Always Hungry!

Graelwyn75

I am eating upwards of 1900 calories, lately hitting up to 2300 a day, but I am always hungry after dinner, and it is driving me bonkers.

I do the stronglifts twice a week currently, as well as running(usually a 5k or 20 minutes hiit), elliptical(set to level 10 intervals or hills... ie, very high resistance), stationary bike(same as elliptical) and now an hour long boxfit/circuit training class. I seldom do more than an hour of cardio when I do it, and if running, it is only 20-30 minutes so I am at a loss as to why my appetite is so intense. I used to cycle for 60-180 minutes on a daily basis and never got this big of an appetite. I can only guess that it is due to the fact I do my cardio at a high resistance(usually dripping sweat by the end) or somesuch. I mean, I cannot have that high of a metabolism as I am 37 now and with a history of anorexia when I was younger, as well as an underactive thyroid(on medication for that).

Get 100g plus of protein a day, had my fat set to 30% but am debating upping my fat as I notice I get hungrier when I have carbs with my dinner than not. Not sure what else to do, as I am already eating a hell of a lot and quite honestly, I don't wish to put on much weight if any as I am already almost 14Ibs more than I was last year when I was cycling and that has been difficult enough to deal with, given my history. I never imagined I would be able to accept a higher weight, let alone throw myself into weight lifting, knowing there is the potential to gain weight doing that as well.

Fittreelol

Oh man I feel for you. One thing that helps me is to eat a lot of fat- like full fat dairy; cheese, sour cream, butter, half and half in my coffee etc. How long have you been eating that many calories with your current workout? Sometimes it just takes a couple weeks for everything to adjust. I'm sorry if you've mentioned this elsewhere, but did you get your current numbers from estimating TDEE and taking a cut?

Graelwyn75

Oh man I feel for you. One thing that helps me is to eat a lot of fat- like full fat dairy; cheese, sour cream, butter, half and half in my coffee etc. How long have you been eating that many calories with your current workout? Sometimes it just takes a couple weeks for everything to adjust. I'm sorry if you've mentioned this elsewhere, but did you get your current numbers from estimating TDEE and taking a cut?

Yes i put in my numbers for 5-6 hours intense exercise per week so my tdee is about 2380 supposedly, though it is never a precise science. I plan on getting a bodpod measurement soon to check my bodyfat % so I can get a more accurate idea. My thighs are sort of starting to curve outwards from the muscle so I am guessing my resistance cycling has done something to those lol.

Started having full fat cheese, and adding butter to my dinners, just bought some heavy cream and have goats milk and greek yoghurt before bed. Mind you, I still have the low fat yoghurt as if I did not, with the amount I get through, I would be going well over calorie goal...i already do anyway a lot of days but don't want it to get worse, lol. I am trying to eat healthy, lol. Ironic the only time i really feel full is when I have a restaurant meal these days, I guess because of the higher fat and carbs.

tameko2

you may need to experiment a bit, with meal timing and macronutrients and calories. I find after dinner that I'll be VERY consistently hungry unless I have some carbs towards the end - I can do a lower carb lunch and be fine some days but a low carb dinner never works for me. It may be a product of when I work out (in the evenings) and my brain thinking that it may need those carbs. I'm also just generally hungrier in the afternoon/evening and not hungry at ALL until 10 or 11 most days, so I actually don't start eating til around then which lets me load more food onto the end of the day.

Also on the thigh muscle, I love when its visible

Graelwyn75

you may need to experiment a bit, with meal timing and macronutrients and calories. I find after dinner that I'll be VERY consistently hungry unless I have some carbs towards the end - I can do a lower carb lunch and be fine some days but a low carb dinner never works for me. It may be a product of when I work out (in the evenings) and my brain thinking that it may need those carbs. I'm also just generally hungrier in the afternoon/evening and not hungry at ALL until 10 or 11 most days, so I actually don't start eating til around then which lets me load more food onto the end of the day.

Also on the thigh muscle, I love when its visible

I am the same. I am usually not hungry until around 4 hours after I get up (I am not a morning person so never up at any kind of breakfast hour anyway). I can deal fine in the day, but it is like as soon as I eat dinner, it triggers more hunger, lol. I am guessing either I need more than my 45% carbs and am more of a carb burner or that I need more fat. It is a bit tedious to have to experiment lol. I don't know the minimum of protein I should have to be okay as I find protein does not fill me up much, oddly, unless it is dairy(my chicken breast and wild salmon seem to do little for satiety) and when I get over 90-100g I tend to start getting stomach problems, as in the most offensive gas and bloat, lol. I know I did fine for most of my life as a vegetarian so I must have been eating a fair number of carbs. I have noticed less energy since I switched to a lot higher protein, admittedly.

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Yeah this whole nutrition/food part is definitely the hardest piece of the puzzle to figure out, that's for sure! It does take some experimentation to figure out what works best for you!

What sort of schedule are you on for your eating? Do you eat 3 large meals or 5-6 smaller meals? The reason I ask is because when I was doing all of the small meals I found that I was insatiable ALL THE TIME! It was then that I decided to try the LeanGains approach and really I haven't looked back. Being able to have large lunch and supper meals, well with all food groups has really made me much happier. Plus I still have calories for a mid afternoon snack as well as a small meal before bed.

Plus lifting heavy *kitten* makes you super duper hungry....just wait until your loads get heavier!!! Sweet Jesus there were days after my squats got to probably 120#+ that I thought I could eat forever!