I Am STARVING!! Close to Maintenance. Is This Normal?

pearso21123

JustMissTracy wrote: »

The best tip I've learned through all this, is to keep it simple...if you can throw five ingredients into a crockpot or casserole, throw in some spices and coconut oil, and let it cook....you'll make your prep time nice and easy...Some days I'll throw in chicken thighs, rice, beans, crushed tomatoes....other days, beef, broccoli, onions, tomato or pepper or both....by doing it like this, you're ensuring you come close to getting your macros goals met, you aren't starving, you could possibly make enough for two days (I do that at least twice a week), AND you are eating way healthier. Don't think of all this as stupid, it's not...there's learning curves, and everyone's experience is different. DON"T just eat a can of tuna!! Your body wants balance! If anything, please throw that tuna on some salad or in with some pasta and tomatos..if you go over, that's ok, you'll still continue losing AND you won't be famished at 7 pm ...Good luck! xo

But how do you figure out the calories in something like that? I can use the recipe thing and put all of the ingredients in with no problem, but I don't know how to figure out how many servings are in a pot of something. The recipe tool is good for something you bake so you can slice it and figure out the servings that way, but not for food cooked en masse in a pot.

I only have an analog scale that goes up to 16 ounces.

On a side note, your method sounds great for people without kids or husbands. My family would throw a fit if I started cooking like that. But, I can just make a small pot for myself, and since nobody else will like it that means it will still be in the fridge untouched when I get home from work. So, it's a WIN!!

I think you're right about the body wanting balance. I went shopping for veggies on my way home from work last night and when I was preparing some for lunch my body was SCREAMING for veggies. I guess it's been longer than I realized since I bought a good variety. Still no good cucumbers. That's both Meijer and Walmart without good salad cucumbers.

JustMissTracy

pearso21123 wrote: »

JustMissTracy wrote: »

The best tip I've learned through all this, is to keep it simple...if you can throw five ingredients into a crockpot or casserole, throw in some spices and coconut oil, and let it cook....you'll make your prep time nice and easy...Some days I'll throw in chicken thighs, rice, beans, crushed tomatoes....other days, beef, broccoli, onions, tomato or pepper or both....by doing it like this, you're ensuring you come close to getting your macros goals met, you aren't starving, you could possibly make enough for two days (I do that at least twice a week), AND you are eating way healthier. Don't think of all this as stupid, it's not...there's learning curves, and everyone's experience is different. DON"T just eat a can of tuna!! Your body wants balance! If anything, please throw that tuna on some salad or in with some pasta and tomatos..if you go over, that's ok, you'll still continue losing AND you won't be famished at 7 pm ...Good luck! xo

But how do you figure out the calories in something like that? I can use the recipe thing and put all of the ingredients in with no problem, but I don't know how to figure out how many servings are in a pot of something. The recipe tool is good for something you bake so you can slice it and figure out the servings that way, but not for food cooked en masse in a pot.

I only have an analog scale that goes up to 16 ounces.

On a side note, your method sounds great for people without kids or husbands. My family would throw a fit if I started cooking like that. But, I can just make a small pot for myself, and since nobody else will like it that means it will still be in the fridge untouched when I get home from work. So, it's a WIN!!

I think you're right about the body wanting balance. I went shopping for veggies on my way home from work last night and when I was preparing some for lunch my body was SCREAMING for veggies. I guess it's been longer than I realized since I bought a good variety. Still no good cucumbers. That's both Meijer and Walmart without good salad cucumbers.

