Almost at target weight - But appetite is more voracious now
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My husband totally could have written the OP.
He finally had to kind of give up, accept 10 more lbs. and after a few weeks of this his hunger is starting to fade. He felt like it came out of nowhere and it was at very close to goal, around 170 lbs. He too started at 265 and he lost VERY fast. My husband is 5'10" and 46 years old.
Hey. Is this my husband?
Just kidding.
Scary!
Same situation here, same starting weight, down to 161 now... and I’m 460 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Have a read of this: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/, and take a look at the thread a few down titled "Of refeeds and diet breaks". When we diet, hormones get out of whack (principally leptin, thyroid, and cortisol) as our body fights to prevent fat loss (this is an evolutionary adaptation, handy when food scaricity was a common thing for all, decidedly not if you're trying to lose weight!). The less body fat you have, the harder your body will fight to keep it.
I know you're probably thinking 'but I'm so close, isn't it better to just keep going?', and you certainly could do that, white knuckle it through and hope you don't break and go on a complete bender, but a controlled diet break will help to reset those hormones to where they should be, and hopefully get your hunger under control for the home stretch. I've done this myself, and so have several others, and you can read our testimonies and experiences with it in the Refeed thread.
Note, those hormone-driven adaptations will return to normal once you're in maintenance regardless, though obviously you're not going to be able to eat as much as you used to to maintain, because there's less of you now.
ETA: the refeeds thread is really long (we're chatty), though well worth wading through because there's nuggets everywhere, but there's a handy synopsis of the first five pages on p.6, and the diet break article is the key thing I think you should read right now.
Thanks, I'm looking at it now.
Re the afraid to put it all back on, diet breaks are also awesome practice for maintenance
I still don't get the whole 'diet break' thing. My appetite shot up after I took one, and that's when my problems started.
Never said it works for everyone. And who knows if you hadn't gone on vacation and had gotten to goal then moved to maintenance that the exact same thing wouldn't have happened.0 -
ladyhusker39 wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »MegaMooseEsq wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Have a read of this: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/, and take a look at the thread a few down titled "Of refeeds and diet breaks". When we diet, hormones get out of whack (principally leptin, thyroid, and cortisol) as our body fights to prevent fat loss (this is an evolutionary adaptation, handy when food scaricity was a common thing for all, decidedly not if you're trying to lose weight!). The less body fat you have, the harder your body will fight to keep it.
I know you're probably thinking 'but I'm so close, isn't it better to just keep going?', and you certainly could do that, white knuckle it through and hope you don't break and go on a complete bender, but a controlled diet break will help to reset those hormones to where they should be, and hopefully get your hunger under control for the home stretch. I've done this myself, and so have several others, and you can read our testimonies and experiences with it in the Refeed thread.
Note, those hormone-driven adaptations will return to normal once you're in maintenance regardless, though obviously you're not going to be able to eat as much as you used to to maintain, because there's less of you now.
ETA: the refeeds thread is really long (we're chatty), though well worth wading through because there's nuggets everywhere, but there's a handy synopsis of the first five pages on p.6, and the diet break article is the key thing I think you should read right now.
Thanks, I'm looking at it now.
Re the afraid to put it all back on, diet breaks are also awesome practice for maintenance
I still don't get the whole 'diet break' thing. My appetite shot up after I took one, and that's when my problems started.
This has been my experience as well. Twice now I have gotten within a pound of my ultimate goal weight and both times my appetite came on fast and strong. So, I took the advice here and decided to try a maintenance break. My appetite just kept increasing. Last time I had regained 8 pounds before the monster abated. This time I've regained 4 and I am fighting to get it under control. It seems like the more food I give my body the more it wants.
If can't manage a diet break, though, how are you going to manage maintenance? You can't stay in a deficit forever. Also, have you considered raising your goal weight by a pound? I know that might sound snarky, but I'm serious - what possible good could come from killing yourself over a pound?
