Always hungry?

rjandrey25

Hey everyone. I am new to the group. I just started MFP this week, and I am on my fifth day. A little background on me: I am 5'7" (I like to round up) and 129 lbs. MFP pal set a 1200 cal goal for me, and I am currently training for my second half marathon. I usually eat around 1700-2000 calories and end up netting around 1200 with exercise. I just want to drop around 4 lbs before the race so I have less weight to carry the distance. I run around 4-6 days a week and just started doing Jillian Michaels 6 week six pack a couple days a week to tone up before a vacation. I was wondering if you guys ever feel too restricted with the calories. I am hungry a lot of the time... and I feel like exercising is the only way I can eat more... but exercising makes me hungrier... so it's an endless circle. I try to eat quality foods to keep me full (a lot of chicken, rice, veggies, yogurt, fruit, etc). Do you think I should increase the calories, or just ride it out for a little longer until my body gets used to the changes?

Thanks!

josephinabonetto

I am hungrier on 1200 calories. Some days I can do it ok but I found it difficult to sustain it. I might try upping them a bit if I were you. I like this calculator for working out my calorie goals http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

jsapninz

How quickly did you set MFP's rate of weight loss? I am guessing probably more like 2 lbs a week instead of 1, the latter of which is more realistic if you don't have much to lose. This may be your problem.

I am glad you have your NET at 1200 but are using exercise to keep your intake high, because that is important.

That said, it does take awhile to get used to restricting your calories. Weeks, not days.

rjandrey25

Thanks for the feedback. It's at the default of 1/lb per week not 2.

kelseyhere

I was having this problem until I quit eating grains (bread, pasta, oatmeal, quinoa, etc.). Now the majority of my calories come from meat. To tell you the truth, I almost find it difficult to reach my net of 1230 on this diet because all the meat makes me so full. 200 calories of spaghetti hardly puts a dent in my hunger but 200 calories of steak, that's hard to eat!

jsapninz

Thanks for the feedback. It's at the default of 1/lb per week not 2.

Good.

Then just give it time.

Make sure you are eating healthy, unprocessed foods that are calorie sparce like vegetables and whole grains. You want your body to take its time working through digesting them so you full longer. And like kels says make sure you are getting plenty of protein, at least 1 g protein per kg of body weight (so if you weight 150 lbs then 150/2.2 kgs in lb = 68 gs of protein a day), mfp defaults are unreasonably low.

And after that it is just a mental game. It takes you weeks to adjust to being satisfied eating at a cut.

Good luck! :flowerforyou:

rjandrey25

Thanks for the advise. I am getting plenty of protein (usually 80-100 gs), and I won't cut out carbs. I do way too much running for that, and my body needs those carbs. I looked back on my diet though, and it seems like I am usually low on fat and fiber (despite eating a good amount of veggies). I am going to try and up those and see what happens. Thanks again!

Ewhip2

A couple tricks I've learned: eat slowly and spread your meals out. The slower you eat the more time your brain has to register the food. Once you put food on your plate your bound to eat it, so put on half as much as you usually do, eat that slowly, wait 20-30 minutes, then if you're still hungry get some more.

Another tip is to drink LOTS of water. Hunger can easy be confused with thirst, and even if you are actually hungry not thirsty, water will fill some of your stomach up. Drink a glass of water before eating anything, and you'll feel fuller sooner and eat less.