Do you have a digital food scale? Pick one up, I paid 13$ for mine at Canadian Tire.....HUGE success since getting one...I weigh out my ingredients, mark it on paper, and into the pot...easy cheesie....feel free to add me and check out my diary, I eat like that 4-5 days of the week. 75 lbs lost before MFP, and another 7 lbs in the 70 days since I started MFP. If I can do it, I swear, you can do it too! My friend, you think your family will throw a fit, but they won't even know you're doing it!! They'll just think you're cooking up something new, and if they're anything like my family, they will LOVE the outcome. My hubby now PREFERS my cooking to anything he can take out or get at a restaurant. Honest! xo

pearso21123

HappyCampr1 wrote: »

pearso21123 wrote: »

JustMissTracy wrote: »

The best tip I've learned through all this, is to keep it simple...if you can throw five ingredients into a crockpot or casserole, throw in some spices and coconut oil, and let it cook....you'll make your prep time nice and easy...Some days I'll throw in chicken thighs, rice, beans, crushed tomatoes....other days, beef, broccoli, onions, tomato or pepper or both....by doing it like this, you're ensuring you come close to getting your macros goals met, you aren't starving, you could possibly make enough for two days (I do that at least twice a week), AND you are eating way healthier. Don't think of all this as stupid, it's not...there's learning curves, and everyone's experience is different. DON"T just eat a can of tuna!! Your body wants balance! If anything, please throw that tuna on some salad or in with some pasta and tomatos..if you go over, that's ok, you'll still continue losing AND you won't be famished at 7 pm ...Good luck! xo

But how do you figure out the calories in something like that? I can use the recipe thing and put all of the ingredients in with no problem, but I don't know how to figure out how many servings are in a pot of something. The recipe tool is good for something you bake so you can slice it and figure out the servings that way, but not for food cooked en masse in a pot.

I only have an analog scale that goes up to 16 ounces.

You'll probably need a digital scale that weighs heavier items. Mine goes to 11 pounds.

Once you get one, you create the recipe in the builder. Then when the recipe is finished cooking, you simply weigh the entire batch and create 100g servings. So, if the whole pot (minus the weight of the pot itself, of course) weighs 1120 grams, you would have 11.2 servings. Then when you serve yourself, you just enter it that way. I normally eat about 400g of chili when I have it. This would be 4 servings in my diary.

You could also create 10g servings if you prefer. So, my chili example, I would be eating 40 servings. It might look strange in a diary, but who cares? It's correct and that's the important thing.

That makes so much sense! Thank you! I just need a different scale. I'll try to get one later this week.

pearso21123

JustMissTracy wrote: »

pearso21123 wrote: »

amyf2000 wrote: »

This happened to me. People on mfp told me I was eating too many carbs and too much processed food and not enough protein and fiber. I subbed most sweets for fruit and started eating huge salads. Huge, just greens. Padded them with fresh cabbage. I also cut down on carbs and upped my protein - eggs, roasted chicken, tuna, yogurt. And it worked! I'm eating fewer calories and feeling fuller than ever! But I'm also going to the grocery store 3x a week, lol.

I ran to Meijer last night on my way home from work and stocked up on fresh veggies, but they just don't last long in the fridge. I'm envisioning lots more grocery runs for me, too. I miss my garden.

You can freeze your veggies too! (I love my garden too, season's over and the veggie mart just loves me again!)

I managed to get corn and pumpkin frozen, but nothing else. Just never enough time in the day... At least we have winter squash in the basement.

lyttlewon

pearso21123 wrote: »

But how do you figure out the calories in something like that? I can use the recipe thing and put all of the ingredients in with no problem, but I don't know how to figure out how many servings are in a pot of something. The recipe tool is good for something you bake so you can slice it and figure out the servings that way, but not for food cooked en masse in a pot.

I know how much my serving utensils hold. My ladle holds 1/2 cup. Two scoops is usually a serving, and I know how many scoops I get out of my soup pot based upon how full it is. Sometimes I tweak a recipe after I've made it the first time and count it out.

middlehaitch

To do accurate casseroles etc

1.Weigh pot that you are going to be cooking in, note it.
2.As you put ingredients in weigh and note all, including liquids (water too)
3.Cook.
4.Once cooked weigh it in the pot.
5.Minus weight of pot
6.Enter all ingredients in MFP recipe builder.
7.Then divide weight by 100 and that will give you the number of 100g servings in the recipe.

Hope that helps,
Cheers, h.

