Will my extreme hunger go away?
Replies
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@Cahgetsfit i am feeling this too. Yesterday i just had a massive binge. I dont know if its my starvation talking or if it is just me emotional eating. Its caused me great depression. I havent been weighing myself at all since the beginning of the weight loss and dont know if i should actually.1
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Its like my cravings for the things that i’ve restricted in the past are so high now. Its begining to scare me2
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Its like my cravings for the things that i’ve restricted in the past are so high now. Its begining to scare me
It's hard! I have found that the flexible dieting approach is the most sustainable with me, but I still go off on tangents and binge on stuff - like some things I just can't portion control. So I tend to not have them in the house, or, if i REALLY want to eat it, I will buy one packet (for example - chips) and make peace with the fact that i'm going to eat the entire thing alone in one go. So I do. Then I won't eat it again for ages until the urge strikes again more than once!
Some things trigger me more than others, but I am able to roughly maintain a decent 80:20 nourishing food : empty calories food. Particularly during the week. On the weekends things sometimes go to the *kitten*.
Keep at it though, a lot of it IS mental, we just need to work past it. (Easier said than done!)9 -
I am sorry you are struggling. Hang in there. Take it one day at a time. I want to share something that has been helping me. Don't restrict your calories too much. Eat at maintenance for a few weeks. Don't restrict starchy carbs.They will help your leptin levels to come back up. Also, play around with fat intake. I need fat in my meals to have staying power. Fat satiates me.Its like my cravings for the things that i’ve restricted in the past are so high now. Its begining to scare me
If you want to eat something you've been restricting, make a conscious choice to eat it in a controlled manner. You can do this!!5 -
I have been through this too. Took me a LONG time to get over. I spent years restricting and then binging. I was lucky enough to maintain a normal weight despite these habits. Anyway, I did a couple things that helped me get over it. 1. I upped my maintenance calories. Most calculators tell me I maintain about 200-500 lower than I actually do. 2. I upped my fat intake. 3. I stopped freaking out if I went over by 100-400 calories here and there. True maintenance should be flexible. You will have hungry days but then you’ll have the opposite eventually once you are out of that initial phase of getting over the restriction.
I recommend reading up on intuitive eating and using some of those principles to help guide you. I know I may get burned at the stake for this, but I think combining intuitive eating and tracking can be a really good combination for weight maintenance. For example, if I’m truly hungry, I’m going to let myself eat something. However, with the knowledge you gain from tracking, you can say to yourself, sure that cupcake sounds good right now but I already had one today and it didn’t really fill me up. And it was a lot of calories and sugar (which is fine to eat but it’s good to find balance). Maybe I’ll try some fruit and yogurt instead.
I also think the calories in some foods aren’t intuitive, like olive oil, caloric drinks, etc. Do I still have these things? Sure but I’m not naively thinking that olive oil doesn’t count and using 500 cals worth of it to sautéed veggies.
I spent months at the beginning eating a little over maintenance to get over the restriction and gained maybe 3 lbs that eventually went away. I had to get it though my head that going over by a little to feel satisfied was way better than binging. And then from there I slowly became less crazy around food and didn’t feel like a bottomless pit anymore. I’m not perfect, but I’ve maintained a healthy weight for over 2 years with relative ease after all of that. Good luck! Combine the knowledge you are getting from your body with the knowledge in your brain and you will be good.17 -
I have been through this too. Took me a LONG time to get over. I spent years restricting and then binging. I was lucky enough to maintain a normal weight despite these habits. Anyway, I did a couple things that helped me get over it. 1. I upped my maintenance calories. Most calculators tell me I maintain about 200-500 lower than I actually do. 2. I upped my fat intake. 3. I stopped freaking out if I went over by 100-400 calories here and there. True maintenance should be flexible. You will have hungry days but then you’ll have the opposite eventually once you are out of that initial phase of getting over the restriction.
