Who else is hungry ALL THE TIME?

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cashidy
cashidy Posts: 152 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,
Is it normal to be hungry all the time? I get hunger pains and even sometimes feel nauseous. It is making losing weight really hard! I can eat and an hour later be hungry. Is it mind over matter? Could I have another issue?

Then, when I go to sleep, I get so hungry overnight it wakes me up and I have to try to go to sleep again. It also makes me preoccupied with food.

It is so hard to not go home and binge on bad food and go over my limit. I have been trying to combat this by going to bed earlier, but it is still hard.


For background, I started a 1200 calorie diet and going to the gym. If I run, I am allowed to eat the same amount of calories I burned. I am drinking more water.

Who else has this problem? Any tips?

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Replies

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Many of us start with 1200 calories before realizing that this low amount of calories creates too aggressive a calorie deficit. How much weight do you want to lose in total? And how tall are you?

    1200 calories usually only works for short or older women who are also sedentary.
  • cashidy
    cashidy Posts: 152 Member
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    I weigh 150, and would like to get down to 120, but would be happy with 125.
  • cashidy
    cashidy Posts: 152 Member
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    My problem is I also do not calorie count over the weekend, so I feel like I need a huge deficit in order to lose the weight. I know it would be more realistic to just not eat as much on the weekends and only have one cheat day
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 Member
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    cashidy wrote: »
    I weigh 150, and would like to get down to 120, but would be happy with 125.

    With only 25-30 pounds to lose, set your weekly weight loss goal to a half pound per week and enjoy those extra calories!

    If you find that you are still hungry, experiment to find which foods satiate you the most and focus on them.

    http://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/fuller/understanding-satiety-feeling-full-after-a-meal.html
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    Calorie deficit might be too aggressive. Also, most people have to play around with their diets to find what is satiating...for me it's primarily complex carbs
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    cashidy wrote: »
    My problem is I also do not calorie count over the weekend, so I feel like I need a huge deficit in order to lose the weight. I know it would be more realistic to just not eat as much on the weekends and only have one cheat day

    Why have a cheat day? Why not have a maintenance day instead?

    Also, eat some of your exercise calories and consider lowering your weekly weight loss goal. Weight loss doesn't have to be a painful uncomfortable process.
  • marijaa1996
    marijaa1996 Posts: 17 Member
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    motivatio 0 points. A eat sendvich now.
  • nightengale7
    nightengale7 Posts: 563 Member
    edited January 2017
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    You're going to have to watch what you are eating on the weekends as well. A cheat day here or there is a good thing to help keep your cravings in check, but every weekend is just sabotaging yourself. I have found that if I only have 2 meals on weekend days, I can eat some of the more calorie heavy foods I love without going over on my calories. :smiley: Also, maybe try upping your deficit to 1400 to see if that feels any better. An extra 200 calories can mean a tasty and nutritious snack to keep you going!
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
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    I don't have your problem. I think I used to be like that but memories are fading.

    For me it doesn't take much to cure a hunger. 5, 10 kernels of cashew or a simple sandwich.

    Weight control is, if you do it right, all dependent on your discipline. None of the out of control hunger, discomfort. So, I think you can use some tweaking on your meal timing and food types.

    Btw, I think healthily you are supposed to feel a bit empty/hungry by end of day. You cannot lose/maintain your weight if you feel full or neutral all the time. Your body needs to use up the daily calories.
  • Trish1c
    Trish1c Posts: 549 Member
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    I found that it passed.

    I was at 158 & wanted to get down to 135; for my height, weight & sedentary lifestyle whether I set it for 1 or 2 pounds of weight loss I only got 1200 calories.

    At first I was starving all the time. I learned to drink a bottle of water before I ate anything. Sometimes that helped. In the beginning it didn't. I learned to snack. I'd eat breakfast, then have a mid morning snack of under 100 calories around 10:30. I'd eat lunch & have a mid afternoon snack. Then eat dinner. Spreading it out helped & that reduced the nausea & dizziness. The snacks were small things: a few carrots, a granola bar, a yogurt, some fruit etc.

    I was also fixed on food which made me think about food all the time which only lead to more hunger.

    As my body got used to eating less, the cravings & the obsession diminished.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    1200 is really low. But yep - if I am losing weight I am hungry 100% of the time.
  • LadyDriver17
    LadyDriver17 Posts: 10 Member
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    It's very tough for a woman to get enough nutrients at only 1200 calories/day ..... & you really need to keep track EVERY day, even weekends .... if you lose a little slower, you'll stay healthier plus it'll be easier to maintain your weight loss. Hunger pains don't always signify that your stomach is empty ..... sometimes they mean you are dehydrated, sometimes they happen because your blood sugar is fluctuating .....

