Hungry

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Jen58473
Jen58473 Posts: 24 Member
in Motivation and Support
I'm not really looking for advice, just need a little encouragement. I've never been able to stick to a diet for long, I get too hungry, figure I was going too low in calories. This time around, I decided to eat up to 2000 calories/day for a month, see how much I lost, and adjust from there. I averaged 1825 and the deficit turned out to be around 350 calories/day. The hunger was just manageable, but I had to cut back on my bodyweight strength training because I couldn't handle 40 minutes, 3 times a week. Now I've started eating at a 500 calorie deficit and I'm starving, and if I keep doing this I will soon turn into a bottomless pit of eating, so I guess it's back to 350.

I'm just discouraged because the online calculators give me a bodyfat % of almost 30%, which seems reasonably accurate given my appearance and weight. It's frustrating that even at this weight I can't tolerate a 500 calorie deficit. And even at a smaller deficit, my workouts suffer. So I'm going to be hungry for a good six months just to get rid of a few pounds (and I gained 10 of those pounds in a mere six weeks earlier this year!), and won't even be able to say 'at least I've been working out hard and getting stronger all that time.'

Needed to vent a little, thanks for letting me complain.

Replies

  • BigMama24mfp
    BigMama24mfp Posts: 27 Member
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    I'm in the same boat. I'm at about 30% body fat and trying to lose fat. Lower deficits are best especially when it comes to your performance in the gym. How much protein are you eating? My recommendation is get lots of protein (1 gram for each pound body weight), lots of fruits and vegetables (try 10 servings per day), and don't try to limit your carbs.
    Do you have a clear idea of what you are burning? MFP and other apps and devices give me too few calories. I have a Basis Peak which is a very accurate activity tracker and it tells me I burn 3000+ calories a day. MFP wants me to eat half of that.
    I also know that I am going to have to sacrifice some gym performance and energy in order to lose body fat. That sucks.
  • mandipandi75
    mandipandi75 Posts: 6,035 Member
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    My encouragement would be this... I don't get to a nagging hunger so it's possible to do this and to make it a life style change. The key? Eating clean, getting enough protein and drinking enough water. The healthier your choices, the less calories there are in them. Example... I can eat a huge piece of grilled chicken breast and 2 cups of grilled veggies and be at about 300 calories for the meal walking away from the table like I just ate a glutunous Thanksgiving dinner.

    Being that you aren't seeking advise, maybe you aren't ready to evalutate your food choices but when you are, there IS hope!
  • Jen58473
    Jen58473 Posts: 24 Member
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    BigMama24mfp wrote: »
    I'm in the same boat. I'm at about 30% body fat and trying to lose fat. Lower deficits are best especially when it comes to your performance in the gym. How much protein are you eating? My recommendation is get lots of protein (1 gram for each pound body weight), lots of fruits and vegetables (try 10 servings per day), and don't try to limit your carbs.
    Do you have a clear idea of what you are burning? MFP and other apps and devices give me too few calories. I have a Basis Peak which is a very accurate activity tracker and it tells me I burn 3000+ calories a day. MFP wants me to eat half of that.
    I also know that I am going to have to sacrifice some gym performance and energy in order to lose body fat. That sucks.

    I don't have an activity tracker or anything. I carefully recorded all my calories for four weeks, from the end of TOM to the end of TOM (to try to eliminate water weight issues, also watched sodium, exercise, etc, for a few day prior to weigh-ins to try to get the most accurate weight for comparison). I calculated my actual deficit and TDEE from the difference in weight month-to-month. It came out very close to all the calculators!
    mandipandi75 wrote: »
    My encouragement would be this... I don't get to a nagging hunger so it's possible to do this and to make it a life style change. The key? Eating clean, getting enough protein and drinking enough water. The healthier your choices, the less calories there are in them. Example... I can eat a huge piece of grilled chicken breast and 2 cups of grilled veggies and be at about 300 calories for the meal walking away from the table like I just ate a glutunous Thanksgiving dinner.

    Being that you aren't seeking advise, maybe you aren't ready to evalutate your food choices but when you are, there IS hope!

    Yes, I have my days where I make poor food choices, but usually they're acceptable. Dinner tonight was chicken breast, olive oil, veggies and sweet potato. Lunch was similar. Breakfast was eggs, baked beans, fruit. Snack was banana and peanut butter. ~100g protein today, 70g fat, 170g carbs, 1650 calories. It's great that you can be stuffed on 300 calories. I can't.

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