Hungrier as you raise calories? Is it a thing?
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This is 100% a thing.4
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Does sedentary mean actually sitting in a chair all day long? I think I read here on the forums that unless you stand a lot or have children and arre running around a lot that sedentary should be ok for people who don't have active jobs or do formal excersize, like in a gym or zumba class or running?
If I did log, how would I log housework. I walk only maybe 20 minutes or half an hour usually.
20-30 minutes walking plus housework is likely not sedentary. I have mine set to lightly active and I have a Fitbit (with negative calories on). I usually start earning extra calories just from normal stuff around the house (small bits of housework, laundry, fixing meals) even before I go and take a walk. My 30-40 minute walk will give me 200-300 extra calories. BTW I am 5'7" and 50yo F.
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I'm so please to find that other people have experienced this too - I thought it was just me. How long does it take to subside though? I've been maintaining since the end of June, and have been consistently increasing my calories since then - but the more I eat, the hungrier I seem to get. I'm way hungrier than when I was when I was eating less - still!2
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born_of_fire74 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »I'm hungrier as I raise calories to maintenance level.
I'm about 50 calories up from what I was doing most days and sometimes 100. I'm aiming for 1400, my mfp maintenance amount.
Its making me so much hungrier. Seems impossible!
Anybody else experienced MORE hunger as you moved into maintenance and increased calories?
Yes...it is a hormonal response.
Would you mind expounding upon this further? What is the specific cause of this hormonal response? Is it something that passes with time? Is there any way to mitigate it?
I, too, am having a heck of a time with hunger since I've reached my goal weight range.
I can! This is generally a result of the hormone leptin. We have two hormones which influence our hunger. We have leptin and we have ghrelin.
Ghrelin is produced in the stomach when the stomach is NOT being stretched. When the stomach is stretched this hormone is lowered on a curve until the stomach is empty again. Ghrelin is the hormone which signals to eat right then and now.
Fun fact, ghrelin is lowered when the stomach is stretched regardless of the calorie density of the foods you eat (I.E. by volume instead of density)
Leptin is produced by our adipose (fat) cells and it's an appetite suppressant. The way it works is that the more fat cells you have the more leptin is produced and the less hungry you should be. This is a way of self-regulating weight.
So, to re-cap....
Ghrelin (which causes hunger) is high when the stomach is empty. Nature's way of letting us know we need to eat.
Leptin (which suppresses hunger) is high when we have too much body fat. Nature's way of helping us burn off fat and maintain a health body weight.
Nowaday's with the amount of people who are obese and the duration for which they are obese there are people developing leptin resistance. This is a topic for another day though.
Essentially.... when you now have less body fat you have less leptin suppressing your appetite. This is just nature's way of trying to reach homeostasis. As you maintain this weight over time everything should adapt over-time. For now you can try and eat low-calorie but high-volume foods (think lots of greens and veggies).
Hope this helps!
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Thanks Rainbowbow1
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Does sedentary mean actually sitting in a chair all day long? I think I read here on the forums that unless you stand a lot or have children and arre running around a lot that sedentary should be ok for people who don't have active jobs or do formal excersize, like in a gym or zumba class or running?
If I did log, how would I log housework. I walk only maybe 20 minutes or half an hour usually.
20-30 minutes walking plus housework is likely not sedentary. I have mine set to lightly active and I have a Fitbit (with negative calories on). I usually start earning extra calories just from normal stuff around the house (small bits of housework, laundry, fixing meals) even before I go and take a walk. My 30-40 minute walk will give me 200-300 extra calories. BTW I am 5'7" and 50yo F.
Hey thanks! I'm just starting at logging my walks now. It already seems better in that I have more energy eating back most of the calories.
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rainbowbow wrote: »born_of_fire74 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »I'm hungrier as I raise calories to maintenance level.
I'm about 50 calories up from what I was doing most days and sometimes 100. I'm aiming for 1400, my mfp maintenance amount.
Its making me so much hungrier. Seems impossible!
Anybody else experienced MORE hunger as you moved into maintenance and increased calories?
Yes...it is a hormonal response.
Would you mind expounding upon this further? What is the specific cause of this hormonal response? Is it something that passes with time? Is there any way to mitigate it?
I, too, am having a heck of a time with hunger since I've reached my goal weight range.
I can! This is generally a result of the hormone leptin. We have two hormones which influence our hunger. We have leptin and we have ghrelin.
Ghrelin is produced in the stomach when the stomach is NOT being stretched. When the stomach is stretched this hormone is lowered on a curve until the stomach is empty again. Ghrelin is the hormone which signals to eat right then and now.
Fun fact, ghrelin is lowered when the stomach is stretched regardless of the calorie density of the foods you eat (I.E. by volume instead of density)
Leptin is produced by our adipose (fat) cells and it's an appetite suppressant. The way it works is that the more fat cells you have the more leptin is produced and the less hungry you should be. This is a way of self-regulating weight.
So, to re-cap....
Ghrelin (which causes hunger) is high when the stomach is empty. Nature's way of letting us know we need to eat.
Leptin (which suppresses hunger) is high when we have too much body fat. Nature's way of helping us burn off fat and maintain a health body weight.
Nowaday's with the amount of people who are obese and the duration for which they are obese there are people developing leptin resistance. This is a topic for another day though.