    By the way, my big eating trigger is boredom, not hunger ...... & I have found that tracking every mouthful on here made me realise how much food I took in even though I WASN'T hungry ......
  • Mouse_Potato
    Mouse_Potato Posts: 1,495 Member
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    Ready2Rock206 wrote: »
    1200 is really low. But yep - if I am losing weight I am hungry 100% of the time.

    This is me as well. And that's on about 2000 calories a day. :(
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,982 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Trish1c wrote: »
    I found that it passed.

    I was at 158 & wanted to get down to 135; for my height, weight & sedentary lifestyle whether I set it for 1 or 2 pounds of weight loss I only got 1200 calories.

    At first I was starving all the time. I learned to drink a bottle of water before I ate anything. Sometimes that helped. In the beginning it didn't. I learned to snack. I'd eat breakfast, then have a mid morning snack of under 100 calories around 10:30. I'd eat lunch & have a mid afternoon snack. Then eat dinner. Spreading it out helped & that reduced the nausea & dizziness. The snacks were small things: a few carrots, a granola bar, a yogurt, some fruit etc.

    I was also fixed on food which made me think about food all the time which only lead to more hunger.

    As my body got used to eating less, the cravings & the obsession diminished.

    Nausea and dizziness is a sign that something is wrong. In your case, it sounds like you created too aggressive a calorie deficit in an attempt to lose that 23 pounds too quickly.

    Shows like The Biggest Loser give us unrealistic expectations of how long weight loss should take. MFP doesn't help by failing to give guidelines when one is choosing a weekly weight loss goal. (If this is no longer true for the app, would someone please post a screenshot?)
  • marijaa1996
    marijaa1996 Posts: 17 Member
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    The point of weight loss is not starvation. Of course we do not need every day to eat three slices of pork .. but we can eat one and a lot of vegetables with it. I run in the morning before breakfast and so I lose calories .. Throughout the day I enter from 1000-1200 calories, and I'm not too hungry. lots of vegetables, fruits, a lot of water. Share you to the smaller 5.6 servings. Of course there will be difficult first week. But then it will be only a matter of habit. Believe the figures we can play. And 1200 calories sounds small, but it is actually enough for the body.

  • kcwebb2012
    kcwebb2012 Posts: 2 Member
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    Have you ever tried eating smaller meals more often? For example, I eat 6 or 7 meals a day. Extreme hunger is usually rare for me, but my body does usually know (and let me know!) when it's time to eat. Here's my schedule:

    08:30 - breakfast
    10:30 - snack
    12:30 - lunch
    2:30 - snack
    4:30 - snack
    maybe include a post-workout snack here
    7:30 - 8:30 - dinner (depending on gym time)
    two hours after dinner, if I am feeling hungry, I'll have a late night snack

    Snacks can be things like fruit, nuts and yogurt, or a protein shake or they can be more substantial (i.e. a couple ounces of chicken/turkey) depending on your body and needs. I was eating 1200 calories a day over the summer to get to my goal weight, so I know it can be really hard, but you can do it!!
  • cashidy
    cashidy Posts: 152 Member
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    Thank you all for the advice. From this I believe I need to calorie count this weekend and try to spread my food out over the day, as well as prepare my own foods and starting eating lower calorie but larger meals.
  • marijaa1996
    marijaa1996 Posts: 17 Member
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    Now to deal with numbers. To lose weight 0.5 kg should consume about 3,500 calories - without having to make up for them. You force your body to use the energy of a pound of fat. Five kilos in a month corresponds to 1.25 kg per week. So that in a week you need to create a deficit of 8,750 calories - or 1,250 calories a day.

    Wait! Before you fall into despair of these numbers (and reaching for chips), try to understand that the daily intake of calories and play with the big numbers. It's like currency in Italy, where every day in the buying and selling of goods exchanged thousands of lira.

    Your body each day spent on thousands of calories just to be seated or the vehicle to a mini-market, not to mention daring activities. For example, a man of 85 kg at rest consumes 1,850 calories a day, and in other normal daily activities even 1,600. This is a total 3,450 calories each day. If you would still run 30 minutes at a good pace (say 4: 20 / km), would spend another 540 calories, making a total of 3,990.

    If the runner ate 3,990 calories a day, it would not put on weight nor to lost weight. But if every day ate 1,250 calories less, you would still take 2,740 calories, including 16 rolls or 27 bananas or apples 34 or 14 cups of cooked pasta. The point is that you can eat quite a lot of food, if you exercise and eat wisely.
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
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    Eating more often during the day was a disaster for me personally.

    I skip breakfast because I'm not hungry in the am. This allows for bigger brunch and dinner portions. Sometimes I have snacks sometimes not. But this allows for 500 brunch 500 dinner and one or two snacks on 1200 for me.

    I also like volume so I make the biggest salad I can and add my protein to it. This helps.

    I also found a carb, fat & protein at every meal helps with satiety, for me anyway.

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