Now That I Can Eat...Always Hungry

DoreenaV1975 wrote: »

PAV8888 wrote: »

Hi OP: you mentioned a few times that you do only a little bit of cardio (though it could well be extremely intense cardio; I am saying a little bit in terms of total amount of time per week) and you are concerned about eating back the exercise calories.

A basic fitbit zip costs $59. For most people fitbit's TDEE calculation is not overstated.

If it is overstated it tends to be an overstatement of well under 10% and is often evidence of thermogenic adaptation which you may want to try to counteract anyway.

If you use a fitbit and enable negative adjustments (as per the MFP Fitbit group's FAQ written by @heybales ), you can then eat as per the fitbit suggestions with less concern about your exercise burns...

@PAV8888 Really? Hmmm.... I just have always heard that calorie trackers aren't accurate...
And I generally average about 30mins on the elliptical 3-4xs a week. 30mins for me on the elliptical = approximately 300cals. But since I don't have the option to plug in my data: age and weight... I don't trust it.
The treadmill at my gym, which I can plug my data into, has me burning only about 100 calories for the same amount of time going about the same speed! Does the elliptical burn more?

I was just looking at the zip on Amazon...sounds good! Do you actually have one?

They are pretty good accuracy for the other 23 hours of the day.

Your maybe 1 hr of exercise could vary. But what % of time is that in your week, and what % of weekly calorie burn is that anyway?
And if it's 50% off for that 1 hr - what total difference does that make now to the week?

Probably not much. Probably got more inaccuracies somewhere else.

But it is best to manually log some exercise, depending on what type of device you got.

Strength training should be manual on either step-based or HR-based devices, it's better accuracy.

The devices actually usually underestimate daily calorie burn by some amount.
The assign sleeping level BMR calorie burn to all non-moving time.
But when awake you actually burn slightly more - RMR.
When standing not moving you burn even more.
When digesting processing food you burn more - about 10% of calories eaten.

All that is unaccounted for.
Moving time is based on pace and mass - derived from steps and stride length seen - so accuracy there could be effected.

For the treadmill - only the weight is used for calorie burn calc, age is used for setting the HR zones in case you use the HRM. Pace and weight is all you need for really good calc. It's what Fitbit uses too.

Elliptical only needs weight too - but, there are no good elliptical formula's like there are walking/running - which is the vast majority of testing in lab research so very good formulas there.

So some of the ellipticals look at watts expended and assume a certain % of efficiency and base calorie burn on that - which isn't bad. Biking does the same thing with watt meters.
But elliptical has so many variables and very different ways of actually using your body to do it, can be thrown off easily.

So you can't relate speed between those machines.
Easiest would be get calorie burn from Treadmill doing a pace that causes the same HR you get on the elliptical.
That's exactly what a HRM would do for you anyway.

The step-based counters aren't accurate on ellipticals either for that exact same reason. If it even sees all the steps (impact could be low enough it doesn't), the distance it derives from softer impact will be all off, and calories based on that completely wrong.
In theory you could find the elliptical settings that caused the exact same distance and burn as treadmill - but that's a lot of work. Besides, the softer nature usually lets you do it harder than treadmill for better workout without the hard impacts.

Wait, not to hijack, but this: But you aren't sedentary if working out 2 hrs weekly.

That is clearly Lightly Active.

Be honest with yourself. from heybales--I thought exercise level was based on your entire day, not on your exercise. No? I'm sedentary except when I'm exercising, but that's only 1 hr of my day, the rest of which is pretty lazy. But heybales, I should change to 'lightly active' ?

But on the subject, I was hangry on what MFP gave me too so I do a lot of cardio to get extra calories, which I do eat.

christineja wrote: »

Wait, not to hijack, but this: But you aren't sedentary if working out 2 hrs weekly.

That is clearly Lightly Active.

Be honest with yourself. from heybales--I thought exercise level was based on your entire day, not on your exercise. No? I'm sedentary except when I'm exercising, but that's only 1 hr of my day, the rest of which is pretty lazy. But heybales, I should change to 'lightly active' ?

But on the subject, I was hangry on what MFP gave me too so I do a lot of cardio to get extra calories, which I do eat.

That's the problem with the majority of those 5 level TDEE charts - they only talk about exercise - not even increased daily life.