That's a question I have asked myself, to be honest. And clearly I'm not killing myself over a pound if I'm regaining 4-8 of them! I've basically decided on a range and that original goal weight was at the bottom. As long as I don't go over the top of it, I'm okay. I just find it interesting that my body maintains comfortably at one weight, but if I dip a few pounds lower I turn in to an eating machine until I have a significant buffer.
Are you maybe cutting a significant amount so that when you maintain you're trying to add back a lot of calories? I'm wondering if maybe you tapered yourself up and down over several days if it might help keep the monster at bay. For example, if you just add 50-100 calories for a couple of days did that for however long it takes to get back up to maintenance if it might make it easier?
I don't think so. I've never targeted more than a 250 calorie deficit. I enjoy food way too much. I think maybe my body just feels comfortable at a particular weight or range of weight. It's all vanity pounds at this point and I'm no spring chicken. It may not be realistic to expect my body fat to get as low as I'd like. I'm okay with this. I'm just always amazed at how I can put away around 3000 calories and then be thinking "got anything for dessert?"2 -
Mouse_Potato wrote: »ladyhusker39 wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »MegaMooseEsq wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Have a read of this: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/, and take a look at the thread a few down titled "Of refeeds and diet breaks". When we diet, hormones get out of whack (principally leptin, thyroid, and cortisol) as our body fights to prevent fat loss (this is an evolutionary adaptation, handy when food scaricity was a common thing for all, decidedly not if you're trying to lose weight!). The less body fat you have, the harder your body will fight to keep it.
I know you're probably thinking 'but I'm so close, isn't it better to just keep going?', and you certainly could do that, white knuckle it through and hope you don't break and go on a complete bender, but a controlled diet break will help to reset those hormones to where they should be, and hopefully get your hunger under control for the home stretch. I've done this myself, and so have several others, and you can read our testimonies and experiences with it in the Refeed thread.
Note, those hormone-driven adaptations will return to normal once you're in maintenance regardless, though obviously you're not going to be able to eat as much as you used to to maintain, because there's less of you now.
ETA: the refeeds thread is really long (we're chatty), though well worth wading through because there's nuggets everywhere, but there's a handy synopsis of the first five pages on p.6, and the diet break article is the key thing I think you should read right now.
Thanks, I'm looking at it now.
Re the afraid to put it all back on, diet breaks are also awesome practice for maintenance
I still don't get the whole 'diet break' thing. My appetite shot up after I took one, and that's when my problems started.
This has been my experience as well. Twice now I have gotten within a pound of my ultimate goal weight and both times my appetite came on fast and strong. So, I took the advice here and decided to try a maintenance break. My appetite just kept increasing. Last time I had regained 8 pounds before the monster abated. This time I've regained 4 and I am fighting to get it under control. It seems like the more food I give my body the more it wants.
If can't manage a diet break, though, how are you going to manage maintenance? You can't stay in a deficit forever. Also, have you considered raising your goal weight by a pound? I know that might sound snarky, but I'm serious - what possible good could come from killing yourself over a pound?
That's a question I have asked myself, to be honest. And clearly I'm not killing myself over a pound if I'm regaining 4-8 of them! I've basically decided on a range and that original goal weight was at the bottom. As long as I don't go over the top of it, I'm okay. I just find it interesting that my body maintains comfortably at one weight, but if I dip a few pounds lower I turn in to an eating machine until I have a significant buffer.
Are you maybe cutting a significant amount so that when you maintain you're trying to add back a lot of calories? I'm wondering if maybe you tapered yourself up and down over several days if it might help keep the monster at bay. For example, if you just add 50-100 calories for a couple of days did that for however long it takes to get back up to maintenance if it might make it easier?
