Always, always, ALWAYS hungry.

ccruz985
ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
edited November 21 in Food and Nutrition
I am at goal weight and am in maintenance now. Lately, I’m always always hungry. It’s very rare that I eat and am not legitimately hungry again an hour and a half later. I drink a LOT of water and have at least one 16oz cup of green tea with lemon and Splenda a day. My food diary is open. I’m restricting myself to maintenance calories but honestly, I’m so sick of feeling hungry half the time when I’m supposed to be in maintenance! Yesterday I was googling this mystery and I skimmed an article before I left and I saw something about it saying that eating more carbs and less protein is a huge contributor to my issue. Unfortunately, I can’t find the article again today to read it more in depth. I’ve also been craving sugar more lately. I did see something that said to eat more protein and fiber and less carbs and that carbs were the root of the hunger. I thought it was just CICO and exercise and that the rest was mostly irrelevant. Is this not the case after all?

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Also, if you open your diary we may be able to suggest some swaps or additions to help you out.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited September 2017
    Eat more balanced, varied and nutritious food, and less junk food. Only CICO controls your weight, but that's all it does.
  • ccruz985
    ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
    @janejellyroll I'm sorry, I thought it was!! It is now.
  • jayemes
    jayemes Posts: 865 Member
    I'm losing right now, but I find it's much easier to stick to my deficit when I eat enough protein. I aim for 107g a day on 1430 calories (I'm 5'7 1/2" CW183)
    If I'm hungry, invariably I'll look back and realize I'm super low on my protein for the day. My weakness before was bread in all shapes and sizes and now I realize that bread doesn't fill me up.
    If I eat grilled chicken or eggs or yogurt, I'm good for a few hours. If I eat a giant bagel I'm hungry again in no time.
  • Penthesilea514
    Penthesilea514 Posts: 1,189 Member
    edited September 2017
    That is to say, I don't believe carbs are bad, I eat about 50% calories from carbs- I just don't feel as full eating say a donut versus some scrambled eggs and some bacon. YMMV. So be open to perhaps trying some new things. For example, when I want something sweet and hit my protein goals, I don't mind using protein shakes to satisfy my sweet tooth and help me hit my macros. Greek yogurt and some toppings like berries or nuts are a great option too.
  • KelGen02
    KelGen02 Posts: 668 Member
    I find the days that I do not get in enough protein I am ravenous... looking through your diary you are not even close to your protein goals most days. Maybe increase that for a few days and see how it goes... I am big on protein and healthy fats, they are what keep me feeling full and satisfied. Good luck!
  • ccruz985
    ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
    Fitnessgirl0913 wrote: »
    Are you weighing your food? I know this question is usually asked when people have stalled weight loss but I have a reason. I was not weighing my food, thinking I could "eyeball" and measure everything just fine. I was always hungry and it turns out I was actually overestimating my food intake. This is the opposite of the problem people usually have but a food scale helps both ways! I started to weigh everything and realized I was eating a lot less then I thought I was which is why I was always hungry.

    I WEIGH EVERYTHIIIIING! When I cook, I separate the raw meat and weigh mine and cook it separately, I weight cold cuts when I'm making a sammy, I weight veggies before I'm making a pot of soup. That food scale is tired of me.
  • ccruz985
    ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
    I really thought that once I hit goal, I could increase my carbs as long as I stayed within my calorie allowance but you all sound like you're really onto something. I'm going to do this and monitor my hunger pangs, thanks so much!
  • chaosbutterfly
    chaosbutterfly Posts: 71 Member
    Proteins and fats do help alot with feeling full. Also fiber, so make sure to eat lots of leafy greens so that you can get full with not so many calories.

    I also don't know what your exercise regimen looks like, but if you aren't lifting weights, starting that might help.
    Personally, I've found that increasing my muscle mass (I take a barre class 5-7 times a week and lift weights in the gym as well, as heavy as I can) has made it so I can afford to eat a bit more in general, since muscle naturally increases the metabolism. You also get to look leaner at a higher weight lol. I weigh 165 and wear a size 8, and people are always surprised that I weigh as much as I do.
  • luckywizard
    luckywizard Posts: 71 Member
    I had a peek in your diary! I know from experience that if I had a bagel at brekkie, teddy grahams as a snack later, etc that I would probably experience some blood sugar spiking and crashing that would only increase feelings of ravenousness.

