Feeling so hungry in a calorie deficit

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Replies

  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,196 Member
    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    Thank for the input. I want to lose 0.5 lb per week which is why I’m using the TDEE calculator. Last year I went through metabolic adaptations where I was constantly dieting/yo-yo dieting or binging. I did a post about it in the maintenance section but I don’t know how to post the link.

    First, I'm glad if I can be any help. My child has PCOS and it definitely makes weight control more challenging. Congratulations for sticking with it and trying to figure out what works for you. The most important lesson I learned from my child is that your weight is your business.

    MFP uses the standard TDEE formula when you give it your stats. My point is that I set for sedentary and add in for exercise. Setting for a .5lb per week loss is completely reasonable.
    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    I did a reverse diet which was successful and then a small bulk so I’ve gained a little weight. I also played around with intuitive eating. I have WAY more energy than I used to so could it be possible that my TDEE has increased?

    Using a fitness watch can help to establish your daily TDEE, accounting for how much you move. It's not exact and it can cause people (e.g., me) to overeat slightly. (It grants you a bunch of calories

    My wife hates calorie counting and has lost a significant amount of weight without it. She used a rules-based approach, working closely with a dietician. MFPers are all calorie-counters, so we all promote calorie counting.
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,253 Member
    I find that when those hungry days come around, which is almost always the case during a certain week of the month, I can eat higher volume (but still low calorie) foods and it will help take the incessant hungries away...so I'll fill up on salad or green beans or broccoli or other non-starchy veggies, so my stomach gets a nice "I'm full and ate a big meal" feeling while still keeping within my calorie goals.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 26,272 Member
    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    I use a TDEE method where my rough TDEE is 2400 and I’m aiming to eat more on my workout days. I also cycle my calories so my days could look like this- 2300, 2100, 2000, 2300 etc. Those are my gross calories. I’m really trying to lose slowly but this seems weird because a few months ago I used to feel full on 2000 calories.

    Your initial question about hunger has been well answered: over time, the stomach gremlins will quiet down. When you first cut your intake back, they go a bit wild.

    I can't tell if your approach will be successful. It depends a lot on your particulars.

    The term "TDEE method" usually means eating a fixed number of calories per day. (It's a misnomer, since your TDEE varies day-to-day. Maybe eating a fixed number of calories per day should be called the "Mean TDEE method," or something.)

    Anyway, my most successful approach has been to put in my stats, set my activity to sedentary, select 1lb per week loss, then add in for workouts. When I've followed the calorie guidelines faithfully, this has produced at least a 1lb per week loss and sometimes greater.

    More recently, I have a Garmin watch that computes my activity calories (from exercise or incidental activities) and uploads them to MFP. (I've had a fitbit in the past that does the same thing.) It seems a bit generous at times, and I try to under-eat the total. But, when I've followed the guidelines carefully, it's still worked, albeit a bit more slowly than by the above method without the incidental calories accounted for.

    Best of luck!

    Thank for the input. I want to lose 0.5 lb per week which is why I’m using the TDEE calculator. Last year I went through metabolic adaptations where I was constantly dieting/yo-yo dieting or binging. I did a post about it in the maintenance section but I don’t know how to post the link.
    I did a reverse diet which was successful and then a small bulk so I’ve gained a little weight. I also played around with intuitive eating. I have WAY more energy than I used to so could it be possible that my TDEE has increased?

    Yes, possible.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 26,272 Member
    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    Thank for the input. I want to lose 0.5 lb per week which is why I’m using the TDEE calculator. Last year I went through metabolic adaptations where I was constantly dieting/yo-yo dieting or binging. I did a post about it in the maintenance section but I don’t know how to post the link.

    First, I'm glad if I can be any help. My child has PCOS and it definitely makes weight control more challenging. Congratulations for sticking with it and trying to figure out what works for you. The most important lesson I learned from my child is that your weight is your business.

    MFP uses the standard TDEE formula when you give it your stats. My point is that I set for sedentary and add in for exercise. Setting for a .5lb per week loss is completely reasonable.
    xxzenabxx wrote: »
    I did a reverse diet which was successful and then a small bulk so I’ve gained a little weight. I also played around with intuitive eating. I have WAY more energy than I used to so could it be possible that my TDEE has increased?

    Using a fitness watch can help to establish your daily TDEE, accounting for how much you move. It's not exact and it can cause people (e.g., me) to overeat slightly. (It grants you a bunch of calories

    My wife hates calorie counting and has lost a significant amount of weight without it. She used a rules-based approach, working closely with a dietician. MFPers are all calorie-counters, so we all promote calorie counting.

    A fitness watch could also cause people (e.g. me) to undereat slightly . . . maybe more than slightly, even. Yours gives you an overestimate of TDEE, it seems. Mine gives me an underestimate of TDEE.

    A tracker might help OP in the long run, sure, but in the short run it's just another source whose estimate needs to be tested and validated. They can work great for people who are close to average, no question.

    IIRC, you and I use the same brand of tracker, Garmin.

    Also, MFP doesn't use the standard TDEE calculator. There are multiple research-based TDEE formulas in play, and MFP estimates BMR+NEAT, not TDEE.