KickboxDiva

pearso21123 wrote: »

EvgeniZyntx wrote: »

Only thing to add since no one answer your point - yes, take diet breaks. If you've been dieting for 9 months straight, going to maintenance for a few weeks to a month will be beneficial on bringing hormonal levels back to normal and managing hunger, sanity and satiety.

But then I'm going to gain 3 - 5 lbs!! I've worked so hard to lose the weight, I don't want to see the scale go back up. Arghh!!- I hate you, scale. We were friends for such a long time, but I just don't know if you meet my


You should plan to have small occasional gains to allow for new losses. You might show a temporary scale gain, but keep in mind that a true pound of fat roughly is equal to over eating 3500 calories. The scale weight your total body composition. Fat/ water/ muscle. If you eat at your maintenance for a time you will start to burn more calories. Example: if Your body burns 2300 daily. You diet at 1900, you lose. Loss slows or stop, you restrict a little more and add more activity, you lose and again it stops. Your body is a miraculous machine. It adapts to the fuel you give it. You'll need to rev it up again with a planned diet break every so often to let your body relearn to burn more calories. Learn all about this on the eat more 2 weigh less group on mfp. Lots of great info.

LivingtheLeanDream

middlehaitch wrote: »

To do accurate casseroles etc

1.Weigh pot that you are going to be cooking in, note it.
2.As you put ingredients in weigh and note all, including liquids (water too)
3.Cook.
4.Once cooked weigh it in the pot.
5.Minus weight of pot
6.Enter all ingredients in MFP recipe builder.
7.Then divide weight by 100 and that will give you the number of 100g servings in the recipe.

Hope that helps,
Cheers, h.

Exactly the way to do it you are a clever gal Heather

pearso21123

KickboxDiva wrote: »

pearso21123 wrote: »

EvgeniZyntx wrote: »

Only thing to add since no one answer your point - yes, take diet breaks. If you've been dieting for 9 months straight, going to maintenance for a few weeks to a month will be beneficial on bringing hormonal levels back to normal and managing hunger, sanity and satiety.

But then I'm going to gain 3 - 5 lbs!! I've worked so hard to lose the weight, I don't want to see the scale go back up. Arghh!!- I hate you, scale. We were friends for such a long time, but I just don't know if you meet my


You should plan to have small occasional gains to allow for new losses. You might show a temporary scale gain, but keep in mind that a true pound of fat roughly is equal to over eating 3500 calories. The scale weight your total body composition. Fat/ water/ muscle. If you eat at your maintenance for a time you will start to burn more calories. Example: if Your body burns 2300 daily. You diet at 1900, you lose. Loss slows or stop, you restrict a little more and add more activity, you lose and again it stops. Your body is a miraculous machine. It adapts to the fuel you give it. You'll need to rev it up again with a planned diet break every so often to let your body relearn to burn more calories. Learn all about this on the eat more 2 weigh less group on mfp. Lots of great info.

Your explanation was so clear, I think you've convinced me. I'm going to wait until after my next weigh-in, then I'll start fresh. I have to admit, I'll be happy to eat again!

pearso21123

Thanks for the directions on how to measure calories in a pot of food, everybody! I tried it this morning with a pot of chili. I don't have a scale that goes that high, so I just held the pot and weighed myself on my bathroom scales, then found the difference between that and my weight not holding the pot. Probably not the most accurate method, but still better then nothing. I ran into a few bumps along the way, but I think I have it figured out now. First, I forgot to subtract the weight of the pot, so had to go back in and adjust my recipe. Plus, I converted lbs. to ounces, and realized very quickly that there was no way that was right. I came back here and reviewed the directions and realized I needed to convert lbs. to grams, not ounces. Much better. I'm so happy I know how to do this now!

And, I've been happily full since yesterday. WooHoo!!

enterdanger

pearso21123 wrote: »

Okay, just from my experience today, protein is easy but fiber is HARD! (I was in the red on protein until I changed my goal to 30% instead of 20%). I think refried beans may be my new best friend. You have opened up a whole new challenge for me. Before, it was just what foods have the lowest calories. Now, it's what foods have reasonable calories while meeting my fiber and protein goals. In one day, two foods have gone from my DO NOT EAT list to the top of my list of things to eat (cottage cheese and refried beans). Now, the challenge is to find foods that pack the most bang for the calories.