    Like others above have mentioned, protein and fats may help to contribute to satiety. Sometimes it doesn't matter how much protein and fat I've had-- if I have eaten a source of very digestable processed carbohydrates like white bread, cookies etc, I'll experience that blood sugar spike and crash that leaves me hungry again in an hour. It's like clockwork. My solution is simply to avoid those foods and replace them with more satiating carbohydrates like brown rice, ezekiel bread, wild rice, sweet potatoes, squash, etc.

    That said, I'm kind of a bottomless pit and really need to volume eat a ton of veggies to ever feel fully satisfied without overeating calories.

    I'd also echo those who recommended resistance training!
  • ccruz985
    ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
    @chaosbutterfly @luckywizard I always log it as circuit training but I actually follow the Insanity Max:30 calendar. I use my body weight as resistance a LOT, I also do an upper body weight workout once a week with T25's Upper Focus. I own a set of Select Tech weights; I'm all about the resistance training!! Nobody believes how small I am either, not at 170. Like I said, I <i>did</i> lose all of my weight and I'm at maintenance but I just wasn't understanding why I've been so hungry lately. Everyone has really enlightened me, thank you so much!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    edited September 2017
    I've been way hungrier at maintenance, but PMS has also been way worse, so there's that week a month when I'm a bottomless pitt (and a week when I'm not very hungry, so I *try* to make it average out, but I've failed). But the bottom line is, I can eat more than I used to, but I have to make better choices than when I was losing, or I'll be hungry all the time. It totally sucks.

    Your diary actually looks good to me... are you sure it's not just PMS though? How long has it been going on?
  • maggibailey
    maggibailey Posts: 289 Member
    I fell into IF sort of by accident but I have found for me at least it works really well. I don't eat breakfast, just coffee with a little milk, until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Then all of my calories between that and about 9pm. I don't have a hard and fast timeline, just around that start and end time. I get to have large meals in that time and pretty large snacks. I'm not really hungry in the morning until I start to eat. So if I start eating early in the morning I'm HUNGRY all day. Might be worth trying.
  • Iamnotasenior
    Iamnotasenior Posts: 235 Member
    You diary looks great but I do see that you are eating some processed foods (like the Teddy Grahams, bagels, etc.). Highly refined, processed carbs create a quick blood sugar increase, followed by a blood sugar "crash" afterward. The blood sugar "crash" creates instant hunger and cravings for more carbs/sugar. Carbs are a necessary part of a balanced diet, but maybe try swapping out the plain bagel and the Teddy Grahams for a 100% whole wheat bagel and a high fiber protein bar instead. Just my two cents.
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    Looked at your diary, I agree you might find it helpful to get more protein and to make sure your protein is included in every meal. Carb-only meals and snacks WILL tend to make many people (including me!) actually feel hungrier. I like Teddy Grahams (and Goldfish!) too, but if I must eat them I'll have some peanut butter or cheese too (a little goes a long way! 50-100 calories is plenty!) to avoid a carb / sugar rebound. Nuts are good too, but hard for me to eat in small doses because they are so freaking delicious.

    As far as the carbs you are eating goes, you haven't set fiber to be on your trackable nutrients, but based on the foods I'm seeing in your diary goes I'd say you might also benefit from getting more of your carbs as fiber. Fiber helps you feel full and slows digestion a bit. Fresh fruits and vegetables, plus beans (canned or dry or frozen: all good) are actually the best way to get more fiber, IMO. In my experience, whole-grain bread and pasta are -- while better choices than refined flour options -- not particularly helpful in increasing fiber intake given that they tend to be more calorie-dense (i.e., you have to take in a lot of bread and pasta calories to make a dent in your fiber goals, which can be counter-productive).
  • ccruz985
    ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    I've been way hungrier at maintenance, but PMS has also been way worse, so there's that week a month when I'm a bottomless pitt (and a week when I'm not very hungry, so I *try* to make it average out, but I've failed). But the bottom line is, I can eat more than I used to, but I have to make better choices than when I was losing, or I'll be hungry all the time. It totally sucks.

    Your diary actually looks good to me... are you sure it's not just PMS though? How long has it been going on?