I recommend reading up on intuitive eating and using some of those principles to help guide you. I know I may get burned at the stake for this, but I think combining intuitive eating and tracking can be a really good combination for weight maintenance. For example, if I’m truly hungry, I’m going to let myself eat something. However, with the knowledge you gain from tracking, you can say to yourself, sure that cupcake sounds good right now but I already had one today and it didn’t really fill me up. And it was a lot of calories and sugar (which is fine to eat but it’s good to find balance). Maybe I’ll try some fruit and yogurt instead.
I also think the calories in some foods aren’t intuitive, like olive oil, caloric drinks, etc. Do I still have these things? Sure but I’m not naively thinking that olive oil doesn’t count and using 500 cals worth of it to sautéed veggies.
I spent months at the beginning eating a little over maintenance to get over the restriction and gained maybe 3 lbs that eventually went away. I had to get it though my head that going over by a little to feel satisfied was way better than binging. And then from there I slowly became less crazy around food and didn’t feel like a bottomless pit anymore. I’m not perfect, but I’ve maintained a healthy weight for over 2 years with relative ease after all of that. Good luck! Combine the knowledge you are getting from your body with the knowledge in your brain and you will be good.
This^. Thank you for sharing your journey so eloquently. I have a lot in common with you. Except I started my journey to sane maintenance at the beginning of this year. When I choose to eat around maintenance my hunger becomes less of an emergency. Like you I use IE combined with CC. This approach has been liberating me from disordered eating.6 -
I have been through this too. Took me a LONG time to get over. I spent years restricting and then binging. I was lucky enough to maintain a normal weight despite these habits. Anyway, I did a couple things that helped me get over it. 1. I upped my maintenance calories. Most calculators tell me I maintain about 200-500 lower than I actually do. 2. I upped my fat intake. 3. I stopped freaking out if I went over by 100-400 calories here and there. True maintenance should be flexible. You will have hungry days but then you’ll have the opposite eventually once you are out of that initial phase of getting over the restriction.
I recommend reading up on intuitive eating and using some of those principles to help guide you. I know I may get burned at the stake for this, but I think combining intuitive eating and tracking can be a really good combination for weight maintenance. For example, if I’m truly hungry, I’m going to let myself eat something. However, with the knowledge you gain from tracking, you can say to yourself, sure that cupcake sounds good right now but I already had one today and it didn’t really fill me up. And it was a lot of calories and sugar (which is fine to eat but it’s good to find balance). Maybe I’ll try some fruit and yogurt instead.
I also think the calories in some foods aren’t intuitive, like olive oil, caloric drinks, etc. Do I still have these things? Sure but I’m not naively thinking that olive oil doesn’t count and using 500 cals worth of it to sautéed veggies.
I spent months at the beginning eating a little over maintenance to get over the restriction and gained maybe 3 lbs that eventually went away. I had to get it though my head that going over by a little to feel satisfied was way better than binging. And then from there I slowly became less crazy around food and didn’t feel like a bottomless pit anymore. I’m not perfect, but I’ve maintained a healthy weight for over 2 years with relative ease after all of that. Good luck! Combine the knowledge you are getting from your body with the knowledge in your brain and you will be good.
thank you!4 -
I have been through this too. Took me a LONG time to get over. I spent years restricting and then binging. I was lucky enough to maintain a normal weight despite these habits. Anyway, I did a couple things that helped me get over it. 1. I upped my maintenance calories. Most calculators tell me I maintain about 200-500 lower than I actually do. 2. I upped my fat intake. 3. I stopped freaking out if I went over by 100-400 calories here and there. True maintenance should be flexible. You will have hungry days but then you’ll have the opposite eventually once you are out of that initial phase of getting over the restriction.
I recommend reading up on intuitive eating and using some of those principles to help guide you. I know I may get burned at the stake for this, but I think combining intuitive eating and tracking can be a really good combination for weight maintenance. For example, if I’m truly hungry, I’m going to let myself eat something. However, with the knowledge you gain from tracking, you can say to yourself, sure that cupcake sounds good right now but I already had one today and it didn’t really fill me up. And it was a lot of calories and sugar (which is fine to eat but it’s good to find balance). Maybe I’ll try some fruit and yogurt instead.
