Always hungry, always gaining weight.

honu18
honu18 Posts: 294 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Long story short..I've been doing this for a long time, lost a bunch of weight and randomly started gaining it back without much of a change. I've been checked for all sorts of diseases and disorders and so far, nothing (thyroid fine, etc).

I keep continually gaining weight (about 12 pounds in <5 months), so I'm trying not to eat that much (yes I've tried eating more and less and seen no result, it's a win for me if I don't gain, no less lose). I've been averaging about 1,500-1,600 calories a day and doing cardio exercises probably for at least 45 minutes 6 days a week (varying intensity) and weights 3x a week.

I can't lose. I'm not even staying where I am-- I'm always gaining. But I'm so hungry all the time. I never feel full, like I legitimately wonder what it takes for me to feel full anymore. I know all about eating protein and fiber and healthy fats to fill me up, as well as drinking water. 've been up for 3 hours so far today and had 3-4 glasses of water, and probably over 600 calories, and I'm still starving. It's not boredom or anything, I truly am hungry, just ravenous. Not TOM either. Any ideas??

I guess I don't know what to do--do I eat more? I take vitamins and eat balanced so I don't think I'm lacking any nutrients! I don't know if I should listen to my body here or if there's something else going on..
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Replies

  • DaysFlyBy
    DaysFlyBy Posts: 243 Member
    No advice but I'm kind of wondering about the endless hunger thing myself....
  • camiah
    camiah Posts: 146
    I'm going to make what may sound like a stupid suggestion, but it happened to me, so maybe it is possible it is what is going on with you.

    I used to have the same problem, I'd feel hungry all the time. Even an hour or two after eating, I'd be hungry. I was eating all the right foods and drinking water and everything. Turns out it was indigestion. Some people, I've been told, do experience indigestion that way. It feels like hunger, but its not. It is that same sort of gnawing feeling, just located slightly different from where I feel true hunger.

    I hope that whatever it is, you are able to figure it out. It is a miserable feeling, being ravenous all the time.
  • beccarockslife
    beccarockslife Posts: 816 Member
    Your diary isn't open but I would imagine it's what you are eating. How is your protein intake ?
  • DaysFlyBy
    DaysFlyBy Posts: 243 Member
    In my case I have my macros set 45 carbs, 30 protein, 25 fat and I stick pretty close to that. Still hungry all the time tho. I've experienced heartburn before and this isn't it. This is full-on hunger. It's annoying as hell and freaks me out. I think I need more sleep because I don't know what else it could be.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    Long story short..I've been doing this for a long time, lost a bunch of weight and randomly started gaining it back without much of a change. I've been checked for all sorts of diseases and disorders and so far, nothing (thyroid fine, etc).

    I keep continually gaining weight (about 12 pounds in <5 months), so I'm trying not to eat that much (yes I've tried eating more and less and seen no result, it's a win for me if I don't gain, no less lose). I've been averaging about 1,500-1,600 calories a day and doing cardio exercises probably for at least 45 minutes 6 days a week (varying intensity) and weights 3x a week.

    I can't lose. I'm not even staying where I am-- I'm always gaining. But I'm so hungry all the time. I never feel full, like I legitimately wonder what it takes for me to feel full anymore. I know all about eating protein and fiber and healthy fats to fill me up, as well as drinking water. 've been up for 3 hours so far today and had 3-4 glasses of water, and probably over 600 calories, and I'm still starving. It's not boredom or anything, I truly am hungry, just ravenous. Not TOM either. Any ideas??

    I guess I don't know what to do--do I eat more? I take vitamins and eat balanced so I don't think I'm lacking any nutrients! I don't know if I should listen to my body here or if there's something else going on..

    This stuff eventually happens if you've been dieting for to long. It may be your problem. Ever think of doing a reset?

    Also, maybe your missing something in your diet? It would explain the ravenous feeling you have. Your body obviously wants you to eat something.
  • honu18
    honu18 Posts: 294 Member
    I'm going to make what may sound like a stupid suggestion, but it happened to me, so maybe it is possible it is what is going on with you.

