Should I stop losing weight and start maintaining? I keep getting hungrier the more weight I lose!

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VividVegan
VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Gender- female
Height- 5'7
Age- 24
Weight- 120 pounds
I walk approximately 10k steps per day according to my pedometer. 3-4 days a week I'll workout on my eliptical. 2-3 days a week I'll lift weights and do resistance training mixed with yoga. 1-2 days a week I'll rest/lounge. I go to college and have a job (work-study) which I tend to walk the most on those days. I was easily eating around 1,300 calories a day until I reached the 130's then increased it to 1,400-1,500 until I reached the 120's and then became even hungrier so I increased it to 1,600-1,650 and since I've gone down to 120 pounds, I feel like 1,600-1,650 just isn't enough. My goal weight is 115 though. How can I reach it if I keep getting hungrier and eating more? I thought when you lose weight, your appetite decreases, not increases. Help?
Ps- I know it's not from the foods I'm eating. I eat veggies, fruits, lean meats, whole grains, lots of water, no dairy, etc.
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Replies

  • RunnerMan1ac
    RunnerMan1ac Posts: 4 Member
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    Seems like your missing your protein, if you're hungry like this maybe your not eating enough protein. .76g per pound for healthy body maintenance, try to maintain that with clean protein bars (mission1) or shakes. Chicken and turkey are also good lean meats for your protein.
  • sarahlifts
    sarahlifts Posts: 610 Member
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    Yes 120 is low for 5'7
  • lml852014
    lml852014 Posts: 243 Member
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    I feel like 120 is pretty skinny for 5"7. I'm 5"3 and 129 and I look decent. I dont imagine why youd wanna go down anymore, maybe try building some muscle now!
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    What are you goals beyond a body weight? This will dictate how you should proceed. Do you want to compete in any sports/events? Are you going for a certain physique or look? Most likely it's time to focus on maintenance or muscle gain but again it really depends on your goals. 120 for 5'7 indicates you are rather lean with plenty of room to add some lean mass but again, that's goal dependent.
  • VividVegan
    VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
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    My goal is to lean out more. I know I have muscle but it's underneath my remaining body fat and I was told the only way to lose body fat is to burn more calories than you take in so I've been doing a calorie deficit because I want my lean muscle to be more noticeable. How else would I be able to reduce my body fat without doing a calorie deficit?
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
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    The fact is that even as you increase your calories, you are still losing weight. So you may just have too aggressive of a goal deficit at this point. At those last 5 lbs, you should only be losing around .5 lbs a week anyway. Add a few extra calories and maybe tweak your diet to figure out meal timings and food choices that help with hunger cues.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    My goal is to lean out more. I know I have muscle but it's underneath my remaining body fat and I was told the only way to lose body fat is to burn more calories than you take in so I've been doing a calorie deficit because I want my lean muscle to be more noticeable. How else would I be able to reduce my body fat without doing a calorie deficit?

    If you do not have visible muscle at this point, you need to add it in order to have it show. Losing weight is not always the answer wrt having lean muscle. You need to build a reasonable base in order to be able to do that. Visible muscle generally means low fat plus muscle. You have half of that equation and need to work on the other half.
  • VividVegan
    VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    My goal is to lean out more. I know I have muscle but it's underneath my remaining body fat and I was told the only way to lose body fat is to burn more calories than you take in so I've been doing a calorie deficit because I want my lean muscle to be more noticeable. How else would I be able to reduce my body fat without doing a calorie deficit?

    If you do not have visible muscle at this point, you need to add it in order to have it show. Losing weight is not always the answer wrt having lean muscle. You need to build a reasonable base in order to be able to do that. Visible muscle generally means low fat plus muscle. You have half of that equation and need to work on the other half.

    So what do I do from here? Any type of diet or fitness plan beneficial for this? Or a program I can research?
  • tlflag1620
    tlflag1620 Posts: 1,358 Member
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    At 5'7" 120 lbs you are about as low a weight as you can be and still be considered healthy. If your muscles are not large enough for your liking, lift heavy things to make them bigger (you'll need to eat more while doing this). At your height and weight, it's not that body fat is hiding your musculature, it's that you don't have much muscle mass to begin with. Continuing to lose weight won't fix that.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Haven't seem this posted in a while, and it seems applicable here. Here is a story about a woman who discovered that looking leaner does not always coincide with a lower weight on the scale:

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    As vismal said, it will depend on your goals, but putting on lean mass may be what you want to do.

