Hungry even though I eat healthy?
squatsnotsquat
Posts: 29 Member
You guys-- it seems like I have to eat an astronomical number of calories no matter what I do. In a day, I typically eat a heaping dinner plate of salad/veggies and about 1-2 pounds of meat a day. Today I ate 3 pounds of meat and 2 plates of vegetables and was still hungry. I also eat lots of healthy fats. My macros end up being about the same number of grams of everything, so it's not some dietary imbalance causing this. It's not thirst either, because I drink about 4 gallons of water a day too (I've measured-- I know, it's insane, but I'm just thirsty a lot). And no I do not have diabetes, I've gotten blood work done. I'm getting my vitamins. I'm a 5'7", 140ish pound girl who is basically sedentary except for lifting intensely about 6 minutes per week and I eat like a teenage football player, to the tune of 2500 calories per day, and yet I could still eat more. But on the days I just eat junk food here and there with much less protein, I'm fine and not hungry. And if I can eat 200 g carbs, 100g sugar and like 50g protein on those rare days and be fine, it can't be a high carb level causing the problem either. What is wrong with me and what can I do? I know this isn't okay that I'm hungry because I'm gaining belly fat...
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Replies
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Increased appetite could be caused by recent drastic weight loss, PMS/hormonal changes, an overly restrictive diet, seasonal changes, stress...
Your measurements put you squarely in the "healthy" bmi range; I don't know enough about you to say "just don't stress about weight!" but if you are over-emphasizing/stressing your weight that's likely having an effect on your appetite.4 -
So you are a lot less hungry when you eat a few starchy carbs. Try eating a roast potato with lots of cheese with your steak. Try oatmeal at breakfast.10
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Maybe playing around with meal timing can help.
Or.. why not incorporate some junk food into your day if it helps. For me, I get mental satisfaction from fitting treats into my day.
How long have you been lifting? Intense sessions can really get hunger going.
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can you open your diary up? depending on the veggies you are eating - they are not necessarily calorie dense0
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Are you actually eating 2 pounds of meat per day? Have you had your Thyroid tested ?2
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Eat some of the food that satisfies you more. A healthy diet can include all kinds of food.
I don't know what you are calling junk food but maybe you'd do better including more things like rice, potatoes, pasta and bread in your meals rather than increasing amounts of meat and vegetables. If you are trying to lose weight stop and just try maintaining at 140ish. Your maintenance is probably something like 1700 calories if you are really sedentary. Maybe try 50% carb, 30% protein and 20% fat and see how you feel after a few weeks.
I'd talk to your doctor about your excessive thirst and high water consumption right away. There are several conditions that can cause that symptom. It might be connected to the food issues too.
http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/thirst-excessive/overview.html6 -
This might help:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/fullness-factor
Researching foods that have improved satiation values is probably what you want to do.2 -
deannalfisher wrote: »can you open your diary up? depending on the veggies you are eating - they are not necessarily calorie dense
Yes I would love to see this diary of 3lbs of meat ...as that would equate to appx 5440 calories not including the carbs/fats.
and 6mins of intense lifting a week and eating on average 2500 a day????3 -
deannalfisher wrote: »can you open your diary up? depending on the veggies you are eating - they are not necessarily calorie dense
Yes I would love to see this diary of 3lbs of meat ...as that would equate to appx 5440 calories not including the carbs/fats.
and 6mins of intense lifting a week and eating on average 2500 a day????
assuming 3lbs of chicken - then you are looinking approx 1500cal just in chicken (i used the chicken entry I used for my dinner last night to calculate)0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »can you open your diary up? depending on the veggies you are eating - they are not necessarily calorie dense
Yes I would love to see this diary of 3lbs of meat ...as that would equate to appx 5440 calories not including the carbs/fats.
and 6mins of intense lifting a week and eating on average 2500 a day????
assuming 3lbs of chicken - then you are looinking approx 1500cal just in chicken (i used the chicken entry I used for my dinner last night to calculate)
Would be about that in tuna as well.1 -
You don't mention fat. Fat is way more filling for me than protein. And yes, maybe you need the extra carbs. 50 of protein seems a little low, but maybe aim for 75 and get your carbs.
