Finding it hard to cut caloric intake any more

elisa123gal

For me, I notice some foods make me full and satisfied ..others make me hungry sooner or all day. Start keeping notes on what you're eating and how it satisfied and full it makes you feel I bet that does the trick..sounds like you're doing everything right and you are making progress. So that is wonderful.

peacelovestone

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

From your description you seem knowledge and have a sensible diet plan. I'm guessing if you find and decrease in calories has you starving that you don't have much fat to lose and are just trying to get very lean? I think that's pretty normal that that last few pounds of loss is going to be slower and slower and tougher and tougher. If you aee still losing with what you are doing I'd stick with it and just accept it's going to take a while.

If I'm wrong and your actually quite overweight then I'm not sure. Usually high protein high fiber helps but sounds like you already do that.

I wouldn't say I'm "skinny" or anything, maybe not in my eyes at least, but I'm definitely in the last leg of my journey. I'm in the range of normal weights for my height, and a range of average body fat, although I'd just like to be leaner. I think that because I'm normal/average/whatever now, the process has to go slower, as people have suggested. A deficit of 500 is as low as my body wants to go right now. -750 leaves me ravenous with all the working out I do and is extremely close to my BMR, and I'm far from sedentary. I've just accepted like you said, it's gonna take a while. I might not hit my goal for 6 months. I just felt like you said, it gets slower and tougher. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and keep my eye on the prize! I appreciate all the comments.

peacelovestone

ugofatcat wrote: »

Usually I think people aren't being honest with themselves about what they are eating and how much they are exercising, but you provided so much detail that I know you know what you are doing.

You have lost a decent amount of weight plus you are weight lifting to build muscle, which might not show on the scale but it will show in your clothes. Honestly when I was lifting 3 times a week for an hour at about 70%+ my one rep max (combo of squats, deadlifts, snatches, cleans and then drills for each) the next day I was ravenous and would sometimes eat 3,000+ calories! But my weight (141-146 pounds) always stayed the same. I also noticed the day after eating so much I usually only ate 1,200-1,600 calories.

Unfortunately the closer you get to your goal weight the harder it is to lose, simply because your deficit is smaller and smaller.

I do have a thought, though. Do you eat distracted? Like in front of the TV or computer or with others? I notice when I eat distracted I still feel hungry and keep eating, but when I eat my meal and concentrate on it, taking small bites and putting my fork down between bites, I feel more full and can stop.

I definitely have those days!! I keep a meticulous log and make sure it averages over the week, but yeah, I have days where I get ravenous from a hard lifting session and eat like 2300, not as much as you lol, but basically almost maintenance, and it wouldn't be junk and I know it's true hunger, I'd eat extra hard boiled eggs and maybe extra turkey & veggies, an apple, etc.; and I just listen to my body, and I know by now what's coming, because then the next day I end up only eating 1400 also listening to my body, but most days I eat in a range of 1800-2000, and my average with a month of data, even those odd maintenance days and then low days was ~1900, which with all my TDEE data for the month is -450 deficit. So that's about right. My weight has never gone up, and I've had success breaking plateaus. I don't know how to post a graph but my MFP "Progress" graph looks awesome, it goes consistently downward. And along the way my body has recomposed. I actually have gone from an obese body fat percentage & overweight last year to a normal weight this year, average range body fat, and added about 10 lbs of lean muscle mass. I've lost a pound since last week and am on target for -500 deficit for this week. I am just going to keep staying on course.

I hear what you're saying about distractedness though. I'll try to pay attention to that. I don't do it so much, but I have more of times I have to shove in my meal because I have a 2, 4, and almost 6 year old and either someone is eating my food, fighting, we have somewhere to be, it can be hectic around here.

lightenup2016

I'd also say it could be water retention from all your workouts. Here is my experience from this past week: I was recently in a weight loss stall for about 2 weeks. Then I got an overuse injury in my foot from all the running and walking workouts I was doing. I was also doing some free weights at home. Now I was forced to stop my running and walking workouts! Needless to say, I was trying not to panic about possibly gaining weight back! I knew I could no longer burn my average of 330 calories per day, so I dropped down to burning about 100 calories a day (easy on the stationary bike), and dropped my calorie intake by 200 calories as well. It's been a week of this, and I'm down 2 lbs on the scale. Lots of exercise = water retention! I also feel a lot better! I was worn out from all that exercise, and it was harder to keep under my calorie goal. This week, however, has been super easy, and I feel much better. Last night I was even under my calorie goal some, and so instead of doing my 100 calorie stationary bike workout, I just relaxed. We're both busy mamas--it takes a lot less time to skip a small snack than it does to do a workout! So anyway, I know you don't want to lose fitness, but maybe you could cut back for a week and see what happens?

Psychgrrl

So, I think I can hit on a couple of things which may help.

