Always hungry on 2,000 calories and not losing weight :( Please help!

Sagittarius1995

Hi everyone,
So i started my weight loss journey 3 weeks ago and I have not lost any weight or inches. In fact i even gained about a pound. I have never eaten so clean and healthy as I am now. M goal is to lose about 1 pound a week so that i can keep if off for life. But eating 2000 calories as the app suggests leaves me absolutely ravished. I always think about food and am always hungry. I feel so defeated and have no idea what to do anymore. I have tried eating a lot of protein and fiber but it does not seem to work for me. I eat so much fruits, vegetables and whole grains but after an hour i feel as if i have not eaten at all. So every single day i end up going over my calorie limit by about 1000 calories in order to feel satiated. I have cut out junk food and refined carbs from my life completely and drink nothing but water.

Before starting this diet my usual diet consisted of nothing but junk foods. I actually calculated how many calories i would regularly eat of junk food and the total came to be about 2,000 a day. I was never hungry and was always satisfied and full. But with this healthy diet eating the same amount of calories leaves me hungry and even sometimes dizzy from the hunger. Not only that but I am not even losing any weight!!!! I dont want to calorie restrict anymore as I have done in the past. I want to eat healthy and feel satisfied.

This is what a regular day of eating is like for me:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with milk and greek yogurt
banana
brazil nuts
water

Snack:
fruit smoothie with milk (berries, peach, banana, mango)

Lunch:
zucchini noodles mixed with whole grain spaghetti
baked lean chicken breast
salad
water

Snack:
some type of fruit or nuts

Dinner:
potatoes with salad or some type of stir fry with rice
water

Snack: some type of fruit



I am always over my total fiber intake and sometimes my protein intake. So i dont understand why i am hungry and not losing weight!! Why did junk foods satisfy me but my current meal plan does not?

I also do intense physical activity 3 times a week. So does anyone have similar problems to me? Should i just be more patient?

usmcmp

1. Clean eating is not how you lose weight. Eating appropriate calories is how you lose weight. Do you weigh everything you eat? You may find more protein or more fat is the key. You may find that having some candy or "junk" food is actually mentally satisfying and fills that "OMG I'M STARVING" feeling.
2. Again, weigh everything you eat.
3. You're going over your calorie goal by 1,000 calories per day (your admission), so that's why you aren't losing.

cathipa

You haven't mentioned how you know you are only eating 3000 cal a day. Are you weighing your food and logging everything you consume? If you are gaining you are consuming more than you think.

Francl27

Smoothies will never fill me up for the calories. Ditch it. Oatmeal doesn't fill me up either, eggs are more filling in the morning. Plus you're using up calories in milk... switch to almond milk or make sure to use skim milk (milk never fills me up for the calories either).

Fruit as a snack alone doesn't fill me up either... I need some cheese or nuts with it. I don't think there's enough fat in your diet.

Also if you're hungry, reduce your weight loss goal.

MrsSeager

I had a hard time logging my food correctly the first few weeks. A lot of the entries that pop up on your log are user entered and could differ from the food you are actually eating. I took a little time and checked out the nutrition labels on the food i frequently eat and entered them so I know they are correct. I agree with the other posters, weigh everything. If you don't have a scale, at least measure it...but maybe leave yourself a few extra calories at the end of the day because measuring by volume isn't as accurate as weight.

Arox312

Try working out more. 3 times a week sometimes just isn't enough. For weight loss you gotta reach for 5 times a week workout. And also try not to go over your 2,000 limit. If you work out every day, have a protein with some veggies or fruit after it

usmcmp

Arox312 wrote: »

Try working out more. 3 times a week sometimes just isn't enough. For weight loss you gotta reach for 5 times a week workout. And also try not to go over your 2,000 limit. If you work out every day, have a protein with some veggies or fruit after it

For weight loss you can workout zero times per week and still lose weight. Working out can allow you to eat more calories, but exercise doesn't cause weight loss.

aireseneca

I'm doing LCHF, low carb high fat, and personally find fat to be very satiating. I get that you are trying to lose weight without having to battle against constant hunger and cravings. Try browsing the keto community....see if it helps. Also try dropping grains, research "Wheat Belly" and other sources. Everybody has to find their own path. Best wishes!

Luna3386

You need to weigh your food to be sure of what you are eating.

I would add in more fat as well. That's what satisfies. I love fruit but it isn't filling. So I usually pair my apples with peanut butter. If I have oatmeal it better be with eggs if I want to actually be full. You'll have to try and see what happens.