Essentially.... when you now have less body fat you have less leptin suppressing your appetite. This is just nature's way of trying to reach homeostasis. As you maintain this weight over time everything should adapt over-time. For now you can try and eat low-calorie but high-volume foods (think lots of greens and veggies).
Hope this helps!
That's really informative and helps explain hunger signals and what hormones do to regulate them.
Relieved to read that over time there will be an adaptation!
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I used to eat around 1500 comfortably.. slowly started increasing to 2000. I have now dropped to 1800 temporarily and struggle is real to stay below that.2
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I used to eat around 1500 comfortably.. slowly started increasing to 2000. I have now dropped to 1800 temporarily and struggle is real to stay below that.
lol yeah. i had the same thing going from 1200 to around 1600 as 'maintenance'. once the first sensation of yeehah-i'm-rich wore off, it quickly turned into '1600? are you kidding me?'
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Yep. I ran a bulk last winter and was pissed that not only do I gain weight on as little as 2000 calories, I was STILL hungry. FML3
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I actually joined mfp to gain weight and started with a very poor appetite. Now I can't stop eating ! Interesting to read all the above.1
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i know this thread is a couple months old but how long do the hormones last?1
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rainbowbow wrote: »born_of_fire74 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »I'm hungrier as I raise calories to maintenance level.
I'm about 50 calories up from what I was doing most days and sometimes 100. I'm aiming for 1400, my mfp maintenance amount.
Its making me so much hungrier. Seems impossible!
Anybody else experienced MORE hunger as you moved into maintenance and increased calories?
Yes...it is a hormonal response.
Would you mind expounding upon this further? What is the specific cause of this hormonal response? Is it something that passes with time? Is there any way to mitigate it?
I, too, am having a heck of a time with hunger since I've reached my goal weight range.
I can! This is generally a result of the hormone leptin. We have two hormones which influence our hunger. We have leptin and we have ghrelin.
Ghrelin is produced in the stomach when the stomach is NOT being stretched. When the stomach is stretched this hormone is lowered on a curve until the stomach is empty again. Ghrelin is the hormone which signals to eat right then and now.
Fun fact, ghrelin is lowered when the stomach is stretched regardless of the calorie density of the foods you eat (I.E. by volume instead of density)
Leptin is produced by our adipose (fat) cells and it's an appetite suppressant. The way it works is that the more fat cells you have the more leptin is produced and the less hungry you should be. This is a way of self-regulating weight.
So, to re-cap....
Ghrelin (which causes hunger) is high when the stomach is empty. Nature's way of letting us know we need to eat.
Leptin (which suppresses hunger) is high when we have too much body fat. Nature's way of helping us burn off fat and maintain a health body weight.
Nowaday's with the amount of people who are obese and the duration for which they are obese there are people developing leptin resistance. This is a topic for another day though.
Essentially.... when you now have less body fat you have less leptin suppressing your appetite. This is just nature's way of trying to reach homeostasis. As you maintain this weight over time everything should adapt over-time. For now you can try and eat low-calorie but high-volume foods (think lots of greens and veggies).
Hope this helps!
I don't disagree with any of this but I think the topic was about how hunger increases when calories come up. If anything, leptin would increase slightly in response to additional calories rather than decrease provided we are talking about the same body-fat levels.
I think what people are referring to here isn't the increase in hunger caused from losing fat, but the increase in hunger seen when raising calories.2 -
Yes, but it might be your better fitness is now demanding more calories, telling you "hey, I need fed". I started running and strength training the last few months and now I'm constantly hungry. I feed it. I still balance out for the day but I'm certainly eating more than my target calorie intake. I just offset with calories burned, and eat them all. Weight is holding steady.1
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This explains some of it....especially if you do lots of cardio like me....hmmm, I'm hungry after my long runs...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH9ciCUcWavMsFcAJtLUSyw?v=jqwKCoBg7Gs1 -
I'm still finding the same reaction: raise calories = hunger increase for a few days which gradually lessens over a week to a point of satiety with the increased calorie level.
Adding more cardio = increased hunger, and I eat those calories back. ATM I'm reverse dieting and maintaining my weight.
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Cardio for me is minimal though!0
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I've been at maintenance almost 4 years and its a vague memory that once I started eating more that I did feel hungrier too, I've heard others say the same.
When I kept eating what I thought was TDEE I eventually gained around 5lbs over the course of the first 3 months at maintenance. I was simply eating too much and more than I was burning but I felt I needed more food.....
Anyway, I had to go back to slight deficit again to get back to goal range and eventually when I was ready to maintain again was prepared for being hungry for no reason. So I kept ignoring my stomach telling me it wanted filling! I knew I'd had enough to eat, I'd hit my macros so it really was just a notion. Once I got my head around that and recognising that no, I didn't need to actually eat anything, a new habit was formed (eventually! it took around a month) .... I've found what works for me. It just takes time for our bodies to adjust to maintenance imo.1 -
Yes! This happened to me too! I was like what the heck, Ive been eating way less for two years and felt fine, never (too often) felt deprived and now I'm maintenance and eating more calories and sometimes I feel like it's not enough! What is this phenom
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if your added calories are higher proportion in carbs, then you will tend to get more hungry.0
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