W-A-Y under calories but not hungry at all

I just restarted the diet thing again. Not sure wth the deal is. I consistently come in WAY under my daily caloric needs. I am talking 1k or more. Thing is though, I am not really hungry. I did start taking ACV pills which have worked awesome in the past to control appetite. That is the only thing I can think of. I know that this may be counterproductive to actual weight loss. Truth be told though, I am in this more for losing fat than I am weight, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. Anyone else have experience with this?

Replies

  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    I just restarted the diet thing again. Not sure wth the deal is. I consistently come in WAY under my daily caloric needs. I am talking 1k or more. Thing is though, I am not really hungry. I did start taking ACV pills which have worked awesome in the past to control appetite. That is the only thing I can think of. I know that this may be counterproductive to actual weight loss. Truth be told though, I am in this more for losing fat than I am weight, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. Anyone else have experience with this?

    Doesn't matter if you are hungry. A goal is a goal. eat more.
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  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
    I just restarted the diet thing again. Not sure wth the deal is. I consistently come in WAY under my daily caloric needs. I am talking 1k or more. Thing is though, I am not really hungry. I did start taking ACV pills which have worked awesome in the past to control appetite. That is the only thing I can think of. I know that this may be counterproductive to actual weight loss. Truth be told though, I am in this more for losing fat than I am weight, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. Anyone else have experience with this?

    Doesn't matter if you are hungry. A goal is a goal. eat more.
    Yup.

    Also we didn't end up needing MFP because we have trouble eating.

    QFT.
  • PinkCupcakes84
    PinkCupcakes84 Posts: 235 Member
    There's plenty of overweight people on here that "just can't eat my calories" and are "so stuffed after only 700 cal" lol. Again, I'm puzzled how they got overweight to begin with but yes there are others.
  • conqueringsquidlette
    conqueringsquidlette Posts: 383 Member
    There's plenty of overweight people on here that "just can't eat my calories" and are "so stuffed after only 700 cal" lol. Again, I'm puzzled how they got overweight to begin with but yes there are others.

    Ooh, I can answer this one. I was eating a lot of crap all at once and blowing through enough calories to make me fat in one sitting. Switching to healthy food that actually meets my macros and all that stuff involves eating even *MORE* food than I used to, so I had to learn how to eat more than just one big dinner.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    There only one day recorded in your diary- what do you mean by consistently under?

    Also, are you low carbing?
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Are you eating low carb for medical reasons?

    Eating far too few calories over time will result in "weight" loss.....as opposed to mainly fat loss. You need a calorie deficit to lose weight, but really large deficits can't support lean muscle. You don't want your body to use muscle mass as fuel.

    Calorie dense foods.....nuts, nut butters, olive oil, avocado can help here. Small portions....large calories.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Thousand calories short?

    A196_espresso_spoon.jpg

    Butter-008.jpg

    FIFY
  • No_Finish_Line
    No_Finish_Line Posts: 3,661 Member
    I just restarted the diet thing again. Not sure wth the deal is. I consistently come in WAY under my daily caloric needs. I am talking 1k or more. Thing is though, I am not really hungry. I did start taking ACV pills which have worked awesome in the past to control appetite. That is the only thing I can think of. I know that this may be counterproductive to actual weight loss. Truth be told though, I am in this more for losing fat than I am weight, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. Anyone else have experience with this?

    if your truely not hungry coming in at 1000 calories below goal, either your goal is wrong (unlikely) or your logging foods inaccurately (very likely)

    if its only been a week or so, and you've been over eating in the past, give it a week or two, your appitite will regulate better.

    stop taking pills
  • There only one day recorded in your diary- what do you mean by consistently under?

    Also, are you low carbing?
    Only 1 day on MFP. I used another comunity/app before this. They suck that is why I am here :)I am low carbing, but not going crazy with it.
  • sianquin
    sianquin Posts: 86 Member
    Your eating alot of salt this will cause you to retain water and bloat so you look bigger than you are.

    I did lower carb myself this time last year, but I tended to sway toward homemade meats and salads, after a while we found MFP and discovered I also wasn't eating enough. At that point my weight loss had stalled and By using MFP correctly I managed to lose more.

    Try eating more food for a few weeks, you'd need to eat an awful lot to make a proper difference in your weight and see how it goes, your body will adapt and you will find yourself less likely to force yourself to eat. I did it with things like peanut butter and frozen yogurt.