I don't think so. I've never targeted more than a 250 calorie deficit. I enjoy food way too much. I think maybe my body just feels comfortable at a particular weight or range of weight. It's all vanity pounds at this point and I'm no spring chicken. It may not be realistic to expect my body fat to get as low as I'd like. I'm okay with this. I'm just always amazed at how I can put away around 3000 calories and then be thinking "got anything for dessert?"
Have you tried sitting at a given weight, deliberately at maintenance cals (ie still tracking and logging), for a good bit, then going again?
And dessert stomach is totally a thing. There's always room for dessert.0 -
One change I try to make is consuming a lot more calories from vegetables. Eating for volume instead of just caloric goals can be really useful to some when it comes to fullness. I can eat a ton of cabbage or broccoli or other veggies and it does add up to a bit of carbs but is better than eating a potato or something less filling.1
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I still don't get the whole 'diet break' thing. My appetite shot up after I took one, and that's when my problems started.
I had a similar experience. Well, I didn't go on controlled diet break, but I overate for a couple of weeks after losing a decent amount of weight and the hunger has been pretty much a constant problem since then. I'm about 10-15 pounds away from my goal weight though.
I feel like there must be a scientific explanation for that. Don't anorexic experience a similar thing? When they start eating more and the hunger suddenly skyrockets and they can't stop eating? Of course, I am nowhere near being that underweight or malnourished, but from an evolutionary standpoint the body perceives any significant weight loss as threatening so maybe there are similar mechanisms at play.
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Mouse_Potato wrote: »ladyhusker39 wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »MegaMooseEsq wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Have a read of this: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/, and take a look at the thread a few down titled "Of refeeds and diet breaks". When we diet, hormones get out of whack (principally leptin, thyroid, and cortisol) as our body fights to prevent fat loss (this is an evolutionary adaptation, handy when food scaricity was a common thing for all, decidedly not if you're trying to lose weight!). The less body fat you have, the harder your body will fight to keep it.
I know you're probably thinking 'but I'm so close, isn't it better to just keep going?', and you certainly could do that, white knuckle it through and hope you don't break and go on a complete bender, but a controlled diet break will help to reset those hormones to where they should be, and hopefully get your hunger under control for the home stretch. I've done this myself, and so have several others, and you can read our testimonies and experiences with it in the Refeed thread.
Note, those hormone-driven adaptations will return to normal once you're in maintenance regardless, though obviously you're not going to be able to eat as much as you used to to maintain, because there's less of you now.
ETA: the refeeds thread is really long (we're chatty), though well worth wading through because there's nuggets everywhere, but there's a handy synopsis of the first five pages on p.6, and the diet break article is the key thing I think you should read right now.
Thanks, I'm looking at it now.
Re the afraid to put it all back on, diet breaks are also awesome practice for maintenance
I still don't get the whole 'diet break' thing. My appetite shot up after I took one, and that's when my problems started.
This has been my experience as well. Twice now I have gotten within a pound of my ultimate goal weight and both times my appetite came on fast and strong. So, I took the advice here and decided to try a maintenance break. My appetite just kept increasing. Last time I had regained 8 pounds before the monster abated. This time I've regained 4 and I am fighting to get it under control. It seems like the more food I give my body the more it wants.
If can't manage a diet break, though, how are you going to manage maintenance? You can't stay in a deficit forever. Also, have you considered raising your goal weight by a pound? I know that might sound snarky, but I'm serious - what possible good could come from killing yourself over a pound?
That's a question I have asked myself, to be honest. And clearly I'm not killing myself over a pound if I'm regaining 4-8 of them! I've basically decided on a range and that original goal weight was at the bottom. As long as I don't go over the top of it, I'm okay. I just find it interesting that my body maintains comfortably at one weight, but if I dip a few pounds lower I turn in to an eating machine until I have a significant buffer.
Are you maybe cutting a significant amount so that when you maintain you're trying to add back a lot of calories? I'm wondering if maybe you tapered yourself up and down over several days if it might help keep the monster at bay. For example, if you just add 50-100 calories for a couple of days did that for however long it takes to get back up to maintenance if it might make it easier?
