I'm Really Struggling Eating Within Calorie Limit
GreatDepression
Posts: 347 Member
Since losing weight, my calorie allowance within MFP just keeps getting smaller and smaller. I do eat back "calories" that I earn from intense exercise but I still feel like it's not enough. I'm constantly hungry throughout the day. I already cut out almost all starchy foods so that meals would make me feel full longer but it doesn't seem to work. As soon as I wake up, I'm having pretty strong hunger pangs (even though I had a very large dinner night before). Sometimes I try to fast through breakfast to have more calories for the rest of the day but it leaves me feeling way too hungry.
Am I just lacking self control and motivation? No pain, no gain, right? My weight loss has hit a plateau and now I'm having the hardest time cutting back calories. It's gotten so bad that I'm playing mind games with myself like not logging everything in MFP so that it doesn't look as bad. I keep telling myself I'll do better tomorrow but tomorrow came today and I still ate too much.
About me:
Male, 27 years old, 5' 8"
Starting weight: 255 lb
Current weight: 170 lb
Goal weight: 155 lb
Calorie goal per day: 1400-1800 (latter with a lot of exercise)
Reality: 1900-2300 cal lately every day
Sigh. I'm really frustrated with myself. I did start doing HIIT sessions recently and I noticed that it has stimulated my appetite even more.
Am I just lacking self control and motivation? No pain, no gain, right? My weight loss has hit a plateau and now I'm having the hardest time cutting back calories. It's gotten so bad that I'm playing mind games with myself like not logging everything in MFP so that it doesn't look as bad. I keep telling myself I'll do better tomorrow but tomorrow came today and I still ate too much.
About me:
Male, 27 years old, 5' 8"
Starting weight: 255 lb
Current weight: 170 lb
Goal weight: 155 lb
Calorie goal per day: 1400-1800 (latter with a lot of exercise)
Reality: 1900-2300 cal lately every day
Sigh. I'm really frustrated with myself. I did start doing HIIT sessions recently and I noticed that it has stimulated my appetite even more.
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Replies
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It's not like I am an expert or anything but the 'obsessive' tone of your post resonates with my experience as well as the underlying frustration.
When i get into this mindset, i try to re-wire and focus on eating a balanced diet VS a low calorie diet. Truth is a balanced diet Is usually a low calorie diet. But the focus is on health and not weight and i think it makes a huge difference psychologically.
The cancer awareness websites are helpful in mapping out the 'balanced diet' and giving out recipes.
HIIT is really going to make you burn and sweat, it is a great exercise program.
Keep at it, you've got this! You've come so far already!0 -
Your target calorie intake seems very low to me, I'm a 41 yo female around 130lb and when I have 1500 cals per day I will lose although it will be slow.
If you're not losing on that but not logging properly I would imagine you may be not logging more than you think!
Perhaps introduce some healthy snacks between meals rather than have a couple of massive meals and up your calories a little, you shouldn't be feeling starving all the time. When I get to the point when I'm feeling really really hungry I always end up eating far more than I intended.0 -
Your target calorie intake seems very low to me, I'm a 41 yo female around 130lb and when I have 1500 cals per day I will lose although it will be slow.
According to MFP, I should be only eating 1380 cal a day... I did loosen my calorie counting a bit lately in order to focus more on healthful + mindful eating. I guess this is my mistake? I just need to eat less. Why is this so hard for me? (rhetorical question). Tonight and the past few days, I feel so sad when I reflect on how poorly I did during the day. What's sad is this is coming from someone who eats green vegetables, low-glucose fruit, lean meats, and almost no grains or starch.0 -
Are you set up to lose 2lbs a week or 1.5lbs? I think because you only have 25lbs to go, change your goal to 1lbs a week. You really need to fight through the munchies and have more control.
You have done so great already, do not ruin your hard work nor stop now when the goal line is so close.0 -
MFP gives you a number based on data you input. You only have 20 pounds to go, it is not reasonable or healthy to set MFP to lose 2 pounds a week. And yes you are eating little, which is why you are hungry.According to MFP, I should be only eating 1380 cal a day
I'm 25, 5"9', 156 pounds and eat ~1800 minimum without excercise, and I eat 50-75% of excercise calories back on top of that.
Looking at your diary, you eat big meals. If you want to feel less hungry throughout the day it helps to spread your cals out more.
That said, if you are really only eating so little you should be losing weight. How long have you been "stuck"? If it hasn't been more than 4 weeks you should not lower cals at all. Also your sodium levels are pretty high, which doesn't help with fluctuations.
