Calorie deficeit and hunger

MagdaSea

I began just over a month ago on MFP and tried to maintain a diet of just under 900 calories. I realize that this was quite the large deficit but I wanted to see a change quickly. On average I'd say that I consume around 1100 calories a day and usually eat back my exercise macros. I try to keep my carbs fairly low considering I workout 6 days a week (75g), fat at an decent level (30g) and protein high (around 100g).

Now initially I was obviously hungry a lot. Especially since I was working out quite a bit. I did cycle my carb and calorie levels so there were definitely cheat days.

However, over the last two weeks or so, I have noticed that I am no longer hungry. My macros intake will be fairly under for the day and I will have to force myself to eat. I still go to the gym and burn roughly the same amount of calories daily, but I just don't have the appetite any more. I'm worried that I'm eating too little to maintain positive muscle growth and at the same time I'm wondering if this is just a phase and I should listen to my body despite the deficit.

SugaryLynx

Hunger is never a good cue for you to use. The body adjusts to certain intakes. Leptin levels stabilize after a certain amount of time, which is why even though you're under eating, you're not hungry. I, personally, wouldn't sustain a diet of under 1200. If you're concerned about long term damage not only to your muscles but metabolism, I suggest trying to now find a sustainable deficit. Occasional low days won't hurt but weeks of consistently under eating CAN effect you.

Also, with so little left to lose, there's no reason to race.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

MagdaSea

Okay that makes sense. It's just that until I created that much of a deficit, the scale wasn't budging. I suppose I'm afraid that I'll begin gaining weight again if I up my calories.

Branstin

You won't if you beef up your exercise.

_Nicklebee

As people have said, you're way under-eating. The weight you're losing is possibly muscle, not fat. So you're actually in reality not losing anything. You need to get up to a healthy calorie intake of AT LEAST 1,200. Remember WHAT you eat is what matters. You could really eat MORE calories and have the same effect of eating less if you're eating the right stuff. Don't just focus on calories, look at WHAT you're eating. Labels are your best friend.

Ang108

I began just over a month ago on MFP and tried to maintain a diet of just under 900 calories. I realize that this was quite the large deficit but I wanted to see a change quickly. On average I'd say that I consume around 1100 calories a day and usually eat back my exercise macros. I try to keep my carbs fairly low considering I workout 6 days a week (75g), fat at an decent level (30g) and protein high (around 100g).

Now initially I was obviously hungry a lot. Especially since I was working out quite a bit. I did cycle my carb and calorie levels so there were definitely cheat days.

However, over the last two weeks or so, I have noticed that I am no longer hungry. My macros intake will be fairly under for the day and I will have to force myself to eat. I still go to the gym and burn roughly the same amount of calories daily, but I just don't have the appetite any more. I'm worried that I'm eating too little to maintain positive muscle growth and at the same time I'm wondering if this is just a phase and I should listen to my body despite the deficit.

One word:

Patience !

oops, something went wrong.....more in the post below.....:o) !

Ang108

I began just over a month ago on MFP and tried to maintain a diet of just under 900 calories. I realize that this was quite the large deficit but I wanted to see a change quickly. On average I'd say that I consume around 1100 calories a day and usually eat back my exercise macros. I try to keep my carbs fairly low considering I workout 6 days a week (75g), fat at an decent level (30g) and protein high (around 100g).

Now initially I was obviously hungry a lot. Especially since I was working out quite a bit. I did cycle my carb and calorie levels so there were definitely cheat days.

However, over the last two weeks or so, I have noticed that I am no longer hungry. My macros intake will be fairly under for the day and I will have to force myself to eat. I still go to the gym and burn roughly the same amount of calories daily, but I just don't have the appetite any more. I'm worried that I'm eating too little to maintain positive muscle growth and at the same time I'm wondering if this is just a phase and I should listen to my body despite the deficit.

One word:

Patience !

You joined a month ago or less, and expect the success people have after several month.
Please set up a regimen that allows you to eat at an acceptable deficit, add the kind of exercise you like to do ( because for actual weight loss it is not really necessary, but helps in health & fitness), weigh all your food, log all your food consistently and hang in there for a month or two. You will see success !
Constant changes will not help you at all and will make it impossible for anyone to give you advise, because you have not taken enough time to find out what actually works for you.

MagdaSea

Hmm alright? I was actually not complaining about results. At all. I am very satisfied with my weight and muscle tone considering I am only one month into working out. Nor is this the first time I have had a steady workout schedule or watched what I ate.

However this would be the first time that I'm monitoring things other than calories.

My only concern was that despite the rather large deficit, I no longer felt hungry.

But as the first few posters said I suppose this is just my body adjusting and I'll have to put more hours in at the gym if I'm going to up my calories.

Apocalypz

I had the same concern -- not feeling hungry. I noticed that, similar to the previous posters, I didn't necessarily feel hungry; however, I noticed that I felt a little weak. I didn't want food though, because my tummy didn't say "I feel empty". It was the lack of energy that told me I needed to eat.

With a bit of agreement with some other concerns shared, that is a rather large kcal deficit. One which is definitely going to eat away at the muscle that you don't want to lose. To echo what someone else had said, 1500 kcal of proper food is going to work with your body much better than 900 kcal of less healthy choices. For example, I eat loads of veg, fruit and beans every day -- well over what you're intake -- and I'm keeping my muscle. My 2 cents....

summerjoy87

I know what you mean about the deficit and not wanting to eat. I just got braces and lost 1 lb. in 4 days because I couldn't eat! Now I am having to force myself to eat more than 900 cals. per day. I haven't exercised until today, and I have been eating better. I did not gain the weight back, but I know it is more important to eat healthy and exercise, so if I gain, I am fine with it. I only want to lose about 10 pounds.

