Small Activity and Crazy Hunger

radiii

I cheated today, first time in about 7 weeks after really struggling for awhile. I'm mainly posting that so that I don't fall totally off the wagon this time and to see if I can follow my own advice that I've given many times here to just get right back on track so its no big deal.

Question though: Does anyone get intense hunger spikes from really small changes/increases in activity? I noticed this earlier this year in physical therapy, when I first bought a standing desk. All I was doing was standing more to work, sometimes as little as 10 minutes more standing at a time a few times a day. Or I would be working on improving my posture while sitting and focus on sitting up straighter. Things that burn little calories but if I focused on them a lot during a day I would always find myself RAVENOUS.

Today, I did a simple stretching routine within an hour after getting up, a pretty gentle "get all of the joints moving" type thing, nothing intense. Then I did a full squat stretch (sitting in a "3rd world squat") for those familier with it, for 3 minutes. Now that is INTENSE for those 3 minutes b/c I'm not flexible enough yet. Ate normal breakfast. A few hours later, I'm out running errands and am 50x more hungry than I normally would be at the time. I didn't handle that sensation well and cheated. Obviously something to work on, but I'm curious about other's experiences with hunger from relatively small things.


Overall I'm still not a very active person, but I'm currently spending about 7 hours a week in the gym (just not doing much outside of it). I'm not sure if that matters at all.

wabmester

These guys found an interesting exercise threshold effect:
http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/ajpregu/303/6/R571.full.pdf

We conclude that a similar meaningful loss of body fat was
obtained regardless of exercise dose. On the basis of our
calculations of accumulated energy balance, 30 min of daily
exercise resulted in a greater than expected negative energy
balance, whereas 60 min of daily exercise induced a small, but
quantifiable, amount of compensation.

Basically, people lost more weight with less exercise (30 minutes vs 60 minutes), and the effect was due to less hunger and compensatory eating. The hunger threshold could be different for you and me, but it may be a factor.

KnitOrMiss

@radiii Absolutely, yes. I don't know what it is. Like today should be interesting, as I took a walk for about 10 minutes round trip with some wondering about the store in the intervening 5 minutes. On days when I grocery shop (which is always about 2 hours total, as I hit a few different stores - and I have to walk across the store to get what I need - helps keep us healthy, right?!), I am usually starving when I get home, and tired, so I don't want to cook. I tend to go for nuts, jerky, lunchmeat, cheese, pickles, etc. during this time. In particular, I like macadamia nuts, because they have that fool you sweet-not-really-sweet thing going on...

No matter what carbage I want, I always tell myself I'll eat something on plan first, and then I'll allow myself the carbage. I'd rather eat a whole 4.5 oz can of macadamias than get a candy bar, etc. I think a whole think is like 10 grams net carbs, 20 grams total. Still better than junk, even if higher than I'd like...

But yes, I find this particularly with being sedentary most of the time due to injuries and chronic conditions, particularly ones that limit types of movements. And yes, physical therapy KNOCKS me on my BUTT!!! It is crazy, because you really wouldn't thing so, but I typically feel like I've done one of those 500 ab exercise challenges sometimes! If you want a guess on what you're burning, look up ab exercises or yoga workouts for the same length of time. They should be relatively close in burn... It might explain things.

I do, also find that doing any form of intermittent fasting during your "trouble zone" times really helps to reset your body's expectations. I was having a huge problem of going home for lunch and eating before I was really hungry for a number of reasons, then being crazy-making hungry for fat bombs or sweet treats an hour or two later that was really delaying my fat burning (which kicks in and burns more the longer you wait between meals). Since with no gallbladder (and steady trickling bile) it caused bathroom troubles if I fast too long, I decided to consume a normal breakfast and water fast through to dinner. I'm splitting my calories about 40%/60% between the two meals. I'm doing this M-Th when I'm at work. I normally didn't start getting hungry before around 2-3 pm anyway, so pushing a few extra hours doesn't hurt anything, unless I'm super starving, like I was Wednesday, and so I ate. I can feel the extra ketone burst kick in about 3-4 hours after my breakfast ending time, and it becomes easier to focus and all that fun stuff. Other than ensuring I get enough calories in the morning, I've not really had any struggles. It's nice not to have to rush about like a crazy person to get a good lunch fit in there! LOL So just a thought of another tool to add to your toolbox, especially if you were like me and struggling to figure out how to manage crazy cravings.