Is it cheating if I eat a fiber bar? Is all fiber created equal?

Fiber is not too hard. Squash. I've been making this amazing soup I got on skinnytaste and it has 10g of fiber per 1 and 1/3 cup serving. http://www.skinnytaste.com/2015/10/slow-cooker-blissful-butternut-squash.html

So good. and instead of nutmeg I just season with garam masala right before I eat it.

EvgeniZyntx

pearso21123 wrote: »

EvgeniZyntx wrote: »

Only thing to add since no one answer your point - yes, take diet breaks. If you've been dieting for 9 months straight, going to maintenance for a few weeks to a month will be beneficial on bringing hormonal levels back to normal and managing hunger, sanity and satiety.

But then I'm going to gain 3 - 5 lbs!! I've worked so hard to lose the weight, I don't want to see the scale go back up. Arghh!!- I hate you, scale. We were friends for such a long time, but I just don't know if you meet my needs anymore.

Relax - maintenance isn't about gaining a lot of weight - maybe a few pounds but they'll drop once you restart.

Diet breaks are important - consider that this is how a) you learn to be at a stable point b) you allow your body to rest.

The reason you are starving is because you need a break.

Here, I could write you a long post on hormones and grehlin and all that but it is just a really common topic now, that I'm going to leave two links:

http://strengthunbound.com/when-to-take-a-diet-break/
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/

pearso21123

enterdanger wrote: »

pearso21123 wrote: »

Okay, just from my experience today, protein is easy but fiber is HARD! (I was in the red on protein until I changed my goal to 30% instead of 20%). I think refried beans may be my new best friend. You have opened up a whole new challenge for me. Before, it was just what foods have the lowest calories. Now, it's what foods have reasonable calories while meeting my fiber and protein goals. In one day, two foods have gone from my DO NOT EAT list to the top of my list of things to eat (cottage cheese and refried beans). Now, the challenge is to find foods that pack the most bang for the calories.

Is it cheating if I eat a fiber bar? Is all fiber created equal?

Fiber is not too hard. Squash. I've been making this amazing soup I got on skinnytaste and it has 10g of fiber per 1 and 1/3 cup serving. http://www.skinnytaste.com/2015/10/slow-cooker-blissful-butternut-squash.html

So good. and instead of nutmeg I just season with garam masala right before I eat it.

Oooh, this looks so good, I'm going to try it tomorrow. I've never had any kind of squash soup before. I checked to see if I could use pumpkin instead, but pumpkin has way less fiber than butternut. Who knew?!

pearso21123

enterdanger wrote: »

pearso21123 wrote: »

Okay, just from my experience today, protein is easy but fiber is HARD! (I was in the red on protein until I changed my goal to 30% instead of 20%). I think refried beans may be my new best friend. You have opened up a whole new challenge for me. Before, it was just what foods have the lowest calories. Now, it's what foods have reasonable calories while meeting my fiber and protein goals. In one day, two foods have gone from my DO NOT EAT list to the top of my list of things to eat (cottage cheese and refried beans). Now, the challenge is to find foods that pack the most bang for the calories.

Is it cheating if I eat a fiber bar? Is all fiber created equal?

Fiber is not too hard. Squash. I've been making this amazing soup I got on skinnytaste and it has 10g of fiber per 1 and 1/3 cup serving. http://www.skinnytaste.com/2015/10/slow-cooker-blissful-butternut-squash.html

So good. and instead of nutmeg I just season with garam masala right before I eat it.

I have no idea what garam masala is. I was thinking I'd just use some cinnamon and pumpkin spice?

EvgeniZyntx

pearso21123 wrote: »

enterdanger wrote: »

pearso21123 wrote: »

Okay, just from my experience today, protein is easy but fiber is HARD! (I was in the red on protein until I changed my goal to 30% instead of 20%). I think refried beans may be my new best friend. You have opened up a whole new challenge for me. Before, it was just what foods have the lowest calories. Now, it's what foods have reasonable calories while meeting my fiber and protein goals. In one day, two foods have gone from my DO NOT EAT list to the top of my list of things to eat (cottage cheese and refried beans). Now, the challenge is to find foods that pack the most bang for the calories.