    Edited because my phone really doesn't want me to make sense apparently.
  • VividVegan
    VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
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    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    Perhaps YOUR body is trying to tell you it doesn't want to be underweight.
    Lift weights if you want to look "leaner".

    I lift a couple days a week (around 20 pound weights). Should I do more lifting and less cardio? And is it not heavy enough?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited May 2016
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    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    My goal is to lean out more. I know I have muscle but it's underneath my remaining body fat and I was told the only way to lose body fat is to burn more calories than you take in so I've been doing a calorie deficit because I want my lean muscle to be more noticeable. How else would I be able to reduce my body fat without doing a calorie deficit?

    If you do not have visible muscle at this point, you need to add it in order to have it show. Losing weight is not always the answer wrt having lean muscle. You need to build a reasonable base in order to be able to do that. Visible muscle generally means low fat plus muscle. You have half of that equation and need to work on the other half.

    So what do I do from here? Any type of diet or fitness plan beneficial for this? Or a program I can research?

    I would eat 200 over maintenance and do a progressive resistance program. that means lifting weights or doing a bodyweight program or a combo. It needs to be progressive, though, meaning that you add weight (some programs are weight plus reps/sets.)

    I'm saying eat higher than maintenance because a recomp means you're burning fat and building muscle at the same time. My hunch is that you don't have sufficient fat to support muscle growth.
  • erinc5
    erinc5 Posts: 329 Member
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    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    My goal is to lean out more. I know I have muscle but it's underneath my remaining body fat and I was told the only way to lose body fat is to burn more calories than you take in so I've been doing a calorie deficit because I want my lean muscle to be more noticeable. How else would I be able to reduce my body fat without doing a calorie deficit?

    Look into a recomp. http://scoobysworkshop.com/gain-muscle-lose-fat/ Lift and eat right around your TDEE.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    My goal is to lean out more. I know I have muscle but it's underneath my remaining body fat and I was told the only way to lose body fat is to burn more calories than you take in so I've been doing a calorie deficit because I want my lean muscle to be more noticeable. How else would I be able to reduce my body fat without doing a calorie deficit?

    If you do not have visible muscle at this point, you need to add it in order to have it show. Losing weight is not always the answer wrt having lean muscle. You need to build a reasonable base in order to be able to do that. Visible muscle generally means low fat plus muscle. You have half of that equation and need to work on the other half.

    So what do I do from here? Any type of diet or fitness plan beneficial for this? Or a program I can research?

    I would eat 200 over maintenance and do a progressive resistance program. that means lifting weights or doing a bodyweight program or a combo. It needs to be progressive, though, meaning that you add weight (some programs are weight plus reps/sets.)

    I'm saying eat higher than maintenance because a recomp means you're burning fat and building muscle at the same time. My hunch is that you don't have sufficient fat to support muscle growth.

    Agreed. Now that I'm not on my phone, your profile pic shows you as pretty lean. I don't think you're going to get where you want to be by continuing to cut.

    Congrats on your weight loss; I'm almost wondering if your brain hasn't caught up with the fact that you're pretty darn lean now .
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    FeedMeFish wrote: »
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    Perhaps YOUR body is trying to tell you it doesn't want to be underweight.
    Lift weights if you want to look "leaner".

    I lift a couple days a week (around 20 pound weights). Should I do more lifting and less cardio? And is it not heavy enough?

    What you want is a progressive lifting program that's designed to keep increasing the weight as you get stronger. There are some good programs out there, but I'm not familiar enough to suggest one. This post is a great resource though: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

    You might also check out the stories here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/977538/halp-heavy-lifting-made-me-supah-bulky/p1
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    edited May 2016
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    Double post
  • mirihawk
    mirihawk Posts: 34 Member
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    I'm 5'2" and when I was 135 my doctor said I was too thin. Sounds like you need a different weight goal . - Disclaimer, I am not your doctor. - have you discussed your weight with your doctor at a yearly physical and set a goal together? I would recommend it, and also getting blood work done to make sure you have other health things in order, like not being anemic and having healthy cholesterol levels.... just my opinion. Good luck!

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