I don't think so. I've never targeted more than a 250 calorie deficit. I enjoy food way too much. I think maybe my body just feels comfortable at a particular weight or range of weight. It's all vanity pounds at this point and I'm no spring chicken. It may not be realistic to expect my body fat to get as low as I'd like. I'm okay with this. I'm just always amazed at how I can put away around 3000 calories and then be thinking "got anything for dessert?"
It was just a guess. Good for you for not starving yourself. I said when I started losing weight that I didn't want to go hungry and I never have. But I'm also taking a pretty slow.
Hilarious. I'm that way too. "When are we having cake?"0 -
Here's a different approach. Play a mental trick and convince yourself that you're not close to goal yet, and that you've got, say, thirty more pounds to go instead of ten. I'm not saying actually lose thirty more, just get out of the mindset that you're close to goal.
Perhaps the increased hunger is from seeing that goal within your grasp and an ability to slacken up a bit for maintenance.
I don't know. It's just a thought. Congratulations on your success so far.1 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »ladyhusker39 wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »MegaMooseEsq wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Have a read of this: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/, and take a look at the thread a few down titled "Of refeeds and diet breaks". When we diet, hormones get out of whack (principally leptin, thyroid, and cortisol) as our body fights to prevent fat loss (this is an evolutionary adaptation, handy when food scaricity was a common thing for all, decidedly not if you're trying to lose weight!). The less body fat you have, the harder your body will fight to keep it.
I know you're probably thinking 'but I'm so close, isn't it better to just keep going?', and you certainly could do that, white knuckle it through and hope you don't break and go on a complete bender, but a controlled diet break will help to reset those hormones to where they should be, and hopefully get your hunger under control for the home stretch. I've done this myself, and so have several others, and you can read our testimonies and experiences with it in the Refeed thread.
Note, those hormone-driven adaptations will return to normal once you're in maintenance regardless, though obviously you're not going to be able to eat as much as you used to to maintain, because there's less of you now.
ETA: the refeeds thread is really long (we're chatty), though well worth wading through because there's nuggets everywhere, but there's a handy synopsis of the first five pages on p.6, and the diet break article is the key thing I think you should read right now.
Thanks, I'm looking at it now.
Re the afraid to put it all back on, diet breaks are also awesome practice for maintenance
I still don't get the whole 'diet break' thing. My appetite shot up after I took one, and that's when my problems started.
This has been my experience as well. Twice now I have gotten within a pound of my ultimate goal weight and both times my appetite came on fast and strong. So, I took the advice here and decided to try a maintenance break. My appetite just kept increasing. Last time I had regained 8 pounds before the monster abated. This time I've regained 4 and I am fighting to get it under control. It seems like the more food I give my body the more it wants.
If can't manage a diet break, though, how are you going to manage maintenance? You can't stay in a deficit forever. Also, have you considered raising your goal weight by a pound? I know that might sound snarky, but I'm serious - what possible good could come from killing yourself over a pound?
That's a question I have asked myself, to be honest. And clearly I'm not killing myself over a pound if I'm regaining 4-8 of them! I've basically decided on a range and that original goal weight was at the bottom. As long as I don't go over the top of it, I'm okay. I just find it interesting that my body maintains comfortably at one weight, but if I dip a few pounds lower I turn in to an eating machine until I have a significant buffer.
Are you maybe cutting a significant amount so that when you maintain you're trying to add back a lot of calories? I'm wondering if maybe you tapered yourself up and down over several days if it might help keep the monster at bay. For example, if you just add 50-100 calories for a couple of days did that for however long it takes to get back up to maintenance if it might make it easier?