    Even if someone tries to set MFP activity level based on activity including exercise (counter to instructions), the results may vary from common TDEE calculators. Under the covers, MFP uses different multiplier values for activity than many of the TDEE calculators, even for the same activity level label (such as "sedentary") because the design assumptions differ.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,196 Member
    @AnnPT77 always has interesting posts!

    So, if you set MFP to sedentary and turn off negative calorie adjustments, then Garmin can only add calories. Are you saying you feel like it gives too few? Today, for example, it's giving me an extra 200kcals and I've done practically nothing active.

    With regard to a TDEE calculator, MFP must use the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation, as it is very close to it. You can play with this version (which I've posted before)

    https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

    Yes yes yes, this is just a BMR calculation with a multiplicative factor to estimate NEAT, but the goal is to estimate TDEE. How good the estimate is can only be determined by counting your intake and watching your weight.

    Just so everyone knows: Even though this is a very simple formula based on a population average, it works very well for me!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 26,272 Member
    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    @AnnPT77 always has interesting posts!

    So, if you set MFP to sedentary and turn off negative calorie adjustments, then Garmin can only add calories. Are you saying you feel like it gives too few? Today, for example, it's giving me an extra 200kcals and I've done practically nothing active.

    With regard to a TDEE calculator, MFP must use the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation, as it is very close to it. You can play with this version (which I've posted before)

    https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

    Yes yes yes, this is just a BMR calculation with a multiplicative factor to estimate NEAT, but the goal is to estimate TDEE. How good the estimate is can only be determined by counting your intake and watching your weight.

    Just so everyone knows: Even though this is a very simple formula based on a population average, it works very well for me!

    I am saying that my Garmin estimates my all-day calorie burn most days in the 1500-1800 kind of zone, with occasional days on either side of that. My current 7-day average estimated calorie burn in Connect is 1595 (which of course right now includes only a partial day for today, so it'll land a little higher).

    Nonetheless, I've been losing weight very slowly for months on a carefully-logged 1850 net calories most days, often over 2000 calories gross intake, and with a few well over maintenance days (4000+ calories) thrown in there but not fully logged. This is a device I've had for over 2 years, so it's had plenty of time to learn me; I've told it my tested HRmax, which is higher than age-estimated; I wear it 24x7 except when charging. I've been logging weight, calorie intake, exercise carefully the overwhelming majority of days since July 2015. Based on logging experience, I'd put my average experiential TDEE in the bottom half of the 2000s someplace, depending on exercise - probably somewhere 2000-2200 net. (Because I prefer an uneven eating pattern, I haven't tried to pin it closer than that, for my current bodyweight. I eat a little under maintenance most days, indulge on others, watch the scale, in maintenance.)

    The inescapable conclusion, IMO, is that the device is underestimating calories for me. I wouldn't consider synching it to MFP, because it would create inconvenience for me without any particular benefit. I know how much to eat to accomplish my weight goals, after 5+ years of maintaining a BMI in the lower 20s.

    As an aside, MFP similarly underestimates my calorie needs, by roughly the same factor. It seems really likely that I'm somewhere in the direction of a statistical outlier, given those facts, since both this device and MFP produce much more reasonable estimates for others. That's not common, but it can happen.

    MFP gives good estimates for most people. Trackers give good estimates for most people. Either of those (or a TDEE calculator result) needs to be tested and evaluated, as you say. (I don't think we're disagreeing about that.) My point was that an activity tracker might help OP in the long run, but in the short run, it's just another estimate that needs to be tested/validated.

    As an aside, for a TDEE calculator, I actually prefer Sailrabbit, as it has more activity levels, better descriptions of those levels, and lets one compare the results from different BMR formulas, among other things I like. (I admit it has a crazy-busy user interface, as a result.)

    https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,196 Member
    @AnnPT77 : That is really interesting! Garmin ought to have an adjustment for that situation! I wonder if fitbit or apple watch would do any better.

    On a related note: I'm convinced that Garmin under-estimates calorie burn for swimming. I've compared with a number of other estimators.

    To anyone else who is interested, there is the rub with all these formulas. They are based on population average and your personal TDEE can vary. The bottom line given by your personal weight trend, assuming you are logging carefully. (I am rather approximate.)
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 593 Member
    Strategies I use:
    Deferral — drink a glass of water, then another. Keep busy
    Avoid the hunger by eating throughout the day — I have a big breakfast, lighter lunch, protein snack, dinner with salad.

    The most difficult part of the day — the evening, after dinner. I often want a snack. To deal with this I wait as long as possible, then if I have something I’ll have a small portion and eat it as slowly as possible. Eg., rather than have a bowl of peanuts, I’ll have a small handful of peanuts and eat them one at a time.
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
    Thanks for sharing your diary, you look to be eating well and with plenty of water.
    My only suggestion would be to add more salad/veggies, to add bulk with minimal calories.
    So try 3 servings of salad instead of 1.5, etc.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,894 Member
    Excellent news.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 26,272 Member
    Good news! And thank you for coming back with an update, I think that can be really helpful for others who may've been wrestling with the same things . . . and I have to admit, I'm always curious how things turned out, when I've seen the initial query/discussion.

    Wishing you smooth progress from here!

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