Hungry all the time
gypsy8080
Posts: 25 Member
Lately, I've been hungry constantly. Right now, I'm somewhere between 30 and 40 carbs a day, and maybe I need to lower that number. I don't know. I only know I've been a bit "stalled" for the last three weeks, and also just wanting to eat everything in sight. Has anyone else experienced this, and do you have some tips?
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It happens to me from time to time, but isn't exclusive to when I am on LC. About once per week, especially near the weekend if I've had a more physically active week at work, I just get ridiculously hungry for about three days. I'll generally just make myself suffer through the first two, then run a maintenance or slight surplus day on the third, and it goes away.
I tried nipping it in the bud on day one before, but that didn't work for some weird reason.2 -
What is your fat intake like? Have you tried to increase fats? You may feel less hungry that way.1
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Watch what you eat in relation to your hunger. Is there a food triggering it? I now know if I eat a snack after my BPC in the mornings I am starving after it seems. I drink the coffee then don't eat until my next meal and no hunger.4
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My fat intake is supposed to be about 130 grams a day, based on the keto calculator I used, but I don't always hit that number. That may be part of it. I hope I can get this under control because I'm frequently going over my calorie count most days now.
I have one or two cups of coffee in the morning around 7, but then I don't eat my first meal until around noon. By the time I eat dinner around 6 or 7 in the evening, I'm starving to the point I want to eat more than one helping. And sometimes I'm still hungry and might snack after that. Like Gallowmere said, weekends are the worst. I feel like I could eat all day long sometimes. I've lost 25 pounds since January, and my goal is to lose about 70 more. I'm thinking it's not going to happen if I don't soon do something about this overeating/hunger problem.1 -
Meant to mention this in my last post. In your experience, do artificial sweeteners really promote overeating? I hear people say this, and it might be another thing I need to tweak. I frequently make low carb desserts over the weekends, and add sweetener to my coffee every morning.1
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I was going to ask about your artificial sweetener use.
I had to almost completely eliminate them. The only thing I have now is a little bit of sweet leaf (stevia) water flavoring in my supplement water that I drink twice a day. I cannot have Splenda or sweet n low type sweeteners without cravings for sugar happening. I can't even stand the taste of that stuff anymore now anyway so it's become no problem avoiding it.
When I finally cut out sweetening my coffee it was because of hunger problems arising after having months of successful hunger control even while I had been using Splenda during that previous time.2 -
If you are going over your calories but not hitting the fat limit, there's a possibility you are eating too much of the other macros.
The fat intake is an upper limit and you should eat to satiety but maybe your meals should have MORE fat in proportion to carbs and proteins. I also find that I am less hungry when I have more fat in the morning. Like today, my breakfast was over 50g in fat and I was good for hours.6 -
I've been hungrier than usual this week too. I've increased fat and calories. I've had a busy week activity-wise. I'm not craving - I'm HUNGRY.
Possible reasons I've come up with... More artificial sweeteners than usual and I've had soups and smoothies a lot this week (they've been high fat) but maybe I need food I actually chew? I read somewhere once that the act of chewing signals appetite to shut off.
I think I'm going to eat at maintenance today to try to get a handle on it.3 -
Thanks for all the replies and advice. This coming week, I've decided I'm going to drop my carbs significantly, and this will include ditching most of the artificial sweeteners I use. As I said, I've been around 40 carbs most days, and I think this may be too high for me right now with my insulin resistance, etc. I'm going on a five-day cruise at the end of the month, and I know I'm going to be bombarded with food and booze the entire time. I'm not sure how I will be able to resist it all. I guess my plan is to do the best I can and jump right back on the keto horse when I get home.
The more I think about the artificial sweeteners, the more I believe they do increase my appetite and cravings. Lately, I could eat all the time, and I don't know what's causing this if not the sweeteners. I'll give these methods a shot over the next couple of weeks and see how it goes. I really wanted to get under 200 by the end of the summer, and it's a possibility. I'm at 212 right now, and just can't wait to get into the 100s.1 -
Insulin resistance a possibility?0
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Totally noticing this to be a pattern with Splenda, but not with stevia. Today I had my normal coffee in the a.m. at break but used Torani sugar free flavored syrup sweetened with Splenda. And I think back to the other days I used that sweetener and found they were the days I went a bit overboard. Yikes!0
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Eating high fiber veggies with some butter helps me. Fats and fiber are both filling.
