Feeling more hungry lately - to eat more or not?

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kristinels
kristinels Posts: 315 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all. I have been working on diet and fitness for 12 weeks now. Prior to that, I had gained 10 lbs in the previous year alone. I did *no* calorie counting/nutrient tracking and no exercising whatsoever. However, despite my sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits, I was still only about 35-40 lbs over my goal weight. Not terrible, but I knew that diet alone would not work for me as I'd tried it before with little success. I knew I needed to exercise and prior to this past couple of months, I had always dreaded exercise, so I started slow. I started with short interval workouts (20-30 minutes) around 4 times a week and a 1300 calorie diet. Over the weeks, I have steadily increased my workouts to 6 times a week and increased intensity and duration. I'm doing the CardioSculpt program now on DailyBurn.com in addition to usually around 12k steps a day on my Fitbit. I've kept my calorie intake at around 1300 (give or take 50...) calories.

When I started, I rarely felt hungry except maybe for a short time before meals. For the past few weeks, however, it seems like I am feeling hungry a lot. Within an hour or less of having eaten, I am hungry again. I have not been 'eating back' my exercise calories (usually reported as between 500-700 calories/day by Fitbit) because I am wary of the exercise calorie estimates, and I don't want to accidentally eat too much. I've lost 12.4 lbs in the 12 weeks (I am an excruciatingly slow loser!) so far. Does the feeling of hunger mean anything? Should I perhaps be taking in a few more calories since I'm now much more active than I was a few months ago? Or is it just a passing stage that I shouldn't worry about?

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  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    You may benefit from a diet break. One of the main signs that tells me I need one is hunger. Like you, I normally do not feel much hunger other than "okay, time for supper" type of hunger. But when I start to get to the point where I am hungry a lot, I go ahead and take a week off. I eat at maintenance and log it and keep exercising as normal. By the time the week is up, I feel much better and then get back to losing weight again. Here's an article that talks about diet breaks and touches on the issue of increased hunger:

    http://strengthunbound.com/when-to-take-a-diet-break/
  • TiffanyR71
    TiffanyR71 Posts: 217 Member
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    Make sure you're getting enough protein and fat to keep you content. If you already are, eat a little more- a small, healthy snack can go a long way (fruit or yogurt or cheese or hard boiled egg, etc.), and not seriously impact your overall intake. You have exercise calories- use some!
  • kristinels
    kristinels Posts: 315 Member
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    Just as a note - I do know about 'filling foods'. I'm already eating whole grains, meeting my protein goals (they seem to keep me feeling fuller longer), and eating a ton of veggies and fruits. I also regularly drink 64 oz of water a day.
  • Katiebear_81
    Katiebear_81 Posts: 719 Member
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    If you've increased your activity level, it stands to reason that you might need more fuel. I like jemhh's suggestion of eating at maintenance for a week, or even just add 200 calories/day for a week to see if that helps.

    I find that if I'm lifting a lot, I get really hungry, especially if it's heavy on legs. Those days I try to up my protein first, to make sure I'm hitting that macro. Usually, if I have that gnawing hungry feeling and down a protein shake (protein + unsweetened almond milk usually comes out to about 150 or so calories) it takes that "MUST EAT" feeling.

    Congrats on the loss to date, though! High fives!
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    You're likely holding a pretty large deficit. You're going to be really hungry. Eat a little more so that it is manageable
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    You mention protein, and carbs. Are you getting enough FATs? Also, to me, 1300 calories INTAKE seems quite low given your activity level.
  • kristinels
    kristinels Posts: 315 Member
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    I just went and looked at my nutrient reports for the past 30 days. It appears that for protien, I met or exceeded my goal each day (set by MFP) except for this week so far, when I have been a bit under. For fats, I am consistently under by about 10-15 on the chart, and for carbs I am consistently over by about 50 most days.

    The 1300 was suggested by MFP based on my 'sedentary' lifestyle selection when I first started. I only just realized it from looking at those reports, but last week, I consistently ate about 150-200 calories over 1300 and I did lose 2 lbs, which is a lot for me in a week. I was still more hungry than usual last week, but this week has been worse. Perhaps I will give increasing the calories for a couple weeks a try. I just usually lose such small amounts weekly (usually .2-.8/wk) that I didn't want to end up gaining.