Also, 2500 calories isn't that much for a 140 lb girl. I am just a little heavier (160) and can maintain at that. Definitely not "astronomical".0 -
It sounds like head hunger to me since you said it is satisfied when you eat a bit of junk food. In my experience, the only way to get past that is to push through it until the cravings pass (sorry, I know that advice sucks - but it worked for me). Play around with your macros - try higher protein, higher fat first and then adjust as needed.
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Sounds to me like you read somewhere that carbs are bad so you are avoiding carbs.
Carbs are what provide you with energy. If you forgo carbs in favor of protein to an extreme you are going to end up feeling low energy, light headed and hungry (unsatisfied). Just dial back the number of calories and eat some carbs in your diet, they aren't "evil". The fact that you feel better eating "junk food" (which is most likely mostly carbs and/or fats that you are missing) should show you what you are missing in your diet. Most reasonable diets have ~50% of the calories coming from carbs.2 -
Eating healthy is eating foods that provide you with a reasonable macro split balanced between carbs, protein and fat while getting adequate nutrition. Eating healthy is not eating only meat and salad and ignoring it when your body is screaming at you.2
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smithmssycatsmithiris30 wrote: »Are you actually eating 2 pounds of meat per day? Have you had your Thyroid tested ?
Could be this. A friend of my son started eating like this and finally found out it was a hereditary thyroid misfunction. Can't hurt to look into it.3 -
2500 really isn't a huge amount of calories for someone of your height, especially if you are young enough to still refer to yourself as a girl.
You might also be confusing hunger with not satisfied. I know I can eat until I'm stuffed and still not feel satisfied if I don't have enough fat in the meal. Fat satisfies me even though I find fiber and protein more filling. This would explain why you feel less hungry (more satisfied) when you eat junk food.1 -
I need a much higher ratio of carbs to the rest to feel satiated. Without some kind of starchy carb, a meal isn't going to hold me for very long. It could be as simple as a pita bread or a bit of potato, but it's like night and day for me.1
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deannalfisher wrote: »deannalfisher wrote: »can you open your diary up? depending on the veggies you are eating - they are not necessarily calorie dense
Yes I would love to see this diary of 3lbs of meat ...as that would equate to appx 5440 calories not including the carbs/fats.
and 6mins of intense lifting a week and eating on average 2500 a day????
assuming 3lbs of chicken - then you are looinking approx 1500cal just in chicken (i used the chicken entry I used for my dinner last night to calculate)
yes I looked at this and thought to myself duh...wth did that number come from...must have been a typo only thing i can think of.0 -
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I'm not sure you should be drinking 4 gallons of water...if you are legit that thirsty, you need to see a dr.
2500 calories isn't a huge amount for an active person your size...but 3lbs of meat in 1 sitting seems high (and unlikely). Are you accurately weighing your food on a scale?
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Aaron_K123 wrote: »Eating healthy is eating foods that provide you with a reasonable macro split balanced between carbs, protein and fat while getting adequate nutrition. Eating healthy is not eating only meat and salad and ignoring it when your body is screaming at you.
As I mentioned before, I am not eating low carb. I'm eating upwards of 100 g/day generally, which for a girl who does not work out, is more of a moderate range. However, reducing my carbs from basically anything to that level helped me greatly four years ago-- I was having the same issue, and it at least let me go more than 1 hour without getting hungry again.0 -
thank you everyone for the suggestions!! To clear up about the meat: I am talking about 1-2 pounds uncooked. 1 pound of uncooked hamburger is only four patties I think-- not that hard to eat. I generally eat about 4-5 large chicken tenderloins or fish fillets (unbreaded) and 1-2 hamburger patties. It's entirely possible that I'm calculating wrong, given that I don't have a food scale. I would also like to edit the 3 pounds-- I accidentally recorded my usual dinner for that day rather than the lower amount I ate, with about 1 pound at breakfast, so that would come out to around 1 lb (uncooked) chicken breast at breakfast and two chicken tenderloins plus one hamburger patty at dinner. I'm very sorry for any confusion that caused-- it was confusing me as well.
However, that does not mean my eating habits are "normal." People definitely notice I eat a lot of food. I eat most of my day's food in one sitting-- it's not like I'm doing IF, but it's just what I prefer.
Also, I aim for about 100g carbs or less per day. However, I usually end up in the 130-160 range. While this may be at the lower end for a serious bodybuilder or the average American, for an inactive girl this more like moderate carb. I have a pretty even macro split. I do include plenty of fat-- about 40ish% of my calories are from fat.0 -
Maybe playing around with meal timing can help.
