Metabolism question

knittinlady

I have lost about 30 pounds this year so far, but I hit a plateau in June. I'm still working on breaking through it; I still have 30 I want to lose. Suddenly (as in this week), I'm constantly starving. No matter what I eat, I'm hungry again within an hour. High fat, low fat, carbs, protein... it doesn't matter. Even if I ate a big meal.

So my friends are full of opinions about this; one says it means I need to cut out all carbs from my diet. (NOT going to happen) I'm not into crash-diets of any kind. I'm doing this the old-fashioned way: eat less and exercise more. No fad diets or fad workouts. And no cheats(pills, wraps, etc).

I'm wondering if it means my metabolism is speeding up(which would be awesome). I'm a lot more active than I was when I started. But I'm still trying to keep my calories under 1300(I bumped it up a while back when 1200 just wasn't enough). Should I be eating more? Eating more often? Keep things the same and be glad my body is doing something different? lol

Lizzy622

You may need to recalculate again and bump up. If you are set at 2 pounds you may want to reset at only one. Are you eating back all or at least most of your exercise calories? I find I am starving if I don't eat back at least half. I have also upped my protein a bit and lowered my carbs a bit. I am now eating 45% carbs, 25% protein and 30% fat. Just some ideas. Good luck.

Mr_Knight

Four months is a long time. If you're stalled for four months, that means you're eating at maintenance. So there really are only two choices - get more active, or eat less.

Confuzzled4ever

Well...

i don't think you are eating enough honestly. 1300 isn't' a lot. I know because I end up at that number a lot unintentionally and I never lose if I end there for days in a row. i lose when I eat enough to fuel my body.

that number is different for everyone. You need to find your BMR and your TDEE and eat somewhere between the two. I have a scale at home that tells me those numbers and it's not far off calculators I've done online.

I need to eat smaller meals throughout the day otherwise i am unable to eat enough. This is not true for everyone. I also can't eat sugar laden and salt laden food or fried foods. My body doesn't like them. This is also untrue for some. Listen to your body, it will tell you what it needs. I need to eat a mostly clean diet or I don't feel well, this is also not true for everyone.

If you are eating at maintenance you're either eating more then you think you are or your body is holding on to the calories because it's not getting enough food. My thought is, if you are that hungry, you are not eating enough to sustain your level of exercise. I recently reset my eating habits, which meant a fwe weeks of super clean eating. I could not exercise much during those weeks because lack of energy. I'm glad it's over, but it kick started my weight loss. Got me back on track and I feel much much better. You might just need to reevaluate your diet and make sure it's one that helps you reach your goals. I do better with higher protein lower carbs. Not everyone does. a few high carb days here and there and i'm golden. You just have to see what works best for you.

Are you eating healthy fat everyday?? Olive oil? Avocado? peanut only PB? You need that in order to process food and extract nutrients properly. I struggle with that nutrient a lot, but when I get those in every day I lose quicker. If you lift, are you giving your muscles the protein they need to rebuild? if you run are you eating the carbs you need for energy??

Basically you need to find your BMR/TDEE numbers. Set the goal there and then experiment with diets and foods until you find the optimal one for you. (and by diets i mean food choices, not a diet like atkins/primal etc..)

knittinlady

Okay, I found a BMR/TDEE calculator online. It said my BMR is 1442, and my TDEE is 1983. No wonder I'm stalled! Okay, I'm going to try bumping up my calories again, and see if that helps.