EvenThatNameIsTaken

I began just over a month ago on MFP and tried to maintain a diet of just under 900 calories. I realize that this was quite the large deficit but I wanted to see a change quickly. On average I'd say that I consume around 1100 calories a day and usually eat back my exercise macros. I try to keep my carbs fairly low considering I workout 6 days a week (75g), fat at an decent level (30g) and protein high (around 100g).

Now initially I was obviously hungry a lot. Especially since I was working out quite a bit. I did cycle my carb and calorie levels so there were definitely cheat days.

However, over the last two weeks or so, I have noticed that I am no longer hungry. My macros intake will be fairly under for the day and I will have to force myself to eat. I still go to the gym and burn roughly the same amount of calories daily, but I just don't have the appetite any more. I'm worried that I'm eating too little to maintain positive muscle growth and at the same time I'm wondering if this is just a phase and I should listen to my body despite the deficit.

The short answer is, you should have listened to your body when it was "hungry a lot."

It can be hard to know when to trust your body signals and when not to. I think basically your body has gotten used to you giving it that low amount of food, so it's learned to live on that for now, it has given up asking for more because it's figured out your plan. You were hungry a lot at first, you say, so this makes sense. You ignored the signals so your body gave up sending them. Should you start to eat more, you might find that suddenly you are more hungry because your body says "oh i'm getting more food again? maybe if i ask for more i'll actually get some!" It would probably reward you better in the gym too, if you give it more fuel to work with.

The deficit is most likely too large, and you already realize that, so you need to reduce it (up your calories) to function better and to keep exercising in a beneficial way.

How much to up your calories? That is a personal number but I'm sure you will get lots of advice, a good start is finding out about BMR and in general, trying to keep your number *at minimum* above that (and much higher if you can and still lose weight!). I'm still learning about all this myself, but find learning about BMR and TDEE and scooby's calculators and all that, it's helped a LOT. Active people can and should eat more. There's a bunch of forum posts at the top of all the different sections that give a great overview of the basics of successful, sustainable weight loss. You have an appreciable number of lbs gone, probably best to get comfortable now with losing weight at a slower but more healthy pace.

good luck ^^

MagdaSea

I have certainly noticed that I get a bit weak or tired or even easily aggravated. I suppose I should be eating more and I do attempt to eat more most days. I just know I have a huge sweet tooth and so I get worried that instead of eating more veggies (or something equally healthy) I'll somehow justify eating a muffin, I guess I'm avoiding being in the kitchen?

As far as listening to my body in the first place. Well I knew I'd be hungry because I was eating almost 50% less than I had been. I was coming off a rather bad stint of eating junk and being a couch potato. I reached a happy medium during which I worked out, ate at a deficit and my appetite was at a controlled level.

In the past though, I could eat less and be fine as far as hunger. But as soon as I'd begin working out, I'd get a huge increase in appetite. This second part hasn't happened this time around and the only thing I've been doing differently is including large amounts of protein in my diet. This is why I was questioning listing to my body when it's saying it's not hungry; hasn't happened before.

neandermagnon

one of the body's survival responses to long term calorie shortage is to shut down hunger signals. However, they haven't gone away, they tend to come back with avengence leading to binge eating.... which is another survival response to this situation

seriously eat more. You won't see change quickly with only a few lbs to lose, and too big a deficit at this stage leads to loss of muscle tissue and bone density. Fat is lost slowly, and the less of it you have, the slower it's lost. Aim for a very small deficit, and slow, steady fat loss, while feeding your body enough to sustain it.

huge increase in appetite from exercising = normal. your body needs to be fed after exercise. Plan a balanced post-workout meal containing protein and carbs, and eat this after exercising.

being tempted to eat a muffin .... if you have your calorie goal set up so you can eat the highest number of calories you can while still losing weight slowly and steadily, then eating a muffin isn't going to harm your progress. Log the calories and over the course of a day, don't go over your calorie goal.

You don't have to eat so little to make progress, in fact eating more is better all round, because there is a lot more to being healthy than how much body fat you have. To be healthy you also need strong muscles, dense bones, a strong cardiovascular system and strong lungs, blood pressure in the healthy range and healthy amounts of lipids etc in the blood. Exercise goes a long way to achieving all of these, and eating well, including getting plenty of protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins (including fat soluble ones) and minerals. Loss of body fat comes from a calorie deficit, but too big a deficit compromises many other factors that contribute to good health, and it sets you up for binge eating. Instead, a small calorie deficit for slow and steady fat loss plus exercise enables you to be healthy in terms of ALL the things that contribute to health, and you're not sacrificing most of them for just one factor. Also, you look better naked when you're healthier as opposed to just sacrificed everything else to be a particular number on the scale.

MelodyandBarbells

Hmm alright? I was actually not complaining about results. At all. I am very satisfied with my weight and muscle tone considering I am only one month into working out. Nor is this the first time I have had a steady workout schedule or watched what I ate.

However this would be the first time that I'm monitoring things other than calories.

My only concern was that despite the rather large deficit, I no longer felt hungry.

But as the first few posters said I suppose this is just my body adjusting and I'll have to put more hours in at the gym if I'm going to up my calories.

Please be clear that a lot of the suggestions are asking you to reduce your deficit. If you eat a bit more then work out more to burn it all off, you'll be at the same net calories. With a 900 calorie deficit currently, you can eat some of that and not plan to exercise it off. You'll lose weight a bit more slowly but per all the other posts you've just read may be better off.

Iwishyouwell

Whenever I eat at a large deficit for long enough, hunger drops. I actually only occasionally experience real, true "hunger" when losing weight. That's because I rely on large deficits, with little exercise, when I'm cutting fat.

I only have persistent, true hunger regularly when I'm working out and eating at my maintenance level.