increase in appetite

cssm

hi everyone i have been working my butt of lately... literally. im running 5km four days a week aswell as daily strength training. this may sound like a stupid question but im finding i need more food inbetween my allocated meals. i am desperate to lose weight so my head says no, but if i dont eat i feel lightheaded. should my appetite increase? does this sound about right?

seekingstrengthX2

You absolutely should be eating more if you are exercising that much. If you don't, the weight will come off more slowly because your body will think you are starving yourself. If you would normally eat 1200 calories per day and you burn 500 running, you should eat 1700 calories that day (give or take). Always breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner.

cliffdc

Happens to me to (sometimes I do two workouts in a day)

Can I recommend a book, at least a chapter, it is in "Racing Weight" by Fitzgerald.
It should be called "better body composition" but there is great stuff on fueling before during and after exercise as well as managing your appetite. Water/nutrients matter a lot, a lot, a lot.

I keep my copy handy and skim it frequently (2x weekly). Good stuff.

heybales

Feed those workouts, allow your metabolism to increase.

The alternative you don't want.
Fight through the hunger and don't eat more.
Your metabolism will lower to what you are providing it for basic functions of human life.
And now how much you burn in ALL activities will lower.
Then you won't be hungry anymore.

And I'd bet that you are already underfeeding your BMR.

Use the MFP Tools Calculator for BMR. That is estimate of what your body could be burning everyday with healthy metabolism.
I'll bet your 1200 daily eating goal is 300-500 below that. That's bad.

Even if you are eating some/most of your exercise calories, the net effect is still underfeeding what could be a healthy BMR level, which means it has to lower eventually, if not already.