Increased/ravenous appetite after prolonged calorie restriction?
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RedheadedPrincess14
Posts: 415 Member
Hey guys so about a year ago I started consciously tracking my calories and over 1 year I lost the 20 pounds I’d gained as well as 10 extra pounds I didn’t expect to lose. Most of that weight loss was in the first 6 months and then it got very slow after that but the point is that i successfully got down to 126 pounds at 5 foot 8 and am very happy with my current body. So, a couple months ago, I went in to maintance and stated eating about 1700 calories a day at first and it’s gradually been creeping up. I’ve been increasing my workouts at the same time and have been doing about 15k steps of brisk walking and about half hour of fairly intense yoga a day. Well,in the last couple of weeks my appetite has gone haywire and I’ve just been absolutely hungry all day. Ravenous. My body has been wanting at least 2000 calories a day but if I really feed it all that it wants it’s closer to about 2300 cals. I’m kind of shocked and concerned as to why my appetite would skyrocket (and my period just finished about a week ago so I’m confident it isn’t that at this point,)
I’m still eating the same types of food I just crave way more. Has anyone experienced this? Could it be a bit of mental backlash from dieting so long or is potentially linked to the increase of excercise?
I should probably point out that I have neither gained or lost any weight in the past two weeks of eating this increased caloric volume but I guess I’m just concerned it’s going to catch up to me. Any thoughts?
I’m still eating the same types of food I just crave way more. Has anyone experienced this? Could it be a bit of mental backlash from dieting so long or is potentially linked to the increase of excercise?
I should probably point out that I have neither gained or lost any weight in the past two weeks of eating this increased caloric volume but I guess I’m just concerned it’s going to catch up to me. Any thoughts?
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Replies
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RedheadedPrincess14 wrote: »Hey guys so about a year ago I started consciously tracking my calories and over 1 year I lost the 20 pounds I’d gained as well as 10 extra pounds I didn’t expect to lose. Most of that weight loss was in the first 6 months and then it got very slow after that but the point is that i successfully got down to 126 pounds at 5 foot 8 and am very happy with my current body. So, a couple months ago, I went in to maintance and stated eating about 1700 calories a day at first and it’s gradually been creeping up. I’ve been increasing my workouts at the same time and have been doing about 15k steps of brisk walking and about half hour of fairly intense yoga a day. Well,in the last couple of weeks my appetite has gone haywire and I’ve just been absolutely hungry all day. Ravenous. My body has been wanting at least 2000 calories a day but if I really feed it all that it wants it’s closer to about 2300 cals. I’m kind of shocked and concerned as to why my appetite would skyrocket (and my period just finished about a week ago so I’m confident it isn’t that at this point,)
I’m still eating the same types of food I just crave way more. Has anyone experienced this? Could it be a bit of mental backlash from dieting so long or is potentially linked to the increase of excercise?
I should probably point out that I have neither gained or lost any weight in the past two weeks of eating this increased caloric volume but I guess I’m just concerned it’s going to catch up to me. Any thoughts?
Similar thing happened to me. Got to GW and added an extra 300 calories a day because I was losing at 1-1.5lbs a week. Gained four lbs over the following two weeks which I’m now losing again. Was desperately hungry whilst eating at “maintenance”. Not sure why I was so hungry or why I gained.
This time I’m planning to get below GW and then add extra calories more slowly until I get to maintenance.1 -
You have reached a low BMI and you have increased your exercise, I would think that's why you're hungry.7
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I moved to maintenance over Christmas and also had crazy ravenous hunger. It lasted about 2 weeks before subsiding and now I’m back into restriction. I guess you’ve just gotta push through and maintain discipline.2
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You're tall and your body is telling you to eat more. I'm only a hobbit compared to you at 5ft 2, I'm only lightly active and I maintain on almost 2000 cals.
Feed your body and you won't be hungry. 2300 doesn't sound high at all for your height and active-ness - have you calculated your TDEE on a site like Scooby?0 -
Lol yeah I guess there’s just a little bit of fear seeing such high number of calories haha but you’re right. I think it’s mentalkommodevaran wrote: »You have reached a low BMI and you have increased your exercise, I would think that's why you're hungry.
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Happened to me last April I lost over a stone in 6 weeks from hardly eating anything but now I’ve piled weight on plus extra I’m just hungry all the time and craving bad foods even had a binge eating problem just started diet again but I know the same will happen lose weight but then get stuck in a binge eat cycle0
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No I haven’t but I’ll check that out now. ThanksRunRutheeRun wrote: »You're tall and your body is telling you to eat more. I'm only a hobbit compared to you at 5ft 2, I'm only lightly active and I maintain on almost 2000 cals.
Feed your body and you won't be hungry. 2300 doesn't sound high at all for your height and active-ness - have you calculated your TDEE on a site like Scooby?