Are you going off of mfp recommendations for macros? Their protein is so low. I would personally be hungry and dizzy with that much fruit and carbs as I am a hypoglycemic.

What are you doing for your workouts? Look into heavy lifting and put all that food to good use.

sympha01

MEASURE YOUR PORTIONS. It is more important that only eating sad "virtuous" food. You could lose weight eating junk food (note: not recommended) as long as you measured the size of every portion and counted every calorie.

It is very easy to add HUNDREDS of extra calories every day by eyeballing portions. I eat nuts and oats and fruit and pasta too but I know from experience how easy it is for any ONE of those things, mismeasured, to add on 100-300 calories I wasn't planning on.

A lot of people here are saying you have to weigh your portions. Weighing is the most accurate (and for what it's worth, once you've tried it you'll agree it's easiest), but if today you are using your eyeballs only to measure your portions, trust me, using measuring cups will be a huge improvement in accuracy. And a rude wake up call, I'll bet.
When you're just starting out (i.e., haven't been losing weight consistently for 3 months), don't eyeball something and say "oh, I'm sure that's 1/4 cup of oats." Trust me, 1/4 cup of oats is hardly anything.

I snack on nuts in between meals and in the evenings, and boy are they freakin' treacherous. Miscalculate a portion there and it goes from "oh, that's probably 120 calories" to "whoops, I just horked down 500 calories and it felt like NOTHING."

Measure. Do it consistently without fail for 2-3 weeks, THEN complain that you're not losing weight on the recommended calorie target.

PAV8888

I will be up front with you, I have a hard time believing that you were more satisfied with 2000 Cal of Junk food vs 2000 Cal of "clean" food. Personal opinion is that in all probability the junk food was more than 2000 Cal.

BE THAT AS IT MAY.

Maybe I'm wrong and you really were more satisfied with 2000 Cal of junk food.

So eat 2000 Cal worth of junk food.

Seriously.

The goal, at least initially, is get to a point where you can consistently eat to your deficit. Once you've got that down then you can start worrying about optimising things and improving your nutrition. If you're hungry all the time and going over by 1000 Cal this most basic of goals is not being met!

So log each and every meal and review your log and the calories you spent on each and every item and the amount of satisfaction/satiation you got out of each item. Then keep on loading on satiating items and stop eating (for now) less satiating items that are not "worth" the calories. Regardless of whether they are healthy or not.

Once you've figured out the calories and are losing weight... then start considering the rest of it.

bioklutz

If I am in a calorie deficit I don't eat a lot of fruit. I also find that fruit does not fill me up. I usually up my veggies intake a little.

I don't cut out fun food - I just eat less of it or find some lower calorie alternatives: popcorn, pirates booty, pretzels, edy's slow churned caramel delight, yasso bars

I also try to find ways to trim some calories off of the foods I normally eat: 100 calorie sandwich flats, mustard instead of mayo, low fat cheese, alternative sauces - hot sauce and salsa are low in calories

All this little changes add up and don't seem that painful to me. You are probably going to need to experiment with what is satisfying to you.

raleighgirl09

I agree with all above. For the non-food aspect (weight loss is multi-faceted), you may be facing a less familiar 'catch up' from your body, meaning - you may need to take into account not only the food but time as your body catches up to what you are doing. I am like this - I *never* experience the immediate weight loss, big push that others do, my body seems to take some time to catch up to the new habits. Throw in some good, old fashioned getting better at the weighing/measuring, becoming more accurate as time goes on, becoming more aware, etc., and you may have a complete picture of why it is taking longer. Pay attention to the breakdown of the nutrients each day - eat fewer carbs at first (??? - just a suggestion, they can make you feel hungrier) and ease back into them with more fibrous carbs (long cooking oatmeal as opposed to instant, for example).

Less popular - embrace that it is tough to endure and become accustomed to, it takes time, and if you continue being aware and working to change habits, you will be successful at the same time that it becomes a little easier. Anything you do consistently over the long haul is where you will see results. It's tough - but if you made it to here and reached out for advice, you are on a good track.

cmriverside

:huh:

Well, this is a new angle.

So, eat the junk food. Do what works, ya know?

try2again

This doesn't do a lot to help explain all the posts by people claiming to be too stuffed to possibly eat 1200 calories on their new diet of healthy foods.

VeryKatie

You could also try upping your fat intake. That can make a big difference.

For me, I also need carbs to feel full, not just fibrous carbs.

