Buttomless pit days

2»

Replies

  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
    amusedmonkey wrote: »

    My meals aren't exactly "small". My allowance is about 1500 calories, this makes up for a total of 2500 calories plus exercise, enough to have 5 reasonable meals or 4 with one extra large meal for lunch. As for how I save calories, I have a period of about a week a month where I'm not very hungry. During this week I just don't eat back exercise calories, which results in 2000 extra calories saved. I also calculate my loss for the month for a 4 week interval, not the full 30 days, so that leaves me with 2 more days of being able to eat at maintenance for a total of 4 higher than average days a month.

    Thanks for a detailed explanation! It's very helpful! Do you have an idea of what your daily deficit is on these different periods each month? My activity level varies drastically from day to day basis so I find it easier to calculate my deficit daily using my fitbit TDEE estimates (which appear to be very accurate). It seems like I have to be careful to have a deficit that is too high for even a day or it leads to increased hunger over the next few days (I'm not sure about my exact maximum number, but it seems that anything higher than 400 is dangerous). I'm pretty close to my goal weight so it's understandable. I'm a bit cautious about "banking" calories for that reason.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited June 2018
    oat_bran wrote: »
    amusedmonkey wrote: »

    My meals aren't exactly "small". My allowance is about 1500 calories, this makes up for a total of 2500 calories plus exercise, enough to have 5 reasonable meals or 4 with one extra large meal for lunch. As for how I save calories, I have a period of about a week a month where I'm not very hungry. During this week I just don't eat back exercise calories, which results in 2000 extra calories saved. I also calculate my loss for the month for a 4 week interval, not the full 30 days, so that leaves me with 2 more days of being able to eat at maintenance for a total of 4 higher than average days a month.

    Thanks for a detailed explanation! It's very helpful! Do you have an idea of what your daily deficit is on these different periods each month? My activity level varies drastically from day to day basis so I find it easier to calculate my deficit daily using my fitbit TDEE estimates (which appear to be very accurate). It seems like I have to be careful to have a deficit that is too high for even a day or it leads to increased hunger over the next few days (I'm not sure about my exact maximum number, but it seems that anything higher than 400 is dangerous). I'm pretty close to my goal weight so it's understandable. I'm a bit cautious about "banking" calories for that reason.

    I calculate my activity with fitbit daily too, but it averages out to about 300 calories. My deficit also varies as I carry a "random bank" of calories too. I start my monthly excel sheet with the week I'm usually less hungry, accumulate about 2000 calories in that week and set them aside.

    My usual deficit for these days is about 800 calories. After that I just eat to hunger, eating less on less hungry days and banking the calories and eating more on more hungry days and using up the banked calories. I can distinctly tell a normal hungry day from a "bottomless pit" day, so I only use my set aside calories when I encounter those, which for me happen around ovulation and before period about 90% of the time give or take a day.

    My usual deficit for the weeks I'm just plugging along averages around 500 calories, and my deficit on weeks where I have those days averages around 200 something calories. During any given month, my average deficit is between 200-500 because some months have celebrations and going out so I give myself more eating leeway. Sometimes I choose to maintain for a while, in which case my deficit is more or less nonexistent for anywhere from a week to a few months.

    I'm obese, though, so your acceptable numbers may be a percentage mine.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    I get that one or 2 days per month, usually right around the beginning of my period. I try to keep myself busy to keep my mind off of it.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
    Mouse_Potato wrote: »
    This happens to me as well, but it seems to be on a 6-8 week cycle. The hunger is so intense and so strange. It even seems to get worse after I eat a meal sometimes! I suspect maybe my body is craving some specific nutrient, but I haven't been able to pinpoint it yet. Drinking water or eating lots of veggies just results in me having a bloated tummy that still demands to be fed. Every once in a while I seem to hit upon whatever it is my body wants and then it gets quiet again. Sadly, this is usually something from the vending machine at work!

    Yes, exactly! Eating often doesn't help at all on these days and especially eating high volumes of low cal foods only makes me feel bloated. It's sooo frustrating! But it's nice to know I'm not alone with this!
    awesomek001 wrote: »
    Don't be so quick to put this back on hormones - as crazy as those are, they aren't the root of every problem!

    I encounter this too - altho I'm not sure I would use the word "cycle" to describe it. I have been tracking different types of foods that I've been eating, and I've actually found that mine is triggered rather than cyclic. For me, it seems to last until I cut refined sugar out of breakfast and morning snack. As soon as I forget and grab a cookie or donut at coffee time (and who doesn't have those in the office!) the feeling comes back. I can eat until I feel like I"m going to throw up :s

    I tried to see if there's a correlation between what I eat and my macro levels etc. But there doesn't seem to be one. My macros are pretty much the same every day and even every meal. I try to have a sufficient fat and at least 25g protein with every single meal/snack. And I rarely eat anything with added sugar, I'm really into junk food. So I'm more inclined to believe that it's something hormonal, but I still track different factors like quantity of sleep, stress and what exactly I eat to see any correlations.
    jennifer_417 wrote: »
    I get that one or 2 days per month, usually right around the beginning of my period. I try to keep myself busy to keep my mind off of it.