I don't think so. I've never targeted more than a 250 calorie deficit. I enjoy food way too much. I think maybe my body just feels comfortable at a particular weight or range of weight. It's all vanity pounds at this point and I'm no spring chicken. It may not be realistic to expect my body fat to get as low as I'd like. I'm okay with this. I'm just always amazed at how I can put away around 3000 calories and then be thinking "got anything for dessert?"
Have you tried sitting at a given weight, deliberately at maintenance cals (ie still tracking and logging), for a good bit, then going again?
And dessert stomach is totally a thing. There's always room for dessert.
"Tried" is the appropriate term. That was my plan, but I have not yet had the discipline to stick with it. As soon as I give myself license to eat a bit more it turns in to a whole lot more. I've been at this for about five years now and I still haven't figured out my body. I will go through periods of near constant hunger - weeks, even months where I can barely stay at maintenance. Then suddenly it will stop and I can eat at a deficit without much effort. I've no idea why.
I think I might try to maintain at my slightly higher weight and see what happens. I'm still well within the healthy range for my height. Maybe after the holidays I will try to cut a bit more.0 -
ladyhusker39 wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »ladyhusker39 wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »MegaMooseEsq wrote: »Mouse_Potato wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Have a read of this: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/, and take a look at the thread a few down titled "Of refeeds and diet breaks". When we diet, hormones get out of whack (principally leptin, thyroid, and cortisol) as our body fights to prevent fat loss (this is an evolutionary adaptation, handy when food scaricity was a common thing for all, decidedly not if you're trying to lose weight!). The less body fat you have, the harder your body will fight to keep it.
I know you're probably thinking 'but I'm so close, isn't it better to just keep going?', and you certainly could do that, white knuckle it through and hope you don't break and go on a complete bender, but a controlled diet break will help to reset those hormones to where they should be, and hopefully get your hunger under control for the home stretch. I've done this myself, and so have several others, and you can read our testimonies and experiences with it in the Refeed thread.
Note, those hormone-driven adaptations will return to normal once you're in maintenance regardless, though obviously you're not going to be able to eat as much as you used to to maintain, because there's less of you now.
ETA: the refeeds thread is really long (we're chatty), though well worth wading through because there's nuggets everywhere, but there's a handy synopsis of the first five pages on p.6, and the diet break article is the key thing I think you should read right now.
Thanks, I'm looking at it now.
Re the afraid to put it all back on, diet breaks are also awesome practice for maintenance
I still don't get the whole 'diet break' thing. My appetite shot up after I took one, and that's when my problems started.
This has been my experience as well. Twice now I have gotten within a pound of my ultimate goal weight and both times my appetite came on fast and strong. So, I took the advice here and decided to try a maintenance break. My appetite just kept increasing. Last time I had regained 8 pounds before the monster abated. This time I've regained 4 and I am fighting to get it under control. It seems like the more food I give my body the more it wants.
If can't manage a diet break, though, how are you going to manage maintenance? You can't stay in a deficit forever. Also, have you considered raising your goal weight by a pound? I know that might sound snarky, but I'm serious - what possible good could come from killing yourself over a pound?
That's a question I have asked myself, to be honest. And clearly I'm not killing myself over a pound if I'm regaining 4-8 of them! I've basically decided on a range and that original goal weight was at the bottom. As long as I don't go over the top of it, I'm okay. I just find it interesting that my body maintains comfortably at one weight, but if I dip a few pounds lower I turn in to an eating machine until I have a significant buffer.
Are you maybe cutting a significant amount so that when you maintain you're trying to add back a lot of calories? I'm wondering if maybe you tapered yourself up and down over several days if it might help keep the monster at bay. For example, if you just add 50-100 calories for a couple of days did that for however long it takes to get back up to maintenance if it might make it easier?
I don't think so. I've never targeted more than a 250 calorie deficit. I enjoy food way too much. I think maybe my body just feels comfortable at a particular weight or range of weight. It's all vanity pounds at this point and I'm no spring chicken. It may not be realistic to expect my body fat to get as low as I'd like. I'm okay with this. I'm just always amazed at how I can put away around 3000 calories and then be thinking "got anything for dessert?"
