I cannot maintain a caloric deficit for more than 2-3 days

emilyrtanner
emilyrtanner Posts: 22 Member
edited November 25 in Food and Nutrition
I've used MFP to lose weight successfully in the past though I stopped trying to lose weight about a year ago. I gained a lot of weight this year and am really trying to lose some weight again, but I cannot seem to go more than a day or two on track. I am overcome with hunger pangs and cannot stop thinking about food. My goal is to eat at a deficit of 300-500 calories per day. I am basing my calories burned on a heart rate monitor.

I am getting desperate. What do I do?

Replies

  • RadishEater
    RadishEater Posts: 470 Member
    What settings do you have for losing weight?

    aka if you have the app set for 1-2 lbs loss per week and leaving a 300-500 deficit, I would be surprised you haven't keeled over. Even for me at .5lb loss per week leaving a 300-500 deficit would have made me soooo "hangry" and I would give up after .5 a day

    I had myfitnesspal set for me at .5 lb/week and left a 50-200 deficit and lost weight at a rate of .5lb up to 1.5 lbs per week (most weeks).

    also @PixelPuff suggestion about tweaking food can be a life saver.

    I didnt think I liked unflavored greek yogurt, but at 100 calories for 18 grams of protein it can be pretty tasty with 1 oz of blackberries tossed in when you are hungry.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,300 Member
    Stats? How much are you eating in total? How are you measuring? Diary is closed so only general ideas are possible: are you including a base amount of fats? are you including enough fiber? enough protein? enough vegetables? substituting less "filling" items for other items of similar caloric value but more likely to keep you satiated?
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    If you could give us any sort of info at all it would help. Height, weight, how many lbs do you need to lose, how many cals are you eating, what exercise are you doing, how long ago did you start trying, and if you were willing to temporarily open your diary that would help too.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    Are you eating a deficit under what MFP gives you as your goal calories?
  • sburmeister1
    sburmeister1 Posts: 1 Member
    I think you really need to decrease your deficit because having it that low is making your body crave more food because it needs more. Anyway of starting slower? Also healthy snacks that keep me going but taste like treats are frozen grapes and apple cinnamon rice cakes. They always hit my sweet tooth!
  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    That's a pretty significant difference kcal-wise for fluctuations. For getting in enough food volume, ever consider just doing deficits on high activity days & hitting maintenance on low kcal days? Cyclical approaches can work well even if they take longer. Consider if your activity (mainly excess cardio I'm hinting at) is contributing to hunger/overeating (former ED - AN/BN, PM me if you please)
  • crackpotbaby
    crackpotbaby Posts: 1,297 Member
    You can. It’s just hard.
    Find a way to make it easier for you.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Try a smaller deficit, focus on plenty of protein, fat, and fiber.

    I feel you, I have the same problem, the only way I can stick to it is to never spend more than 200-300 calories a day on non filling stuff (cake, candy, bread etc) and make sure to get my 10k steps (but really I need 15k, I'm not getting enough calories for my appetite on 10k).
  • LadyElectron
    LadyElectron Posts: 43 Member
    I’m in the same boat! I’m trying to experiment to figure out what foods help me feel full and satisfied and I try to aim for a smaller deficit rather than totally overdoing it. It is slow going for me. Good luck!
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    crackpotbaby wrote: »
    You can. It’s just hard.
    Find a way to make it easier for you.

    ^^This
  • pogiguy05
    pogiguy05 Posts: 1,583 Member
    Some people like my wife *cough cough* seem to think it is easy to change. however, I think eating disorders are like being drug addicts. I tell my wife all the time when she asks about eating out, you dont take a crack addict into a crack house.

    As others have said it is not easy and you have to take each day and tackle it and move on. I know making myself weigh and track everything I eat with MFP keeps me on track. It is the only thing that works cause if I go it solo I eat everything and anything. You just have to do it for you.
  • Birder165
    Birder165 Posts: 484 Member
    MessyApron wrote: »
    This resonates with me on a deep level. There are times when, no matter how much I want to pare down, I cannot eat at a high deficit.

    It took me a long time (seriously, years), but when I get in these modes where I'm resenting the calorie restriction and I just cannot seem to make it work, I have found it very helpful to either reduce my deficit or switch to maintenance until I'm feeling really ready to eat on plan. In fact, if you were to look at my diary you would see that I have my calorie goal set to maintenance all the time, but I eat at around a 250+ deficit on my own. I *really* like to see green numbers and not red ones when I finalize my diary at the end of the day, and that little trick makes it easier. It can be a little unsettling to take a maintenance break when you want to be losing weight as fast as you can, but sometimes you've just got to tread water for a while to keep from drowning.

    Everyone is different, so it's possible this next part doesn't apply to you personally: I have struggled with binge eating behaviors (sneaking food in particular) since I was a child, and I find that over-restricting calories is the fastest way to set myself up for a binge. Then I restrict myself even more to make up for the calories I binged on which sets me up for another binge, and it just turns into this horrible perpetual motion machine of weight gain and guilt and self-loathing.

    While you're focusing on your self improvement, please remember to have a little self-compassion. There's a podcast I found last year called Half Size Me that focuses on maintenance-based weight loss, and it's been an invaluable tool and resource for me on my weight loss journey.

    I hope this helps! Feel free to add me or message me, if you like.

    Thank you so much for sharing! Your comment really struck a chord in me.

    I love your strategy of setting your calorie goal to maintenance. At the very worst, you stay the same weight and at best, you have a deficit of however much you can tackle on any particular day. I like that I'll be able to see just how much the deficit is, too.
    I've also struggled with binge eating behavior since childhood and relieving the pressure of always being in a deficit may help to overcome this.
    Letting go of a time frame to lose such and such weight by such and such time also allows for a more relaxed approach.

    I don't know about OP but what you said really helped me out. Thanks!


  • MushroomLadyJR
    MushroomLadyJR Posts: 89 Member
    MessyApron wrote: »
    This resonates with me on a deep level. There are times when, no matter how much I want to pare down, I cannot eat at a high deficit.

    It took me a long time (seriously, years), but when I get in these modes where I'm resenting the calorie restriction and I just cannot seem to make it work, I have found it very helpful to either reduce my deficit or switch to maintenance until I'm feeling really ready to eat on plan. In fact, if you were to look at my diary you would see that I have my calorie goal set to maintenance all the time, but I eat at around a 250+ deficit on my own. I *really* like to see green numbers and not red ones when I finalize my diary at the end of the day, and that little trick makes it easier. It can be a little unsettling to take a maintenance break when you want to be losing weight as fast as you can, but sometimes you've just got to tread water for a while to keep from drowning.

    Everyone is different, so it's possible this next part doesn't apply to you personally: I have struggled with binge eating behaviors (sneaking food in particular) since I was a child, and I find that over-restricting calories is the fastest way to set myself up for a binge. Then I restrict myself even more to make up for the calories I binged on which sets me up for another binge, and it just turns into this horrible perpetual motion machine of weight gain and guilt and self-loathing.

    While you're focusing on your self improvement, please remember to have a little self-compassion. There's a podcast I found last year called Half Size Me that focuses on maintenance-based weight loss, and it's been an invaluable tool and resource for me on my weight loss journey.

    I hope this helps! Feel free to add me or message me, if you like.

    Just want to lend support to the op. Also, the above which I've quoted sounds great! I have the same issue of not being able to stick to a deficit since I lost weight. I'm going to try the strategy above and see how it goes.

    I have found it odd that for most of my journey I found cutting calories easy (lost 140 pounds, regained 15) but now, for the last year I've been unable to commit. It's nice at least to know there are others who have experienced this.
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