Is it cheating if I eat a fiber bar? Is all fiber created equal?

Fiber is not too hard. Squash. I've been making this amazing soup I got on skinnytaste and it has 10g of fiber per 1 and 1/3 cup serving. http://www.skinnytaste.com/2015/10/slow-cooker-blissful-butternut-squash.html

So good. and instead of nutmeg I just season with garam masala right before I eat it.

I have no idea what garam masala is. I was thinking I'd just use some cinnamon and pumpkin spice?

Garam masala is a mixture of something like that and cardamon, cumin and peppers. It is fantastic. Think Northern Indian or Nepali food. It is one of my most basic of spices.

(It is also a mix that opens well in heat, so you can roast or fry with it.)

middlehaitch

Glad you got the recipe builder sorted.
It is hard when you use a heavy pot. The alternate would be to weigh everything into a lighter pot, cook then tip it back into the lighter pot for its cooked weigh in. I do that with my crock pot, I use one of those large white Corning pots as they are half as heavy. Once you have the weight of pots make a note of them. I keep the note pinned to the inside of the cupboard that they live in.

Garam masala is a flavourful Indian spice mix, generally not spicy hot, and usually added close to the end of cooking. You can make your own.

If you are looking at a fibre bar to up your fibre, try to get one with a good protein level too. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

Love the soup @enterdanger

Cheers, h.

pearso21123

KickboxDiva wrote: »

pearso21123 wrote: »

EvgeniZyntx wrote: »

Only thing to add since no one answer your point - yes, take diet breaks. If you've been dieting for 9 months straight, going to maintenance for a few weeks to a month will be beneficial on bringing hormonal levels back to normal and managing hunger, sanity and satiety.

But then I'm going to gain 3 - 5 lbs!! I've worked so hard to lose the weight, I don't want to see the scale go back up. Arghh!!- I hate you, scale. We were friends for such a long time, but I just don't know if you meet my


You should plan to have small occasional gains to allow for new losses. You might show a temporary scale gain, but keep in mind that a true pound of fat roughly is equal to over eating 3500 calories. The scale weight your total body composition. Fat/ water/ muscle. If you eat at your maintenance for a time you will start to burn more calories. Example: if Your body burns 2300 daily. You diet at 1900, you lose. Loss slows or stop, you restrict a little more and add more activity, you lose and again it stops. Your body is a miraculous machine. It adapts to the fuel you give it. You'll need to rev it up again with a planned diet break every so often to let your body relearn to burn more calories. Learn all about this on the eat more 2 weigh less group on mfp. Lots of great info.

I just joined this group. Thanks!

pearso21123

EvgeniZyntx wrote: »

pearso21123 wrote: »

EvgeniZyntx wrote: »

Only thing to add since no one answer your point - yes, take diet breaks. If you've been dieting for 9 months straight, going to maintenance for a few weeks to a month will be beneficial on bringing hormonal levels back to normal and managing hunger, sanity and satiety.

But then I'm going to gain 3 - 5 lbs!! I've worked so hard to lose the weight, I don't want to see the scale go back up. Arghh!!- I hate you, scale. We were friends for such a long time, but I just don't know if you meet my needs anymore.

Relax - maintenance isn't about gaining a lot of weight - maybe a few pounds but they'll drop once you restart.

Diet breaks are important - consider that this is how a) you learn to be at a stable point b) you allow your body to rest.

The reason you are starving is because you need a break.