    No because I've been on Depo for four years. I actually just stopped, my next appt should've been the 12th but I decided to stop.
  • ccruz985
    ccruz985 Posts: 646 Member
    I'm going to revise my intakes and look up the recommended daily fiber intake and adjust. So much of this I did not know and I'm looking forward to the upcoming changes.
  • stljam
    stljam Posts: 512 Member
    edited September 2017
    Try hitting your protein macros consistently for a week and see if that makes a difference. For me, hitting my macros is key to feeling well and really seems to supercharge my weight loss. It took some experimenting to find the macro mix that worked for me.

    The week or so I looked on your diary, you were missing your Protein grams by 1/3 to 1/2 which is a lot.

    Experiment and find what works for you. I'm only giving you what i would try if I was in you shoes.
  • shaunshaikh
    shaunshaikh Posts: 616 Member
    Calories are all that matter for weight loss, but the kinds of calories can have a big impact on how full you feel. Protein and fat take longer to digest and fiber also is filling. The rule of thumb is to eat 1g of protein for every lb of lean body mass, at least 30g of fiber. Honestly if you also eat a full 5 servings of vegetables a day it can really help you feel full.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    The snack-y thing makes me crazy. I have two meals a day.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10563959/volume-eaters-thread/p1

    Along with what others are saying, the above thread might be helpful if you need a lot of volume to feel and stay full.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    maggibailey wrote: »
    I fell into IF sort of by accident but I have found for me at least it works really well. I don't eat breakfast, just coffee with a little milk, until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Then all of my calories between that and about 9pm. I don't have a hard and fast timeline, just around that start and end time. I get to have large meals in that time and pretty large snacks. I'm not really hungry in the morning until I start to eat. So if I start eating early in the morning I'm HUNGRY all day. Might be worth trying.

    Yeah, just skipping breakfast helps me but I am still hungry in the morning I can just handle it better than at other times.
  • shaumom
    shaumom Posts: 1,003 Member
    re: protein, if you are very active, with a lot of work outs, I have been reading recent research that suggests you need even more protein than recommended! I was reading the recommendation of at least 100 g a protein on days you are really working out.

    I don't know how accurate that is, but it might be worth exploring, you know?

    Oh, one last thing, just on the off chance - do you have any relatives with auto-immune disorders? Especially celiac disease? Those who do are at a higher risk of developing celiac disease themselves, but if they don't have gut pain (which over 1/3 of celiacs do not), doctors don't typically test them for it.

    However, those with celiac disease can sometimes be overweight and starving all the time. Because the damage to the gut can be patchy, and certain 'patches' may be where a certain vitamin is absorbed. Which can prompt the body to feel hungry all the time, just trying to get larger doses of the vitamin in question, so that you get enough. Even taking vitamins can not be enough to work, because the body won't absorb most of certain of the vitamins.

    As you are taking vitamins, I noticed, then vitamins in and of themselves isn't an issue, obviously. But if increased protein doesn't work, and you are taking vitamins, and especially if you have any relatives with this, it might be worth going in to get the blood test, honestly.
  • luckywizard
    luckywizard Posts: 71 Member
    BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »
    maggibailey wrote: »
    I fell into IF sort of by accident but I have found for me at least it works really well. I don't eat breakfast, just coffee with a little milk, until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Then all of my calories between that and about 9pm. I don't have a hard and fast timeline, just around that start and end time. I get to have large meals in that time and pretty large snacks. I'm not really hungry in the morning until I start to eat. So if I start eating early in the morning I'm HUNGRY all day. Might be worth trying.

    Yeah, just skipping breakfast helps me but I am still hungry in the morning I can just handle it better than at other times.

    Me too. If I eat early (and sometimes I do), I find food begets more food. I am usually hungrier earlier, particularly if I don't get enough protein and fat in my breakfast (if I had a croissant and coffee at 7, for instance, I'd be starving by 8:30). Fasting til 10 or 10:30 keeps me from feeling hungry until closer to 10 so it ultimately saves me calories in my daily budget.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    @ccruz985 I'm hungrier in maintainence than I was when eating at a deficit. It's been 6 month for me. The only thing that seems to work is volume eating my 3 meals, and two substantial snacks in between. I'm holding steady at 140-145 on 1900-2000 cals. Plus getting LOTS of sleep and water.
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