How do I deal with being hungrier the more I lose weight?

Hunger is very individual, so the experience of others may not be predictive for you. For lots of people, though, high protein and high fat helps A LOT -- both can be more challenging for vegetarians. First step would be experimenting with your macros, adding high fat & protein foods like nuts & seeds, avocado, eggs, cheese, etc. Do a search, there are tons of threads about hunger and high fat/protein foods for vegetarians.

As you lose weight, your TDEE goes down of course (so you have to eat less to maintain) but also your deficit should decrease. In other words, as you get leaner, you have to slow down the weight loss to minimize muscle loss. Being hungry is a sign of a deficit that is too aggressive. Don't know your starting weight, but unless you started morbidly obese, your loss has been rather aggressive.

But aside from all that, it sounds like you guys have made huge changes. Generally speaking, small changes are easier to maintain over the long haul. Maybe if you found ways to work foods you love into your regular diet, the food fantasies would go away, as would the binges?

Yep... you have to eat more.

I've intentionally tried to lose weight three times in my life, first time was a learning experience and the last two I had it on lock and it was (and currently is) pretty easy. Clearly since its been three times I need to work on the whole maintenance thing but that is a seperate issue.

With that backstory the only time I felt hungry or like I was food obsessed during weight loss was when I approached weightloss by having a large calorie deficit and then feeling good when I was actually under my goal (like under it, not at it) creating an even larger deficit. Overtime I started to feel weaker and developed gnawing hunger between meals which I didn't find all that satisfying since I was eating chicken breasts and vegetables for the most part.

The current way I lose weight is to increase my activity level significantly while counting calories but not being particularly restrictive. Right now I am losing slightly over a pound a week eating about 2400 calories a day (eating not netting) due to my activity level. Doing it that way I am not only not hungry but I'm also satisfied with what I'm eating because I can eat what I want basically and don't have to restrict to piles of vegetables and low fat items.

So when I hear someone is struggling with hunger, my first question is...how much are you eating in terms of calories. What is your estimated TDEE and how much of a deficit are you aiming for. Do you consider it "good" to be under your goal?

bvarbel wrote: »

I aim for 1400 a day plus whatever extra I "earn" walking which is only about another 120 calories... I eat about 50-70 units of protein a day, and between 30 and 50 fat units a day. I don't try to restrict fat or anything...it just seems about the average depending on what we eat. Again I am 39 years old, 219 lbs, 5'11"...I was 256 lbs 2.5 months ago...I'm losing an average of 3+ pounds a week...I only lose 1 or so pounds a week on the couple bad weeks where I binged.

Sorry I hadn't seen this. So you are 219 pounds and eat 1520 calories a day on average. I am 175 pounds and I eat 2400 calories a day on average and am currently losing weight at about 1 pound per week. I think I know why you are hungry.

As a 219 pound man you really don't need to be calorie restricting that much to lose weight. Up your calories. Even eating 2000 a day you'd still be losing weight. If 2000 still isn't satisfying then try taking the time to increase your activity level which will let you eat even more while still losing at the same rate.

Your deficit is too aggressive. You are having compliance issues because of it.

It is much more important for you to continue till you get to a healthy weight and then maintain than it is for you to get there fast in a body and mind that are fighting you tooth and nail.

A 500 Cal a day deficit would have you eating (probably substantially) more than 2000 Cal a day *and* losing a good 50lbs in a year.

There really is no prize to reaching the end fast because there exists no end where you can go back to how you used to operate without regaining the weight you're losing.

You will benefit greatly by exploring and enjoying your new reality in a more leisurely fashion.

Invest in a free trending weight website or application to help you figure out which way your weight is really going when the scale doesn't move several lbs in a single day (in other words when you don't have excessive deficits)

Trendweight.com (works easiest with a free even without a band Fitbit.com account); Weightgrapher.com; Happy Scale for iphone; Libra Android. When setting up weightgrapher lie and tell it your goal is to maintain so that it doesn't give you useless suggestions.

Do try to remember that this is not for one day.
There are no time limits.

Every additional day that you embed into your psyche a better relationship with food, movement, and exercise is a clear win.

Every month that your weight trend does not go up is a clear win.

Generally speaking a 20% deficit is as fast as most people should go. Most obese people can still pursue a 25% deficit without un-wanted consequences. However as you enter the upper band of overweight you may notice that your ratio of fat to lean mass lost become less favourable with a larger deficit.

Your weight loss of 37lbs over 2.5 months implies an average daily deficit of over 1700 calories.

Anecdotally, the amount of people who end up with gallbladder removal surgery after rapid weight loss is significant as can be attested by talking to people on MFP.

If on average you eat about 1500 Calories, this implies a TDEE of about 3200 calories, which sounds about right for your weight given a lightly active (about 75 minutes or 7500 steps worth of activity in a day) lifestyle

A person with a TDEE of 3200 calories should be eating about 2400 calories a day while obese and would be losing on average about 1.5lbs a week.

Over the course of a year this would result in a weight loss of over 75lbs while they remained obese.

My contention is that they would reduce that deficit further once they become overweight.

Yes, I saw your post about 1800. That is still an extreme deficit of about 1400 calories a day or 43.75% of your TDEE.

You know how you've been playing with new foods? This is an EXCELLENT idea.

You now need to extend that idea further and build a toolkit so that you are able to continue on this path once the shinny newness of rapidly losing weight is no longer there to motivate you daily.

Oh: and please consider raising your protein level if you don't have kidney issues. While 50-70g meets the RDA levels several studies show that 2X and even 3X RDA protects lean mass at a deficit and (absent kidney issues) has few side-effects. Most people aim for about 0.8 to 1g of protein per lb of bodyweight. The recommendation for obese people often is to aim for 0.8 to 1g per lb of weight at BMI 25