Lifters, I'm so HANGRY!!

redpotatoes

I LITERALLY just had this same issue. I did my leg workout, and viola! I was starving. I usually munch on almonds after lifting, and it seems to help.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Go ahead, tell me to eat more. I dare you. Because I will DO IT.

I didn't work out for two days and I wasn't hungry. At. All. It was marvelous.

I started lifting again and I'm hungry all day long. Currently I do 30 or 60 minutes cardio and 45 minutes heavy lifting. I enjoy doing it, but then I suffer the rest of the day. Building muscle is great, but the ultimate goal here is fat loss. So, what should I do? Cut back on exercise? Suffer the hunger for another 12 months? What? WHAT?

BMR: 1687
TDEE: 2911 (5-6 hours/wk, strenuous exercise)
TDEE -20%: 2329

I would advise a smaller deficit than Maybe do a 10% cut instead of 20%. I was going to recommend calorie cycling, but seems you lift 5x a week so that won't work for you. Actually you might want to exercise every other day instead. If you're lifting 5x a week that's not the best layout for a beginner, That's more for advanced people. Maybe you're lifting every other day, and doing cardio on the other days? I don't know. You could eat more on lifting days if this wasy the case.

I agree with the advice to have a smaller deficit. If you are just doing body fat % loss (and not needing to drop 65#)- go with a smaller deficit, around 10%.
Give your muscles recovery days between lifting days- recovery days are needed so your muscles can heal and rebuild.
And, if you are eating at a deficit, you won't be building much muscle, if any. Not sure by your statement (bolded) if you wanted to build muscle, too.

Every time I'm in the gym, I aim for 45 minutes of lifting and an hour on the elliptical. The lifting I started in January to raise my bmr, so I guess in that respect, I'm still a noob. Even on a deficit I'm definitely building muscle, although I think it has slowed at this point. I know the standard is to take off every other day, but like the pace I've developed in the gym. I'm not sore or tired. It's simply the hunger. If I can keep going, I will.

I'm at the point where I can eat my whole deficit, build muscle (I presume), but not lose weight.

I briefly tried ketosis, but I don't think I was getting enough carbs to sustain the workouts. I'm going to look into calorie cycling. Thanks for that.

You may build a *very small* amount of muscle due to "newbie gains" but in general, you won't be building muscle. What does happen is that you maintain your muscle while you lose the fat on top of them and that makes them appear bigger.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

If you are hungry after working out it is mental.