Verity1111

If you're not losing you're eating more than you burn. Lower calories and eat foods you like within that calorie limit

Evamutt

protein & fat keep me from being hungry. for dinner today I had 8 oz of extra lean ground turkey patty, 3 cups of the steamers veggies in cheese sauce, eggo low fat waffle with 1 TBS peanut butter & 1/2 TBL jam, large glass of iced tea (no sugar) & I was full. for lunch I had similar but with a baked potato. you can eat a big meal thats fairly low cal. experiment to find what fills you up

nbingham

Way too much carbs in my opinion, not enough protein or fats. That's why the junk food kept you feeling full longer. Junk food has more fat.

Sagittarius1995

Wow! i didnt expect that many answers in such a short period of time. Thank you for all the suggestions I do measure all my food and log everything that i eat. I have done this for all my past diets as well. I just dont want to battle with the constant hunger. I just feel that if i am constantly hungry and i try to simply ignore it by limiting my calories more then i am not listening to my body. My past diets i strictly ate 1500 calories and exercised even more and would always lose the weight fairly quickly (8-10 pounds a month). However, i was always irritable, moody, and developed an obsession with everything that i ate to the point of it not being healthy. After a few months i would always gain the weight back. I just dont want to repeat this cycle again. I will experiment more to see what works for me and try to increase my fat intake as a lot of you suggested

Also as a final note, i dont want to just eat 2000 calories worth of junk food. I want to not only lose weight, but become healthy a swell. I want to nourish my body.

Bunch_of_nuts

aireseneca wrote: »

I'm doing LCHF, low carb high fat, and personally find fat to be very satiating. I get that you are trying to lose weight without having to battle against constant hunger and cravings. Try browsing the keto community....see if it helps. Also try dropping grains, research "Wheat Belly" and other sources. Everybody has to find their own path. Best wishes!

Keto for life!

SusanMFindlay

PAV8888 wrote: »

I will be up front with you, I have a hard time believing that you were more satisfied with 2000 Cal of Junk food vs 2000 Cal of "clean" food. Personal opinion is that in all probability the junk food was more than 2000 Cal.

Usually, I would agree. And I think it's very likely the OP was eating more calories than they think of the junk food.

That said, the "clean" diet has almost no fat in it. I'm willing to bet that's the reason the OP is hungry all the time. The junk food would at least have had fat in it.

Sheisinlove109

I'm a big girl (started 354 now 274) and my range for losing is 1800-2100 a day. I've learned either my tracking stinks or my body only loses at 1600 or under. I exercise daily (65 min hard on elliptical and lift 3-4x's per week). I go to bed with about a 1000 calorie deficit daily. Some days I lose, some days I don't.

Tips
Water, lots!
Sleep, 8 hours a night (for so many reasons)
Eat, well balanced and within your calories. If you want the "cupcake"...eat a reasonable serving and eat well the rest of the day. You'll be fine.
Exercise and challenge yourself. When you realize how long it takes to burn off two cookies you'll want them less. It takes me working super hard about ten minutes for two stupid cookies.
I take a multi vitamin.

Keep in mind...time of month, the amount of salt in your food, stress, poor tracking, machines at gym don't necessarily give correct amounts, mfp credits even more on machine (I alter it).

Friend me if you'd like.

KiwiAlexP

What are your stats? - 2000 calories may be close to your maintenance number irrespective of which foods make up the 2000. As well as following the above suggestions re protein etc you may just be eating too much to lose

Sagittarius1995

KiwiAlexP wrote: »

What are your stats? - 2000 calories may be close to your maintenance number irrespective of which foods make up the 2000. As well as following the above suggestions re protein etc you may just be eating too much to lose

I am a female, 5'9 and i weigh 191 pounds. According to my BMI i am overweight.

Sagittarius1995

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

PAV8888 wrote: »

I will be up front with you, I have a hard time believing that you were more satisfied with 2000 Cal of Junk food vs 2000 Cal of "clean" food. Personal opinion is that in all probability the junk food was more than 2000 Cal.

Usually, I would agree. And I think it's very likely the OP was eating more calories than they think of the junk food.

That said, the "clean" diet has almost no fat in it. I'm willing to bet that's the reason the OP is hungry all the time. The junk food would at least have had fat in it.

The fat might be the reason. Like before i would wake up and have a breakfast sandwich and juice from some fast food chain and that would fill me up for a good 3-4 hours or sometimes more. I would forget about food. But a diet like this did nothing good for my health.

