a few month to work out proper maintenance cals. I am 5 months in and am still upping my cals, currently on 2100 but reckon I'll get to 2500 before I'm done. (I'm petite but very active in case you're wondering why so high)

LivingtheLeanDream

Also eating more carbs will make you crave more, that's just how it works

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

ewhip17 wrote: »

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

ewhip17 wrote: »

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

What was your intake like when you were losing?

Are you getting enough fat and protein?

Hi there.

Was hovering around 1650 per day. Ramped up to around 1850 last week and now trying to get to 2050 per day.

And I believe I am - I'm over 100g of protein per day (sometimes 120 or more) lately and my fats are usually within 10% of the MFP macro goal. Weight is 187ish.

That's not too bad. If your intake had been 1200 or something really low like that it would make perfect sense.

Just keep in mind that hunger cues change with time. When I went to maintenance I had a really hard time eating 1900 calories. Then 6 months later, it never seemed like enough. Now it's too much again.

That's helpful - appreciate it.

If you find that you're consistently hungry over time, it could be a cue that you need to eat more. Or it could just mean that you need to rethink the food choices you're making. If you're a volume eater then you might try eating more things that are low cal/high volume (veggies, popcorn, etc). Personally I do best with a lot of fat. Move things around and try out different foods first. If that doesn't work, then you may need to eat more.

Aviva92

yeah, as a 196 pound man, your tdee might be higher than you think and higher than what mfp gives. I'm not sure what my tdee is, but I'm 101.6 pounds right now and with exercise, I wouldn't be surprised if it's as high as 1800 or higher. I keep losing weight. Trying to stop that. If you're truly doing everything right as far as hitting your macros, maybe you do need to eat more and that's why you're hungry.

londjl

@ewhip17 I am with you, two modes: 1. count every bite and lose weight, or 2. stop counting and gain. I stopped counting for about eight months and gained 8 pounds. I also found that at some point even with counting every bite, the weight loss stopped about 5 pounds short of my goal; I had reached the dreaded plateau, which, I suppose is when I threw in the towel and stopped counting. So, here I am again. I am not at all sure I have a maintenance level; if I do, it is depressingly low.

KAS041479

I'm fairly new to this stuff too, so please take my opinion for what it is--just that, an opinion. There's a section in the book Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels that talks about what triggers certain hormones, like ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and cortisol (the stress hormone that can make us pack on weight around the stomach after long periods of exposure) and what triggers leptin (the satiated hormone), and how lack of sleep means you can't release as much of the human growth hormone at night, so you get hungrier the next day b/c the body needs to grow and repair itself with some sort of energy source. Master Your Metabolism talks a lot about what happens to trigger appetite; I got it from the library but it was useful enough for me that I might buy a copy. I'm not endorsing everything about the book, but the endocrinology stuff was really insightful. It taught me things I found helpful, like eating oatmeal for breakfast leaves you feeling full and takes a while to digest, so you're less likely to overeat the rest of the day. Eat three meals a day but have healthy fruits and veggies in between. Drink your water. Try not to eat after 9pm. Never let yourself get really hungry, never eat until you're super full. Think of aiming for a slow burn throughout the day. There are a lot of factors around what makes you feel hungry and what makes you feel full--how well you sleep, how long you sleep, how active you are, your muscle/fat ratio, your age, your time of the month if you're female, if you use supplements, your cholesterol levels, your thyroid TH3 and 4 levels, your stress levels, the toxins in your environment, the quality of the micro and macro nutrients in your food, etc. etc. You know your body best; if a book says you should eat 2000 calories a day but over time you feel energetic and full on 1800 calories, listen to your body. I wish you the best of luck. Whatever you end up trying, please share with us your success, and congrats on getting to the maintenance phase!!

ewhip17

Thanks everyone. And yeah, even at 187 I realize that my TDEE is probably in the mid 2000's. I'm just trying to ramp up to it and I'm just passing those 200 calorie exits off the highway.
I'm committed to tracking everything though and doing it the right way. I actually find all of this really interesting.... when I'm not panicking.. .haha.

And yeah, I'm working out regularly. I do cardio at least 3 times a week but sometimes 5. Mainly because I just enjoy it. Also working in some resistance a couple of times a week when I can but that's new and could have something to do with it.

ewhip17

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

ewhip17 wrote: »

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

ewhip17 wrote: »

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

What was your intake like when you were losing?

Are you getting enough fat and protein?

Hi there.

Was hovering around 1650 per day. Ramped up to around 1850 last week and now trying to get to 2050 per day.

And I believe I am - I'm over 100g of protein per day (sometimes 120 or more) lately and my fats are usually within 10% of the MFP macro goal. Weight is 187ish.

That's not too bad. If your intake had been 1200 or something really low like that it would make perfect sense.

Just keep in mind that hunger cues change with time. When I went to maintenance I had a really hard time eating 1900 calories. Then 6 months later, it never seemed like enough. Now it's too much again.

That's helpful - appreciate it.

If you find that you're consistently hungry over time, it could be a cue that you need to eat more. Or it could just mean that you need to rethink the food choices you're making. If you're a volume eater then you might try eating more things that are low cal/high volume (veggies, popcorn, etc). Personally I do best with a lot of fat. Move things around and try out different foods first. If that doesn't work, then you may need to eat more.

The "volume eater" point you make is really interesting. Going to have to do some experimenting.

nxd10

I need to eat less than 40% carbs or I am (1) hungry and (2) can't lose weight at a deficit or gain weight at deficit. Even if I hit my calories (I always hit my calories).

One of the things about maintenance is you have to find food you love that makes you feel good over the long term. I eat food I love all the time that is really really flavorful. It's easier for me to eat a small amount of something awesome. If I eat crap food I try to make up for quality with quantity.

Protein helps too.

ewhip17

Thanks everyone. One other question: does anyone actively average their maintenance calories across the week? In other words, purposely eat lighter most of the week and higher during the rest - i.e., weekdays vs weekends?

riffraff2112

yeah maintenance can be tough. I either lose or gain, never was able to stay the same. Gave myself about a 5lb window (with a threshold weight that I vowed never to ever weigh again), seemed to help.
After 6 months I threw the scale away and now just worry about clothes fitting and fitness levels. I figure I just want to look good, weight never really mattered except as a means to an end.
Good luck.
Wish I could offer more but it is a delicate act trying to find the exact amount to eat in maintenance. You are definitely correct that when we 'arrive', we tend to let lose that motivation a bit (even subconsciously).

alphabetsoup2013

I don't make a conscious effort to bank calories for the weekend -- but I do keep an eye on the number of calories I am over/under in any given week (figuring that days when I'm under make up for days when I'm over -- and vice versa). It's kind of the same thing -- but in a less deliberate/planned way.

ewhip17

Thanks guys. I'm definitely deliberate and routined and driven by having a plan, so I'm trying to bear that in mind.

bwogilvie

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

Also eating more carbs will make you crave more, that's just how it works

For you, maybe. Not for me. But "carbs" is a very broad brush; cotton candy and whole grain bread are both mostly carbs, but one will make you more sated than the other.

LivingtheLeanDream

bwogilvie wrote: »

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

Also eating more carbs will make you crave more, that's just how it works

For you, maybe. Not for me. But "carbs" is a very broad brush; cotton candy and whole grain bread are both mostly carbs, but one will make you more sated than the other.

Absolutely true, I should have made it clearer and spelled out what carbs, so for me that would be donuts/pancakes/chocolate...you know the tasty, but empty stuff .