Calorie Increase Unleashed Hunger Monster!

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catsandtats
catsandtats Posts: 29 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Hi there!

I'm trying to put on muscle mass and my trainer suggested that I increase my calories by about 250 per day since I was losing too much weight too fast on my previous calorie intake.

This is all fine by me and I'm happy to increase, but ever since I started this increase, I've found that my hunger is just out of control. I used to feel totally comfortable between meals/snacks on my lower intake, but now that I've made this adjustment, I just want to eat ALL THE THINGS, all the time. I am just constantly hungry. It used to be a snap to keep my calories in check but the last few days I find that I'm consistently tempted to go way over and I start to get "hangry" when I don't.

I've been eating at a higher intake for almost a week now. Is this constant hunger something people experience when they increase calorie intake? Will this pass? If it's normal/just part of the experience, any advice for dealing with it?

Replies

  • dweat62
    dweat62 Posts: 12 Member
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    Umm. Increasing calories by 250 a day is almost certainly going to demolish your metabolism. check into finding a new trainer. If it is a trainer in a chain gym make sure they are certified through a nationally recognized organization (ISSA, NCSM, ACSM, ACE)
  • catsandtats
    catsandtats Posts: 29 Member
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    The trainer is certified through ACSM, but maybe I wasn't clear in my first post? I was eating at a deficit and presumably this increase would put me closer to maintenance, no? It didn't seem like that radical of an idea to me. What exactly would be the damaging metabolic effects?

    (I didn't mean that every day I eat 250 more than the last day so the next day is 500, 750 and so on. All I meant was 250 a day for a weekly increase of 1750.)
  • sanderdejonge
    sanderdejonge Posts: 415 Member
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    I'm hungry all the time as well! Don't you think that's great?
    I think I eat a lot (3.5kcal - 4kcal a day), but I do sports a lot (±2h swimming a day) as well though.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
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    Most likely your hunger and satiety hormones, as well as brain, readjusting to more energy being available after sustaining a larger deficit. It'll balance out after reaching and staying at maintenance for a while.

    If your goal is to eat at a surplus to increase lean mass, make sure you establish your actual maintenance intake so you choose a reasonable surplus.
  • catsandtats
    catsandtats Posts: 29 Member
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    Thanks, geekyjock!

    And yes, the goal here is to see if I can maintain instead of lose. Mass gain is a longer-term goal. First, I need to see if I can maintain at this current new intake because I was steadily losing when I thought I would be maintaining.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
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    Thanks, geekyjock!

    And yes, the goal here is to see if I can maintain instead of lose. Mass gain is a longer-term goal. First, I need to see if I can maintain at this current new intake because I was steadily losing when I thought I would be maintaining.

    I had to do the same thing at maintenance. You'll get used to the new level of eating - also try eating more satiating foods (legumes, root vegetables, etc).
  • eganita
    eganita Posts: 501 Member
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    I recently switched my calories up and have been eating more (now using the TDEE - 20% method vs. using a smaller baseline and trying to estimate how many calories I burned during exercise. The latter tended to translate into considerably less calories to eat on most days). Anyway, the first week I switched to eating more, I noticed I was a lot hungrier! It seemed totally counter-intuitive to me, since I was eating MORE!! I think now my body has gotten used to it, and I am feeling good this week. I still can't quite explain it... perhaps it's just what happens when the body is trying to get used to something different.

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