Always hungry on 2,000 calories and not losing weight :( Please help!
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I will be up front with you, I have a hard time believing that you were more satisfied with 2000 Cal of Junk food vs 2000 Cal of "clean" food. Personal opinion is that in all probability the junk food was more than 2000 Cal.
Usually, I would agree. And I think it's very likely the OP was eating more calories than they think of the junk food.
That said, the "clean" diet has almost no fat in it. I'm willing to bet that's the reason the OP is hungry all the time. The junk food would at least have had fat in it.10 -
I'm a big girl (started 354 now 274) and my range for losing is 1800-2100 a day. I've learned either my tracking stinks or my body only loses at 1600 or under. I exercise daily (65 min hard on elliptical and lift 3-4x's per week). I go to bed with about a 1000 calorie deficit daily. Some days I lose, some days I don't.
Tips
Water, lots!
Sleep, 8 hours a night (for so many reasons)
Eat, well balanced and within your calories. If you want the "cupcake"...eat a reasonable serving and eat well the rest of the day. You'll be fine.
Exercise and challenge yourself. When you realize how long it takes to burn off two cookies you'll want them less. It takes me working super hard about ten minutes for two stupid cookies.
I take a multi vitamin.
Keep in mind...time of month, the amount of salt in your food, stress, poor tracking, machines at gym don't necessarily give correct amounts, mfp credits even more on machine (I alter it).
Friend me if you'd like.5 -
What are your stats? - 2000 calories may be close to your maintenance number irrespective of which foods make up the 2000. As well as following the above suggestions re protein etc you may just be eating too much to lose2
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What are your stats? - 2000 calories may be close to your maintenance number irrespective of which foods make up the 2000. As well as following the above suggestions re protein etc you may just be eating too much to lose
I am a female, 5'9 and i weigh 191 pounds. According to my BMI i am overweight.0 -
SusanMFindlay wrote: »I will be up front with you, I have a hard time believing that you were more satisfied with 2000 Cal of Junk food vs 2000 Cal of "clean" food. Personal opinion is that in all probability the junk food was more than 2000 Cal.
Usually, I would agree. And I think it's very likely the OP was eating more calories than they think of the junk food.
That said, the "clean" diet has almost no fat in it. I'm willing to bet that's the reason the OP is hungry all the time. The junk food would at least have had fat in it.
The fat might be the reason. Like before i would wake up and have a breakfast sandwich and juice from some fast food chain and that would fill me up for a good 3-4 hours or sometimes more. I would forget about food. But a diet like this did nothing good for my health.0 -
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Try working out more. 3 times a week sometimes just isn't enough. For weight loss you gotta reach for 5 times a week workout. And also try not to go over your 2,000 limit. If you work out every day, have a protein with some veggies or fruit after it
No. I lost weight doing zero days of exercise during some weeks. The calorie deficit is what's important. If the exercise helps you build a deficit, that's great, but a certain magic number of exercise sessions is NOT required for weight loss. It's a good idea to exercise if you want to look and feel better, though.8 -
Sagittarius1995 wrote: »SusanMFindlay wrote: »likely the OP was eating more calories than they think of the junk food.
That said, the "clean" diet has almost no fat in it. I'm willing to bet that's the reason the OP is hungry all the time. The junk food would at least have had fat in it.
The fat might be the reason. Like before i would wake up and have a breakfast sandwich and juice from some fast food chain and that would fill me up for a good 3-4 hours or sometimes more. I would forget about food. But a diet like this did nothing good for my health.
Don't conflate weight gain or loss with eating healthy food or not. You can gain weight eating healthy foods. You can have a worse or better overall health outcome too depending on whether the weight gain itself or the type of food you're eating is causing you more of a health problem.
This is not an advocacy for eating unhealthily. It IS an advocacy against making things too complicated and un-sustainable.
Don't major in the minors by trying to get the details right while the most basic aspect of the experiment goes by the way side.
Compliance (keeping to your calories for the length of time you need to now and in the future) is where the whole game starts and ends. Once you secure compliance by making sure that things are not too hard for you to keep at it... then you can and SHOULD worry about optimising.
