I have been hangry/hungry as kitten lately.

Geocitiesuser
Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
- Drink more water
- Eat more greens/fibrous veggies
- Avoid artificial sweeteners
- Eat smaller more frequent meals

All pretty sound advice that has always worked for me. After losing a little less than 130lbs it's not like I don't know what I'm doing. It's not like I don't have self control or will power. But holy heck am I hungry lately. My last MFP goals gives me 1500 cals a day + exercise cals. I log around 300 cals worth of exercise a day and eat pretty much 1750-1800 on the dot most days.

But holy, kitten, am, I, HUNGRY.

I have, by own estimates, just 15 more pounds to go before I've burned off pretty much all the fat on my body. I have great respect for the bodybuilders and fitness competitors who get their calories so low and BF% so lean for competition.

No amount of water. No amount of "fluffy" foods like broccoli and egg whites, comes even close to satiating me lately.


I fought myself to sleep last night debating if it was worth getting up and eating a bag of broccoli just to quell the hunger.

People talk about long term sustainability. I can not, for the life of me, wait, for the concept of maintenance calories. Eating 2000-2300 calories a day instead of 1500-1800 a day sounds like an absolute buffet lately.

Despite the ravenous hunger I've been pretty good about it. Haven't really faltered. Once in a while I'll eat too much at lunch and have to subtract from dinner, etc, but otherwise I'm holding steady. I'm just so hungry I could bite someone's head off.
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Replies

  • JessicaMcB
    JessicaMcB Posts: 1,503 Member
    What is your loss goal set to? How tall are you? I ate 3661 calories yesterday, was in a 500 calorie deficit and I'm a woman. Your goal seems low for a man, no wonder you're hungry :(
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
    JessicaMcB wrote: »
    What is your loss goal set to? How tall are you? I ate 3661 calories yesterday, was in a 500 calorie deficit and I'm a woman. Your goal seems low for a man, no wonder you're hungry :(

    You ate 3661 calories yesterday and was in a defecit? Whaaaaaaaaaaat? that sounds crazy! I'm 6' and still 187, so technically still overweight by BMI. I work an office job, and MFP has me at 1500 cals per day. I lift, do cardio, and do tae kwon do, most days of the week. The calorie counters on the calculator are ridiculous so I usually half them.
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
    lemonychild wrote: »
    Guess it's time to give yourself a well deserved break and give that maintenance a go... after 2 weeks on maintainance it's easy to switch back to deficit

    Mentally that's so hard when I am so close... I'm so close. If I can grit my teeth for just 2-3 months I'll be leaner than I ever thought possible. I have to in the very least lose another 4lbs (to get to a healthier BMI). In the very least.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    Have you taken any diet breaks? There can be a psychological benefit to taking 3-4 weeks and eating at maintenance. You've been at this for a long time and sometimes your body just needs a break.

    Most people recommend switching to a half lb per week goal for the last 10-15 lbs so you might want to consider that as well. Once you get into the healthy weight range it is hard to eat low enough to create that 500 cal deficit. After the awesome loss you've accomplished, I don't think anyone could blame you for taking it easy for the last 15 :drinker:
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
    I guess, u will make your choice, ultimately it's your weight loss, I personally don't care for speed I care to listen to my body
  • JessicaMcB
    JessicaMcB Posts: 1,503 Member
    Geocitiesuser wrote: »
    JessicaMcB wrote: »
    What is your loss goal set to? How tall are you? I ate 3661 calories yesterday, was in a 500 calorie deficit and I'm a woman. Your goal seems low for a man, no wonder you're hungry :(

    You ate 3661 calories yesterday and was in a defecit? Whaaaaaaaaaaat? that sounds crazy! I'm 6' and still 187, so technically still overweight by BMI. I work an office job, and MFP has me at 1500 cals per day. I lift, do cardio, and do tae kwon do, most days of the week. The calorie counters on the calculator are ridiculous so I usually half them.

    But how many pounds per week are you telling MFP you want to lose? If your goal is too aggressive that can be an issue.

    And yes, I did my usual 30k steps of chasing my kids all day and my 15km tempo run so the numbers panned out that way. To avoid the calculator issues I have MFP set to sedentary with fitbit adjustments, my fitbit tends to actually underestimate my calories out when I look at my loss data over time.
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Most people recommend switching to a half lb per week goal for the last 10-15 lbs so you might want to consider that as well. Once you get into the healthy weight range it is hard to eat low enough to create that 500 cal deficit.

    I've seen this mentioned more than a few times. I might need to really consider it. It's just hard to say good bye to the "fast" weight loss of 1-2 lbs per week like clock work. I've lost all my weight with pretty much little to no stalls at all, and have pretty much rarely if ever gone too high above my calorie limit (I think I broke like a total of 3-4 times in the past year).

    I'm also at the golden point where friends and family think I need to stop losing weight because they are concerned about my health (read: They are overweight and can't compute how close I am to being actually lean). Half of me wants to double down, that, mentally, could be making me hungry too because of all the importance I've been putting on it.

    If this was easy, no one would be overweight and we'd all be lean, right?
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
    JessicaMcB wrote: »
    But how many pounds per week are you telling MFP you want to lose? If your goal is too aggressive that can be an issue.

