Advice on overeating

Chusername

Hi there! This is my first post here, but I am in dire straits these past few days.
Brief into: I am a 6'2" 21y/o male. 162lbs as of yesterday. One year ago I weighed 230lbs. I successfully got all the weight off without problems. I pretty much just set a hard limit of about 1500Calories/day to get the weight off. Once I was at my desired weight I upped it back to 2500kcal/day.
I work out every day now. Intense weight lifting for 40min and usually running for about 10-20min. (I even have a visible 6 pack now!)
Heres the problem though: the last few weeks I have been faced with insatiable hunger. I was able to "fight it off" for a few weeks but the last two days I have consumed an enormous 9,900kcal. Most of it is just in sugary treats like cookies and pop-tarts and gross amounts of peanut butter. I try to avoid those first two most of the time anyway. My diet has been so stable for so long and I don't understand why I'm losing my grip on it. I've been eating high protein, high carb, and moderate fat meals for weeks and the last few weeks have been torture.
I know two days of extreme over eating won't destroy my body, but I can't let it keep happening. I was considering switching to OMAD or something to try to limit my time spent eating at all, but I'm just not sure.

88olds

A couple of thoughts- is your blood sugar crashing from your workouts? Can you work in some fruit juice or a sports drink of some kind into your plan? Maybe experiment.

How much fat is moderate fat? Maybe some more of that.

cmriverside

I know I have a hard time getting back on track if I have a sugary-treat blow out day. Sugar especially is hard to put down and I just have to tough it out for a few days afterwards and then my cravings subside.

With that said, you are very lean so it's even more important that you get good nutrition, otherwise your lean body is going to be crying out for you to feed it.

The other thing is - maybe 2500 isn't enough in general. How long have you been at this calorie level?

Joanna2012B

IMO you aren't eating enough. You should be at 2800 to 3000 calories if you are working out everyday and it's intense. For weight lifting try setting your macros to 40% protein, 30% fat 30% carbs.

Do you weigh all food on a food scale?

quiksylver296

Joanna2012B wrote: »

IMO you aren't eating enough. You should be at 2800 to 3000 calories if you are working out everyday and it's intense. For weight lifting try setting your macros to 40% protein, 30% fat 30% carbs.

Do you weigh all food on a food scale?

6'2, 162 lbs, 21 yoa male, doing serious workouts? Yeah, eat more freaking food. A quick TDEE calculator on the interwebz gave a maintenance calories number for you of 2861, and I think that's probably a conservative number.

I'm 5'9, female, 45 years old, and I maintain on 2400...

Joanna2012B

quiksylver296 wrote: »

Joanna2012B wrote: »

IMO you aren't eating enough. You should be at 2800 to 3000 calories if you are working out everyday and it's intense. For weight lifting try setting your macros to 40% protein, 30% fat 30% carbs.

Do you weigh all food on a food scale?

6'2, 162 lbs, 21 yoa male, doing serious workouts? Yeah, eat more freaking food. A quick TDEE calculator on the interwebz gave a maintenance calories number for you of 2861, and I think that's probably a conservative number.

I'm 5'9, female, 45 years old, and I maintain on 2400...

I am 5'3" female, 46 years old maintaining on 2000!!

Chusername

thank you all for the replies everybody, I was trying to respond to each person individually but I'm not super familiar with the UI of this website yet. Clearly though, however, I am now well aware that it seems most people are saying my kcal limit per day is too low. I think deep down that's what I knew––after all, myfitnesspal has been telling me to eat 3200kcal/day for the last two months (especially considering I've been trying to gain more muscle mass)––I was just afraid that it seemed like way too much.

As it turns out, it probably isn't. This has been my body's way of notifying me that I really am at a pretty big caloric deficit and I require more sustenance; albeit, I will continue to be mindful of my sugar intake. It seems that sugary treats tend to trigger my overeating.

Again, I really appreciate all the feedback. It was just what I needed to feel confident in increasing my daily caloric intake. And if I don't like what I see in a few weeks, I can always update and change. I really have only started my health journey in the last 12mo., but if i've learned anything it's that this isn't a static endeavour. It changes as my body changes. May you all be happy and healthy!

cheryldumais

Just my 2 cents worth but watch your macros. I find when I get heavy on the refined carbs I start to loose control. I've been in maintenance for 3 years and my weight started climbing. I was having the same hunger issues. I went back and took a look at what I'd been eating and realized it was pretty low in protein. I upped the protein lowered refined carbs and am doing much better. I try now to make sure my plate is about half green veggies (broccoli, brussel sprouts, green beans etc) and at least 5 or 6 ounces of lean protein. If I have enough calories I allow myself some boiled potatoes with some sort of fat (sour cream or butter etc.). Hang in there. Maintenance is a bit of a dance until you figure it out.

eryn0x

I love this thread