    Remember your brain needs carbs to function so don't cut down too much. No food group is bad.
  • jrose1982
    jrose1982 Posts: 366 Member
    My first observation is that you're not eating much vegetables (based on that 1 day diary). I would suggest you add at least one serving of vegetables to each meal.

    It's not uncommon to lose your appetite on low-carb. I often struggle to eat close to my goal, but not nearly as dramatically as you do.
    You did mention you're taking some meds that might reduce your appetite as well. Ideally, you should be able to trust your appetite to tell you when and how much to eat. But you've got a pretty good reason why maybe you can't. You can get around that by planning your meals and sticking to the plan.

    Build your meals around vegetables, then add meat and fat to fill you up. If your carb limit is 66 g/day, then try for 40-50 g of carbs from vegetables. You can easily have 3-6 servings of vegetables that way.

    Here's how I plan my meals:
    - Vegetables: 1-2 cups of leafy greens, and/or 1/2 - 1 cup of other vegetable (I log by weight, though).
    - Meat: I try to get 20-30 grams of protein from each serving of meat. That's not based on any science, it's just what I observe works. I mention this because I notice your meats are kinda low in protein (at least in the portions you're eating). You're better off avoiding processed meats. Instead, buy a whole ham and slice it yourself. Or buy a whole, roasted chicken. Without the additives, you get more nutrition for the calories. It looks to me like you're only eating small portions of the processed meat to keep the carbs under 2. If you buy better meat, that's not really necessary.
    - Fat: Whatever comes with the meat, plus low-carb salad dressings (ranch or Caesar, usually). 2 tbsp is just about right for 2 cups of leafy greens.
    - I like to have big breakfast and lunch (like 500-600 calories, each) and smaller dinner. This is because I usually wake up hungry, and lose my appetite throughout the day (even if I skip lunch, I still don't have much appetite by the time I get home). This way, if I skip dinner, I'm only short about 200 calories or so. I don't know if this will help you. The point it to pay attention to when you are hungry, and plan to eat more during those times.

    Exercise might also help with your appetite. I'm not talking about lifting weights or or an hour on the treadmill. That would increase your calorie deficit quite a bit more. But a comfortable 20-30 minute walk just before each meal might help increase your appetite.

    Edit: I should add that I'm also low-carb - 50 g/day. And my calorie target is 1300-1500 per day. Not so different from your goals. That's why I put in so many details about what I do.
  • Scheezo
    Scheezo Posts: 13
    There only one day recorded in your diary- what do you mean by consistently under?

    Also, are you low carbing?
    Only 1 day on MFP. I used another comunity/app before this. They suck that is why I am here :)I am low carbing, but not going crazy with it.

    I try to stay low carb, or rather take in some good carbs and not bad ones without going overboard. You'll be healthier and lose weight. There were times when I was FULL and had hundreds of calories left that I could eat for the day. My biggest problem was once I got close to my goal weight, the weight was coming off so quickly that it scared me and I didn't know how else to respond but to start eating bad carbs again. I'll also point out that I was doing body weight exercises and putting on muscle very quickly.

    If it happens that you start losing weight too quickly, just add in some healthy carbs like beans. You're going to be just fine.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    For lots of people, appetite is a poor indicator of when and how much we need to eat. Lots of people have very little practice correctly interpreting and appropriately responding to hunger cues. You only have a couple of days of diary entries, but they are very unbalanced in terms of macro ratios as well as the complete lack of vegetables and fruits. Are they representative of your typical daily intake? This is just my opinion based on those couple days of diary entries, but I would stop taking appetite suppressants and start eating a reasonable number of vegetables, fruits and maybe some dairy. You're eating in a fairly unhealthy way and adding chemicals, so it's no wonder your body is responding in a strange way.
  • WisheeNY
    WisheeNY Posts: 72 Member
    There's plenty of overweight people on here that "just can't eat my calories" and are "so stuffed after only 700 cal" lol. Again, I'm puzzled how they got overweight to begin with but yes there are others.

    Ooh, I can answer this one. I was eating a lot of crap all at once and blowing through enough calories to make me fat in one sitting. Switching to healthy food that actually meets my macros and all that stuff involves eating even *MORE* food than I used to, so I had to learn how to eat more than just one big dinner.

