Can a sudden drop in calories make you feel like you are starving even when you are not?

CourtneyDurham1

I ask because after doing these high fiber high protein shakes three times a day for a week I felt like I was going to faint. I supplemented them with chicken breast and some hard boiled eggs but there was one day where I ended bingeing on beef liver and onions for dinner because I just needed something. The shakes plus the chicken gets me well over 1200 and a little under my 1570 a day allotment. Combined with walking 2.5 miles a day I'm wondering if this is how I'm supposed to feel when the pounds start falling off?

RodaRose

How many fat grams are in the shakes? Maybe you are missing some fat and oils.
How many carb grams? After a week or two, most people can get used to not having the carbs.

MonkeyMel21

Are you ONLY consuming protein shakes and chicken/eggs? You might be feeling hungry because you're diet is lacking the necessary variety of nutrients.

spatulathumbs

Yeah, just thinking about those three times a day is giving me a headache. OP, what's your height/weight/age/activity level? Can you make your diary public?

ronrhoda

I personally think you need balance. It's working for me.

ibamosaserreinas

That is a lot of liquid calories. I do better when my calories come from food I chew. (Sorry I realize the wording sounds funny.)

I tend to do protein shakes just once a day if at all.

The calorie count is what matters the most for weight loss. I wouldn't restrict myself to just certain foods like that.

snickerscharlie

Why are you only supposed to drink these shakes?

cwolfman13

drinking fiber shakes and eating chicken would most definitely make me feel like I was starving....

you can eat food and lose weight...real food.

CourtneyDurham1

The shakes are a combination of fresh kale, a frozen fruit mix (strawberries, mango, blueberries) Some high fiber protein shake mix (metabolic reset is the brand. It's low glycemic) and about a tbsp. of olive oil to up the calorie content. Comes out to about 360 calories. It's a big smoothie. I drink three of those a day plus have some chicken or eggs or some other protein. I felt really good the first few days and then I didn't have the energy to go for my evening walk one day. I just wanted to sleep. I like the shakes because I don't get hungry at all. Past diet efforts have always led to hunger headaches, growling tummy, and the inability to think about anything but food. My daily allotment is 1570 and some days I get there and some days I'm a little under but still in the 1400's. But this is nowhere near the amount of calories I used to consume. But that's why I'm fat.

Unknown

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artsbysimon

Like everyone before me has suggested if your body is craving something vital to your body u will feel the hungry so the key here is balance

MamaBirdBoss

Absolutely.

I think people cut cals too fast when they try to diet. Most people who are (initially) gaining should cut back to maintenance first, get used to that as they rebalance bulk, then cut back to weight loss levels by 100 cal a week.

Shake meals suck for me. They get digested too fast.

lalabrucey

Years ago I tried meal replacement shakes, and all I could think about was food.

All. The. Time.

And had a lack of energy.

This time round I switched to whole foods (more veggies/fruit/wholegrain bread etc, less pre-made packages) and made better choices and now I never feel lack of energy or hungry.
I went from approx 2200 calories to 1200 calories.
Same calories at the end of the day as the shakes but I feel like I am still getting a few treats here and there. If I am doing an intense workout I make sure I eat a bit more that day so I have energy to really pump it.

I guess everyone is different but for me, shakes mostly didn't work for very long. I think it was because I felt like I was missing out on everything and this led to binges and/or extreme cravings and no energy

Francl27

Maybe because you have almost no nutrients and vitamins in those shakes? Eat real food.

LKArgh

Why aren't you eating real food?