Always Hungry

kylamaries · June 2013

I'm 5'6", 120 lbs, and aiming to lose maybe 5 lbs more. I've had my settings at "active" but figured that was probably inaccurate since it does not pertain to a job, rather me moving around the house all day. A few days ago, I reset it to "lightly active" and kept my exercise the same (it spans anywhere from 20 minutes - 2 hours a day). I eat a lot of fruits and veggies and appropriate portions for things that are not necessarily healthy. However, MFP has my diary set to 1280 calories and I'm always hungry. I try not to eat back my exercise calories because I'm not yet sure how that works so I typically eat just around my limit (if not a little more) and try to never eat under 1200.

What do I do? I'm so hungry all the time now and I'm sure that's not good!

zyxst · June 2013

Try eating back half/most of your exercise calories and see if that helps deal with your hunger. Using MFP the MFP way already gives a deficit so if you eat back exercise calories, you're still at a deficit.

PikaKnight · June 2013

If you look at MFP's formula (which you can find on the goals page) - their system is set up so that you are supposed to be eating your exercise calories back.

ETA: Also, not sure what your goal was, but if you picked 2lbs/week loss, you should change it to 0.5lbs/week.

CynnamonGirl · June 2013

Hello, what is an example of what you eat everyday? Is there a significant amount of protein in your diet? Have you considered drinking protein shakes/smoothies to supplement your diet? How much refined carbs are you eating (white bread, chips, crackers, anything that isn't whole wheat)? Those types of food tends to make you hungry soon after.

kylamaries · June 2013

Hello, what is an example of what you eat everyday? Is there a significant amount of protein in your diet? Have you considered drinking protein shakes/smoothies to supplement your diet? How much refined carbs are you eating (white bread, chips, crackers, anything that isn't whole wheat)? Those types of food tends to make you hungry soon after.

I opened my diary so that you can take a look! I'm not comfortable with protein shakes, so I don't include those in my diet.

kylamaries · June 2013

Try eating back half/most of your exercise calories and see if that helps deal with your hunger. Using MFP the MFP way already gives a deficit so if you eat back exercise calories, you're still at a deficit.

If you look at MFP's formula (which you can find on the goals page) - their system is set up so that you are supposed to be eating your exercise calories back.

ETA: Also, not sure what your goal was, but if you picked 2lbs/week loss, you should change it to 0.5lbs/week.

Ah, I never knew this! I was always told that eating back your burned calories meant gaining weight; never knew MFP had an automatic deficit set. Now I feel silly, thank you!!

cb_peroxide · June 2013

I would start eatting more fiber. Fiber help suppress hungry since it takes longer to digest. However don't go crazy on the fiber since too much fiber can cause consipation and gas. Eat food like brown rice or quinoa. The worst thing that you can do to yourself is strave beacuse it causes your body to keep the fat rather than burn it. I would start doing some exercises like weight traing. Muscle help burns the fat off the body since it jack ups the metabolism. You might actually have to eat more to help build the muscle burn the fat.

kylamaries · June 2013

I would start eatting more fiber. Fiber help suppress hungry since it takes longer to digest. However don't go crazy on the fiber since too much fiber can cause consipation and gas. Eat food like brown rice or quinoa. The worst thing that you can do to yourself is strave beacuse it causes your body to keep the fat rather than burn it. I would start doing some exercises like weight traing. Muscle help burns the fat off the body since it jack ups the metabolism. You might actually have to eat more to help build the muscle burn the fat.

Thanks for the tips! While I'd love to do strength training, I lack the resources and ability to do so (I can't lift anything heavy because I have bad elbows). But I'll look into the fiber!

PikaKnight · June 2013

I would start eatting more fiber. Fiber help suppress hungry since it takes longer to digest. However don't go crazy on the fiber since too much fiber can cause consipation and gas. Eat food like brown rice or quinoa. The worst thing that you can do to yourself is strave beacuse it causes your body to keep the fat rather than burn it. I would start doing some exercises like weight traing. Muscle help burns the fat off the body since it jack ups the metabolism. You might actually have to eat more to help build the muscle burn the fat.