I also think the calories in some foods aren’t intuitive, like olive oil, caloric drinks, etc. Do I still have these things? Sure but I’m not naively thinking that olive oil doesn’t count and using 500 cals worth of it to sautéed veggies.
I spent months at the beginning eating a little over maintenance to get over the restriction and gained maybe 3 lbs that eventually went away. I had to get it though my head that going over by a little to feel satisfied was way better than binging. And then from there I slowly became less crazy around food and didn’t feel like a bottomless pit anymore. I’m not perfect, but I’ve maintained a healthy weight for over 2 years with relative ease after all of that. Good luck! Combine the knowledge you are getting from your body with the knowledge in your brain and you will be good.
And thank you <as I think what you describe applies to a lot of us>6 -
I have been through this too. Took me a LONG time to get over. I spent years restricting and then binging. I was lucky enough to maintain a normal weight despite these habits. Anyway, I did a couple things that helped me get over it. 1. I upped my maintenance calories. Most calculators tell me I maintain about 200-500 lower than I actually do. 2. I upped my fat intake. 3. I stopped freaking out if I went over by 100-400 calories here and there. True maintenance should be flexible. You will have hungry days but then you’ll have the opposite eventually once you are out of that initial phase of getting over the restriction.
I recommend reading up on intuitive eating and using some of those principles to help guide you. I know I may get burned at the stake for this, but I think combining intuitive eating and tracking can be a really good combination for weight maintenance. For example, if I’m truly hungry, I’m going to let myself eat something. However, with the knowledge you gain from tracking, you can say to yourself, sure that cupcake sounds good right now but I already had one today and it didn’t really fill me up. And it was a lot of calories and sugar (which is fine to eat but it’s good to find balance). Maybe I’ll try some fruit and yogurt instead.
I also think the calories in some foods aren’t intuitive, like olive oil, caloric drinks, etc. Do I still have these things? Sure but I’m not naively thinking that olive oil doesn’t count and using 500 cals worth of it to sautéed veggies.
I spent months at the beginning eating a little over maintenance to get over the restriction and gained maybe 3 lbs that eventually went away. I had to get it though my head that going over by a little to feel satisfied was way better than binging. And then from there I slowly became less crazy around food and didn’t feel like a bottomless pit anymore. I’m not perfect, but I’ve maintained a healthy weight for over 2 years with relative ease after all of that. Good luck! Combine the knowledge you are getting from your body with the knowledge in your brain and you will be good.
@HotFrieZ
This, and many of the other posts, are SUCH important posts!
Essential info for folks, like me, who are slowly moving into that quasi last few pounds-maintenance land.
I lost weight with a small daily deficit, mostly created by part of my exercise burn & the other part I ate! 😂
I never thought I could lose on so many calories, but I could if I accepted slow weight loss (Max 1lb per week) over 40 months - 75 lbs - early 60’s.
I also have had my macros 40F/40-45C/15-20P for most of my journey. Curbs the hunger pains.
Thank you again. I will refer to this post often as I venture forward.4 -
I experience the ravenous hunger pretty frequently in maintenance, especially when eating more. I don't know how to get rid of it entirely, but I have experimented a bit and I know what makes it worse.
Carbs and anything sweet (even erythritol) make it much, much worse. So does dehydration, stress, and working out early in the day.
I've developed a weird system of intermittent fasting (which I'm not recommending, necessarily, but might be helpful), breaking the fast with a homemade protein shake, then keeping busy for at least an hour to let that set in (post-gym shower, laundry) before I eat dinner. If I stick to this, it really works.