I read another post, saying you don't have a lot of foods left you "enjoy". It seems to me you need to start eating what you like to be able to continue the last 20 pounds. Calorie deficit is all you need, not "clean eating".0 -
Sorry you're having a tough time. I can only repeat what others have said.. (1) you shouldn't be hungry all the time, so try adding some snacks - my favorites are almonds, (2) your calorie goal seems low. I am a 5 foot 8 woman weighing 152 currently and at 1770 net I still loose 1/2 a pound a week as I'm working off the last couple of pounds before maintenance.0
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Are you trying to lose 2lbs a week? If so, change that to 1lb which will be more easily sustainable. There's no point being set at too aggressive a deficit if it's something you just can't manage. I still have a lot to lose but dropped mine when it got unfeasible and am finding things so much easier - along with regular exercise to boost my allowance!0
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I think your calorie intake is too low.
I'm much shorter than you (5'3") and I weigh less (about 140 lbs) and I'm 40. I'd be permanently starving on the intake you're trying to limit yourself to.
If I'm doing a reasonable amount of exercise I can eat around 2000 calories a day.
Personally my attitude is if you're eating healthy food and you're still hungry (and I mean actually hungry rather than just peckish or wanting to eat) then your body is telling you to eat more.0 -
i don't eat before noon, but i'm always hungry in the morning if i have a big dinner the night before.. if i don't, i'm not hungry and i usually don't feel the need to eat in the morning. try changing that. also, drink a lot of water, that helps. good luck!0
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i think there are a ton of factors jacking you up here. for me personally, i recently realized i eat a LOT out of boredom, or habit. im not currently working, so i tend to feel hungry throughout the day, but when i actually focus on that hunger it kind of goes away because im consciously thinking about how i just ate a few hours ago (granted, i eat high protein meals that fill me up). if that doesnt really fit what you're going through,
i'd recommend changing up your diet. i try to focus on paleo principles because it makes sense to me. now, it IS a fad diet, but the ideology behind it is solid. focus on eating ONLY natural foods (they say no grains/carbs, which is where i tend to disagree). but basically the diet says fill 3/4 of your plate with veggies and the remainder can be meat. veggies WILL fill you up for basically no calories and tons of nutrients so its a win all around. typically, you might give up by the time your halfway done with a (traditional american sized portioned) plate. sure, you will probably be able to continue eating to the end, when you feel "full". but you shouldnt be eating until you're full. eat until you dont feel hungry anymore, then save the rest for left overs. ultimately you'll have calories to spare and leftovers for weeks so your wallet stays full
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(another thing to note with all natural foods, is all natural drinks. which basically means ONLY water and tea. drinking calories is a HUGE problem for us. once i cut the drinks out i began struggling to even keep my calories in range without that pesky "starvation" message every day)... we're all different. im not saying you have to do this diet at all. but at the very least try looking at its principles and im sure you'll see a huge difference.0 -
I can only speak for what has worked for me but looking at your diary I would make the following suggestions:
Cut out the shakeology drinks, I have always found that drinking calories is far less filling than eating them
Increase your vegetable intake, load your plate with them although you need to be careful with potatoes, this means you are eating a large volume for a relatively small calorie intake
Stop tracking you sugar, track your fibre instead and make the goal a minimum because this can really fill you up.
Increase your intake of beans/pulses, I find they bulk out meals really well for the amount of calories in them
While your protein intake is great, maybe try cooking more of it yourself using lean meats such as skinless chicken breasts. Personally I love the skin and that layer of fat under it but if you don't eat it you can eat more of something else0 -
Since losing weight, my calorie allowance within MFP just keeps getting smaller and smaller. I do eat back "calories" that I earn from intense exercise but I still feel like it's not enough. I'm constantly hungry throughout the day. I already cut out almost all starchy foods so that meals would make me feel full longer but it doesn't seem to work. As soon as I wake up, I'm having pretty strong hunger pangs (even though I had a very large dinner night before). Sometimes I try to fast through breakfast to have more calories for the rest of the day but it leaves me feeling way too hungry.
Am I just lacking self control and motivation? No pain, no gain, right? My weight loss has hit a plateau and now I'm having the hardest time cutting back calories. It's gotten so bad that I'm playing mind games with myself like not logging everything in MFP so that it doesn't look as bad. I keep telling myself I'll do better tomorrow but tomorrow came today and I still ate too much.
About me:
Male, 27 years old, 5' 8"
Starting weight: 255 lb
Current weight: 170 lb
Goal weight: 155 lb
Calorie goal per day: 1400-1800 (latter with a lot of exercise)
Reality: 1900-2300 cal lately every day
Sigh. I'm really frustrated with myself. I did start doing HIIT sessions recently and I noticed that it has stimulated my appetite even more.
so glad to see you're eating 1900 - 2300 cals a day, because if you were eating what you try to eat you'd be an anorexic.
You're a guy. The less weight you have left to lose, the LESS weight you have to try to lose. Think of all your little fat cells like little taps... as your taps get fewer, the flow out of them gets less. You cannot release enough stored fat to serve the deficit and so you have 2 choices: eat muscle and organs (organs being most energy expensive), or over-ride the self-control systems in the brain of this bloody fool and make him eat something.