    Thanks for the advice so far!
  • forgtmenot
    forgtmenot Posts: 860 Member
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    I don't trust my exercise burn amounts either which is why I don't eat all of them back most days. I do eat at least half back though. You're feeling hungry because you're burning off a lot of what you're eating and your body is telling you "I need more food to do this much activity!"
  • sciencenovice
    sciencenovice Posts: 40 Member
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    If you've exercised to the point of building muscle mass which I suspect you have, you're making a need for more calories than before. Your muscles consume more calories than fat, so essentially you have more consumers of these calories and at your activity level it wouldn't be a problem to add 150-200 calories in mostly protein to your daily calorie intake.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
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    You might space out your meals a bit. One thing that can help is eating several smaller meals instead of three main ones. It helps me anyways; might be worth a try if your schedule permits it.
  • kickassbarbie
    kickassbarbie Posts: 286 Member
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    I'm pretty sure calorie burns are over estimated too so maybe try eating half back and see how it goes for a couple weeks?

    Usually if I'm really hungry esp when upping the workouts it's a sign to slightly up my calories, if I don't exhaustion usually starts in a couple weeks later, and exhaustion is just no fun (nor very helpful in workouts.)
  • Jgasmic
    Jgasmic Posts: 219 Member
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    When I start feeling hungry I add more calories. I figure it would be better to lose half a pound a week instead of a pound than to stop losing altogether because I get overly hangry and start eating all of the things. I have found that when I increase my calories my workouts become better and my rate of loss doesn't slow down that much. Every time I have quit before it was because the restricting became unsustainable and a "cheat day" turned into months of poor choices. When I raise my calories I have more room for treats so there's no need to cheat. Also, 12 pounds in 12 weeks is a great rate of loss!
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,988 Member
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    kristinels wrote: »
    Hi all. I have been working on diet and fitness for 12 weeks now. Prior to that, I had gained 10 lbs in the previous year alone. I did *no* calorie counting/nutrient tracking and no exercising whatsoever. However, despite my sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits, I was still only about 35-40 lbs over my goal weight. Not terrible, but I knew that diet alone would not work for me as I'd tried it before with little success. I knew I needed to exercise and prior to this past couple of months, I had always dreaded exercise, so I started slow. I started with short interval workouts (20-30 minutes) around 4 times a week and a 1300 calorie diet. Over the weeks, I have steadily increased my workouts to 6 times a week and increased intensity and duration. I'm doing the CardioSculpt program now on DailyBurn.com in addition to usually around 12k steps a day on my Fitbit. I've kept my calorie intake at around 1300 (give or take 50...) calories.

    When I started, I rarely felt hungry except maybe for a short time before meals. For the past few weeks, however, it seems like I am feeling hungry a lot. Within an hour or less of having eaten, I am hungry again. I have not been 'eating back' my exercise calories (usually reported as between 500-700 calories/day by Fitbit) because I am wary of the exercise calorie estimates, and I don't want to accidentally eat too much. I've lost 12.4 lbs in the 12 weeks (I am an excruciatingly slow loser!) so far. Does the feeling of hunger mean anything? Should I perhaps be taking in a few more calories since I'm now much more active than I was a few months ago? Or is it just a passing stage that I shouldn't worry about?

    The relevant data is in the bolded sentences above.

    You've lost just slightly over a pound a week eating 1300 calories (gross) a day, so you're running an average daily calorie deficit of right around 1000 calories, so your TDEE is about 2300 (possibly a little less, since some of the early loss might have been water--but that may well be offset by the fact that your exercise time and intensity has increased--more data on whether your weekly weight loss has been steady or has increased or decreased over the 12 weeks might help clear that up). You now have 22.6 to 27.6 lbs (35 to 40 at the outset less 12.4 lbs lost so far) left to lose, and that might be a little aggressive at this point for maximum retention of lean body mass (I would want more data about your current weight and BF% before I would offer a definite opinion on that).

    It's up to you how much of that apparent 1000-calorie daily deficit you want to "eat into." If I were you, I would try increasing my daily goal to 1600 for two or three weeks, and see how that affected my hunger levels and weight loss, and adjust from there.