It was just a guess. Good for you for not starving yourself. I said when I started losing weight that I didn't want to go hungry and I never have. But I'm also taking a pretty slow.
Hilarious. I'm that way too. "When are we having cake?"
When I first signed up I wanted to lose a pound a week. Then I saw the numbers. Uh... Maybe I'm not in a hurry after all!
It's always embarrassing to finish up a huge holiday meal and everyone else is sitting around groaning about how stuffed they are and I'm eyeballing the desserts! 1 -
I have had good success with intermittent fasting to control hunger and stress eating. By shrinking the feeding window to the afternoon, I was able to curb desire for snacking when stressed. I eat the same amount of calories planned but I didn't feel hungry until it was time to eat. I also practice fasting cardio and weight training. Lost 30 pounds with that method
Now I have a new job and different schedule so I have been eating in the morning again and only have time for my cardio work. I am finding it more difficult to control hunger and lose weight. Hopefully switching back to fasting method and reintroducing weights will help.
As an additional note, even if you are not losing weight, body composition could be changing in a positive manner. Muscle needs more food than other tissues to survive and grow. Just remember that weight alone is not a measure of health or fitness.
Good luck1 -
Mouse_Potato wrote: »
"Tried" is the appropriate term. That was my plan, but I have not yet had the discipline to stick with it. As soon as I give myself license to eat a bit more it turns in to a whole lot more. I've been at this for about five years now and I still haven't figured out my body. I will go through periods of near constant hunger - weeks, even months where I can barely stay at maintenance. Then suddenly it will stop and I can eat at a deficit without much effort. I've no idea why.
This speaks to me so much. I could've written this. I am pretty close to my goal weight (well not really, I have another 10-15 pounds to lose). But I've been struggling with intense hunger for over two years. I can eat at a small deficit for a few weeks, but then the hunger catches up with me and starts to build up until it becomes a struggle to eat at maintenance every time. I tried doing controlled refeeds and diet breaks several time but every time it only leads to more hunger. It's as if the more I eat the hungrier I feel. So eventually I can't control myself anymore and end up binging for several days, gain all the weight I've lost easily (because I had a small deficit before) and the cycle start all over again. It's as if my body doesn't allow me to go below a certain weight. Though I've been at a much lower weight in the past and was even able to maintain for a while.
I'm getting really desperate. I feel like I will never be at my goal weight. And I can't accept myself at this weight. Because of the way my body stores fat, my lower body looks really fat even at in the upper normal BMI range.
Currently I'm starting to see some correlations between my hunger levels and my cycle. If I can figure out what days of the cycle I feel particularly hungry, maybe I'll figure out how to power through them knowing that it is only temporary.
I'm following this thread. Really interested to hear from others with similar experiences.2 -
Mouse_Potato wrote: »
"Tried" is the appropriate term. That was my plan, but I have not yet had the discipline to stick with it. As soon as I give myself license to eat a bit more it turns in to a whole lot more. I've been at this for about five years now and I still haven't figured out my body. I will go through periods of near constant hunger - weeks, even months where I can barely stay at maintenance. Then suddenly it will stop and I can eat at a deficit without much effort. I've no idea why.
This speaks to me so much. I could've written this. I am pretty close to my goal weight (well not really, I have another 10-15 pounds to lose). But I've been struggling with intense hunger for over two years. I can eat at a small deficit for a few weeks, but then the hunger catches up with me and starts to build up until it becomes a struggle to eat at maintenance every time. I tried doing controlled refeeds and diet breaks several time but every time it only leads to more hunger. It's as if the more I eat the hungrier I feel. So eventually I can't control myself anymore and end up binging for several days, gain all the weight I've lost easily (because I had a small deficit before) and the cycle start all over again. It's as if my body doesn't allow me to go below a certain weight. Though I've been at a much lower weight in the past and was even able to maintain for a while.