Sagittarius1995

try2again wrote: »

This doesn't do a lot to help explain all the posts by people claiming to be too stuffed to possibly eat 1200 calories on their new diet of healthy foods.

I know!! i wish i was one of those people! I guess we all are different and need different amounts of food

jenilla1

Arox312 wrote: »

Try working out more. 3 times a week sometimes just isn't enough. For weight loss you gotta reach for 5 times a week workout. And also try not to go over your 2,000 limit. If you work out every day, have a protein with some veggies or fruit after it

No. I lost weight doing zero days of exercise during some weeks. The calorie deficit is what's important. If the exercise helps you build a deficit, that's great, but a certain magic number of exercise sessions is NOT required for weight loss. It's a good idea to exercise if you want to look and feel better, though.

PAV8888

Sagittarius1995 wrote: »

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

likely the OP was eating more calories than they think of the junk food.

That said, the "clean" diet has almost no fat in it. I'm willing to bet that's the reason the OP is hungry all the time. The junk food would at least have had fat in it.

The fat might be the reason. Like before i would wake up and have a breakfast sandwich and juice from some fast food chain and that would fill me up for a good 3-4 hours or sometimes more. I would forget about food. But a diet like this did nothing good for my health.

Don't conflate weight gain or loss with eating healthy food or not. You can gain weight eating healthy foods. You can have a worse or better overall health outcome too depending on whether the weight gain itself or the type of food you're eating is causing you more of a health problem.

This is not an advocacy for eating unhealthily. It IS an advocacy against making things too complicated and un-sustainable.

Don't major in the minors by trying to get the details right while the most basic aspect of the experiment goes by the way side.

Compliance (keeping to your calories for the length of time you need to now and in the future) is where the whole game starts and ends. Once you secure compliance by making sure that things are not too hard for you to keep at it... then you can and SHOULD worry about optimising.

Yes, I eat 0.8g to 1g of protein per lb of lean mass, and more than 38g of fiber (as a male, female requirement is lower at about 26-28g), and I average close to 0.35g of fat per lb of body weight within the normal weight range (as a female 0.45g per lb might be more appropriate), and I try to keep my saturated fats to less than 7% of my total calories and I eat more than 5 (heck I try to eat more than 8 to 10) 80g servings of vegetables and fruits a day.

But I didn't get to doing all that in a month. And I still eat more than 100g of sugar a day (heck I average above 150g, though lots of it is from yogurt and whole fruits) and I don't over-fret it because hey, I may not be perfect; but, I'm in the game and I'm in the game in a way that I feel I can stay with it long term.

The usual result of "this is so hard", is "I give up" when inevitably willpower runs out, or life happens.

We have tools: MFP, fitness trackers, trending weight apps, forums, MFP friends...

Use them to find a way to make this easier!

ETA: Because you're female and eating 2K calories we haven't discussed much whether your deficit goal as opposed to what you eat is the issue. 2K calories is great... but depending on your activity level it might still be too big of a deficit. 20% to 25% of your total daily energy expenditure is probably the limit of deficit you should be attempting. If your paper deficit is larger than that... it might be the appropriate first issue to look at even before your macro mix.

ceiswyn

Much about hunger is psychological. It's quite possible that because you're dieting you're constantly thinking about food, and that's what's making you hungry.

I find that especially if I think 'I'll have a biscuit in half an hour if I'm still hungry', what happens is that I keep thinking about being hungry, and then I am! If I think, 'no biscuit, I'll go out for a walk to distract myself' then the hunger just goes away.

I strongly recommend just telling yourself you're not hungry, doing a lot of engrossing things that distract you from hunger, and eating small amounts of things that YOU ACTUALLY LIKE to satisfy the mental cravings.

cvbake

Ketogenic Diet works wonders for me. Blood sugar crashes

Bunch_of_nuts wrote: »

aireseneca wrote: »

I'm doing LCHF, low carb high fat, and personally find fat to be very satiating. I get that you are trying to lose weight without having to battle against constant hunger and cravings. Try browsing the keto community....see if it helps. Also try dropping grains, research "Wheat Belly" and other sources. Everybody has to find their own path. Best wishes!

Keto for life!

Yup.... KETOGENIC DIET combined with HIIT has worked wonders for me. Of all the "diets" I tried....this one is the most realistic to make as a lifestyle.

75% Fat, 20% Protein, 5% Carbs.... You'll be blown away of how many carbs are in what you thought were "healthy" foods.

Bacon, Bacon!