    Next time, I want to try planning out every single minute of the day, so that I'm so occupied that I don't even have time to think about food but I think it still won't be easy.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    oat_bran wrote: »

    I calculate my activity with fitbit daily too, but it averages out to about 300 calories. My deficit also varies as I carry a "random bank" of calories too. I start my monthly excel sheet with the week I'm usually less hungry, accumulate about 2000 calories in that week and set them aside.

    My usual deficit for these days is about 800 calories. After that I just eat to hunger, eating less on less hungry days and banking the calories and eating more on more hungry days and using up the banked calories. I can distinctly tell a normal hungry day from a "bottomless pit" day, so I only use my set aside calories when I encounter those, which for me happen around ovulation and before period about 90% of the time give or take a day.

    My usual deficit for the weeks I'm just plugging along averages around 500 calories, and my deficit on weeks where I have those days averages around 200 something calories. During any given month, my average deficit is between 200-500 because some months have celebrations and going out so I give myself more eating leeway. Sometimes I choose to maintain for a while, in which case my deficit is more or less nonexistent for anywhere from a week to a few months.

    I'm obese, though, so your acceptable numbers may be a percentage mine.

    Thanks for telling me your numbers. It gives me some perspective. I'm in the upper normal BMI range so I think this is why I get too hungry if I my deficit is higher than 500 for more than a couple of days.

    After eating at maintenance for a couple of weeks, I think I can now, too, distinguish between "bottomless pit" days and "my daily deficit is too high" hunger and just random increased appetite every now and then. Before I had the impression that I was just inexplicably hungry all the time.
  • KcRavassa
    KcRavassa Posts: 45 Member
    I feel you, I just had about a week long episode where I just snapped. I normally eat around maintenance too so it's annoying! I have no real advice, except maybe leave the house and take a walk or something, remove EVERYTHING you can binge on, and if it's later in the day go to bed.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
    Amerane wrote: »
    Happens to me too, seemingly at random (am on hormonal BC). I've had luck combating the bottomless pit feeling by eating a large, high-fat/high-protein lunch with some simple carbs. So I'll get some fried chicken and french fries or a burger and just go to town, maybe adding a milkshake or some other high-calorie dessert. Often the calorie count is around 1100-1800 total. Afterwords, I finally feel satisfied and often don't eat much more than a salad or a small sandwich and some fruit for dinner, and I don't tend to feel as hungry in the following days. I make up for the extra calories by making sure to get in extra steps/workouts afterwords when I no longer feel ravenous.

    Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I tried your tip - I didn't even had to have over 1k cal meal, I had a big 900-1000cal burger a couple of times and it did the trick! I was full for many hours and even after I got hungry again I could be satisfied with a smaller then usual meal.

    However what is interesting is that I tried having a "whole food" meal of similar calories and macros at home - because eating fast food for five days straight is just not healthy and too expensive. I tried 2 big 15% fat pure beef patties with a slice of rye bread + veggies and the other time I tried eating half a roasted chicken with skin with veggies and a slice of bread. And that didn't work. I was still hungry after eating 900-1000 cals. I wonder what was different about the burgers. Very they much higher in fat? or refined carbs? Or maybe the reported calories on the restaurants website underestimated and the burgers were actually much higher in calories?
  • Amerane
    Amerane Posts: 136 Member
    oat_bran wrote: »
    Amerane wrote: »
    Happens to me too, seemingly at random (am on hormonal BC). I've had luck combating the bottomless pit feeling by eating a large, high-fat/high-protein lunch with some simple carbs. So I'll get some fried chicken and french fries or a burger and just go to town, maybe adding a milkshake or some other high-calorie dessert. Often the calorie count is around 1100-1800 total. Afterwords, I finally feel satisfied and often don't eat much more than a salad or a small sandwich and some fruit for dinner, and I don't tend to feel as hungry in the following days. I make up for the extra calories by making sure to get in extra steps/workouts afterwords when I no longer feel ravenous.

    Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I tried your tip - I didn't even had to have over 1k cal meal, I had a big 900-1000cal burger a couple of times and it did the trick! I was full for many hours and even after I got hungry again I could be satisfied with a smaller then usual meal.

    However what is interesting is that I tried having a "whole food" meal of similar calories and macros at home - because eating fast food for five days straight is just not healthy and too expensive. I tried 2 big 15% fat pure beef patties with a slice of rye bread + veggies and the other time I tried eating half a roasted chicken with skin with veggies and a slice of bread. And that didn't work. I was still hungry after eating 900-1000 cals. I wonder what was different about the burgers. Very they much higher in fat? or refined carbs? Or maybe the reported calories on the restaurants website underestimated and the burgers were actually much higher in calories?

    Honestly I think the simple carbs make all the difference. I've done exactly the same as you before (substituting healthier sides with a rich main dish) and it just doesn't do the same thing. I think loading up on simple carbs (like from a milkshake and fries) gives me that large spike in blood sugar that lets my hunger go down, and the high fat/protein helps maintain that feeling.

Categories