Consistently Overeating and Missing Target Caloric Goals

springlering62

There’s a thread on MFP called Volume Eaters which was really helpful to me. I can have a massive salad for lunch with a ton of shredded chicken and pork. My husband is always aghast when he sees me eating it but it’s seldom over 350 calories.

I do the same with my afternoon snack. A serving of nonfat cottage cheese, blueberries (a serving of blueberries is surprisingly big), 150 grams of strawberries, a few
Grams of grape nuts and a splash of good balsamic vinegar (chocolate or coconut goes great with the berries) fills a large cereal bowl to heaping. And only comes in at 250 calories.

There were a lot of tips on that thread that have helped along the way.

Danp

Do you pre-log?

It can be helpful to not let anything pass your lips until it's in the database. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to eat something. Logged it and saw what a huge dent it would make in my calories for the day and instantly it becomes WAY less appetising.

Pre-logging give you information, post logging just shows you consequences.

PAV8888

hobbitses333 wrote: »

I find it is cyclical for myself. Two weeks a month I am a powerhouse in the gym and bang on with my eating while weighing in at my lowest weights. One week I am okay in the gym and having a little more food and a lb or two heavier. And one week where I feel bloated, peformance sucks, its hard to push myself, my eating ravenous and full of cravings weighing in at the top of my range of 5 to 7 lbs fluctuation.

Then the powerhouse returns and I am flying and feeling sleek. Often weighing in less than the last cycle...that hope is what gets me to the gym through "hell" week sometimes... Not. Going. To. Stop. Me.

You may find yourself performing better and (overall) losing faster or at least more happily (if you're still trying to lose) by deliberately adding ~100 to 200 Cal during shark week. Or even taking it to maintenance and calling it a break!

I seem to recall that there is an RMR variation ranging from ~1.5% and up to 10% depending on the individual. And that RMR gets multiplied by your activity factor.

So if maintenance were 2000, it may now be 2030 to 2200, maybe more for some. And don't forget to count the effect of an extra 5lbs of water being carried around all day.

So maybe not enough for an ayce buffet; but, quite possibly enough for an extra protein bar!!!

Avidkeo

One thing that stood out to me OP is your comment about not feeling happy unless you feel full. I think you need to change your mindset there a bit.

When I lost my first 20kg it was simply by stopping eating when I gel satisfied. I wasn't hungry, but I wasn't full. I think you need to find that satisfied point and feel good about it. And also teach your brain its ok to feel the occasional hunger pang. It's just a sign that you are ready to eat but you don't HAVE to eat. Get comfortable with that sensation. It's a little scary to let go and not eat at the first sign of hunger but it does help because eventually you won't feel the need to eat everytime you feel it, and know you can wait till the next meal.

I didn't describe that well but I hope you get the gist of it.

kshama2001

springlering62 wrote: »

There’s a thread on MFP called Volume Eaters which was really helpful to me. I can have a massive salad for lunch with a ton of shredded chicken and pork. My husband is always aghast when he sees me eating it but it’s seldom over 350 calories.

I do the same with my afternoon snack. A serving of nonfat cottage cheese, blueberries (a serving of blueberries is surprisingly big), 150 grams of strawberries, a few
Grams of grape nuts and a splash of good balsamic vinegar (chocolate or coconut goes great with the berries) fills a large cereal bowl to heaping. And only comes in at 250 calories.

There were a lot of tips on that thread that have helped along the way.

Because of all the green beans, this recipe for Stir-Fried Green Beans with Pork and Oyster Sauce has surprisingly few calories for all the bulk. I add 4 oz ground chicken for more protein, and serve over rice.

https://www.177milkstreet.com/recipes/stir-fried-pork-oyster-sauce-green-beans

lillola96

Have you tried intermittent fasting? I'm 5”9 and 85 kilos and I can feel satisfied on 1300 call a day (plus exercise). I eat lots of protein - eggs, yogurt, very little bread, lots of veggies to fill out my meals like cucumber and tomatoes. IF in the mornings first meal (lunch) at 11am has been working very well for me.

AprilSue

Increase proteins and veggies. Cut out sugar and sweets. Proteins and veggies give you more bang for your buck and keep you full longer. Get a lot more food for the calories with veggies.

mebeny

AprilSue wrote: »

Increase proteins and veggies. Cut out sugar and sweets. Proteins and veggies give you more bang for your buck and keep you full longer. Get a lot more food for the calories with veggies.

Totaly agree!
Try to eat veggies end less sweets you can have a bigger meal that can fill you for hours ,personally a do a intermitant fast since a woke up the morning , i drink 2 to 3 litter of water end only black coffee , end i eat breakfast just 6 hours after i woke up , so i can limit the number of my meal for the day end i can have bigger one's after
I was struggle to not over eat end stay on calorie deficit but after that , i can manage to take a 1200 cal per day meal end am feeling really full .
Try to drink a water before you eat , that help to eat less .
If all this do not work , You can water fast also one or 2 days per week, i tried that before...it's a little bit harder than the intermitent but it can be done without issue normaly.

gothchiq

Is there either insurance money or other funds for a therapist? Something psychological is going on here if you desire to eat until your stomach is overstretched. That's not an insult. As we grow up, sometimes things go wrong that set a counterproductive pattern in our minds. Then as adults we have the fallout from it. As an example,, I grew up in a situation where my mother decided how much I should eat and of what, and I was forced to finish whatever she gave me. Now I have weight struggles.

vivo1972

This doesn't work for everyone but it works for me.

I'm 47 and have been overweight since a child.

I stopped dieting last summer, eating diet foods and went back to traditional eating like generations before me.

I eat butter, peanut butter, a pudding every meal, generally a fruit crumble because I can measure the amount of sugar/spelt/butter etc etc. I try to make everything I eat satisfying. That's the key word for me.

I set myself a very small target of a stone in 6 months and I achieved it relatively easily. My weight went up and down but I just shrugged it off, it's my body digesting and removing waste (I don't have periods anymore so it's not that).

I'm not a perfect 'dieter'. I splash out sometimes on ice-cream and pizza. But hey veggie pizza is good for you! Ice-cream is my vice and I treat it like alcohol - sometimes I party and sometimes I just cannot bear the sugar hangover the next day.

I also have increased my vigourous exercise for just 20 mins 2-3 times a week. I like that, it gives me a buzz.

Plus NEAT - walking the dog a bit further, cleaning the house more and walking with the shopping.

So after all that waffle I haven't put on or lost weight in two months. I should lose another 2 stone, but hey it will go eventually. Under that layer of fat is muscle, I know it's there I can feel it.

Mental satisfication leads to results. Good luck, I hope you find your way xx

hookandy

This losing wieght thing is a pain, lots of good thoughts in the posts above, my thoughts are mainly around relaxing and taking the pressure off yourself. If I "diet" and "cut out" cake, all I want all day is cake. Is some of your issue just that? You have this figure in your head and that is causing you to focus on this?

What about switching to closer to maintainance maybe 100 cal under, and trying some of the suggestions above?

Eat more often, plan out, eat less often, swap foods about, hey what ever takes your fancy.

Or try and up the exercise, either cardio, walking, or weights, another good distraction from that "darn" number in red/green

Dontkillbill

Only thing I have to add is that when I eat too little for a few days it usually spells disaster for the week. I can't tell you how much you need to eat that's so hard to figure out but you may need a few hundred more calories and 200 extra planned calories are a lot easier to manage than 1000 calories you eat out of cravings etc. Good luck we all try hard and biology makes it hard for some BUT you can do it.