Raised my calories last week and I'm hungrier???

Deena_Bean

Why??? I was eating 1200 and not often 'hungry' but realized it's an insufficient intake with my height/weight/goals, so I changed it to 1640. Now I get hungry more. I have the calories available to eat the food when I get hungry, but is this a good/normal thing?

fivethreeone

Yes! Completely normal and good!

The hormones that regulate hunger are produced in proportion to your intake. If you eat less, you feel less hungry. That's how you can eat too little at 1200 and not feel hungry. If you eat more, you feel more hungry as your body adjusts to the new intake. Give it a few days. You're right where you should be.

Deena_Bean

Oh....gooooood news because I really feel like a fish out of water right now since I changed the calorie. I was so regimented with the 1200 that I am struggling with thinking it's "ok" to eat more, too.

If anyone has any input on this as well that'd be helpful. Today I did my fat2fit calculations and my BMR is 1695 and I think that my 'maintenance' amount is 2039 (that's lightly active, but I'm hoping to increase my activity overall which would bring it up a level to 2299). So having my intake right now at 1640, is that too high? Should I back it up to like 1500 or 1550? I'm seriously floundering here. I've been reading a lot, but I haven't made the connections all the way yet....sigh....just want this to work the right way so it stays 'good' forever! :sad:

_lyndseybrooke_

Oh....gooooood news because I really feel like a fish out of water right now since I changed the calorie. I was so regimented with the 1200 that I am struggling with thinking it's "ok" to eat more, too.

If anyone has any input on this as well that'd be helpful. Today I did my fat2fit calculations and my BMR is 1695 and I think that my 'maintenance' amount is 2039 (that's lightly active, but I'm hoping to increase my activity overall which would bring it up a level to 2299). So having my intake right now at 1640, is that too high? Should I back it up to like 1500 or 1550? I'm seriously floundering here. I've been reading a lot, but I haven't made the connections all the way yet....sigh....just want this to work the right way so it stays 'good' forever! :sad:

If your BMR is 1695, 1640 definitely isn't too high.

fivethreeone

Oh....gooooood news because I really feel like a fish out of water right now since I changed the calorie. I was so regimented with the 1200 that I am struggling with thinking it's "ok" to eat more, too.

If anyone has any input on this as well that'd be helpful. Today I did my fat2fit calculations and my BMR is 1695 and I think that my 'maintenance' amount is 2039 (that's lightly active, but I'm hoping to increase my activity overall which would bring it up a level to 2299). So having my intake right now at 1640, is that too high? Should I back it up to like 1500 or 1550? I'm seriously floundering here. I've been reading a lot, but I haven't made the connections all the way yet....sigh....just want this to work the right way so it stays 'good' forever! :sad:

If your BMR is 1695, 1640 definitely isn't too high.

Your BMR is the lowest you should ever eat. For sustainable weight loss, you should probably be eating about 1750/1800, or 15% less than your TDEE (maintenance calorie level. 15% is because you have 20 or less lbs to lose. If you had 20-40 to lose, it would be about 20% less, because you can get away with a larger deficit when you have more to lose).

Don't worry, your body will adjust. It's a good thing!

(eta a better explanation)

Deena_Bean

OMG so eating 1200/day was like body torture for two months? Oops. So basically I should probably even eat a little more than the 1640? Who knew...I think I'll stick with this a little while and see how it goes. Based on the BMR/TDEE and using MFP should I or should I not eat back exercise calories? I'm getting a little confused right now, sorry.

fivethreeone

OMG so eating 1200/day was like body torture for two months? Oops. So basically I should probably even eat a little more than the 1640? Who knew...I think I'll stick with this a little while and see how it goes. Based on the BMR/TDEE and using MFP should I or should I not eat back exercise calories? I'm getting a little confused right now, sorry.

No worries, we all started somewhere

So if you use TDEE, your activity level is already factored into the equation, meaning you don't need to log exercise calories.

For me and a lot of other people, it makes it easier if we log all exercise as 1 calorie burned, that way it doesn't mess with the overall calories.

If you want a more detailed explanation, I wrote one here on my blog: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/fivethreeone/view/how-did-i-eat-the-basics-tdee-calories-macros-570878

Deena_Bean

Thank you for the link to your blog, I just read it all and it is enlightening. I just recently started paying attention to the macros and honestly I'm a little overwhelmed since I'm gathering all of this information now at the same time! It feels almost impossible to get it 'right' but I appreciate the guidance so far. I think I'm starting down the right path now and I'm going to keep reading and remain patient. I sorta sabotaged my metabolism, I think, so I will give my body a little time to realize I didn't mean to torture it LOL. Geez. My Lean Body Mass (according to the fat2fit site) was 135 lbs. I have a scale that reads body fat percentage, so it seems like the calculations were more accurate than some are. I'll be going back to your blog and then to my MFP goals and stuff to try and sort out my daily goals...soon. I am still in the "convince yourself" stage, but it is certainly very clear logic. Thanks again for taking the time to answer me and help sort this out. It is making it easier to hear encouraging, supporting things about the changes I need to make. I have about 15-20 pounds left to lose, but my body fat isn't bad (21.9%)...so I've started considering the muscle building (not crazy muscles, but not flabby bye-bye arms either) and a little more activity. I have always been pretty active, but I want to be a bit stronger too.