Experiences with hunger while maintaining
sofrances
Posts: 156 Member
Hi
I have read that weight loss can cause increased hunger. People who have maintained for a good amount of time: did you find this to be true, and did you find hunger decreasing again after longer periods of maintenance?
I have read that weight loss can cause increased hunger. People who have maintained for a good amount of time: did you find this to be true, and did you find hunger decreasing again after longer periods of maintenance?
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Replies
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My hunger levels wasn't too bad overall. I never had a large calorie deficit so I'm not sure if that's the reason or not.
The hunger l did experience when I was losing weight had more to do with figuring out which physical activities made me hungrier then others and timing my meals with my workouts.
However I do recall early on in maintenance feeling like my body was trying to trick me to eating more, but I kept pushing and it eventually went away as time went on and I didn't regain.
It was like my body/hormones said okay, she is serious about keeping that weight off. I'll leave her alone. I haven't experienced anything like that since the early days.8 -
I’ve been maintaining a 100 lb weight loss since spring 2018. I only get truly hungry if I go too long without eating (4+ hrs) or if my last meal or snack was devoid of fiber, fat or protein (like if I just had an apple, it doesn’t hold off hunger for very long for me).
Mostly, I’ve felt that the challenge in both weight-loss and maintenance has been riding the urges for food that AREN’T true hunger, and waiting until my Pre-determined time to eat my food. That’s more of a mind-game rather than a tummy-growling-light-headed-hungry-hungry game.7 -
Wouldn't say my hunger levels are any different before and after my weight loss.
But I'm a bit of an anomaly in that my calorie allowance has gone up markedly from when I was a chubby desk worker, lightly active, frequent exerciser to being lighter, retired, active and exercise a lot.
My hunger levels are very much around the total volume eaten rather than net calories......
If I was sedentary, did no exercise and had to eat at 2,500 to maintain I would be very hungry.
In winter I maintain about 3,000 cals and moderately hungry sometimes.
The rest of year when I can exercise much more I'm maintaining at around 3,500 I'm very rarely truly hungry.
The only time in maintenance hunger became a problem was when I tried to get very lean, energy levels dropped, hunger became a constant companion. It simply wasn't worth it to me.4 -
In the past, once I reached my goal weight I would JUMP back up to what I considered a 'normal' calorie intake and then I battled with hunger frequently. This time, I eased my caloric intake up about 100 calories a week for nearly 7 weeks and so far, there hasn't been nearly the struggle.
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rainbow198 wrote: »My hunger levels wasn't too bad overall. I never had a large calorie deficit so I'm not sure if that's the reason or not.
The hunger l did experience when I was losing weight had more to do with figuring out which physical activities made me hungrier then others and timing my meals with my workouts.
However I do recall early on in maintenance feeling like my body was trying to trick me to eating more, but I kept pushing and it eventually went away as time went on and I didn't regain.
It was like my body/hormones said okay, she is serious about keeping that weight off. I'll leave her alone. I haven't experienced anything like that since the early days.
I once posted some research that might have backed this up a little....
Personally? I have been through hell. I maintained a 220lbs weight loss for almost 2 years at sub 10% bf. It was the longest and most uncomfortable years of my life. Constant non stop hunger. Felt like an animal was trying to crawl out of my belly constantly. Could have been the rapidity of my weight loss. I think it might have been part of it. Though, the more I have looked into it, I think that the father one pushes away from a resting weight, the harder the body snaps back. So, IMHO speed might play a part, but how far one can push down and be comfortable MAY play a part as well. I think we have a body weight set range, note not set point. I think we can lower it by the lifestyle we choose to live. Not a popular idea on a calorie counting website, but there is evidence to support it. I have regained over 28lbs and am actually feeling better. I mean, not perfect, but the ability to feel sated is amazing. If I have to gain up to another 40, I will. @gallicinvasion stated there is a drive to eat and hunger. Knowing what is what has been a challenge for me. I do think there is a drive to eat that is increased post weight loss and may continue indefinitely. True hunger, yes, but to a point. Though as @rainbow198 talked about, it abated over time. I also think I remember her being a whole food vegan? That might play a part. JMHO Oh, btw.... I am not in any sepcific dietary camp.... just an observation I have made about certain dietary patterns that might allow people to reduce calories without the corresponding massive increase in hunger....4 -
I edged my way down slowly. Most people can only lose 2-3 lbs of body fat per month. Going on a brutally strict protocol so you can drop it like it's hot has diminishing returns. Loss of muscle mass.
We all know about the biggest loser study. How many of them are still standing today with long term weight stability. A handful. Most found rebound weight gain with friends. Dropping it like it's hot will cause your skin to hang like a shar-pei. The skin only has so much elasticity until it refuses to spring back into place. Edging your way down slowly and doing some lifting, maintaining an exercise routine right out of the chute helps. Waiting until all of the weight is gone before you do any exercise is a mistake.