    ... I have MFP set to sedentary with fitbit adjustments

    I think my goal is 2lbs a week or whatever the max allowable is. It won't go under 1500 cals for men I don't think.

    I wonder if I'm grossly underestimating my exercise calories? I don't have a fitbit, but one day I tracked my daily lunch walk for fun and it was half a mile, but I never log my casual walking or steps. I also log my cardio as "very light effort" regardless of what I'm doing b/c I don't trust the numbers.

    I could try eating a little more. See if the scale still does what I want. What a scary thought, eating more. I may or may not have an unhealthy relationship with food, calories, and my weight, at this point lol. It just is what it is. I'm going bonkers on the last 15lbs... and it seems the goal weight keeps getting lower and lower.
  • deputy_randolph
    deputy_randolph Posts: 940 Member
    6' and 187lbs...time to recomp maybe? There's a good thread on it in the MFP forums.
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
    edited April 2017
    deputy_randolph wrote: »
    6' and 187lbs...time to recomp maybe? There's a good thread on it in the MFP forums.

    shred, maintain, then (slowly) bulk. That's the plan, that's what I'm sticking to :)

    There's no way I'm recomping at 187 lol that's an enormous lean weight. I've overweight on the BMI scale, but have just a very light bit of pudge left. 10-15 more lbs and I'm pretty sure I'll be completely lean but I'll know when I get there.

    The over arching plan is to get very lean (12%, 10% BF or lower) and maintain it a few months and see what my skin does. The loose skin isn't bad so far, but it's definitely there, and my understanding is that it will not shrink if there is still a little bit of pudge underneath.
  • Chadxx
    Chadxx Posts: 1,199 Member
    I am willing to bet you can still lose on more calories. I am 5'9" but exactly the same weight and I have been losing steadily at about 2500 calories. Including exercise, my TDEE is around 3000. I have definitely noticed a difference as I have gotten leaner. I still stay satisfied but if a meal is late, my appetite definitely let's me know.
  • FreyasRebirth
    FreyasRebirth Posts: 514 Member
    Just barely still "overweight" according to BMI. I've "heard" around here that the less fat you have, the harder it is for the body to use it so your appetite would increase to try to make up the difference. Decreasing how much you aim to lose each week by 0.5 lb might help. I'm personally single digits from my goal and eating any deficit at all is getting difficult.
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
    edited April 2017
    The last time I ate 2500 calories my weight shot up. Probably water weight, but it was enough to scare the bejesus outta me. MFP says my maintenance cals are roughly 2300 which looks inline with other calculators.

    How do all of you have such high TDEEs? I am 100% convinced I would gain weight at 3,000kcal

    When I was over 300lbs I started at 2400 cals. When I was about 250 I changed to 2000 cals, and I've been at 1800 cals ever since I have been under 200
  • JessicaMcB
    JessicaMcB Posts: 1,503 Member
    Geocitiesuser wrote: »
    The last time I ate 2500 calories my weight shot up. Probably water weight, but it was enough to scare the bejesus outta me. MFP says my maintenance cals are roughly 2300 which looks inline with other calculators.

    How do all of you have such high TDEEs? I am 100% convinced I would gain weight at 3,000kcal

    When I was over 300lbs I started at 2400 cals. When I was about 250 I changed to 2000 cals, and I've been at 1800 cals ever since I have been under 200

    So I think your goal is too aggressive given what you have left to lose and adjusting it accordingly would likely make your life easier :) . When your weight "shot up" in the short term it was potentially increased sodium intake, increased food weight in your digestive tract, glycogen replenishment, etc. As someone married to a 6' tall guy I find it pretty unlikely you would gain on 2500, but the scale jump can be scary even when we know it's in the short term. Keep in mind if you do go the diet break route that this may happen again but it will be okay!

    Re: high TDEES I am luckier than a lot of women in that I'm 5'10" (the only time that has ever come in handy lol), but I train hard and I train 6-7 days a week because race season is nearly upon us. People who do a lot can eat a lot and it seems like you do quite a bit!
  • cozytimes
    cozytimes Posts: 111 Member
    honestly i'd try:

    - 1-2 big meals, something similar to intermittent fasting or just bigger meals in general

    - maintenance for about a week/a couple days to satisfy hunger
    (you can slowly up calories if you'd like)

    and possibly more protein or meat
  • edwill3456
    edwill3456 Posts: 59 Member
    cozytimes wrote: »
    honestly i'd try:

    - 1-2 big meals, something similar to intermittent fasting or just bigger meals in general

    - maintenance for about a week/a couple days to satisfy hunger
    (you can slowly up calories if you'd like)

    and possibly more protein or meat

    This sure works for me lol

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    OP I'm female 5'5 130 lbs, lightly active, and I eat 1500 cals to lose a half lb per week and I get hungry sometimes. My personal opinion for what it's worth is that you are male, 50 lbs heavier, and more active and 1500 cals is just not appropriate for you. Losing so fast when you don't have much left to lose usually means you are losing muscle along with the fat. Muscle is easy to lose and tough to build back up.

    Just my two cents :wink:

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