New phenomenon to me- RAVENOUS alot lately-is this what should be happening
Kristendcampbell
Posts: 786 Member
I have posted before in the last year or more. I ate VERY low calorie and low carb for about 5 years. A year and a half ago I started this EM2LW and gained a lot of weight back and it wasn't coming off. So I did a quick diet, lost 20 lbs. It has been a long year for me, since I still was heavier than the weight I had been at 164lb. So in Nov. of this last year I started to get back on the cardio and some light weights a few times a week. It was not perfect, and some weeks sporadic, and I let myself eat but not worry. I still tracked just to be aware, and had my body fat tested. I am 5'7+ and was at 191 in Nov. As of Jan. 31st I was weighed at work and it said 209. I started working out 4-5 days a week altering weights and cardio about 40 minutes a day. 25-30 minutes 3 times on weights and a 10 minute or so elliptical. then 30 minutes elliptical/treadmill other days with some other bodyweight exercise. I still was only eating between 1400ish on low days and 1750 on high days. My BMR is 1624/RMR I believe is 1750 I can't remember the paper is at home. I have gained and know that up until 3 days ago I weighed 211+ I have been 211 for about a month. I noticed this week being a bit hungrier, then all of the sudden on Wed. I ate 2800 calories and I was noticing I was really hungry again within a few hours of every meal. Then yesterday I managed about 1900 which is a big deal to me, and I noticed I have been ravenous all day yesterday and today I have already eaten over 1400 calories today. I also noticed that yesterday I dropped about .5 lb, same weight today.
Does this mean anything to you? Does it mean my metabolism is working again? I don't recall being hungry like this while eating this much in years. I do feel stronger (ever so subtle changes in my arms). I want to possibly be excited, but I had to get excited and hear that it is a fluke.
Does this mean anything to you? Does it mean my metabolism is working again? I don't recall being hungry like this while eating this much in years. I do feel stronger (ever so subtle changes in my arms). I want to possibly be excited, but I had to get excited and hear that it is a fluke.
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Many times eating more helps your recovery from exercise - the body actually has something to repair with. So increased metabolism there.
Also, many times with better recovery and more energy, the workouts can actually be harder, not only burning more during the sesson, but actually needing recovery.
Also, one of the first things the body does when undereating is slowing you down daily, not metabolism, but just moving less. When you eat more it's willing to let you move more, burning more.
Hence the phrase fueling your workout.
This is why many can eating 200 more daily for a week or two and actually drop weight, body speeds up, they created a deficit again, or a stressed out body became less stressed and dropped water weight.
But it also could be the meals/snacks are either big enough or too many carbs for you, and are causing insulin spike and resulting low blood sugar - making you feel hungrier than you really need to be.
Do you eat protein and fat with every meal and snack, and do you eat them first in the meal?
Or are they more than about 400 calories even if well balanced and carbs last?
Lots of food causes insulin spike too no matter the macros, unless all fat of course.0 -
I am eating protein and fat with each meal. My meals have been about 400 some more sometimes a hare less for breakfast, but I do eat snacks between. This hunger has been serious stomach growling hunger. My meals are fairly balanced, I typically eat the primary item first or in combination with my side dish. So I don't think I eat "carb" items first. So if I have a sandwich the carb is with the protein. Sometimes I have a chicken sausage with either cottage cheese and tomatoes or a 0% fat yogurt then I eat my wheat thins. That is just to give you an idea.
I guess I won't get excited, and just not think about it. I will continue my workouts and see what happens over the next week or two.0 -
Is your plan to increase your calories to find your TDEE? Maybe your metabolism is speeding up and you are ready to increase your calories some more? Considering your stats, your TDEE is definitely more than 1900. When you stay you started EM2WL and gained weight that wasn't coming off, what do you mean? Did you do a full reset? How long did you give it? I know Kiki says that people who have been doing low calorie/low carb for a long time sometimes gain more weight during reset and have to give their bodies longer to adjust.0
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My TDEE is 2250, I have struggled with eating more. I did increase to my TDEE immediately without moderately increasing the last time Started TDEE Aug. 4 of 2013 and did it thru December, No losses at all, and of course the gain there, I did expect gain, but it just wasn't coming off. I expect the change to take longer, but it is challenging to workout for months and see no results- no measurement differences and no losses. This time the first week was the 209-211 gain and it has stayed there. Then the .5 loss this week.0
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Well I'm not an expert in this since I am just doing reset now, so many someone with more experience will jump in. My understanding is the point of reset is not to lose. You want your weight to stabilize. So I'm just wondering, if you found your TDEE was 2250 back in the fall of last year, then how long did you give to trying a small cut? It seems like in your last message you went back to super low calories to lose weight? Was your TDEE 2250 when you weighed 164? You said you didn't see any results in terms of measurements or weight loss. How did you feel during reset? Did you see results in terms of your workouts? I personally feel great when I get stronger and can lift more!
I can only really speak from my own experience...I was eating at 1900 a couple of weeks ago and getting really hungry. So I increased my calories to around 2000-2200 and feel much better. If you lost .5 pounds this week, it seems like your metabolism is speeding up! You can always try upping your calories a bit more and if you don't like the results you can go back to 1900.
If you have been eating super low calorie for the last year maybe your body could use a break? It is difficult to feel like things aren't progressing, but in the long term, a few months of experimenting seems worth it if it means that I find something that works for me for the rest of my life. I have been very nervous about increasing my calories too since I just lost some weight. I don't want to go backwards! But I'm stronger than I was 6 months ago and I feel so much healthier and better.0 -
I do understand, Yes the reset you are to get to TDEE and stay there and eventually you lose weight. I was hoping that the exercise and moving calories up would do something in terms of reshaping or some loss to show a response. Even if I don't lose I would like to see some change somewhere.
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No, you misunderstood.
TDEE is maintenance - you don't lose weight eating at maintenance.
I thought what you said farther up sounded like that, and it appears you confirmed it.
You should not have lost weight Aug to Dec, and if you jumped straight up, you would of course gain.
After staying at maintenance awhile letting body reset and unstress, you then take an actual deficit to lose weight.
What did you do with food levels from Dec 13 until recently?0 -
Just to confirm also - you are not supposed to lose weight during a reset while eating at TDEE or maintenance. A full reset is 9-12 weeks minimum eating at TDEE and after that, you introduce no more than a 15% deficit for slower fat loss. Rather than dropping your cals way back down, you should have just slightly lowered them and you would have had nice, slow weight loss.
Also, at 5'7, 211 lbs and working out 4-5 days a week, your TDEE should be much higher than 2250. Are you using the Scooby site to calculate and what activity level did you choose? You are at least 3-5 hours moderate activity level, and could possibly the next one higher if you are not sedentary outside of your formal workouts. This puts your TDEE at minimum 2500ish, and possibly even quite a bit higher.
I have found in the past that when my calories were too low and I started increasing them, I would get very hungry too. It's a good sign and it means that your metabolism is speeding back up. You don't want to lower them again. I'd encourage you to increase your calories slowly back up to a 15% deficit from your TDEE. But be careful to calculate your TDEE correctly using the correct activity level.0