The Hunger Games while working on maintenance. After two years, the body begins to finally settle down.
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/82/1/222S/4863393
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5764193/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5460352/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8034818
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/79429372 -
Diatonic12 wrote: »I edged my way down slowly. Most people can only lose 2-3 lbs of body fat per month. Going on a brutally strict protocol so you can drop it like it's hot has diminishing returns. Loss of muscle mass.
We all know about the biggest loser study. How many of them are still standing today with long term weight stability. A handful. Most found rebound weight gain with friends. Dropping it like it's hot will cause your skin to hang like a shar-pei. The skin only has so much elasticity until it refuses to spring back into place. Edging your way down slowly and doing some lifting, maintaining an exercise routine right out of the chute helps. Waiting until all of the weight is gone before you do any exercise is a mistake.
The Hunger Games while working on maintenance. After two years, the body begins to finally settle down.
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/82/1/222S/4863393
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5764193/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5460352/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8034818
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7942937
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26976129
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31042670
I think this evidence here suggest that after a year, the body relaxes more. That being said, I disagree with the authors about only a 10% weight loss being able to be done by surgical interventions. I have loads of examples of folks losing over 1/2 their body weight, some rapidly, and having little hunger issues. The dietary protocols range from whole food vegans, paleo, keto, ect....some completely flexible calorie counters as well. what we see in these folks are they are Adherent to their dietary protocols that allowed them to create a calorie deficit. Most maintain their weight loss with only a marginal degree of effort outside their chosen protocols. What I have notice reading and listening to these folks are that if they wonder outside their chosen protocols, they regain. When they slip back, they lose again. I think there are many things to learn about what drives regain post weight loss. These individuals could help give us a better understanding of human body weight regulation. As far as the biggest losers study? I have obsessed about it for several years. While interesting, I think there is more at play in that study than meets the eye. There are folks that have maintained various degrees of weight loss in that group.2 -
"Conclusions Weight loss caused an increase in postprandial GLP-1 levels and a further rise occurred during weight maintenance."
Is that good or bad?0 -
The first year in Maintenance is really hard. Or, it was for me.
I had set myself a pretty strict goal for loss - 55 pounds in eight months. I had a big vacation "reward" as my carrot on the stick. When the vacation started, so did my drinking and eating. It was fine to do so while on vacation for a week, I worked it all off by being active on vacation. When I got home, it was really hard for me to settle back into daily life and restricted food again. I was at the tippy top of my healthy BMI at 24.
I gained about ten pounds back within six months. Then lost that again over a period of six more months - so I was at about a year and at the exact same place weight wise. 24 BMI. AGAIN. It really sucked having to lose that same ten pounds twice and I vowed to never have to do that again.
I stayed around that same weight for a couple years and then lost the additional 15 pounds to put me mid-range of my BMI (21-22.)
When I got to that weight, it had taken me about nine months to lose those final 15 pounds. I was pretty hungry all through that 15 pound weight loss. I was hungry after that for months. I didn't put on any weight, but it was definitely a mental struggle. I kept telling myself, "You have had enough food. Just don't think about it."
Now - several years (12) later, I'm mostly able to instinctively eat the right amount, BUT!! I really firmly believe it's because I learned about good nutrition, I watch my macros like it's my religion, I gave up buying treat foods that I tend to binge eat, and I limit my food to two good sized meals and a couple small snacks. I rarely have sweets. Almost never have fried food other than fish and chips once a month. I get enough protein, fat and vegetables. I am not hungry very often if I am getting regular exercise, because with an hour walk my daily calories are north of 2100, and that's enough.7 -
gallicinvasion wrote: »I’ve been maintaining a 100 lb weight loss since spring 2018. I only get truly hungry if I go too long without eating (4+ hrs) or if my last meal or snack was devoid of fiber, fat or protein (like if I just had an apple, it doesn’t hold off hunger for very long for me).
Mostly, I’ve felt that the challenge in both weight-loss and maintenance has been riding the urges for food that AREN’T true hunger, and waiting until my Pre-determined time to eat my food. That’s more of a mind-game rather than a tummy-growling-light-headed-hungry-hungry game.
That's exactly the sort of weight loss I ideally need to achieve and maintain. Your story gives me some hope.2 -
I maintain my weight loss mostly by doing a lot of exercise. I run and walk. On days that I run more I get hungry. I usually will eat what I need to make the hunger go away. It works for me. Although I am frequently over on calories, the CI-CO seems to balance over the long term. I've learned that if I don't eat, I don't sleep and then I just get hungrier. I've maintained a 50 lb loss for several years.2
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"Conclusions Weight loss caused an increase in postprandial GLP-1 levels and a further rise occurred during weight maintenance."
Is that good or bad?
