Same diet/excercise plan going great for months, now suddenly I'm starving!?

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Been on a diet of 1200 cals since jan. 21st and have lost 40 lbs. Wasn't hungry and all was going great. Last few weeks I'm starving!!!
I've not changed anything.... so what's up?
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  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    it's your bodies way of saying feed me after such a long period eating not enough food maybe?

    why 1200?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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  • ZLARZ
    ZLARZ Posts: 63 Member
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    I've also noticed my weight loss has slowed down too. 1200 cals cuz I typed in I wanted to lose 2 lbs a week and thats what it told me to eat.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    ZLARZ wrote: »
    I've also noticed my weight loss has slowed down too. 1200 cals cuz I typed in I wanted to lose 2 lbs a week and thats what it told me to eat.

    how much do you have to lose now? if less than 40lbs...time to change it to 1/2lb or 1lb a week

    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
  • ZLARZ
    ZLARZ Posts: 63 Member
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    Any ideas why I'm suddenly constantly hungry? Curious to the science behind it
  • xmichaelyx
    xmichaelyx Posts: 883 Member
    edited April 2016
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    ZLARZ wrote: »
    Any ideas why I'm suddenly constantly hungry? Curious to the science behind it

    It's not an answerable question because there are too many variables. Here are things that make me hungry:
    • lifting
    • allergy medicine
    • drinking
    • not getting enough sleep
    • carbs
    • sex

    Here are things that make me not hungry:
    • protein/fat
    • sleep/rest
    • cardio
    • caffeine

    I'd be willing to bet that a significant number of people here would disagree with these lists, because everyone is different when it comes to things like this. It's something only you can answer.

    But if you want the science behind it, wikipedia is a decent starting place.
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    ZLARZ wrote: »
    I've also noticed my weight loss has slowed down too. 1200 cals cuz I typed in I wanted to lose 2 lbs a week and thats what it told me to eat.

    how much do you have to lose now? if less than 40lbs...time to change it to 1/2lb or 1lb a week

    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

    Without knowing how much you have to lose still it's difficult to speculate. But probably your body can only metabolize so much fat at a time. The closer you are to goal, the less fat stores you have, the more it has to take from other sources, like your muscle. The more it can't use your fat stores for energy, the less energy you have available.
  • ZLARZ
    ZLARZ Posts: 63 Member
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    I've got about 15-20 lbs left to lose.
    Just so crazy I used to never get hungry but now I'm so hungry in between meals. I'm having to do more workouts at the end of the day to burn off the cals I ate for snacks. Healthy snacks tho.

    Should I up my daily cal? It's been working do well til recently... :(
  • ZLARZ
    ZLARZ Posts: 63 Member
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    I've been craving pizza and oreos for a week now!!÷
    I was doing a cheat day every week but I thought it was slowing down my loss... maybe it wasnt?
    Cuz Lordy mercy I want some pizza and oreos!!! ;)
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    Most of us can't exist for long on 1200 calories....
  • ZLARZ
    ZLARZ Posts: 63 Member
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    I just figured since I didn't up my work outs before that I shouldn't need more food/energy...

    Maybe I need more sleep. Haven't been sleeping as much lately...
  • BurnWithBarn2015
    BurnWithBarn2015 Posts: 1,026 Member
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    ZLARZ wrote: »
    I just figured since I didn't up my work outs before that I shouldn't need more food/energy...

    Maybe I need more sleep. Haven't been sleeping as much lately...

    No you need more food.
    Your body is out of its reserves and says feed me!

    Up your calories a bit You get even more energy. My guess is that you also dont eat your burned exercise back so you dont feed your body even 1200 but less...right?
  • jlemoore
    jlemoore Posts: 702 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »

    Excellent article. Thank you for posting it.
  • ZLARZ
    ZLARZ Posts: 63 Member
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    I'm so afraid to up my cals... :(
    After a cheat day it takes,me a week to lose it. Of course if I upped my cals it woukd be healthy not junk so maybe it wouldn't be do bad
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    @ZLARZ You really are just hungry, 1200 is too aggressive if you only have 15lbs to lose. When I joined here 3 years ago I did the same thing you did and lost like 40lbs in 3 months eating at 1200 calories. After the 4th month I began to feel hungry all the time...because I WAS hungry all time. 1200 calories is not enough to sustain most people...and guess what? I gained back half the weight I lost because once I kept going over my calorie goal daily I'd say "I'm already over, might as well eat what I want. I'll start again tomorrow."

    I'd set myself to lose 1lb a week and see if that helps me feel good.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    ZLARZ wrote: »
    Any ideas why I'm suddenly constantly hungry? Curious to the science behind it

    How about reading the article I posted, as it answers why people can be dieting fine and then start getting really hungry?
  • itsthehumidity
    itsthehumidity Posts: 351 Member
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    You're kinda all over the place here.

    In response to your last post, get enough sleep for sure. Inadequate sleep doesn't help.

    2 lbs a week is too steep unless you have a ton of weight to lose. Otherwise, why not shoot for 4 lbs a week and just not eat anything at all? There are limits here. If you only want to lose a few tens of pounds, stick with 1 lb per week, and up your calories to 1700. If that's too high, adjust accordingly after some time has passed.

    Cheat days can blow an entire week of progress if you go overboard. It's not hard to eat several thousand calories from pizza and Oreos. Instead, consider a relatively reasonable cheat meal instead of a full day.
  • ZLARZ
    ZLARZ Posts: 63 Member
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    O and no I end the day with 1200 cals no matter what. Of I eat over I burn the extra off. If have cals to spend d I definitely eat them lol
  • Init_to_winit
    Init_to_winit Posts: 258 Member
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    I would agree with others, it's always easier to eat less calories in the beginning because your body starts eating your fat stores, once those are depleted your body needs more fuel. Also if you've become more active than you were in the past, your body requires more fuel as well. I think 1200 is too low for most people. Up your calories don't be afraid to, just up them with the appropriate foods! Lean protein, veggies, healthy fats like almonds, avocado, things like that.

    I would suggest calculating your TDEE here is a good calculator:
    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    From there, determine how many less calories you need to eat to create a deficit. A lb = 3,500 calories. So if your goal is to lose 1 lb a week you would want to divide 3,500 by 7 days in a week (500 cals) and subtract that from your TDEE.

    ie. My TDEE is 2161, I want to lose 1.5 lbs a week. I take that in cals (5,250) divide that by 7 days in a week for my daily cal deficit (750). Then subtract that from my TDEE 1411 calories.

    These aren't hard and fast rules and everything works out better on paper so take it with a grain of salt, but should give you a better idea of how many calories you really should aim for. And 2 lbs a week is pretty difficult, especially when you only have 15-20lbs to lose. I would aim for 1-1.5 at the most. Too much too fast is not good for you.

    Another thing to note, your a woman in your 30s, I notice that when it's close to my cycle, there is never enough food in my belly! Your hormones control your life a lot! Drink plenty of water, properly fuel your body and you'll get those 15-20 lbs off in no time!

    Good luck to you!
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    You've been eating too little for too long and your body is asking you to stop expecting too much of it.
    40 lbs in 3 months considering where you started is extremely aggressive.

    Change your goal to 1 lb per week and start getting a bit more sleep.

    And if you want pizza, have a slice of pizza. I went from 145 lbs to 130 lbs eating 1500-1700 per day (depending on how many exercise calories I ate back), and I occasionally ate pizza, ice cream, fast food, beer, etc. Eating such a small amount of calories, denying yourself foods you like, and stressing out your body by losing at such an extreme rate is a recipe for burnout and rebounding right back up in weight.