Good to see your safety-override system works. Just raise your calorie requirements back to something reasonable. You've done the hard stuff, now you have to smooth off that curve and raise calories as you go until you are eating maintenance calories at a time when you want to maintain. 0 -
just put your stats into scooby workshop and it says to go at a 20% deficit (highest healthy deficit) you should be eating 2131 cals a day to lose 1 lb a week.0
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Your TDEE minus 20% is in that range. You might consider using TDEE rather than NEAT (MFP uses NEAT) to determine your calorie goals.Reality: 1900-2300 cal lately every day
Here' a thread on the subject.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1033629-to-those-of-you-who-really-understand-tdee-vs-neat
Here are a couple of TDEE calculators:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
The choice of TDEE vs NEAT is personal preference. I like using TDEE because I don't have to bother entering every activity. Some people prefer NEAT because if they put in a little extra work in the gym that day they have a treat (cake) at the end of the day because they earned it.0 -
I agree with everyone else who says your calorie goal is set too low (I know it's not your fault as MFP do it automatically).
I'm a 5"6 girl at 137lb and MFP gave me daily goal of 1200 (for losing 1lb per week). *Nope*.
I changed my settings manually to 1,500 and often eat 1600-1700 (with calories gained through exercise).
Just crank up the calorie goal: whether manually or according to TDEE. You'll feel less guilty about constantly going over and will be able to more accurately see how you're doing on a daily basis by logging everything.
Oh yeh. And make sure you're getting at least two healthy snacks in every day between meals! I've even changed the layout of my diary to make sure I eat that morning snack.
Good luck! 0 -
Am I just lacking self control and motivation? No pain, no gain, right? My weight loss has hit a plateau and now I'm having the hardest time cutting back calories. It's gotten so bad that I'm playing mind games with myself like not logging everything in MFP so that it doesn't look as bad. I keep telling myself I'll do better tomorrow but tomorrow came today and I still ate too much.
About me:
Male, 27 years old, 5' 8"
Starting weight: 255 lb
Current weight: 170 lb
Goal weight: 155 lb
Calorie goal per day: 1400-1800 (latter with a lot of exercise)
Reality: 1900-2300 cal lately every day
Sigh. I'm really frustrated with myself. I did start doing HIIT sessions recently and I noticed that it has stimulated my appetite even more.
First - breathe. Relax. You're beating yourself up but you've lost 85 pounds already based on what you posted above.
You do realize that there are lots and lots of people who wish they could accomplish this, don't you? Take a break from criticizing yourself and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Do you have further to go? Yes, but it's a lot less than you've already accomplished. Being nice to yourself ought to become part of this process.
Ok, now for the second part. I love MFP. I really do. It's a fantastic tool and a wonderful, easy to use, online food diary. But the calorie needs calculation that MFP spits out if you use the tool here for calculating your needs is just awful. It makes no allowance for BMR (basel metabolic rate - or he number of calories you need to consume to maintain your current weight if all you did was lay in bed all day). Because of this MFP commonly miscalculates and has people grossly under-consuming and feeling pretty lousy. If you're 50 to 100 pounds overweight this is much less noticeable for most people than when you get within 20 or so pounds of your goal, which is where you are right now.
What I generally recommend for most people is rather than constantly adjusting their consumption as they lose weight, that you target the number of calories you need to eat to maintain your target weight. So, for you, your BMR for your goal weight of 155 pounds is 1712 calories. Now that's what you'd need to eat if you were immobilized to maintain that weight. No one lives like that, so you need to adjust that number for a factor that accounts for your daily activity level (before exercise). Most folks live a relatively sedentary life, composed mostly of sitting at a desk - the appropriate factor for that is 1.2 (as in, take the BMR number and multiply it by 1.2). For you that puts you at 2054 calories per day. This is the number of calories you should be consuming and never go below in order to maintain a body weight of 155 pounds.
Now, you'll note that I said this number does not account for exercise. Why? Because exercise is variable based upon effort, and ideally you should be taking a day off from exercise at least once a week to give your body a chance to recovery. In a perfect world you'd be involved in active recovery at least twice a week, and that will burn a lot fewer calories than the days you're doing a HIIT workout. If you don't have a heart rate monitor to get to a pretty good estimate of the number of calories you're burning on intense workout days I'd throw 400 at it. Should you be eating back those 400 calories? Yes, emphatically. Why? Because you're already at a deficit if you eat 2054 per day based on your current weight. Being at a steeper deficit (especially being as close to your goal as you are - did I mention you're really dang close to your goal and you should be proud of that?) will work against you. You're already feeling that.
Again, relax. You've already accomplished a lot. With a few little tweaks you'll get the rest of the way. Feel free to hit me up with you have any other questions.