Here, I could write you a long post on hormones and grehlin and all that but it is just a really common topic now, that I'm going to leave two links:

http://strengthunbound.com/when-to-take-a-diet-break/
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/

Okay, you've convinced me, in part because of this dialogue that is currently going on in mind:

Me: I just had a large bowl of chili and a protein/fiber bar. My stomach is so full it's about to burst. It's nice to be full!
Something Inside Me: I'm still hungry.
Me: Feel how full your stomach is? You're not hungry.
SIM: Yes, I am. I'm still hungry.
Me: You're not hungry. Let's just wait a few minutes and see.
SIM (a few minutes later): I'm still hungry.
SIM (30 minutes later): I'm still hungry. We still have our salad to eat. Let's go eat it.
(Dreaming about eating my salad)
Me: But if we eat any more right now, we might burst. For real. You're not really hungry.
SIM: I'm still hungry. We could have a snack.
SIM: I'm still hungry. Let's have another protein bar. It was so good.
SIM: I'm still hungry. We should eat that banana before it gets too ripe.
Me: Would you just SHUT UP ALREADY!! YOU'RE NOT REALLY HUNGRY!
SIM: I'M HUNGRY! I'M HUNGRY! I'M HUNGRY!

I think I'm in Stage 2 of article #1. After 9 months, maybe it really is time for a break.

Linnaea27

pearso21123 wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

I'm in the same situation as you - pretty much what would have been fine while I was losing is not fine anymore now because I'm hungrier.. so I have to make better choices, or I am hungry (so yeah, I'm hungry a lot).

Just looking at your diary, you just need to make better choices. Too much fast food (not filling for the calories), too many liquid calories (milk, kool aid), definitely not enough protein and probably not enough fat and fiber either.

The kool-aid is sugar free, only 10 calories per bottle of water and I drink about 3 bottles per day (30 calories total per day), so I don't think that's it. I used to be a Mountain Dew addict. Pop was the first thing I gave up when I decided it was time to lose weight. I've only been having 0.5 cup of milk with my cereal in the mornings, except for this past week when I've increased it to a whole cup. That doesn't seem like too much, but maybe it is. Definitely too much fast food this past week, though the hunger started before that. With all the fast food I've had this week, this probably wasn't the best time to ask this question and have everybody looking at my diary

I've noticed that eating cereal with whatever quantity of milk will make me far hungrier than I would be if I'd eaten some other thing (like yogurt with fruit and coconut) for breakfast. Some people's no-hunger breakfast standbys, eggs and oatmeal, also do that to me. I have better results if I have Greek yogurt with some fruit, nuts, and when losing weight, some whey protein, for breakfast.

I remember having a similar experience to you when I was just a few pounds away from my goal weight. Partially it was that I wasn't eating enough protein (I think that when you're close to goal but not there yet, it's very important to eat at least 80-100 g of protein a day; that level will help greatly with hunger). And, I think your body is probably rebelling against being in a calorie deficit for so long. I found that I had to eat at maintenance or even a little above once a week or so when I was losing the last few pounds, and that helped with the sort of deep, major hunger I was feeling (and I'd been in a pretty small deficit, to lose only 1/2 lb a week, the whole time). Also, when one is thinner, one gets hungrier faster. When I'm hungry now that I'm thin, I'm HUNGRY and NEED to EAT NOW! My mom, who has been very slim naturally all her life, is the same way.

Linnaea27

pearso21123 wrote: »

EvgeniZyntx wrote: »

Only thing to add since no one answer your point - yes, take diet breaks. If you've been dieting for 9 months straight, going to maintenance for a few weeks to a month will be beneficial on bringing hormonal levels back to normal and managing hunger, sanity and satiety.

But then I'm going to gain 3 - 5 lbs!! I've worked so hard to lose the weight, I don't want to see the scale go back up. Arghh!!- I hate you, scale. We were friends for such a long time, but I just don't know if you meet my needs anymore.

But it won't be fat weight if you are truly eating at maintenance-- it will be water weight. And you can do this while eating the maintenance calories you would have at your goal weight and you'll probably keep losing a bit. I liked the going slightly over maintenance once a week method I used better than doing it for a few weeks straight-- it was psychologically easier for me.

And, I am not sure if you've mentioned it somewhere in this thread, but are you set to lose 1/2 lb a week? With only a few pounds to go, that's what you probably need to be doing (it's better for your body and easier once you're close to goal).