Food ... I eat many times a day. One of my favorites, and I keep these in a big container at work in my fridge, are my egg white muffins. 1/4 cup of egg whites, tiny serving of spinach, one turkey sausage link (chopped up) and 1/4 seeing of 2% cheddar (finely shredded). Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes and refrigerate. They reheat awesome in about a minute in the microwave at 70% power. I'm on my phone, and can't look at my diary, but they are 92 or 93 calories a piece. Loaded with protein and some healthy fat. Two keep me full for hours!

I lift weights once a week in a marathon session (I do ashtanga yoga 4-5 times a week for 90 minutes which for me has made a huge difference in my body composition). During my weight session about 3 hours including warm up and cool down) I drink 1 scoop of isopure for two reasons: it has electrolytes and 20 grams of protein. The protein during doesn't interfere with the workout and is enough to keep me from feeling ravenous after. I sometimes use it during yoga as well--the classes are always tough, but there's one teacher that is awesomely creative with flows and holding poses.

Some different food combos, may help you. Everyone's a little different with what satisfies them, but in general protein, fat and fiber work well for me. Lunch is sometimes 2 cups of broccoli, one chicken tender (Trader Joe's), half a serving of black beans (reduced sodium), maybe a little tofu and a serving of smart balance light. Or change the chicken for fish. Pack frozen, reheat in microwave at 70% power.

For hunger satisfying combos--play a little and see what works. You'll find things that keep you within your calorie goal, but feeling less like you want to chew your own arm off (been there!).

You've done great so far--now's the time you can find what really works for you!

ugofatcat

peacelovestone wrote: »

I definitely have those days!! I keep a meticulous log and make sure it averages over the week, but yeah, I have days where I get ravenous from a hard lifting session and eat like 2300, not as much as you lol, but basically almost maintenance, and it wouldn't be junk and I know it's true hunger, I'd eat extra hard boiled eggs and maybe extra turkey & veggies, an apple, etc.; and I just listen to my body, and I know by now what's coming, because then the next day I end up only eating 1400 also listening to my body, but most days I eat in a range of 1800-2000, and my average with a month of data, even those odd maintenance days and then low days was ~1900, which with all my TDEE data for the month is -450 deficit. So that's about right. My weight has never gone up, and I've had success breaking plateaus. I don't know how to post a graph but my MFP "Progress" graph looks awesome, it goes consistently downward. And along the way my body has recomposed. I actually have gone from an obese body fat percentage & overweight last year to a normal weight this year, average range body fat, and added about 10 lbs of lean muscle mass. I've lost a pound since last week and am on target for -500 deficit for this week. I am just going to keep staying on course.

Since I stopped working out as much it has been much easier to stick to 1,800-2,200, closer to 1,800 most days. And I was the same as you when I was so hungry. I wanted real food- fruits, vegetables, nuts, plain greek yogurt, cheese, plain oatmeal, peanut butter, not anything that was devoid of nutrition.

Aaron_K123

peacelovestone wrote: »

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

From your description you seem knowledge and have a sensible diet plan. I'm guessing if you find and decrease in calories has you starving that you don't have much fat to lose and are just trying to get very lean? I think that's pretty normal that that last few pounds of loss is going to be slower and slower and tougher and tougher. If you aee still losing with what you are doing I'd stick with it and just accept it's going to take a while.

If I'm wrong and your actually quite overweight then I'm not sure. Usually high protein high fiber helps but sounds like you already do that.

I wouldn't say I'm "skinny" or anything, maybe not in my eyes at least, but I'm definitely in the last leg of my journey. I'm in the range of normal weights for my height, and a range of average body fat, although I'd just like to be leaner. I think that because I'm normal/average/whatever now, the process has to go slower, as people have suggested. A deficit of 500 is as low as my body wants to go right now. -750 leaves me ravenous with all the working out I do and is extremely close to my BMR, and I'm far from sedentary. I've just accepted like you said, it's gonna take a while. I might not hit my goal for 6 months. I just felt like you said, it gets slower and tougher. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and keep my eye on the prize! I appreciate all the comments.

Getting lean is considerably harder than getting from overweight to healthy bodyweight so what you are experiencing is I think common experience and yeah, just have to stick with it. I think a mistake would be to try to go more extreme in your diet and put yourself into a place of discomfort.

ugofatcat

I also wanted to add that I think you are doing great and I wish losing weight wasn't such a long drawn out process, but I having a feeling you are going to be very successful.

SLLRunner

peacelovestone wrote: »

I don't have any idea of how to post pictures on this forum if allowed? But my Instagram is coffee.and.barbells if you'd like to see my recomposition and weight loss.

I just viewed your instagram photos. You are doing spectacular. Be patient, and keep up the good work!

What keeps me more full than anything else is fiber.