    I used to have the same problem, I'd feel hungry all the time. Even an hour or two after eating, I'd be hungry. I was eating all the right foods and drinking water and everything. Turns out it was indigestion. Some people, I've been told, do experience indigestion that way. It feels like hunger, but its not. It is that same sort of gnawing feeling, just located slightly different from where I feel true hunger.

    I hope that whatever it is, you are able to figure it out. It is a miserable feeling, being ravenous all the time.

    Hm, this is interesting. What did you do to try to combat it?
  • honu18
    honu18 Posts: 294 Member

    This stuff eventually happens if you've been dieting for to long. It may be your problem. Ever think of doing a reset?

    Also, maybe your missing something in your diet? It would explain the ravenous feeling you have. Your body obviously wants you to eat something.

    I've done pseudo resets before..like weeks that I took off for vacation and such, and all I see is a continuous gain. I've thought about doing that now and allowing myself to eat whatever til I feel satisfied..but I never do! And then I feel bad about it.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member

    This stuff eventually happens if you've been dieting for to long. It may be your problem. Ever think of doing a reset?

    Also, maybe your missing something in your diet? It would explain the ravenous feeling you have. Your body obviously wants you to eat something.

    I've done pseudo resets before..like weeks that I took off for vacation and such, and all I see is a continuous gain. I've thought about doing that now and allowing myself to eat whatever til I feel satisfied..but I never do! And then I feel bad about it.

    Do you log exercise and food accurately while on vacation? What did the cals work out to be? I find I think I'm gorging on vacation when I didn't do as bad as I think. Plus vacations usually only last a few weeks and you tend to be more active during them. And if you did a reset for 2 weeks I'd expect you to gain too. You can't just try the eat more and to weigh less thing for a couple weeks and expect to lose weight immediately. Your body would need a reset first. Lots of articles around showing how it works. Don't knock a diet until you've tried it for a few months..
  • amatiq
    amatiq Posts: 18 Member
    I felt like this after I stopped smoking. I believe that essentially I had never learned what a true satiation point felt like. The nicotine artificially made me feel full.
    Honestly, it was raw willpower (with a a fair number of fails) that finally got me to figure out where my true satiation point is. In between, I'd try to eat lots of filling foods with little calories, like popcorn.
  • rhonda1960
    rhonda1960 Posts: 58 Member
    This may be a truly silly question, however here goes. What is your height and weight now? The little ticker looks as though you only have 5 pounds to lose to be a goal. Do your clothes fit differently? Just thinking with all of the exercise and weight training you might be at a healthy weight or below causing you to be hungry.
  • MarkAWhipple
    MarkAWhipple Posts: 77 Member
    What did your doctor say when you had your thyroid checked?
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,327 Member
    How carefully do you measure your portions? I am guessing you measure carefully, but if not, eyeballing and estimating portion sizes can be a cause of eating too much. I always use a kitchen scale for anything that can be weighed and volume measuring cups and spoons for the stuff that I don't have weights for. If I estimate and then check it against the scale, I always estimate something is less than it actually is. Also don't necessarily trust pre-measured stuff. Often their measurements are off by a great deal. Beyond that, without seeing your diary and knowing more about exactly what sort of exercise you do and how you are measuring calories, I can't really give any suggestions.
  • ellie0213
    ellie0213 Posts: 516 Member
    Bit of a disconnect here in that you say you are always gaining and gained 12 pounds (presumably that you did not want) and yet your ticker shows your goal as wanting to lose 6 pounds?
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    If there's no medical reason for the hunger, you're body's probably looking for a certain nutrient that you aren't giving it. Is there something you stopped eating or drinking that coincides with how long you've felt this way? How long has this been going on?
  • CDG1013
    CDG1013 Posts: 106 Member
    I have experienced the same thing. Last year I lost 30 lb using MFP and exercising 5-6 days per week. I had my goal set to lose 1 1/2 lb per week, which made my net allowable calories to be around 1500 (based on lightly active lifestyle). I use exercise as a way to buy more calories so that I can eat more. In general I was hungry all the time! Ravenous! I tried all the tricks to curb my appetite, but nothing worked. I started using a fitbit and found that I am much more active with daily activities than I thought, so I actually needed 500-600 more calories per day, even with a calorie deficit accounted for. I had plateaus and weight gain periods which I believe to be that my body was in starvation mode since I was not getting enough. So, what I have found is that I need more calories to fuel my body to handle the 5-6 days of exercise and have also found that eating most of my exercise calories back is important. After I work out (mix of running and weight training), I usually drink a protein shake or eat a PB&J on whole wheat to proved the balance of protein and good carbs needed to repair and build muscle. So for you...I might say that since you are working out a lot with a mix of cardio and weights, you might consider eating back the majority of your exercise calories. I also highly recommend the fitbit...you can get an estimate of how many calories you are burning when you are not exercising.
  • honu18
    honu18 Posts: 294 Member
    Doctors said that my thyroid measurements were normal. I have the TSH value, I think it's around 1.5 or so. It's been checked on multiple occasions and everyone says that it's fine.