It didn't only minimize the mid-afternoon munchies, it tends to quell my nighttime sweet cravings, too, so I'm thinking it dampens my insulin resistance the longer I stretch (I know IF is commonly recommended). I do find that I am more sensitive to the IR effects the longer I stay low carb though (as in things that were not triggers before are now). I plan to discuss this with my endo later this month!

Good luck, @Radiii!

radiii

Thanks for the replies guys.

Good news, I did actually get right back on keto this time, instead of falling off for days or weeks (well, assuming I stay on, but its been 3 days w/ no issues, its nice to have just a 1 day slip up instead of going crazy for weeks!)

This cheat was a combination of the hunger and frustration, prescription issues in super heavy rain that led me going to 3 pharmacies when I thought I was going to be out for no more than 10 minutes. I didn't post about that b/c I already know my issues there But the hunger from just like... standing a bit more and sitting a bit less is something that's been on my mind for a long time.


I did IF for a good while last year and early this year, but eating in the morning seemed like it was a pretty key part of getting the old digestion working like its supposed to, I've never been brave enough to try fasting in the evening instead. Right now I'm doing my lifting mid-afternoon, maybe I should look at working around IF again in some fashion, I did really enjoy it when I was doing it.

DietPrada

I get these hungry days too. I've learned a few tactics to deal with it. Firstly, I'm super strict during the week with my eating but on the weekends I tend to relax, eating probably 2200 to 2500 cals. Still under 20g of carbs but I don't watch my quantities. Mostly because my partner likes to take me out for breakfast on one of the days (big plate of bacon, eggs, sausage and mushroom) and he'll also cook at least one night (I cook during the week) - so I can't weigh and fuss over the food if he does it. This works for me because I still lose weight (weigh Saturday mornings) and I can handle the restriction a few days at a time. I also IF. Sort of. I have coffee with butter and HWC blended in for breakfast. I generally eat between 12pm and 8pm.

Also, if you're hungry, eat. But make it fatty, no carb foods. My faves are salami and cream cheese. Or I'll grab an 80g tub of dollop cream and mix in 1/2 pack of sugar free Vanilla Berry jello. Tastes like heaven, about 270 cals and you won't want anything else afterwards, trust me.

KarlaYP

@ EbonyDahlia, what is dollop cream? Is that like mascarpone? Something else I've been unable to find here! Going to make some, like @Knitormiss recommended on another thread. Thanks!

inspirationstation

I want to know what dollop cream is too. Sounds lovely.

KnitOrMiss

Karlottap wrote: »

@ EbonyDahlia, what is dollop cream? Is that like mascarpone? Something else I've been unable to find here! Going to make some, like @Knitormiss recommended on another thread. Thanks!

I would imagine it is sour cream. I do a bit of this and whipping cream with my jello to make a jello fat bomb. It's amazing!

KnitOrMiss

http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/article/a-guide-to-cream-a224.html

Though it doesn't have "dollop" cream...it does say whipped heavy cream can be served in a dollop...

DietPrada

Karlottap wrote: »

@ EbonyDahlia, what is dollop cream? Is that like mascarpone? Something else I've been unable to find here! Going to make some, like @Knitormiss recommended on another thread. Thanks!

It's not sour cream, it's "double thick fresh cream". Very thick.

http://www.pauls.com.au/cream/dollop-cream/dollop/

GaleHawkins

@EbonyDahlia I did knock off version last night. I drank a half cup of heavy whipping cream. My acetone level was very high this morning and should have checked my ketone blood levels. It was 400 calories and I think 8 grams of carbs.