Thanks for the tips! While I'd love to do strength training, I lack the resources and ability to do so (I can't lift anything heavy because I have bad elbows). But I'll look into the fiber!

My knees and elbows bothered me a lot but since I started lifting, a lot of the pain has gone away. Maybe talk with your doctor to see about managing pain and keeping track of it if you want to start lifting?

If you do decide to go for it, some good programs to look into are Stronglifts, Starting Strength, NROLFW, and Wendler. If you lack equipment (or since you don't want to get into lifting right now) - you can check out You Are Your Own Gym and Convict Conditioning

minizebu · June 2013

At the very minimum, you want to eat the RDA for protein, which is 0.8g protein per kilogram of body weight. However, many athletes choose to eat more than this, and 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass seems to be very popular.

Ingesting protein along with carbohydrate will mediate the blood sugar response to your meal. If you eat a carbohydrate only snack or a carb heavy meal, then your blood sugar will rise fairly rapidly. In response, your pancreas releases insulin in order to lower the blood sugar. This response can sometimes result in a rapid drop in blood sugar. This leaves you feeling very hungry.

Try to temper the blood sugar response by having more protein.

A good goal might be to aim for 25-30g protein at your first meal of the day and 25-30g of protein at your second meal of the day. Spread the rest of your protein through the remainder of your day.

Good luck with. It.

Edited to add: you don't need to eat protein bars or drink shakes to get this. If you eat dairy, a cup of Greek yogurt provides about 23g of protein.

PikaKnight · June 2013

Thanks to @mini for mentioning protein. MFP's defaults are set pretty low for protein. If you are interested, you can view this to help figure out where your macros should be set and how to change them in MFP:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

kylamaries · June 2013

Thank you to everyone who responded! I truly appreciate it! :happy:

appygirl84 · June 2013

I checked your BMI, and I know that people have different builds allowing for a different frame. Your goal weight of 115 is 1 lb away from being underweight. Maybe being hungry all the time is your body's way of telling you that you are at the perfect weight?

Graelwyn75 · June 2013

I checked your BMI, and I know that people have different builds allowing for a different frame. Your goal weight of 115 is 1 lb away from being underweight. Maybe being hungry all the time is your body's way of telling you that you are at the perfect weight?

Exactly this. I was about to say something along the same lines.
Why are those 5 Ibs so important to you, when it is the bf% that is more important anyway? No-one is going to see those extra 5Ibs lost. And aiming for a lower weight is probably what is driving your hunger. It happened to me when I was at an 18.5 BMI.

kylamaries · June 2013

I checked your BMI, and I know that people have different builds allowing for a different frame. Your goal weight of 115 is 1 lb away from being underweight. Maybe being hungry all the time is your body's way of telling you that you are at the perfect weight?

Exactly this. I was about to say something along the same lines.
Why are those 5 Ibs so important to you, when it is the bf% that is more important anyway? No-one is going to see those extra 5Ibs lost. And aiming for a lower weight is probably what is driving your hunger. It happened to me when I was at an 18.5 BMI.

I've expressed similar concern (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1029545-a-not-so-healthy-bmi) but I figured I'd take it one pound at a time. I still have some fat to lose and then I'll be content. And your quote "No-one is going to see those extra 5lbs lost" is probably accurate but with all due respect, I'm losing weight for myself. Five more pounds is the absolute maximum I am willing to lose at my height, and I will decide soon when I need to go into maintenance mode.

shannashannabobana · June 2013

I still have some fat to lose and then I'll be content.

You might be happier if you concentrated on adding muscle. I know you said you can't do some things because of elbows but you could still do things like squats and other types of body weight exercises. Something to think about or test out, at any rate.

kylamaries · June 2013

I still have some fat to lose and then I'll be content.

You might be happier if you concentrated on adding muscle. I know you said you can't do some things because of elbows but you could still do things like squats and other types of body weight exercises. Something to think about or test out, at any rate.

Thank you! I think I'll try the 30-day squat challenge and then mess around with some other challenges. I have 3, 5, and 8 lbs handweights I use when watching television and such, too!

Always Hungry

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