I'm getting really desperate. I feel like I will never be at my goal weight. And I can't accept myself at this weight. Because of the way my body stores fat, my lower body looks really fat even at in the upper normal BMI range.
Currently I'm starting to see some correlations between my hunger levels and my cycle. If I can figure out what days of the cycle I feel particularly hungry, maybe I'll figure out how to power through them knowing that it is only temporary.
I'm following this thread. Really interested to hear from others with similar experiences.
Write it down. For me it starts at ovulation, stops, then again for a week up to my period (and it stops on day 3). It does make things very hard and pretty much forces you to eat less when you're naturally less hungry, which possibly makes the problem worse later on because you were on a bigger deficit and your body is reacting.... Who knows.
The crazy thing is that I'm really not hungry for a couple weeks after, and I can't even take advantage of it because I still can't fit the higher calorie stuff I want because I have to keep a bigger deficit to make up for the hungry days. It's SO frustrating.
I NEVER had that problem until I got close to my goal and got that 'diet break' going on vacations. But honestly my mental health has been much improved since I stopped trying so hard to maintain that lower weight. Just really don't like the way I look right now so it's depressing (I gained 10 back, just 5 lbs below the top of the normal BMI now). My main issue being that I store all my fat in the belly/hips, and I naturally have a large waist, but no butt, so pants either fall off or give me a muffin top, and fitted dresses just show off my rounded hips too much... while my arms and legs are thin... So I pretty much just feel fat...1 -
Write it down. For me it starts at ovulation, stops, then again for a week up to my period (and it stops on day 3). It does make things very hard and pretty much forces you to eat less when you're naturally less hungry, which possibly makes the problem worse later on because you were on a bigger deficit and your body is reacting.... Who knows.
You know what, it actually sound so much like a pattern that I am observing. Well, I don't technically ovulate since I'm on oral contraceptives (monophasic combo pill) - and before you suggest it, no it doesn't seem like the pill itself causes the hunger since I've been on it for the last five years and the hunger problem only started about 2 years ago. Actually, the fact that I'm on the pill was the reason I had a hard time figuring out that the changes in my hunger levels are probably hormonal, especially because I'm on the kind of pill that is supposed to lessen PMS symptoms. I mean, I am not supposed to have an actual menstrual cycle and the dose of hormones in the pill is the same all month long. However, I do seem to have an increase in hunger around the middle of my 28 day "cycle" which would correspond to ovulation in a normal cycle. Then it goes down. And then it goes up and build up and becomes really intense in the week before I am supposed to take the dummy pills which corresponds to the beginning of the new menstrual cycle in those who have it.
I am currently looking into ways of tracking my hunger levels. I've downloaded an up that you can use to track data and transform it into graphs. I usually assign my hunger level of the day a number (1-10). In a moth or two I'll have enough data to see if there's really a correlation.The crazy thing is that I'm really not hungry for a couple weeks after, and I can't even take advantage of it because I still can't fit the higher calorie stuff I want because I have to keep a bigger deficit to make up for the hungry days. It's SO frustrating.
I NEVER had that problem until I got close to my goal and got that 'diet break' going on vacations. But honestly my mental health has been much improved since I stopped trying so hard to maintain that lower weight. Just really don't like the way I look right now so it's depressing (I gained 10 back, just 5 lbs below the top of the normal BMI now). My main issue being that I store all my fat in the belly/hips, and I naturally have a large waist, but no butt, so pants either fall off or give me a muffin top, and fitted dresses just show off my rounded hips too much... while my arms and legs are thin... So I pretty much just feel fat...
I feel you!! It is frustrating, isn't it? I'm currently slightly below the "normal" BMI and really don't like how I look either. I'm more accepting of my body than I used to be but still I don't think I'll ever accept it at this weight/body fat percentage.0
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