Sometimes just eating a calcium fortified Rolaids helps to knock back excess stomach acid once in a while. That works wonders!0 -
Thanks for all the replies and advice. This coming week, I've decided I'm going to drop my carbs significantly, and this will include ditching most of the artificial sweeteners I use. As I said, I've been around 40 carbs most days, and I think this may be too high for me right now with my insulin resistance, etc. I'm going on a five-day cruise at the end of the month, and I know I'm going to be bombarded with food and booze the entire time. I'm not sure how I will be able to resist it all. I guess my plan is to do the best I can and jump right back on the keto horse when I get home.
The more I think about the artificial sweeteners, the more I believe they do increase my appetite and cravings. Lately, I could eat all the time, and I don't know what's causing this if not the sweeteners. I'll give these methods a shot over the next couple of weeks and see how it goes. I really wanted to get under 200 by the end of the summer, and it's a possibility. I'm at 212 right now, and just can't wait to get into the 100s.
@gypsy8080 - As for how to deal with all the food? I'd look for the most decadent indulgent foods you wouldn't normally eat all the time. Steak and lobster tail with extra butter? Yes, please! Sauteed fresh fish? Bison or other exotic burgers? Crustless pizza? Look at the menu in advance (most cruise lines have their standard menu available online) and make plans. If you are going to have more carbs, aim to have the least in the morning and most at night - it works best with the way insulin sensitivity happens with IR, etc. If you are having a planned indulgence, try to make it about 3 hours apart from any meal in the opposite way (so have a high carb meal 3 hours before or after a high fat meal). While I don't know if this works long term, it can work short term to having only minimal spikes...0 -
I've experienced the same but once I cut the stevia sweetner I was using it settled. Be careful with your smoothies, blending 4 or more carbs every fibrous veg can cause a blood glucose spike and increase hunger. Goodluck and great job on the 25 lb so far!1 -
I've been more hungry since I started eating 4-5 servings of veggies a day, instead of mainly protein and fat. I'm not sure it can be helped if I'm going for antioxidants in my diet.0
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Meant to mention this in my last post. In your experience, do artificial sweeteners really promote overeating?
I found that I can't use artificial sweeteners at all - they send me right into "munchface" mode. An hour or less after a diet soda or anything sweetened with sucralose or just about any other artificial sweetener, I find myself looking for carbs. I stay away from artificial sweeteners because of that.
On the rare occasion when I want something sweet, I use just a bit of real maple syrup, raw honey, or cane sugar. When used as a condiment, a little goes a very long way.
Oh, and good job on the 25-lb. loss! You're getting there!
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lithezebra wrote: »I've been more hungry since I started eating 4-5 servings of veggies a day, instead of mainly protein and fat. I'm not sure it can be helped if I'm going for antioxidants in my diet.
Can you not just add in the veggies WITH your existing meats and fats, etc.? Most veggies don't have that many calories -and the good ones have very few excess carbs... Just a thought. (hugs) And yeah, the struggle is real with multiple goals!0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »lithezebra wrote: »I've been more hungry since I started eating 4-5 servings of veggies a day, instead of mainly protein and fat. I'm not sure it can be helped if I'm going for antioxidants in my diet.
Can you not just add in the veggies WITH your existing meats and fats, etc.? Most veggies don't have that many calories -and the good ones have very few excess carbs... Just a thought. (hugs) And yeah, the struggle is real with multiple goals!
I agree with this except watch out for those carrots... sure they look like they don't have very many carbs, but by the time you are 2 lbs. in, you'll see they add up fast.1 -
+1 on avoiding artificial sweeteners and making sure to get enough fat. I've had to learn to just avoid trying to create low-carb substitutes of high-carb food for all the reasons mentioned - hunger, cravings, and a tendency to fall short on fats. Also, for me smoothies are a gateway drug - even veggie smoothies.2
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I know everyone is different but if I eat artificial sweetner then I am starving and could constantly eat so I try and avoid them at all costs lol1
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One note about sweeteners. If you find one that you like to use, try sweetening only to tolerance, not to taste. Use the least amount of sweetener in something that you can tolerate the taste of. If it tastes so absolutely fantastic that you instantly want to eat/drink a dozen more of those exact things, you really need to dial back on the sweet factor (or possibly something else, too.), or at least I do. I've gotten to the point where I started with things by the dropperful (estimated at 20 drops) and now I typically do it by the DROP... So yeah, significant cut back there. Just a suggestion.