Yes, I eat 0.8g to 1g of protein per lb of lean mass, and more than 38g of fiber (as a male, female requirement is lower at about 26-28g), and I average close to 0.35g of fat per lb of body weight within the normal weight range (as a female 0.45g per lb might be more appropriate), and I try to keep my saturated fats to less than 7% of my total calories and I eat more than 5 (heck I try to eat more than 8 to 10) 80g servings of vegetables and fruits a day.
But I didn't get to doing all that in a month. And I still eat more than 100g of sugar a day (heck I average above 150g, though lots of it is from yogurt and whole fruits) and I don't over-fret it because hey, I may not be perfect; but, I'm in the game and I'm in the game in a way that I feel I can stay with it long term.
The usual result of "this is so hard", is "I give up" when inevitably willpower runs out, or life happens.
We have tools: MFP, fitness trackers, trending weight apps, forums, MFP friends...
Use them to find a way to make this easier!
ETA: Because you're female and eating 2K calories we haven't discussed much whether your deficit goal as opposed to what you eat is the issue. 2K calories is great... but depending on your activity level it might still be too big of a deficit. 20% to 25% of your total daily energy expenditure is probably the limit of deficit you should be attempting. If your paper deficit is larger than that... it might be the appropriate first issue to look at even before your macro mix.13 -
Much about hunger is psychological. It's quite possible that because you're dieting you're constantly thinking about food, and that's what's making you hungry.
I find that especially if I think 'I'll have a biscuit in half an hour if I'm still hungry', what happens is that I keep thinking about being hungry, and then I am! If I think, 'no biscuit, I'll go out for a walk to distract myself' then the hunger just goes away.
I strongly recommend just telling yourself you're not hungry, doing a lot of engrossing things that distract you from hunger, and eating small amounts of things that YOU ACTUALLY LIKE to satisfy the mental cravings.6 -
Ketogenic Diet works wonders for me. Blood sugar crashesBunch_of_nuts wrote: »aireseneca wrote: »I'm doing LCHF, low carb high fat, and personally find fat to be very satiating. I get that you are trying to lose weight without having to battle against constant hunger and cravings. Try browsing the keto community....see if it helps. Also try dropping grains, research "Wheat Belly" and other sources. Everybody has to find their own path. Best wishes!
Keto for life!
Yup.... KETOGENIC DIET combined with HIIT has worked wonders for me. Of all the "diets" I tried....this one is the most realistic to make as a lifestyle.
75% Fat, 20% Protein, 5% Carbs.... You'll be blown away of how many carbs are in what you thought were "healthy" foods.
Bacon, Bacon!
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I also agree with others here. Add more protein and drop the fruit rice and potatoes. I have 3 eggs with cheese for Breakfast. I also found cottage cheese as a snack helps with my salty cravings and is high in protein too. I like how you are doing the Greek yogurt. Great choice! I am using that as a sweet snack between breakfast and lunch. Like the nuts too. I am working those in as well. Good fat there.
Keep persevering and adapting as you go along. You will see progress!
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There is nothing wrong with being hungry some times. You're not starving after eating all that.12
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Assuming correct log of food, there is one problem: you feel hungry.
There are TWO elements in food that help in filling sensation and ONLY TWO: Fiber and Protein.
So you should include high protein and high fiber food.
Seeing your diet, I will remove completely the nuts, so you can replace by protein and fiber.
So more meat and beans should be my suggestion, careful with pasta, bread and even fruit. With fruit only whole fruit (especially the skin AND seeds, where the fiber is). So no smoothies.
If after all that did not work, there are some cheats: tea, coffee and maybe chewing gum.
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Assuming correct log of food, there is one problem: you feel hungry.
There are TWO elements in food that help in filling sensation and ONLY TWO: Fiber and Protein.
So you should include high protein and high fiber food.
Seeing your diet, I will remove completely the nuts, so you can replace by protein and fiber.
So more meat and beans should be my suggestion, careful with pasta, bread and even fruit. With fruit only whole fruit (especially the skin AND seeds, where the fiber is). So no smoothies.
