I'm starving now that I've started running

joowelz

My calorie goals are 1600 on sedentary days and 1750 on days I exercise. For the past six months, my exercise was light jogging on a home treadmill for 35 minutes. Now that the gyms have opened, I have been running intensely for 30 minutes. Problem is I am bloody starving now!!! I ate my usual breakfast at 7 am and lunch at 1 pm, had a smoothie for a snack around 2 pm and it is only 3:11 pm and I feel like I am light headed and going to pass out from starvation. How can I stick to my calorie goals like this? Please help. Dinner isn't until 6 pm and I want to leave calories for my cereal snack before bed.

Plasicage

Water! Seriously start with water! I used to get hungry post runs but since hydrating more pre run, don't feel hungry.
Also consuming more protein in general keeps more hunger at bay. If you're adding calories as snack, try more protein.

sijomial

The beauty of eating back your exercise calories is that as your exercise intensity increases and your body's energy needs increase your calories increase too.

You may well be one of the many people that get a far stronger hunger response from higher intensity exercise compared to low intensity exercise, possibly due to the ratio of carbs and fat burned for fuel at different exercise intensities.

Things to consider:

• The rate of weight loss you have selected, is it still appropriate?
• Matching your exercise estimates to your new routine.
• Your carb intake, carbs support intense exercise very well.
• Are your meals and snacks satiating? (Liquid calories like smoothies tend not to be.)

joowelz

@sijomial Thanks for this! Yes, my goal is only 0.5 lbs per week. My meals are satisfying, though I always wish I could eat just a bit more. What do you mean by exercise estimates matching my new routine? Good point about carbs - I will check my macros.

joowelz

Very eye opening! I need to up my carbs.

Lietchi

150 calories extra on exercise days sounds like too little for 30 minutes intense running.

You might want to check out this calculator to know how many calories your exercise burns (choose net instead of gross calories):
https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs

You might be able to eat a bit more than you think.

sijomial

joowelz wrote: »

@sijomial Thanks for this! Yes, my goal is only 05 lbs per week. My meals are satisfying, though I always wish I could eat just a bit more. What do you mean by exercise estimates matching my new routine? Good point about carbs - I will check my macros.

If you are running further your calorie burn will have gone up - your estimates should reflect that, you seemed to be on a flat 150cals extra compared to days when you don't exercise.
Extreme example: I cycled 50 miles on Monday and will cycle 100 miles tomorrow, my burns will be roughly double and I will have to eat accordingly.

Forgive me saying but if you ate lunch at 1pm, snacked at 2pm and were starving an hour later that doesn't sound very satiating to me. Maybe you could shift your calories around to match when you are most hungry? e.g. bigger lunch and smaller dinner.

spiriteagle99

I think you need to increase your calories. I eat back 100% of my running and walking calories. I still lost weight and now am able to maintain it. You also may need to tweek what you eat. More protein or fat may be more filling or more lasting.

kshama2001

joowelz wrote: »

My calorie goals are 1600 on sedentary days and 1750 on days I exercise. For the past six months, my exercise was light jogging on a home treadmill for 35 minutes. Now that the gyms have opened, I have been running intensely for 30 minutes. Problem is I am bloody starving now!!! I ate my usual breakfast at 7 am and lunch at 1 pm, had a smoothie for a snack around 2 pm and it is only 3:11 pm and I feel like I am light headed and going to pass out from starvation. How can I stick to my calorie goals like this? Please help. Dinner isn't until 6 pm and I want to leave calories for my cereal snack before bed.

When you tell MFP that you ran at X mph for 30 minutes, how many calories does it give you?

lillyy23

yeah i agree with everyone else. I feel like also you just said that like the gym just opened up so you started running again, so it might be too much for your body to keep up with you. you should start with 10-15 mins and then do 30 ... but are you working out at home AND working out at the gym too... especially when it comes to cardio... you will feel hungry... you should be like calorie cycling, but not just eat, eat more protein on your workout days

nooshi713

I feel you. I lose more effectively without designated exercise because it makes me so hungry. I’m good with walking and getting lots of steps but running or weights make me so hungry that I can’t usually stick to my calories.

westrich20940

So on a day you do not work out your calorie goal is 1600, right? If you used MFP then that should already be at a deficit so if you are then adding exercise calories burned....of course you're going to be hungry.

How far are you running and at what pace/speed....there's no way for us to know how many calories you're burning.

If your calorie goal is already set at a deficit...then you should be eating back some amount of your exercise cals --- 50-100% depending on how hungry you are.

As an example: I'm 34F, anywhere between 116-120ish lbs, 5'3", if I run 6 miles (which takes ~1hr) I'm burning between 400-500 cals depending on my pace. I am ABSOLUTELY RAVENOUS on those days, lol.