Why am I so Hungry!!??

When I am feeling the hunger pangs I always drink a pint of water first and that sometimes does the trick. I also keep dark chocolate in the fridge and break off a small piece and let it melt slowly and that seems to satisfy too

Watch your sugar intake... Keep it at 20 grams... More than that and your appetite hormones, Leptin and Grehlin, do not work. You WILL have to buy a new wardrobe if you can stay at 20 grams of sugar!!

What?

Yeah. What?

Protein like a man idiot, when I have snacky days I have a steak with 2 eggs and I'm SO full!

Today, has been a very hard day for me, hunger wise. I have been feeling like I am starving all day long! I have been logging and staying within my cal range for about 3 weeks with not really any issues at all. In fact, I was really surprised at how easy it was to stay in my calorie range and feel really satisfied but then today I feel like I can't get full at all! I hate this feeling. Any suggestions ? IS this just something that happens sometimes along the journey ?

Hunger comes in cycles. Being on a calorie deficit is hard. You can't do this journey on will power alone. You must set up your environment for success. Have a team around you in your real life, not just online. Get trigger foods out of the house. It will take some sacrifice and it's not easy. You might have to say no to some social events sometimes.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

for me it's all about a calorie budget. I had less of a budget available when I was losing weight, more to spend now that I'm maintaining and all the tools I used for weight loss come into play for the rest of my life maintaining.

When you have accumulated excess fat, you have accumulated a debt. It is hard to pay off the debt (you have less calories to spend). If you are sitting next to someone your same gender and height and they are not overweight and you are, they get to eat more than you (have more calories to spend) because they are debt free. You have less calories to spend because you are paying off your debt.

I am debt free and I never want to go into debt ever again. It's a hard journey, no way around it. I don't ever want to have to do it again.

Watch your sugar intake... Keep it at 20 grams... More than that and your appetite hormones, Leptin and Grehlin, do not work. You WILL have to buy a new wardrobe if you can stay at 20 grams of sugar!!

What?

Yeah. What?

Not sure if under 20 grams of sugar would help, but it's worth a shot!

Ghrelin is the hormone that makes sure your body eats enough; while leptin is the hormone that suppresses appetite. Foods that are quickly turned into sugars (donuts, cake, etc) signal ghrelin to react. Being dehydrated can increase the hormonal signals that ghrelin sends out. For obese people, leptin levels are lower. The more fat in your body, the more leptin resists doing its job of suppressing your appetite.

Interesting stuff I was reading earlier today:

Fructose is particularly bad because it does not signal to the body that it's full.
Leptin hormone tells the body it is full. Ghrelin hormone tells the body it is hungry. When glucose is consumed, the body releases insulin to move the sugar into the cells. Insulin also triggers the release of leptin to tell the body it is full.
However, fructose is metabolized directly in the liver. It does not trigger insulin to be released. And therefore it does not trigger the release of leptin which tells the body it is full. So we keep eating.

This is why I have been trying to limit my "bad" carbs, like cookies and candy bars...even if I have the calorie allowance for it.

Today, has been a very hard day for me, hunger wise. I have been feeling like I am starving all day long! I have been logging and staying within my cal range for about 3 weeks with not really any issues at all. In fact, I was really surprised at how easy it was to stay in my calorie range and feel really satisfied but then today I feel like I can't get full at all! I hate this feeling. Any suggestions ? IS this just something that happens sometimes along the journey ?

Hunger comes in cycles. Being on a calorie deficit is hard. You can't do this journey on will power alone. You must set up your environment for success. Have a team around you in your real life, not just online. Get trigger foods out of the house. It will take some sacrifice and it's not easy. You might have to say no to some social events sometimes.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

for me it's all about a calorie budget. I had less of a budget available when I was losing weight, more to spend now that I'm maintaining and all the tools I used for weight loss come into play for the rest of my life maintaining.

When you have accumulated excess fat, you have accumulated a debt. It is hard to pay off the debt (you have less calories to spend). If you are sitting next to someone your same gender and height and they are not overweight and you are, they get to eat more than you (have more calories to spend) because they are debt free. You have less calories to spend because you are paying off your debt.

I am debt free and I never want to go into debt ever again. It's a hard journey, no way around it. I don't ever want to have to do it again.

This is explained brilliantly!! I am unfortunately still in debt, lol.

Watch your sugar intake... Keep it at 20 grams... More than that and your appetite hormones, Leptin and Grehlin, do not work. You WILL have to buy a new wardrobe if you can stay at 20 grams of sugar!!

What?

Yeah. What?

I think the poster is insinuating you will LOSE weight and need a new wardrobe if you stay at 20 grams of sugar.

Which is an incorrect assumption/assertion.

Watch your sugar intake... Keep it at 20 grams... More than that and your appetite hormones, Leptin and Grehlin, do not work. You WILL have to buy a new wardrobe if you can stay at 20 grams of sugar!!

What?

Yeah. What?

Not sure if under 20 grams of sugar would help, but it's worth a shot!

Ghrelin is the hormone that makes sure your body eats enough; while leptin is the hormone that suppresses appetite. Foods that are quickly turned into sugars (donuts, cake, etc) signal ghrelin to react. Being dehydrated can increase the hormonal signals that ghrelin sends out. For obese people, leptin levels are lower. The more fat in your body, the more leptin resists doing its job of suppressing your appetite.

I know what the hormones are and what they do - I just do not get the logic of being under 20g of sugar. For a start, as having 2 pieces of fruit will put you over, this is bad advice. Also, you can be under 20g of sugar and over your maintenance calories - if you are, you will gain weight.

ETA: the hormones also work the other way - if you undereat, you are not hungry.

I know, I don't really get why 20g is the magic number either, and I was more explaining the hormones to the OP.

Under eat, like eating under maintenance or you mean below 800 daily? Interesting..

Lol - sorry, thought you were explaining it to me. :flowerforyou:

There is no bright line - different people react differently to deficits. But pretty much anything below maintenance can get them out of whack. That is why you often hear people eating say 1,200 calories that they are not hungry.