If after all that did not work, there are some cheats: tea, coffee and maybe chewing gum.
That isn't true, fat is what gives me the most satiety.18 -
RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Assuming correct log of food, there is one problem: you feel hungry.
There are TWO elements in food that help in filling sensation and ONLY TWO: Fiber and Protein.
So you should include high protein and high fiber food.
Seeing your diet, I will remove completely the nuts, so you can replace by protein and fiber.
So more meat and beans should be my suggestion, careful with pasta, bread and even fruit. With fruit only whole fruit (especially the skin AND seeds, where the fiber is). So no smoothies.
If after all that did not work, there are some cheats: tea, coffee and maybe chewing gum.
That isn't true, fat is what gives me the most satiety.
Your statement is that "fat is what gives me the most satiety". The fact that works with you did not mean that my statement is wrong.
Let's be serious.
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Okay...
1. The fact that you are not losing means you are not on a calorie deficit. No dancing around that one. You will not lose until you create one, either lower your calories or workout more.
2. 2000 calories ( if that's what it really is) is a lot of calories. Your hunger is most likely mental than anything else.
3. Increase your protein, it will make you feel Fuller.4 -
RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Assuming correct log of food, there is one problem: you feel hungry.
There are TWO elements in food that help in filling sensation and ONLY TWO: Fiber and Protein.
So you should include high protein and high fiber food.
Seeing your diet, I will remove completely the nuts, so you can replace by protein and fiber.
So more meat and beans should be my suggestion, careful with pasta, bread and even fruit. With fruit only whole fruit (especially the skin AND seeds, where the fiber is). So no smoothies.
If after all that did not work, there are some cheats: tea, coffee and maybe chewing gum.
That isn't true, fat is what gives me the most satiety.
Your statement is that "fat is what gives me the most satiety". The fact that works with you did not mean that my statement is wrong.
Let's be serious.
But if the OP falls more in line with the person who said you were wrong, then wouldn't you be...wrong? The point they were making is making a blanket statement might not be the right way to go. It's a good suggestion to try eating more protein and fiber, don't get me wrong, but it isn't the "ONLY TWO" elements (as you put it) to have someone automatically feel full.
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OP - would you consider making your diary public?2
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RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Assuming correct log of food, there is one problem: you feel hungry.
There are TWO elements in food that help in filling sensation and ONLY TWO: Fiber and Protein.
So you should include high protein and high fiber food.
Seeing your diet, I will remove completely the nuts, so you can replace by protein and fiber.
So more meat and beans should be my suggestion, careful with pasta, bread and even fruit. With fruit only whole fruit (especially the skin AND seeds, where the fiber is). So no smoothies.
If after all that did not work, there are some cheats: tea, coffee and maybe chewing gum.
That isn't true, fat is what gives me the most satiety.
Your statement is that "fat is what gives me the most satiety". The fact that works with you did not mean that my statement is wrong.
Let's be serious.
If it works for me then your opinion that only fibre and protein are is incorrect.
Macro balance is very individual, we need to play around with it to find what works for the individual.
The OP hits her fibre and protein goals yet isn't feeling less hungry.10 -
Assuming correct log of food, there is one problem: you feel hungry.
There are TWO elements in food that help in filling sensation and ONLY TWO: Fiber and Protein.
So you should include high protein and high fiber food.
Seeing your diet, I will remove completely the nuts, so you can replace by protein and fiber.
So more meat and beans should be my suggestion, careful with pasta, bread and even fruit. With fruit only whole fruit (especially the skin AND seeds, where the fiber is). So no smoothies.
If after all that did not work, there are some cheats: tea, coffee and maybe chewing gum.
No, the one problem here is that the OP is not losing weight. Feeling hungry is most likely mind playing games, or body adjusting if OP used to eat 4000 calories before dieting. If that's the case, the weight would have come off.
I don't understand why you would replace nuts. Nuts are one of the best foods for the body. The tricky part with nuts is that they are calorie packed and is super easy to have 400 calories in what you think it's a healthy snack. Portion is key. With everything.5
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