    I measure everything using volume stuff, as I don't have a food scale and when I was living at home, my family thought I had an eating problem with wanting to eat healthy after being such a junk food junkie, so there was no way I could do that. I don't measure you know the weights of my apples and such but I never did before when I was losing weight either.

    Also, for the disconnect--I re-evaluated my goal after having been down that low and changed it for this time around. I'm at the same weight I was when I started, but a lot more fit and tighter. I just have the stubborn stomach and thigh/midsection flab that I want to reduce a little so the pants that I bought fit me comfortably again (I'm squeezing into them now).

    I am 5'4 and a half and 127 lbs. I know that's a healthy weight, but I went down to 115 at one point (I didn't like that), and then maintained at 118-120 for awhile, which is what I like and feel comfortable at. My exercise regimen was not necessarily to lose weight but only to keep fitness and try to tone up more. I honestly don't care what the scale says, I just want to fit back into my clothes.

    ALSO--i've dealt with a LOT of bloating/stomach discomfort. Tested negative for Celiac's. My dr told me to stop eating dairy, which I never had much of anyways, so I've been doing that lately. But the constant feeling of hunger has been on and off persistent for a few months. The weight gain started back in February/March.
  • 512cheangela
    512cheangela Posts: 133
    Not all calories were created equal. I met a girl on here once that complained that she wasn't losing even whilst staying within calories/macros. When she opened her diary, it was astonishing as she hadn't eaten more than 3 vegetables the entire month of July. She was well fed but starving herself of the vital nutrients her body needed to function right.

    I would suggest you open your diary and ask for help. Take the advice found here with a grain of salt because people will automatically default to the same crap advice all the time. Listen to the folks that give you resources to read up on their reasoning and be prepared to do your homework.

    I went through the same thing for years. My intake would never justify the massive amounts of weight I was putting on. I found out through going on a very restrictive allergen free diet (google-able and doable) that I'm sensitive to a lot of citrus, wheat, corn, and dairy. Once I adapted to a diet that was more vegetables and reasonable portions of meat, I started to see the weight fall off. When I stop and start stuffing my face full of dough all the time, the weight comes back.

    Truth is, when the doc can't find anything wrong with you, it's up to you to find your secret weapons. Mine happens to be green and come in grand quantities. Yours might swim in the ocean. Either way, best wishes!
  • marycmeadows
    marycmeadows Posts: 1,691 Member

    Also, maybe your missing something in your diet? It would explain the ravenous feeling you have. Your body obviously wants you to eat something.

    This! I didn't look at your diary, but clearly something is missing.
  • honu18
    honu18 Posts: 294 Member
    I've opened my diary--but I know what people are going to tell me--yeah, I slipped up a few times..and my food has been all over the place by trying to cut out different food groups to find out what's causing me stomach discomfort.

    That's why there's no dairy in some of it, there are low carbs other days, and low protein (tried cutting out soy, etc).