I also have found that alcohol or any other inhibition-lowering substance will make overeating inevitable and is a no-go. Even once starts a cycle that takes a lot of effort to break.6 -
lunchboxchuck wrote: »I experience the ravenous hunger pretty frequently in maintenance, especially when eating more. I don't know how to get rid of it entirely, but I have experimented a bit and I know what makes it worse.
Carbs and anything sweet (even erythritol) make it much, much worse. So does dehydration, stress, and working out early in the day.
I've developed a weird system of intermittent fasting (which I'm not recommending, necessarily, but might be helpful), breaking the fast with a homemade protein shake, then keeping busy for at least an hour to let that set in (post-gym shower, laundry) before I eat dinner. If I stick to this, it really works.
I also have found that alcohol or any other inhibition-lowering substance will make overeating inevitable and is a no-go. Even once starts a cycle that takes a lot of effort to break.
are you using a weight trend application? What weight range are you using in maintenance?
In my experience there is a bit of elasticity between maintaining pushing towards weight loss and maintaining pushing towards weight gain. In my case it could be as much as a couple of hundred calories a day (with a TDEE of >2900)
Have you tried maybe "reverse dieting" by adding a few calories?
But yes, pre-eating while cooking (i.e. not waiting till dinner to start eating) works for me too! As does loading most (about 60%) of my calories into the evening hours! Actually the eat an apple 20-30 minutes before my meal trick used to work quite well... and still does when I employ it.1 -
I got a coloring book and colored pencils and a new video game that is pretty intense. The coloring book I do while listening to ebooks, thank you Kindle Unlimited, and the game makes me angry at my playstation 4 and not food. My cat also LOVES to chase pieces of his food across the floor so I can do that forever and he'll keep chasing. Distraction and hobbies really REALLY helps. That makes me sound like a kid but I am 39.
. 5 -
lunchboxchuck wrote: »I experience the ravenous hunger pretty frequently in maintenance, especially when eating more. I don't know how to get rid of it entirely, but I have experimented a bit and I know what makes it worse.
Carbs and anything sweet (even erythritol) make it much, much worse. So does dehydration, stress, and working out early in the day.
I've developed a weird system of intermittent fasting (which I'm not recommending, necessarily, but might be helpful), breaking the fast with a homemade protein shake, then keeping busy for at least an hour to let that set in (post-gym shower, laundry) before I eat dinner. If I stick to this, it really works.
I also have found that alcohol or any other inhibition-lowering substance will make overeating inevitable and is a no-go. Even once starts a cycle that takes a lot of effort to break.
are you using a weight trend application? What weight range are you using in maintenance?
In my experience there is a bit of elasticity between maintaining pushing towards weight loss and maintaining pushing towards weight gain. In my case it could be as much as a couple of hundred calories a day (with a TDEE of >2900)
Have you tried maybe "reverse dieting" by adding a few calories?
But yes, pre-eating while cooking (i.e. not waiting till dinner to start eating) works for me too! As does loading most (about 60%) of my calories into the evening hours! Actually the eat an apple 20-30 minutes before my meal trick used to work quite well... and still does when I employ it.
I'm just using Myfitnesspal's recommended calories to lose about 10 more pounds; however, I consider myself in maintenance because I've plateaued weight-wise, while losing inches. I'm a healthy weight (female, 36, 5'7, 144) and looking a little gaunt up top but still have thick legs, hence the high weight.
I added an extra 200-300 calories over the MFP recommended a couple weeks ago, and that really kicked the hunger up and I also gained a couple pounds (despite measuring and tracking honestly). If I ate my TDEE by any estimate I've calculated online, I would gain for sure. I logged a regular day before I got serious this time, and it wasn't even that crazy (maybe Schrodinger's cat at work, though). But quitting the weekend drinking cut a whole day's worth of calories out per week, so there's that, too. And now that I have lost weight, I know my TDEE is much lower. Plus I'm aging! Boo.