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Low weight for your height and increased exercise will equal the hungries.2
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Tall, active, young and eating 1700 calories? I'd be famished too.6
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VintageFeline wrote: »Tall, active, young and eating 1700 calories? I'd be famished too.
Tis true. I'm 5"8, 45 and 160lbs and can lose weight netting 1700 calories.0 -
There's no way you maintain on so few calories. 2300 is more likely to be right, enjoy the extra calories.4
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Guessing at your age ... Your TDEE is likely between 2100-2300.
Eat. More. Food.1 -
Christine_72 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Tall, active, young and eating 1700 calories? I'd be famished too.
Tis true. I'm 5"8, 45 and 160lbs and can lose weight netting 1700 calories.
3" shorter, 9 years younger, lazy, 160lbs, can lose grossing what the OP is. Are you still losing OP? Because you're eating my sedentary maintenance, when I'm not being a lazy toad I lose eating that.2 -
GrumpyHeadmistress wrote: »RedheadedPrincess14 wrote: »Hey guys so about a year ago I started consciously tracking my calories and over 1 year I lost the 20 pounds I’d gained as well as 10 extra pounds I didn’t expect to lose. Most of that weight loss was in the first 6 months and then it got very slow after that but the point is that i successfully got down to 126 pounds at 5 foot 8 and am very happy with my current body. So, a couple months ago, I went in to maintance and stated eating about 1700 calories a day at first and it’s gradually been creeping up. I’ve been increasing my workouts at the same time and have been doing about 15k steps of brisk walking and about half hour of fairly intense yoga a day. Well,in the last couple of weeks my appetite has gone haywire and I’ve just been absolutely hungry all day. Ravenous. My body has been wanting at least 2000 calories a day but if I really feed it all that it wants it’s closer to about 2300 cals. I’m kind of shocked and concerned as to why my appetite would skyrocket (and my period just finished about a week ago so I’m confident it isn’t that at this point,)
I’m still eating the same types of food I just crave way more. Has anyone experienced this? Could it be a bit of mental backlash from dieting so long or is potentially linked to the increase of excercise?
I should probably point out that I have neither gained or lost any weight in the past two weeks of eating this increased caloric volume but I guess I’m just concerned it’s going to catch up to me. Any thoughts?
Similar thing happened to me. Got to GW and added an extra 300 calories a day because I was losing at 1-1.5lbs a week. Gained four lbs over the following two weeks which I’m now losing again. Was desperately hungry whilst eating at “maintenance”. Not sure why I was so hungry or why I gained.
This time I’m planning to get below GW and then add extra calories more slowly until I get to maintenance.
You cannot gauge true weight gain over a two week period, you should be looking at 4-6 weeks. And as you go into maintenance, the extra food in your system will show an increase at first, just like if you have a high calorie and/or sodium day. Logically, mathematically, if you were losing at least a pound a week and add 300, you're not going to put on 4 pounds of fat on two weeks, that's only 2100 extra calories a week.
OP, I agree with others. I'm also 5'8". I'm low to mid 140s right now, and probably around 15 years older. Get at least 12k steps M-F, 15k weekends. If I was only eating 1700 with exercise, I'd be pretty hangry.3 -
Okay thank you everybody ! This has been super helpful. Exactly what I needed !
@VintageFeline I haven’t lost any weight in the last two weeks but before that I was still losing about a pound a month while in maintance calories so I guess it was a bit too low but i think it’s mostly mental because I’m just not used to seeing such high calories since I’ve been on MyFitnessPal and I guess there’s an underlying fear that I’ll just keep wanting more and more. I think that’s irrational though and you guys have all made me feel way better. Thank you!3 -
Could you be pregnant?
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Hi,
I'm in a similar boat to you (for weight 129 and height nearly 5'8) and for maintenance my calories calculated by MyFitnessPal is 1800-1900, which is taking exercise into consideration. Walking especially at fast paces can burn more calories then one might think. You might double check into how you are estimating that calorie burn if it isn't already being measured by a device. But with more exercise it wouldn't be hard to push the calories required up above the 2000. Best of luck and if you continue to worry about your body not matching what you think you calculated, you can always do what I do which is to eat the extra calories in chicken breast and rice, so you are being nutritious until you sort out what's going on with yourself.0 -
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Hi,
I'm in a similar boat to you (for weight 129 and height nearly 5'8) and for maintenance my calories calculated by MyFitnessPal is 1800-1900, which is taking exercise into consideration. Walking especially at fast paces can burn more calories then one might think. You might double check into how you are estimating that calorie burn if it isn't already being measured by a device. But with more exercise it wouldn't be hard to push the calories required up above the 2000. Best of luck and if you continue to worry about your body not matching what you think you calculated, you can always do what I do which is to eat the extra calories in chicken breast and rice, so you are being nutritious until you sort out what's going on with yourself.
Thank you! Yeah my Fitbit says I burn about 500 cals a day but I feel like that’s an overestimate. Idk0
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