Lifting weights makes me hungry. Why?

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My_Butt
My_Butt Posts: 2,300 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been lifting weights for a few weeks now and I noticed I am ALWAYS hungry. And it's not 'binging' hungry where I just want to smack because I'm bored. I wake up starving. I'm eating at maintenance, and a bunch of days I have gone over. Anybody know why lifting makes us hungrier

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  • My_Butt
    My_Butt Posts: 2,300 Member
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    *snack, not smack.

    Thank you autocorrect. You're my best friend.
  • phste
    phste Posts: 9 Member
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    Because lifting takes a lot of energy. Are you eating right? Usually if people are lifting they up their calorie intake. Are you doing that?
  • CloudyTortilla
    CloudyTortilla Posts: 11 Member
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    I had the same issue, I was dieting on about 1700 before lifting weights and it worked pretty fine. When I started weight training, I upped my cals to 2100 and I was always hungry. In the end, I had to stop weight training, because of my shoulder, so I didn't investigate further. Just wanted to let you know, that others have that problem too :)
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    phste wrote: »
    Because lifting takes a lot of energy. Are you eating right? Usually if people are lifting they up their calorie intake. Are you doing that?
    @phste
    Lifting is actually a small calorie burner, far lower than cardio of any decent intensity.
    METS are very similar to walking.
    (Before anyone dives in with EPOC - that's a tiny calorie burn too.)

    Sorry OP can't help with the explanation but you aren't alone, 200 cals of a strength workout makes me far hungrier than 800 cals of a cardio workout.
  • marcelo_templario
    marcelo_templario Posts: 653 Member
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    Well...playing cards, videogames can also make you hungry; blinking, breathing are all energy demanding activities, obviously the glycogen in your muscles burns faster hence demanding food.
  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
    edited January 2016
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    Are you sure you’re eating enough? And are you eating foods that are satiating (fat and protein)? How much sugar and simple carbs are in your diet? Simple carbs burn fast and are either stored as glycogen in the muscle and liver or turned to fat, then you’re body wants another hit.

    Allan Misner
    NASM Certified Personal Trainer (Corrective Exercise Specialist, Fitness Nutrition Specialist)
    Host of the 40+ Fitness Podcast
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,910 Member
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    Normally when people are getting enough calories but are hungry, their food diary shows they are not getting enough protein. That's not the case with you though. Maybe try eating more fat? I add some form of fat, like coconut or walnut oil, to my protein smoothies, cuz otherwise they just don't fill me up.
  • My_Butt
    My_Butt Posts: 2,300 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Normally when people are getting enough calories but are hungry, their food diary shows they are not getting enough protein. That's not the case with you though. Maybe try eating more fat? I add some form of fat, like coconut or walnut oil, to my protein smoothies, cuz otherwise they just don't fill me up.

    Yay! someone that already checked my diary.

    The only thing that is low for me is fat intake. Everything else is above my goals. Maybe I'll add in avacado to get that up.
  • marcelo_templario
    marcelo_templario Posts: 653 Member
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    My_Butt wrote: »
    I've been lifting weights for a few weeks now and I noticed I am ALWAYS hungry. And it's not 'binging' hungry where I just want to smack because I'm bored. I wake up starving. I'm eating at maintenance, and a bunch of days I have gone over. Anybody know why lifting makes us hungrier

    Consider that MTP protein intake calculation is kinda low for lifting, may you wanna fix it manually and add some more protein daily.
  • jeff16201
    jeff16201 Posts: 3 Member
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    I know exactly what your saying about always hungry, I workout 5 days per week and I am always cooking or/and eating all the time. When we workout with weights especially we are going to gain weight , hopefully muscle weight but I have gained some unwanted belly weight myself. I try to eat more high density foods such as fruit and veggies with a little protein in the evening after my daily meals, you are able to eat much more of these foods and gain less weight but if your working out with weights your going to eat more and gain weight. Recently I increased my cardio workouts, which has been helping as well. This seems to be working better for me, but everyone is a little different.

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