GLP-1 is a fullness hormone, so good.... I suspect that the increase in these fullness hormones during and post weight loss have something to do with the dietary protocols use. A Nordic healthy diet, much like a Mediterranean diet, and a Paleo like diet. Both diets increase fiber and protein vs a standard western diet. Possibly allowing a person to feel more satiated longer vs a SAD. After a year they continued to either increase or continue towards baseline in the case of grehlin. That leads me to believe that the body is becoming "more" comfortable at a lower weight. We know an organism will adapt to its habitat, for good or bad. Humans IMHO are not much different.3 -
gallicinvasion wrote: »I’ve been maintaining a 100 lb weight loss since spring 2018. I only get truly hungry if I go too long without eating (4+ hrs) or if my last meal or snack was devoid of fiber, fat or protein (like if I just had an apple, it doesn’t hold off hunger for very long for me).
Mostly, I’ve felt that the challenge in both weight-loss and maintenance has been riding the urges for food that AREN’T true hunger, and waiting until my Pre-determined time to eat my food. That’s more of a mind-game rather than a tummy-growling-light-headed-hungry-hungry game.
That's exactly the sort of weight loss I ideally need to achieve and maintain. Your story gives me some hope.
Oh gosh, I’m realizing there’s a typo in my post! Should say “100 lb weight loss since spring 2019”. I’m coming up in one year of maintenance, not two. But thank you!! If I can do it and keep it up, you can too.
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I lost about 50 pounds in less than a year in 2015 (at age 59-60), and have maintained a healthy weight since (now 64), though in the totality of that time I wandered down past initial goal weight, back to initial goal weight, up around 10-15 pounds from there, and now heading back down again, all of that up and down being pretty slow. Lowest BMI during that period around 19.3 (116lbs @ 5'5", lower than I'd like), highest around 23 (mid/high 130s lbs), current is 21.6 (around 130).
Other than when first dialing in a good calorie-appropriate eating routine for myself at the start of weight loss, I can't say I've really been particularly hungry at all, in any kind of pattern. If I get hungry when it isn't closing in on a meal time, I eat a snack (something satiating, not necessarily high-calorie).
By preference, I'm an uneven eater. I routinely calorie bank in maintenance, eating 150 or so calories below maintenance most days, in order to have indulgent days or meals once a week or so.
The only real difference I've noticed after a long time in maintenance is that in the last 6 months or so, the indulgent days aren't as high as they once were, mostly. Managing the frequency and magnitude of indulgence is the main maintenance challenge, for me. I'm a hedonistic person, and current me wants all the yummy food and drink all the time (that's how I got fat), but I need to manage that impulse for the sake of future me's health and well-being. It's current-reward vs. future-reward balance, basically, not actual hunger.
I lost the intial 50 pounds fairly fast, but not crazy fast I think (slightly too fast for a while, but corrected quickly).
My eating habits even while obese included lots of high-fiber and basic foods - I've been vegetarian for 45+ years, and for my whole adult life have preferred whole grains and plenty of veggies and traditional foods, not been one to eat the "standard American diet", lots of fast food, lots of junk food, soda pop, sweet coffee drinks, etc. Clearly, to get fat I overate, and that included some less nutrient-dense treat foods, but the core of my diet has been OK-ish for decades. Since some of the people here tout emphasizing fiber/protein/simple foods, I don't know whether my eating background has anything to do with my not really much struggling with hunger, or not.
I think a lot of this stuff is very individualized. I also suspect habits of mind and personality have some bearing on perceived hunger, not just hormonal issues or dietary composition, but that's totally speculative.2 -
Post weight loss and when entering maintenance there might very well exist increased hunger.
The level can depend, a lot, on speed and magnitude of loss, on quantity of remaining fat reserves, maybe even on frequency of re-feeds/diet breaks during loss. I don't think that there exists information to clearly indicate how much and how long and how to best mitigate the situation!
Even though it averages to around 1.1lbs a month, I would say that my initial ~115lb in almost 2 year weight loss had time periods that were too rapid (hence my finding MFP when I was ready to give up and go back to eating "normally"), some diet breaks due to guests/travel, and long periods of reasonable deficits given my stats at the time.
I would say that it took a good couple of years (the first of which averaged -106 Cal a day / -11.1lbs while the second was essentially at maintenance), if not maybe another 4 months past that, before I stopped having to be as vigilant about a propensity to exceed my maintenance level caloric limit.
So my own experience definitely reflects a reduction in perceived hunger above maintenance levels after ~2+ years and seems to correlate well with the many studies that find that the largest predictor of continuing maintenance... is length of maintenance--especially the 2 and 5 year marks1 -
In 7th year of maintenance and only experience hunger pangs the odd day, usually a low protein day.
I didn't lose that much though (25lbs), from what other friends who have lost a lot more say, they seem to experience hunger a lot more...1
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