A mailman that gets in 3 x 45 min lifting session would be Lightly Active going by just exercise description.
Obviously not.

And sedentary desk job isn't even the whole story.
If you got that with 45 hrs week including commute, no kids or pets that has you more active in evenings/weekends - then ya, sedentary.

Folks with activity trackers always seem to discover they are more active than they thought just from more movement at home in evenings. Lightly Active usually using MFP levels.
Tack on exercise time - and level just went up again to Moderate using those other TDEE charts.
If a already 3-5 hrs of exercise - then higher yet!

That's why I put link for that spreadsheet above, incorporates MFP's levels for the non-exercise part of your day which is all they talk about.
With exercise burn based on your metabolism for that part of your day.

Both based on weekly average. None of those sites I've seen try to look at each day, except MFP because you log exercise when actually done. They average the weekly activity back out to daily level.

You may have selected too extreme a weight loss goal too.

And be aware that you are talking about MFP levels - which have NO exercise included, just daily life, until you do the exercise as you commented.

The above was talking about the weekly average TDEE charts - which is concept of including planned exercise and then averaging back out to a single daily eating goal.

Your MFP way is motivating to do more so you can eat more - still have the same deficit daily.
The TDEE way is motivating to do your planned workout - or you won't really be getting deficit that day.

DoreenaV1975 wrote: »

Basically what my title says....
I'm at maintenance, new to it...just started a few days ago, and now that I can eat more I'm always hungry!
The sad thing is my maintenance calories aren't much more than my deficit calories since I'm only 5'1" 107ish pounds.
(deficit = 1200 maintenance= 1370 per MFP)

Anyway...anyone else experiencing this?
If you aren't now but have before, how long did it take for it to go away?

I'm still staying w/in my calories/slightly below so weight gain is not really a concern (I worked way too hard to go back!) but the hunger is driving me crazy! Ugh!

TIA for your responses!

it's hormones...your hunger ques are derived from hormonal responses...when you diet, your hormones actually regulate your appetite down...this is why anorexics can easily and correctly state that they're only eating 500 calories but aren't hungry...they're probably not.

when you start upping your calorie intake again, these same hormones adjust your appetite up.

it's a primitive feast or famine hormonal response.

DoreenaV1975 wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

DoreenaV1975 wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

DoreenaV1975 wrote: »

Just for fun I calculated my TDEE w/ the following stats:
Female
39
5'1"
107lbs
Sedentary (because I have an office job)
Workouts per week: 4 x 30mins

Guess what it told me? 1350 are my maintenance calories.
TDEE gives me LESS than MFP! MFP doesn't even include exercise and it still says I can eat more! WTH?!

which calculator did you use? And are you really sedentary? I mean you may have an office job but do you walk a lot/have active hobbies?

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Yes, I'm sedentary.
Unless I actively pursue exercise, I'm not really doing a whole lot.
Unless you just count every day life like running errands or doing household chores.
My hobbies are all "sit-down" hobbies.

IIFYM underestimates my TDEE by 250, for what it's worth.

Really? That is worth knowing...
But how do you know that it underestimates it?

Sorry didn't read the other posts...

I log everything, weigh everything, so I know pretty much how much I eat, and I just do the math.. how much of a deficit I have every week and how much I should expect to lose (if at all) that month. I've been maintaining for a year and pretty much been able to predict if I would lose or maintain every month, and by how much. Of course it's not always completely accurate, because I go out 1-2x a week and I have to guess, but it's been pretty consistent with a 2200 TDEE so far (provided I don't get lazy on the workouts, then it's closer to 2100).

But it's relatively easy for me as my lowest weight is always 10 days after my period ends, so I can just compare from month to month. There was a freak month where I skipped a period and was under my goal the whole time and should really have lost 3 pounds and I never did, but I skipped a period, so who knows what really happened, but other than that, it's been pretty much what I expected every time.

I find that the days I am least "emotionally hungry" meaning "hungry" for no real reason are the days 1) I didn't drink enough water early in the day, 2) didn't get enough sleep the night before , 3) didn't meet my activity calorie burn goal and 4) neglected my minimum amount of protein at any one meal. So the basics are the basics for me to feel good about my physical side which keeps the emotional side in balance.