Is anyone else struggling with hunger on non-exercise days?

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35dollars
35dollars Posts: 832 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm commuting by bike 4-5 days a week, and on those days I'm eating around 50-75% of my exercise calories and comfortably staying under my calorie goal (ending the day with about 600 left, say)

But for the last couple of weeks, at the weekend, I'm just ravenous - I'm eating as much (or more) than my cycling days, ending up over-target by up to 1000 calories.

I think this might be related to the number of times I eat on weekdays - basically before and after each half of my cycle commute (4), plus lunch, mid-afternoon snack and evening meal, so 7 times a day, even if some of those are just an energy bar before a cycle ride.

My body seems have become accustomed to eating this often and so I've really struggling to stick to meal times and calorie limit at the weekend.

It's bad enough at the moment, while I'm still trying to keep to a calorie deficit to finish off my weight loss (I'm male, 166 lbs, which is 54 lbs down at the moment from my start at 220, aiming for about 160-162), but once I flip to eating at maintenance or above to fuel putting some muscle on, I'm going to be eating even more on exercise days and probably even hungrier on off-days!

I'm very aware that I've been down from 220 to 178 and back up to 220 again a couple of years ago, and I really don't want to start on that path again.

So - is anyone else in the same boat? What do you do to cope with it - will power / massive amounts of low calorie stuff around all the time to snack on / other?

Replies

  • ConicalFern
    ConicalFern Posts: 121 Member
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    Are you going by a weekly or daily goal? I find it very difficult to keep within my calorie goals on a rest day, but I make up for this by saving some calories on exercise days.

    Also, how long are you cycling for, and how many calories are you logging for it?

  • meendriss
    meendriss Posts: 25 Member
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    Hi! :) While i'm not entirely on the same boat, I'll tell you what works for me: staying active and both avoiding the body's cravings for so much food (out of boredom, because that's what I do) AND balancing the calorie intake vs burned energy this way. I've succeeded a few times to tame my appetite with will power but not often enough.
  • 35dollars
    35dollars Posts: 832 Member
    edited June 2016
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    I've got a daily goal of 1750, and I'm doing a total of 20miles / about 90 minutes on the bike split over to/from work commuting trips.

    My Garmin is giving me a total of around 1000 calories across the two trips (the work to home route is a bit longer and harder than the home to work part). This may or may not be accurate, but my weight loss is reasonably consistent with me being under limit by ~600 calories on one of those days - eg on Friday, my stats were Total 2191, Daily goal 2737 (*1,037 extra calories from exercise today ), Remaining 546
  • 35dollars
    35dollars Posts: 832 Member
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    meendriss wrote: »
    what works for me: staying active and both avoiding the body's cravings for so much food (out of boredom, because that's what I do) AND balancing the calorie intake vs burned energy this way. I've succeeded a few times to tame my appetite with will power but not often enough.

    I think half the problem is that my weekends are currently filled with decorating the house, which I find immensely boring and also gives me access to food at any breaks.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    Yes, I struggle with this too. Why not try staying a bit under on your heavy exercise days so that you can go a bit over on your rest days?
  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
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    35dollars wrote: »
    meendriss wrote: »
    what works for me: staying active and both avoiding the body's cravings for so much food (out of boredom, because that's what I do) AND balancing the calorie intake vs burned energy this way. I've succeeded a few times to tame my appetite with will power but not often enough.

    I think half the problem is that my weekends are currently filled with decorating the house, which I find immensely boring and also gives me access to food at any breaks.