I am sort of resigned to eating what MFP thinks is weight loss to maintain this size in perpetuity. I put on weight extremely easily and even at my highest weight, was the thinnest person in my family. I was overweight by 6 years old. I don't really mind, though. When I get super hungry, it's sort of a marvel that my body is working, and I seem to have cracked the code after years of yo yo this time with the IF. The thought of eating before 6 pm is kind of gross to me now. I don't get hungry until I start eating, so I game myself by narrowing that window.4 -
This thread. I’m learning more than I have in a year.
THANK YOU!
My tricks (in case they help others):
Large breakfast
Don’t let deficit get below 400cal at any point in day.
Water
Late afternoon/early evening hike min 60 mins.
4 eating times per day.
BF L 1/2D other1/2D
Fiber Very High
Sodium
Low
Sugar low
Protein 15%-20% daily cals.
Fat high 40% cals
sat fat about 25g)
Distraction yes! Making Art, decluttering, MFP (!), organizing art supplies, making color swatches, etc watching how-to art videos. Doing my PT. Some tv.
Remembering how far we’ve come.#gratefulness
Agree re: fatigue, stress...
4 -
lunchboxchuck wrote: »lunchboxchuck wrote: »I experience the ravenous hunger pretty frequently in maintenance, especially when eating more. I don't know how to get rid of it entirely, but I have experimented a bit and I know what makes it worse.
Carbs and anything sweet (even erythritol) make it much, much worse. So does dehydration, stress, and working out early in the day.
I've developed a weird system of intermittent fasting (which I'm not recommending, necessarily, but might be helpful), breaking the fast with a homemade protein shake, then keeping busy for at least an hour to let that set in (post-gym shower, laundry) before I eat dinner. If I stick to this, it really works.
I also have found that alcohol or any other inhibition-lowering substance will make overeating inevitable and is a no-go. Even once starts a cycle that takes a lot of effort to break.
are you using a weight trend application? What weight range are you using in maintenance?
In my experience there is a bit of elasticity between maintaining pushing towards weight loss and maintaining pushing towards weight gain. In my case it could be as much as a couple of hundred calories a day (with a TDEE of >2900)
Have you tried maybe "reverse dieting" by adding a few calories?
But yes, pre-eating while cooking (i.e. not waiting till dinner to start eating) works for me too! As does loading most (about 60%) of my calories into the evening hours! Actually the eat an apple 20-30 minutes before my meal trick used to work quite well... and still does when I employ it.
I'm just using Myfitnesspal's recommended calories to lose about 10 more pounds; however, I consider myself in maintenance because I've plateaued weight-wise, while losing inches. I'm a healthy weight (female, 36, 5'7, 144) and looking a little gaunt up top but still have thick legs, hence the high weight.
I added an extra 200-300 calories over the MFP recommended a couple weeks ago, and that really kicked the hunger up and I also gained a couple pounds (despite measuring and tracking honestly). If I ate my TDEE by any estimate I've calculated online, I would gain for sure. I logged a regular day before I got serious this time, and it wasn't even that crazy (maybe Schrodinger's cat at work, though). But quitting the weekend drinking cut a whole day's worth of calories out per week, so there's that, too. And now that I have lost weight, I know my TDEE is much lower. Plus I'm aging! Boo.
I am sort of resigned to eating what MFP thinks is weight loss to maintain this size in perpetuity. I put on weight extremely easily and even at my highest weight, was the thinnest person in my family. I was overweight by 6 years old. I don't really mind, though. When I get super hungry, it's sort of a marvel that my body is working, and I seem to have cracked the code after years of yo yo this time with the IF. The thought of eating before 6 pm is kind of gross to me now. I don't get hungry until I start eating, so I game myself by narrowing that window.
I think mfp might not be that far off. The error is with us. If you are estimating your food and not weighing and measuring, studies show an error rate of 35% or so. Even weighing and measuring you can be off my 5-20%. Food labels can have an be off by up to 20%. Whole foods may have different amounts of calories. Our loging might be off. Say you have an estimated tdee of 2000 cals. Let's just take a 10% error rate. You could be up to 2200 a day. What I have an idea about is consistancy.3 -
This is such a great thread! It’s good to hear that I’m not alone in struggling with hunger when eating around maintenance. I love all the tips offered here, and commonalities.