    I also stopped logging exercise on MFP a few weeks ago, but still have been doing it what I mentioned. It was becoming obsessive for me where I would work out just because I felt like I should and so I could actually eat that day. Trying to de-couple the two.
  • beccarockslife
    beccarockslife Posts: 816 Member
    Maybe give it a month of doing one thing and religiously staying within your macros.

    You just said you know where you are going wrong, change it and see change.
  • honu18
    honu18 Posts: 294 Member
    Just hard to stick to the macros when you're starving all the time and try different things and nothing works.
  • aaronrlindemann
    aaronrlindemann Posts: 25 Member
    Remember, refined carbs like bread & starch (potatoes, ect) turn to sugar very quickly upon hitting your system... this spikes your blood sugar which increases your insulin... this falsely lowers your blood sugar giving you cravings for more! Avoid large amounts of complex carbs and keep your carbs more high fiber, whole food carbs (fruits, nuts, veggies) Fiber will help regulate and stabilize your blood sugar among a plethora of other benefits.

    I used to live on pasta, and while a calorie is a calorie, some calories actually cause a false sense of hunger. Also, drink enough water (do your homework on the amnt).
  • tbellamy1
    tbellamy1 Posts: 353
    Might be time to do a metabolism reset for about 8 weeks and then cut. My macros are 40/30/30 which seems to hold me for the day.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    Your sugar is extremely high -- well over 100g most days with some extremely high days of 170g - 190g in the past month -- which could be why you're always hungry. Cutting out all grains, starchy vegetables and cutting back on my fruit worked wonders for me but if that's not something you could live with, at the very least, try to get your sugar under 40g a day for a few weeks and see if that doesn't help.

    My diary is open if you want to take a look to see what I'm eating that keeps my appetite in check for that last month or so. Go back a few months and you can see what I was eating when I was constantly hungry and my sugar was high. Good luck, I hope you find what works for you.

    LCHF for beginners:
    http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
  • emtron500
    emtron500 Posts: 102 Member
    I just happened to read this really interesting blog post a couple of days ago about when your body is "wrong" about sending you hunger signals, thought I'd share. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/when-listening-to-your-body-doesnt-work/#axzz22c4zEav6
  • mermx
    mermx Posts: 976
    You are 5` 4" and 127 lbs.....maybe that is your body telling you not to go for 115lbs You are in a very healthy BMI. Maybe it is just time to tone and do more to get your perfect body?

    115lbs is the very low end of healthy BMI for your height?
  • Mels707
    Mels707 Posts: 101
    Eating more protein and fat, as opposed to carb may help curb hunger cravings. Works for me.
  • ctumbarello
    ctumbarello Posts: 23 Member
    I thought the post suggesting your weight stagnation may be due to allergies was a good suggestion. Sometimes an intolerance to a certain food can give you that bloated feeling. I had a similar problem, and my doctor suggested a food elimination diet. I "reset" myself with a diet free of typical allergens, then slowly added foods back. I was able to identify the foods that were causing me problems, even though I wasn't having major allergic symptoms. Like you, I tried everything. This may be something to try, as I know how frustrating it is to have nothing work. Since I have done this I have lost 15 pounds. Of course, keeping a food diary probably was another contributing factor.
  • ctumbarello
    ctumbarello Posts: 23 Member
    I notice my starting weight only says 8 lbs. I started my weight journey before joing this group. Does anyone know how to reset my start point?
  • farrari17
    farrari17 Posts: 19
    I'm not sure if this is the same for you, but I have noticed that when I get less sleep (like 7 hrs or less) I tend to be "hungry" more and eat more, and those are the days I usually end up gaining weight. Try getting more sleep, and I suggest pounding the water down. I've been trying to drink about 4 cups of water 3 times a day, around breakfast, around lunch, and around dinner. I've found that my stomach is so full of water, that I feel less hungry, and I snack less. Also, try not having snack foods around, because if you're hungry (or bored or tired), it's super easy to have a couple of crackers, which turn out to be 3 servings of crackers by the end of the day because you snack a couple a few times during the day.

    Sleep More
    Drink More
    Don't have snacks available

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