Hungry all the time all of a sudden, also tired

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XLombardX
XLombardX Posts: 23 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hello,

I am at my goal weight and I have been maintaining it for about 10 months now. I am female and I eat about 1830 calories every day, which has been fine up until now. For the last few weeks I've been hungry all the time, and I need about 2500 calories per day to be satisfied. Now I know the traditional (and very good) advice is to concentrate on eating nutritionally dense foods, not waste calories on sugar etc. I've been trying to do that and it doesn't seem to keep the hunger at bay. I've also been very tired and feeling not as strong as usual over the last few weeks - can anyone tell me, is this my body saying I need more food? I'm a little scared to up my calorie goals as I don't want to undo my hard work.

Replies

  • Lindyandcheryl
    Lindyandcheryl Posts: 9 Member
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    Try eating more protein...it fills you up, satisfies you, and helps increase your metabolism.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,718 Member
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    Your diary is not open.

    When people complain about being ravenous I check if they are having high carb early in the day. If I have more than 50g at a single sitting, it makes my blood glucose spike, causing an insulin spike. This causes low blood glucose a few hours later, which makes me feel ravenous and induces renewed carb cravings. If I give in and have a lot of carbs, it causes the blood sugar yo yo which makes me hungry all day.

    In general I find protein and fibre help me stay full.
  • mariluny
    mariluny Posts: 428 Member
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    We can't see your diary, but like lindyandcherry said try increasing protein? Sometimes ill just get hungrier for a few days and i can't figure out why. On thise days ill usually try to fit in many snack so ill be eatung all day long withou busting my calorie goal. If after a week or so I'm still feeling hungry all the time I'll give in and just eat more and usually it passes. If it doesn't pass it very might be mental as well. Knowing you can only eat a certain amount of calorie can make you fixate on the amount and you don't fell satisfied with even though physically speaking it does satisfy you.
    Try drinking a lot of water, especially when you think you get hungry. Make sure to keep yourself distracted and busy.
  • gsamakovlis
    gsamakovlis Posts: 1
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    I have never thought that carb in the morning would make me more hungry. Thanks i will try this tomorrow.....
  • angelexperiment
    angelexperiment Posts: 1,917 Member
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    Maybe you just didn't find the right balance for you. Maybe you need a higher carb count like 50 to 100 a day and less meat. Higher fat from oils and nuts instead. I think cut the wheat but put in higher carb fruit and veggies and use millet, quinoa, amaranth, rice. Maybe have fish 3 x a week and other small meat portion to once a day or maybe you need a plant based diet. Not all diets work for all people. Every body is different and has different needs. I don't know but I see a lot of people tweak things to find that right balance. And meat is not the only protein so maybe you need to mix it up with beans and other sources.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I notice, if I eat earlier in the day, I'm ravenous throughout. I try not to have my breakfast until 10-10:30, this seems to help me tremendously. Also, as everyone else mentioned, too many carbs makes me hungrier for some reason.
  • angelexperiment
    angelexperiment Posts: 1,917 Member
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    Oops ignore what I just said that was for someone else. Id say figure out if its too much carbs at meals or is it you are building muscle or you have cut to many cals and maybe need to bring it back up 2 to 400 cals. Maybe try a high protein snack or liquid carb source thats around 25 to 50 cals before you work out about a hour before? Try a yogurt those are a good post workout snack? The other thing is are you lactating that will make you ravenous because you body is working hard to produce and burning alot if calories. I had to eat snacks to keep the hunger down like a piece of snack cheese, a yougurt, a apple, a banana. Just in little amounts chewing thoroughly til I felt no longer hungry. This helped me. At least the hunger went away. Also I found 1 c raspberry with 1 c buckwheat hot cereal very filling. And got me through til dinner.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,300 Member
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    I am wondering if you are low in minerals. iodine in conjunction with selenium are essential for thyroid function. A significant number of our population are low in minerals and this is without eating to a calorie restriction. If you use predominantly fat free dairy and little or no fish it could be part of the problem. There are si many possible symptoms. There are on line lists which give the amounts per 100 grams of many common foods. Stop the thyroid madness site might help
  • XLombardX
    XLombardX Posts: 23 Member
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    Thank you for all of the replies, I really appreciate them! I eat about 90g of protein per day, and I always start the day off with protein. My doctor said that my cell volumes indicate I need to eat more protein, but I'm not sure that's possible! I eat a lot of fibre, protein and fat and I don't eat wheat or white grains. I have hypothyroidism and I take thyroxine for it, but I hadn't thought about looking at my iodine and selenium intake, thank you for that. I agree angelexperime, every body has different nutritional needs. I know I get tired and sluggish on a high carb diet, but my sister thrives on it. My diet is about 45/20/35 Carbs/Protein/Fat, and it's worked fine for about a year, it's just recently that I've gotten really hungry! I'm a 27 year old woman, not sure if that's helpful info.

    Thank you for the suggestions to cut down on carbs, I think I might get into a vicious cycle with them. Feel drained, go for a packet of gummibears (38 calories) perk up for a while, have a blood sugar crash and need to eat more...

    Thanks again :)
  • catb58
    catb58 Posts: 239 Member
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    Thank you for the suggestions to cut down on carbs, I think I might get into a vicious cycle with them. Feel drained, go for a packet of gummibears (38 calories) perk up for a while, have a blood sugar crash and need to eat more...

    Thanks again :)

    You might want to try munching on a few almonds or a greek yogurt instead of gummibears.
  • awesomejdad
    awesomejdad Posts: 493 Member
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    if your sugar levels are to low your glucose could be at or near a crashing level. Make sure your getting some sugar.
  • cdavison2018
    cdavison2018 Posts: 15 Member
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    Add some good fat and more protein and cut way back on ALL carbs. Vicious hunger is caused by blood sugar surges. Fats are not the enemy they have made out to be and keep hunger at bay! This hunger is the carbs jerking you around. Let us know how you do!
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Thank you for all of the replies, I really appreciate them! I eat about 90g of protein per day, and I always start the day off with protein. My doctor said that my cell volumes indicate I need to eat more protein, but I'm not sure that's possible! I eat a lot of fibre, protein and fat and I don't eat wheat or white grains. I have hypothyroidism and I take thyroxine for it, but I hadn't thought about looking at my iodine and selenium intake, thank you for that. I agree angelexperime, every body has different nutritional needs. I know I get tired and sluggish on a high carb diet, but my sister thrives on it. My diet is about 45/20/35 Carbs/Protein/Fat, and it's worked fine for about a year, it's just recently that I've gotten really hungry! I'm a 27 year old woman, not sure if that's helpful info.

    Thank you for the suggestions to cut down on carbs, I think I might get into a vicious cycle with them. Feel drained, go for a packet of gummibears (38 calories) perk up for a while, have a blood sugar crash and need to eat more...

    Thanks again :)

    Good luck. It sounds like a thyroid problem you need to work through with your doctor. It is so tough to keep those meds balanced and they do change a lot with the state of your hormones, exercise, stress, etc.
  • itsbasschick
    itsbasschick Posts: 1,584 Member
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    perhaps you should go to your doctor and get checked for diabetes or thyroid issues. unless you've recently started working out, in which case you'd need more calories, a change like this could be a sign of a possible issue.

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