why am i so hungry!!!

if youre losing 3 pounds a week, you probably need to eat more.

kymmymeredith wrote: »

iam eating 1290 daily and i have been losing 3 lbs a week ( except the plateau weeks) and then last week i lost 1.5 lbs

You're probably hungry because you aren't eating enough.

kymmymeredith wrote: »

iam eating 1290 daily and i have been losing 3 lbs a week ( except the plateau weeks) and then last week i lost 1.5 lbs

Are you eating back any of your earned exercise calories? Do you have the fat stores to sustain a 3lb/week loss?

These are my really general tips for hunger. I would stress #1

1. Make sure that your calorie goals are actually set appropriately. Don't skip this step. A lot of people set goals that are too aggressive and then wonder why they're having a hard time. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

2. Try different macros. A lot of people look for foods higher in protein, fat, and fiber. These help us stay full and more satisfied longer. If you're using MFP's default settings, try to consider protein, fat, and fiber as minimums to reach every day rather than maximums to stay below. Others feel better with high volume, higher carb diets (I trend this way during my period, personally). That's okay, too. See what makes you feel best.

3. Drink plenty of fluids. Some people really do confuse thirst and hunger.

4. Get plenty of rest. This includes sleeping enough and taking rest days from the exercise. Sometimes our bodies look for food when they're exhausted.

5. Play around with your meal timings. Some people do really well on 5-6 small meals a day and others feel like they want to gnaw their own arm off eating like that. Skipping breakfast, eating breakfast, 16:8 fasting, 6 small meals, 3 larger meals, snacks, no snacks, meal timing won't make a big difference to your weight loss, but it may help your hunger levels, mood, concentration, gym performance, etc. throughout the day. Don't be afraid to try a different way and see if it helps.

6. Wait it out. If you know you're eating enough and the other steps above aren't helping, you may just have to wait it out. Our bodies send out hunger signals partially out of habit. If you eat at a certain time every day your body will start to get hungry at that time. The good news is that these signals can be retrained to stop telling you to be hungry all the time. The bad news is that you may just have to be hungry for a little bit while that happens.

7. I also think it's important to remember that there's a habitual component to hunger. This goes along with point #6, but if you eat because you're bored or you're used to eating in front of the TV or in the car or whatever it is, then you can replace those habits with others that are better for you. Things like keeping water on hand to sip instead of snacking or picking up hobbies that keep your hands busy or that get you out of the house more can help out a little while you're retraining your hunger cues. You might need to pay attention to why you're eating/hungry or what you're feeling when you eat and try to replace food with other things, but it can be really beneficial over time.

You ARE starting to impact your weight loss negatively by selecting and pursuing an unsustainably large deficit.

When obese a deficit in the 25% range is probably going to be well enough tolerated without too many side effects. This drops down to 20% when overweight or normal weight.

You've had 10 weeks of 3lbs a week loss, in other words an approximate deficit of 10,500 Cal a week. You say you eat around 1290 Cal daily. Not sure if that's your eating target, or your actual average eaten, the two are not always the same!

If 1290 is what you've eaten (going back through your logging and averaging would verify that), you have been eating about 9030 Cal a week.

So your average TDEE has been around 2790 Cal a day and your daily deficit about 53.7%

There is no special prize for dropping the weight fast, especially once you've hit the first 5% to 10% lost.

To the contrary, the prize is to manage to keep it off long term, which only a few people succeed in doing! Thus it is never too early to start thinking how you will be eating and moving at maintenance... to maintain your loss!

One thing's for sure... you probably won't be able to keep pulling 53.7% deficits!

Eat more. Accept a slower rate of loss. 0.5% of bodyweight lost per week is perfectly good. More than 1% has a much greater potential to become problematic. Achieving long term compliance is much more important than fast loss at this point.

kymmymeredith wrote: »

i started out at 298 and currently am at 267. In the 83 days, i have cut the calories as far as i can, and i exercise 30 mins or more daily where as i used to not exercise at all. I still have a huge way to go to reach my goal of 198. I understand i need to adjust some things since the loss is slowing but I don't want to maintain the weight i need to continue to lose. If i add calories back, how will i lose?

You're averaging 2.5 or so pounds lost a week, which translates to a 1200-calorie deficit from your maintenance needs. A 1000-calorie deficit is usually considered the max safe deficit. Adding a measly 200 calories may help your hunger a great deal. Why would it stop you from losing weight?

increase your calorie intake and lower your carbs for a few days / weeks. Make sure you drink plenty of water. You might either be in starvation mode or in diet fatique.