    This is what I was going to say.. I don't think I get hungrier on off days. I just have more time on my hands and think about eating more, which makes me want to eat more. Staying busy helps.
  • Gamliela
    Gamliela Posts: 2,468 Member
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    I'm at home all the time and I also cook for others so ther is a lot of food around of all varieties. I find excersize increases my hunger and if I don't eat more on the day of excersize and also the day after I will have excess hunger.
    I have the boredom you mentioned so I have found some hobbies.
    Unfortunately the hunger generated from excersize is never met by the calories i supposedly have earned.
    Its a constant battle unless I reduce excersize to just a normal amount, no excesses.
    Best wishes, this all takes a little bit of experimenting until you find your perfect personal weight loss mode imo.
  • clafairy1984
    clafairy1984 Posts: 253 Member
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    same thing happens to me. I am way under on workout days, but starving on non workout days. I put it down to having gotten used to a certain amount of food on workout days, plus muscles repairing. I tend to save some of my exercise calories for non workout days, so that by the end of the week all averages out. For example, i have a heavy gym session on a monday, plus do a lot of walking and can burn 800-1000 cals from exercise. I eat back around half and then use around 200 of them on Tuesday which is a rest day, leaving some unused to allow for error. Also when i think im hungry i have a drink first and them eat if still hungry after 15 mins. I tend to opt for green tea as the caffeine is an appetite suppressant, and full of health benefits...apparently
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    That's why I use TDEE. Same amount of calories every day, exercise calories are just divided over 7 days. Much easier.
  • Shells918
    Shells918 Posts: 1,070 Member
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    I hate rest days for the same reason. I also feel more agitated/ anxious, so I tend to do a light cardio workout, just to feel better even if it's just 200 calories extra. Even if I don't eat them, I like knowing they're there.
  • narak_lol
    narak_lol Posts: 855 Member
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    35dollars wrote: »
    I'm commuting by bike 4-5 days a week, and on those days I'm eating around 50-75% of my exercise calories and comfortably staying under my calorie goal (ending the day with about 600 left, say)

    But for the last couple of weeks, at the weekend, I'm just ravenous - I'm eating as much (or more) than my cycling days, ending up over-target by up to 1000 calories.

    Firstly congratulations on your big loss! Awesome work.

    I totally see what you mean... I am a cyclist as well and vividly remember the days that I could easily overeat 1000+ cals on the rest days. What I find that helps me is to schedule some activities - gym work, clean my bike, grocery shopping, tidy the wardrobe/bedroom etc... you know just something to get me focus on/out and about, so to take my mind off the food around. Having some low cal food/snacks/drinks is also a must for me.

    On weekdays I ride 2-3 times 2.5hr each, weekend is often 1x3hr ride, 1x5hr+ ride. Like you I'll eat before and refuel after, despite those intake it was very easy to stay under due to the output, and for some reason I'd loss appetite after a hard session. The problem was I often got absolutely ravenous on rest days so even though I burn quite a bit the scale moved soooo slowly (imagine if I didn't workout..). I started to get serious about losing some weight in Mar (prep for a cycling trip end of this month), only then that I realized that I also need a schedule on rest days to avoid eating mindlessly especially when I couldn't distinguish whether it is hunger or just craving. This works for me as the weight has been coming off (6 lbs away from my fighting weight).

    Best wishes to your last few pounds!
  • PaytraB
    PaytraB Posts: 2,360 Member
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    35dollars wrote: »
    This may or may not be accurate, but my weight loss is reasonably consistent with me being under limit by ~600 calories on one of those days - eg on Friday, my stats were Total 2191, Daily goal 2737 (*1,037 extra calories from exercise today ), Remaining 546

    Have you entered a weight loss goal into MFP? If so, a deficit has already been calculated into your daily calories and your aim is to eat all of your posted calories. You may be under-eating if you have remaining calories and that would make you feel hungry.
  • oocdc2
    oocdc2 Posts: 1,361 Member
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    Yes, I've just recently developed this problem, as well.
    I got nothing more than what's already been said, but I wanted to just say, yeah, it's nuts.
  • 35dollars
    35dollars Posts: 832 Member
    edited June 2016
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    PaytraB wrote: »
    Have you entered a weight loss goal into MFP? If so, a deficit has already been calculated into your daily calories and your aim is to eat all of your posted calories. You may be under-eating if you have remaining calories and that would make you feel hungry.

    Yes, the calorie total was derived from MFP for a 1lb/week loss. That in itself is another issue, as I had been plateaued for months prior to re-starting cycling in May:

    li1jbh9i3obs.png

    If anything the daily number might be too high rather than too low. So, while I agree that, in theory, I should be eating back all my exercise calories - given the lack of movement in my weight for the last few months until I restarted cycling, and the amount I'm actually eating on those days, I'm quite happy with the totals (I'm pretty replete on those days), it's the other days when I'm not cycling that I'm consumed* with hunger


    (* well, it would be more accurate to say that just about everything around me is consumed by my hunger!)
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
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    I did when I followed MFP's method of NEAT + exercise calories. I switched over to TDEE since my activity level is the same each day. Some people get exercise hunger the day after they actually exercise; maybe that's you?

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