  • nuttynanners
    nuttynanners Posts: 249 Member
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    I use a HRM with exercise to get a good estimate of my calories burned. When I log the calorie burn, I shave off 15% of whatever my HRM says and log that. I do this because even a Heart Rate Monitor is not going to be 100% accurate, so I decide to leave a margin of error. If I'm hungry enough, which as of late I totally have been, I eat back those calories.

    This method has been working well for me and I continue to lose weight. Sometimes I am still hungry between meals, but if I can distract myself with non-food related activities, I find I can hold off on eating until my next meal.

    Something else I've found that keeps the cravings at bay is spicy food! Also loading up on proteins and fats seems to help a lot too. I don't avoid sugar altogether, but I do avoid eating anything later in the day that is full of sugar (like 25-30 grams) because those foods are usually high in carbs and lacking in the protein and fats I need to keep me feeling full.

    I've heard that a good rule of thumb is to eat every 3-4 hours. This keeps your hunger hormones, ghrelin (signals hunger) and leptin (suppresses hunger), in balance. Another thing that helps with hunger is getting plenty of sleep.
  • bmele0
    bmele0 Posts: 282 Member
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    There was a helpful little chart I found one time here, like a general rule of thumb since the smaller you get, the harder it may be to lose, harder to sustain a big deficit like some people do in the beginning-

    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 ideal

    Of course, it's up to you what you really want to do, but if you're getting hungry all the time- eat! Probably need more fuel for your exercise.
  • kristinels
    kristinels Posts: 315 Member
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    I think I've had this mindset that I lose slowly because in the past, with pretty much diet alone and just light walking for exercise, I've typically been lucky to lose .2-.4 a week (when I had 40 lbs to lose) - so I'd get frustrated and give up. Those failed attempts convinced me that I needed the exercise and that getting fit should be more my focus. After reading lynn_glenmont's and bmele0's posts, I went back and looked at the losses the past 12 weeks. The past 5 have been the most inconsistent - I lost .2, .6, gained 1.2 (not sure why - assuming maybe water?), lost 1.6, and then lost 2lbs last week. Prior to that it was pretty steady at a little over a pound a week. Strange how old mindsets are hard to break until someone gets you to really look at the data! I had to look up TDEE - so that was informative too - thanks! I'm a little over 5'6" and 157 lbs right now. My goal is 135.

    Based on everyone's feedback so far, I am definitely going to increase my calories for at least a few weeks and see what happens. I was just out of steam today at the end of my workout, so I'm fairly convinced I need more energy in. I do eat small snacks mid-morning - usually something with cheese or peanut butter or greek yogurt because I quickly discovered that I couldn't make it to the end of my lunchtime workouts without one. I also do a small snack between lunch and dinner - like a piece of fruit. Would you guys recommend increasing my portions a bit at meals, or adding more healthy 'snacks'?
  • bmele0
    bmele0 Posts: 282 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Don't give up, remember this is the long-haul. And you are doing fantastic! Also, you'll see it here, but weight loss is not linear, you may not see loss for a week or two but your clothes might fit better. You may see a gain here or there (specially for women and our water retaining selves), but then you see it drop. Focus on the downward trend and don't sweat the small stuff.

    I would say whenever you feel the hungriest, think about when those times are. You could add a little bit to the meal before or after or just put a whole new snack in there. I'd def add protein :)

    I've lost 110 lbs. I'm 182 and my goal is around 1lb loss for my 150 goal. It's slower going, but any bigger of a deficit leaves me hungry, more tired/ slow.
  • kristinels
    kristinels Posts: 315 Member
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    Wow bmele0! That is impressive! :) That is some real dedication you have. I'm definitely not giving up this time. I've already lasted way longer than I have before, and strangely, I'm starting to actually like my workouts. Never thought I'd say that - lol!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Decrease your deficit.

    If you only lose 12 pounds in 12 weeks though, my guess is that you're eating more than you think.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    kristinels wrote: »
    I have not been 'eating back' my exercise calories (usually reported as between 500-700 calories/day by Fitbit) because I am wary of the exercise calorie estimates, and I don't want to accidentally eat too much.

    Your Fitbit burn is your TDEE (aka your maintenance calories). If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments, eating back 100% of your Fitbit adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit.

    You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users

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