I’m not quite at my goal weight, but most days I’m happy where I am - on other days I wonder about losing another 5. I just figure I’m learning about maintaining while I split days between a modest deficit and maintaining calories.
Thanks all for sharing!
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This is such a great thread! It’s good to hear that I’m not alone in struggling with hunger when eating around maintenance. I love all the tips offered here, and commonalities.
I’m not quite at my goal weight, but most days I’m happy where I am - on other days I wonder about losing another 5. I just figure I’m learning about maintaining while I split days between a modest deficit and maintaining calories.
Thanks all for sharing!
@rosiorama I’m in exactly the same spot!1 -
Truly great thread thank you all so much! I've been maintaining within a 5/6 pound bandwidth for over a year, but am sticky in the up and down the bandwidth restriction /binge cycle and recently gained 16 pounds from my lowest weight which I was horrified with. Currently lost 9 of those and working back down again!
So much knowledge shared on here has really helped me. Along with knowing I am not alone.
Genuinely I am finding maintenance harder than dieting, and reading this I have now learned a few reasons why, which has already made me stop beating myself up so much and given some great tips on how to change this8 -
While not completely on par with this topic, but it is something I am working on.
https://youtu.be/RCdkZAkYhks 2 -
Tolstolobik wrote: »I have been through this too. Took me a LONG time to get over. I spent years restricting and then binging. I was lucky enough to maintain a normal weight despite these habits. Anyway, I did a couple things that helped me get over it. 1. I upped my maintenance calories. Most calculators tell me I maintain about 200-500 lower than I actually do. 2. I upped my fat intake. 3. I stopped freaking out if I went over by 100-400 calories here and there. True maintenance should be flexible. You will have hungry days but then you’ll have the opposite eventually once you are out of that initial phase of getting over the restriction.
I recommend reading up on intuitive eating and using some of those principles to help guide you. I know I may get burned at the stake for this, but I think combining intuitive eating and tracking can be a really good combination for weight maintenance. For example, if I’m truly hungry, I’m going to let myself eat something. However, with the knowledge you gain from tracking, you can say to yourself, sure that cupcake sounds good right now but I already had one today and it didn’t really fill me up. And it was a lot of calories and sugar (which is fine to eat but it’s good to find balance). Maybe I’ll try some fruit and yogurt instead.
I also think the calories in some foods aren’t intuitive, like olive oil, caloric drinks, etc. Do I still have these things? Sure but I’m not naively thinking that olive oil doesn’t count and using 500 cals worth of it to sautéed veggies.
I spent months at the beginning eating a little over maintenance to get over the restriction and gained maybe 3 lbs that eventually went away. I had to get it though my head that going over by a little to feel satisfied was way better than binging. And then from there I slowly became less crazy around food and didn’t feel like a bottomless pit anymore. I’m not perfect, but I’ve maintained a healthy weight for over 2 years with relative ease after all of that. Good luck! Combine the knowledge you are getting from your body with the knowledge in your brain and you will be good.
This^. Thank you for sharing your journey so eloquently. I have a lot in common with you. Except I started my journey to sane maintenance at the beginning of this year. When I choose to eat around maintenance my hunger becomes less of an emergency. Like you I use IE combined with CC. This approach has been liberating me from disordered eating.
Agreed agreed! I just read the book The *kitten* it Diet which is basically intuitive eating but with more swearing. I didn't agree with all of it (she basically says no to tracking, but with my bulimia past it's better for me to roughly track calories, even if I'm not super stringent with it). But I found it a useful read. I'm at the moment trying to eat at least 2k a day but also really listening to my body and what it wants. Yesterday it was 300 calories over maintenance, but today naturally I'm about 300 under. Just not as hungry.6
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