EDITED TO ADD: If I'm really wanting a diet soda or something, I have to cut it at least half, if not more, with water/sparkling water/etc. I try not to do this much, but once in a blue moon, it's kind of a treat, but I still avoid the dyes when I can.0 -
I had an experience last Saturday that has me SOLD on fat bombs. My husband took me to a very early breakfast as we had a full day planned and I ordered eggs and a ham steak - strictly very low carbs only 2 carbs. Then we went shopping and got home about 5pm - NO lunch. I was STARVING and couldn't even think, I was so hungry. My daughter, at her suggestion, and I had made fat bombs which I bagged and threw in the freezer a couple of weeks prior. I saw those fat bombs and thought that would be within my plan, and popped FIVE of them. They were small with only 47 calories and 1 carb apiece. I thought, "Boy, is my stomach going to do flops now." But, I was fine and within 20 minutes - time enough to get all the food put up in pantry and freezer, I noticed I was no longer hungry! Now, the thing about me is that if I'm not hungry I'm not motivated to cook for my husband and myself. He waits and waits and about 9pm he asks if I'm going to cook dinner????? Nope, I'm not hungry! So, he fixed us our planned dinner of swordfish and us a small salad. He told me to NEVER pop any more fat bombs before fixing him his dinner!!!
I'm sold on fat bombs. I made the chocolate fat bombs which are definitely not very sweet, but they certainly do the job! 2 -
I agree with all of the above. Chewing gum with aspartame turned me into the Carb Queen. It's a slippery slope from an innocent piece of gum to eating 2 39-carb Cliff bars for lunch (not kidding).
Aspartame is the worst offender, but Splenda also does this to me.
I stick to natural organic stevia now, the stuff without erythritol and other additives. It's not as sweet, but I'm getting used to it.2 -
I got over my constant hunger a week into carb-restriction this time. Hopefully that will happen for the OP soon.1
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Splenda is evil!0
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Also, I found that working in an extended time before meals or a mid-day intermittent fast really helped me. I would eat a full lunch, and within 1-2 hours, I'd be "starving" again... Once I realized my biggest trigger zone seemed to be AFTER lunch, I tried pushing back the time I ate lunch further etc. Before long, I decided to have a bigger breakfast and just skip through it. The hunger control and killing of the snack urges were almost instantaneous! It was crazy. For a while, I was doing it once a week, and I might get back to it, but I haven't decided yet.
My main things with pushing past a meal are -
1) if you're really hungry, eat. If I was hungry and didn't eat, to me it was as bad as if I ate and wasn't hungry at all... It let to very disordered thinking.
2) if I felt hungry, I'd drink some water and get busy. If the hunger urge passed, it wasn't real hunger. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it would.
3) get extra water/electrolytes. Or at least monitor closely. Sometimes getting some salt in the system will trigger dormant hunger.
4) plan ahead. and relax. Because life happens.
5) Pay attention to where the hunger is coming from. If it's a craving, and I don't want anything except what I'm craving, it's not real hunger. If my body "wants" one thing, and I want to feed it something else, and it reacts with a "sure, I'm hungry, let's go!" I know the hunger is in my stomach/body and real.
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I always do the above substitution. If I want a piece of cheese or something that is sweet tasting, so I am hungry, I say to myself, OK let's have a hard boiled egg. If I get a yes back, it is true hunger and I deal with it. Not with the craving.1
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I agree with all of the above re artificial sweeteners. Also have to watch any of the lower-carb substitute recipes for the "real thing." If it tastes just like the "real thing" than my body reacts the same way: overeating and craving it! For me, keeping it simple and extremely low carb works best. Yes, I miss desserts (am a recovering sugar addict), but I just have to tell myself "Get over it!"1
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