Or.. why not incorporate some junk food into your day if it helps. For me, I get mental satisfaction from fitting treats into my day.
How long have you been lifting? Intense sessions can really get hunger going.
When I eat carbs, they are usually junk food-- which I think could be my problem. I've been lifting for about six years. I generally do 3 sets of bench and chest flies to failure on each set, but the main drain is holding a glute bridge for 3 minutes with 130 pounds. I generally can't think straight after my workout, even though it's so short. Do you think that would be enough to work up an appetite?0 -
deputy_randolph wrote: »I'm not sure you should be drinking 4 gallons of water...if you are legit that thirsty, you need to see a dr.
2500 calories isn't a huge amount for an active person your size...but 3lbs of meat in 1 sitting seems high (and unlikely). Are you accurately weighing your food on a scale?
thanks for your response! I'm not weighing food as I eat in a cafeteria, which could certainly be part of the issue, but I have been tracking calories for about a decade and have a good feel for what 2500 calories "looks" like. I estimate a chicken tenderloin at 1.5 oz. I'm supposed to be eating 1700 calories to maintain according to TDEE calculators, which to me is crazy. I'm not active, I sit most of the day and only work out maybe 40 minutes/week including rest periods and stretching, and do not do cardio.
I have seen a doctor about my water drinking, which is how I know I drink 4-5 gallons. They don't know what's wrong, but apparently I've always needed a lot of water, even when I was little.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »2500 really isn't a huge amount of calories for someone of your height, especially if you are young enough to still refer to yourself as a girl.
You might also be confusing hunger with not satisfied. I know I can eat until I'm stuffed and still not feel satisfied if I don't have enough fat in the meal. Fat satisfies me even though I find fiber and protein more filling. This would explain why you feel less hungry (more satisfied) when you eat junk food.
thanks for replying! I eat a pretty balanced macro split. I usually put cheese, guacamole, or sour cream on my meat, eat peanut butter and walnuts and am not too scared of dressing-- I usually have upwards of 80g fat per day. My meat isn't exactly lean either. I definitely agree with you that fat satisfies me more-- maybe starting my meal with something fatty instead of ending with it could help? Most calculators give me 1700 calories to maintain, not even to lose weight, so at least according to that 2500 is quite a bit.0 -
So you eat most of your food at one sitting because that is what works for you and you are eyeballing your portions. Through preference or experience you fill up with meat with a modest amount of carbs.
I think you are eating at maintenance.
If you don’t want to feel so hungry all the time you will have to change some habits until you figure out what works. I think splitting your food more evenly throughout the day and replacing some of that meat with starchy carbs is worth a try.0 -
BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »You don't mention fat. Fat is way more filling for me than protein. And yes, maybe you need the extra carbs. 50 of protein seems a little low, but maybe aim for 75 and get your carbs.
Also, 2500 calories isn't that much for a 140 lb girl. I am just a little heavier (160) and can maintain at that. Definitely not "astronomical".
I eat a pretty balanced macro split-- usually upwards of 80g fat per day. I'm definitely not scared of it, it's my favorite! Most calculators give me 1700 calories to maintain, not even to lose weight, so at least according to that 2500 is quite a bit... I might try eating more fat and carbs and less protein and see if that helps.0 -
deannalfisher wrote: »can you open your diary up? depending on the veggies you are eating - they are not necessarily calorie dense
I usually don't record veggies at all, so my macros and calories don't include those anyway. I record just the dressing. I eat lettuce, bell pepper, tomatoes, carrots, celery sometimes, so yeah, not too calorie dense.0 -
snowflake954 wrote: »smithmssycatsmithiris30 wrote: »Are you actually eating 2 pounds of meat per day? Have you had your Thyroid tested ?
Could be this. A friend of my son started eating like this and finally found out it was a hereditary thyroid misfunction. Can't hurt to look into it.
Aside from some weight gain, I don't have any of the symptoms of hypothyroidism. I feel and look pretty healthy, I'm just worried the weight is going to keep creeping on unless I do something. Are there other thyroid/hormonal conditions you might know of that it could be?0 -
Are you actually hungry or "craving" junk food on your healthy eating days?? You say that you are fine when you eat junk food. It sounds to me more like a craving for junk than being hungry. But that's just my unexpert opinion.0
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