    Yup! Before I started this whole thing, I ate mostly fast food and restaurant food and I swear I could eat 2,000 calories in one sitting and be good for the day. Or sometimes I'd go out and get even more food later on. Now, spreading out calories throughout the day and preparing my own meals instead of just cruising through a drive-thru just feels like I'm eating more. What that's shown me though, is that before, I wasn't as hungry as I thought I was. I would have been just fine eating a few slices of a pizza instead of the whole pie. Now, it's just a matter of getting used to that fact.
  • manicautumn
    manicautumn Posts: 224 Member
    There's plenty of overweight people on here that "just can't eat my calories" and are "so stuffed after only 700 cal" lol. Again, I'm puzzled how they got overweight to begin with but yes there are others.

    Ooh, I can answer this one. I was eating a lot of crap all at once and blowing through enough calories to make me fat in one sitting. Switching to healthy food that actually meets my macros and all that stuff involves eating even *MORE* food than I used to, so I had to learn how to eat more than just one big dinner.

    +1

    I was eating less than 800 calories many days while drinking heavily. I gained weight from drinking, not eating. Cutting back on alcohol has left me actively having to eat more.
  • Ooh, I can answer this one. I was eating a lot of crap all at once and blowing through enough calories to make me fat in one sitting. Switching to healthy food that actually meets my macros and all that stuff involves eating even *MORE* food than I used to, so I had to learn how to eat more than just one big dinner.
    +1

    I was eating less than 800 calories many days while drinking heavily. I gained weight from drinking, not eating. Cutting back on alcohol has left me actively having to eat more.

    Both for me as well. Though. I have cut W-A-Y back on the beer. I guess I just need to ride this out a bit longer.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Ooh, I can answer this one. I was eating a lot of crap all at once and blowing through enough calories to make me fat in one sitting. Switching to healthy food that actually meets my macros and all that stuff involves eating even *MORE* food than I used to, so I had to learn how to eat more than just one big dinner.
    +1

    I was eating less than 800 calories many days while drinking heavily. I gained weight from drinking, not eating. Cutting back on alcohol has left me actively having to eat more.

    Both for me as well. Though. I have cut W-A-Y back on the beer. I guess I just need to ride this out a bit longer.

    getting in extra calories is easy....even if you choose healthy options...

    full fat cheese
    full fat milk
    avocadoes
    butter
    olive oil (I use it to cook almost everything)
    ice cream
    pizza
    .
    .
    .
    the list can go on and on...there is no need of anyone eating that far under goal when there are lots of "healthy" options out there to get those calories in if you are so concerned with not eating Fast food etc..
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  • conqueringsquidlette
    conqueringsquidlette Posts: 383 Member
    Ooh, I can answer this one. I was eating a lot of crap all at once and blowing through enough calories to make me fat in one sitting. Switching to healthy food that actually meets my macros and all that stuff involves eating even *MORE* food than I used to, so I had to learn how to eat more than just one big dinner.
    +1

    I was eating less than 800 calories many days while drinking heavily. I gained weight from drinking, not eating. Cutting back on alcohol has left me actively having to eat more.

    Both for me as well. Though. I have cut W-A-Y back on the beer. I guess I just need to ride this out a bit longer.

    getting in extra calories is easy....even if you choose healthy options...

    full fat cheese
    full fat milk
    avocadoes
    butter
    olive oil (I use it to cook almost everything)
    ice cream
    pizza
    .
    .
    .
    the list can go on and on...there is no need of anyone eating that far under goal when there are lots of "healthy" options out there to get those calories in if you are so concerned with not eating Fast food etc..
    Agree.

    Like I said before, people having trouble eating 1200 calories most likely are eliminating those tasty higher calorie foods. It gets easier because they realize food groups is unnecessary.

    It *has* gotten easier. I was just trying to say why it was difficult to begin with (and you're right - it's from eliminating pure junk and replacing it with things that have actual nutritional value). It's perfectly legitimate to find difficulty in going from eating half a loaded pizza and drinking three beers once a night (and not eating anything else during the day) to having to schedule all of these other meals because suddenly it takes so much more food to hit fewer calories. It just takes some figuring out is all.

    This is basically why it's suddenly hard. You go from eating everything fried and dripping in grease to fitting things like "vegetables" in.... For me, I really just had to learn how to eat more often. Getting up early to have breakfast and make lunch was a whole lifestyle change on its own!

    400cals.jpg
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