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Hey mate i would relook your calories, im about the same weight and my allowance is 3700cals.0
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May I ask why you eat so much for dinner, compared to the rest of the day? Are you starving by then? Scared you will be hungry and saving calories? Could you add a snack a bit earlier? I would suggest you reconsider your meal plans completely to make your life at a lower weight easier: more veggies and fruit than you are currently doing, smaller meals (which means more snacks) and less processed things, including shakes. And, like everyone else said, readjust your goals to something more sustainable. Slower and steady weight loss is fine, no need to lose everything as fast as possible. You are almost at your goal, losing 2 lbs per month is more than fine at this point.0
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My Diary is open to look at.0
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Since losing weight, my calorie allowance within MFP just keeps getting smaller and smaller. I do eat back "calories" that I earn from intense exercise but I still feel like it's not enough. I'm constantly hungry throughout the day. I already cut out almost all starchy foods so that meals would make me feel full longer but it doesn't seem to work. As soon as I wake up, I'm having pretty strong hunger pangs (even though I had a very large dinner night before). Sometimes I try to fast through breakfast to have more calories for the rest of the day but it leaves me feeling way too hungry.
Am I just lacking self control and motivation? No pain, no gain, right? My weight loss has hit a plateau and now I'm having the hardest time cutting back calories. It's gotten so bad that I'm playing mind games with myself like not logging everything in MFP so that it doesn't look as bad. I keep telling myself I'll do better tomorrow but tomorrow came today and I still ate too much.
About me:
Male, 27 years old, 5' 8"
Starting weight: 255 lb
Current weight: 170 lb
Goal weight: 155 lb
Calorie goal per day: 1400-1800 (latter with a lot of exercise)
Reality: 1900-2300 cal lately every day
Sigh. I'm really frustrated with myself. I did start doing HIIT sessions recently and I noticed that it has stimulated my appetite even more.
I know exactly how you feel. I am the same way. It is quite disappointing to see your calorie allowance go down as you lose weight based on past experience.0 -
First thing I would do is cut out the shakeology stuff, and actually eat food. Then I would reset your goals, sounds like you are set to lose 2 lbs per week which is why you getting such a low amount of daily calories.
I'm 5'7 menopausal female at 177 lbs and I eat about 1700 calories a day and still lose weight.
http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/0 -
I'm with the others - drop shakes, eat food, and use the TDEE method to figure out your goal.0
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Cut down to ONE snake per day. Eat more real food. I'd be starving on just a shake for breakfast and lunch.0
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These might help also...
Read these:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here?hl=so+you're+new+here
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13
TL:DR link above ->http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal0 -
I also agree with the others, that you goal weight/week needs adjusted, and your calories seem too low. Also, don't be embarrassed and stop logging just because you over eat. If you don't want friends to see it, change your settings...but don't lie to yourself about your intake. When you plateau and are re-adjusting everything, you really need to log the good, the bad and the ugly so that you have something to reference back to and to compare to when needed. SImply put...the only person you are cheating is yourself!
I think once you refigure your calorie allowance you will see hunger lessen, and be able to get back on track! Best Wishes!0 -
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Give your self a cut out time, there are mixed reviews about stopping eating at 8 pm ( such as, it makes no difference as long as you stay within your calorie count), but I believe in it. It gives you time to metabolize your food before the next day weigh in and generally speaking, I have found it is relatively easy to do, and it eliminates late night snacking. I don't do so well restricting my calories either, but do well cutting out the bad stuff like white bread, fried food and sweet drinks which helps a lot in keeping within a reasonable count.0
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I agree with other posters, that for a male, your calorie limit might be set too low. However, I also looked at your diary, and there are some things you could do to help you feel less hungry. I've been doing something called the "I" diet that my daughter recommended, and it involves eating 3 moderate meals a day, plus two snacks. The snacks are usually things like a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese or yogurt and a piece of fruit or an ounce of nuts. This keeps the hunger from making you feel you need a huge dinner. Dinner might be 4-6 ounces of protein, a salad, and a vegetable. But if you've had an apple or a lowfat yogurt at 4:00, you don't feel like you have to "pig out" at dinner.The other thing is that you are drinking a lot of calories with the Shakeology products. Maybe you would feel fuller if you didn't have those products and instead, ate 130 calories in actual food. Or if you feel your calorie count is too high, leave them out entirely. Is there some reason you need to drink 130-150 calories per meal in a shake rather than getting it through food? I'm not a big proponent of these shakes and other drinks -- my son who does body building stuff drinks a lot of it -- he's not dieting, but I often say, why don't you just eat a piece of chicken or an egg or something.0
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In looking at your diary, you drink a lot of your calories. Maybe try cutting out the shakes and eat real food? It will be more satisfying.
You've lost a lot of weight and had great success. Don't beat yourself up so much!0
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