I’ve hit a hunger issue!!

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I started out at 91.5kg in May 2019. My initial goal was to loose 10kg. That was achieved by August.

To do this I have been running off 1500kal per day, sticking to this at least 6 days per week usually.

Gym (strength training) started out as 2 PT sessions per week. It then moved to 2PT and 1 group, then 2PT and 2 groups.

Since I hit my 10kg target I lost an additional 2kg. My target is to lose another 6-8kg. I have increased muscle mass over the period as well as fat loss.

Over the last few weeks I have increased my gym sessions to:

• Monday 1hr group + 30mins bike
• Tue 1 hr PT + 30 mins bike
• Wed 1hr group + 30 mins bike
• Thurs 50 mins bike
• Fri 1hr PT + 1hr group


As I have started doing more at the gym I have noticed is that I am hungry most of the time!!!. This is resulting in the wrong decisions being made with food as I am not thinking straight. This is more than apparent as I have been useless recently but I have had an increase in energy and have been enjoying the gym more due to this.

Decided that I would play around with a spare day and try to plan a day that I know would keep me feeling full and satisfied, but also not be a huge calorie intake. I looked at a gym day where I need to eat before I go in and also when I finish. I have gone for more protein (as it keeps you feeling full) but made sure I get my pre-gym and post gym carbs.

Calories for the day come in at just under 1700 (which MyFitnessPal puts down as approx 0.6-0.7kg loss per week with no exercise for my current stats) - I do not eat my exercise calories.

I think it’s worth giving a slight increase in daily calories a go to see what happens to weight loss, performance and hunger?

Here’s an example of the day, calories and macros breakdown. What do you think?

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Replies

  • giancarlov1191
    giancarlov1191 Posts: 493 Member
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    If your goal is still to reduce body fat, I'd say your diet looks pretty good, you just have to keep going.
  • elfin168
    elfin168 Posts: 202 Member
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    Looks fine. Are u not logging exercise calories
  • elfin168
    elfin168 Posts: 202 Member
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    Ok. See you aren't. No wonder you are hungry!
  • edickson76
    edickson76 Posts: 107 Member
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    Calories in has remained the same but due to your increased activity calories out has increased. That means you have a larger deficit, which is why you are hungry. 2 options. Increase calories in or keep calories the same but change the diet to eat more satiating foods. Lot of protein shakes in that diet not a lot of fruits and veggies.
  • how_long_will_it_last
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    Calories increased to 1800 from 1500.

    The protein shakes at 0.5 are more for flavouring - they turn 0% fat natural yogurt into something that reminds me of New York cheesecake!! Mmmmmm..... but it’s healthy.

    Veg is something that I am trying to add in. My mid day meal is cold so veg isn’t an option. I can eat cold chicken etc all day but cold veg just doesn’t cut it for me! Lol.

    Very focused on Macros breakdown so have to plan in the fruits etc because of the carbs. Trying to get in the fast digesting carbs after my gym workout with fast digesting proteins to aid muscle repair.


    My PT has said maybe to try low carb days on none training days (so Thursday, Saturday and Sunday). Any thoughts on this?
  • cupcakesandproteinshakes
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    Are you eating those exact same foods day in day out? I say this because to me that stuff looks really plain and I would get fed up really quickly.

    No need to be do inflexible when trying to lose.

    Also no need to go low and high carb days unless that’s what you prefer.
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,329 Member
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    I’m not an expert by any means but MFP is designed for you to eat your exercise cals back, otherwise you’ll be running too high a deficit. Over time that will definitely lead to muscle loss not to mention being really hungry. Re low carb - you need to see what works for you. I strength train 4x a week and I NEED carbs - personally I could not lift without adequate fuel.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Suggest you use this site as designed (eating back exercise calories) and stop worrying about keeping carbs low. That will not only resolve your excessive deficit but also automatically adjust as your training regime changes in the future.

    Train like an athlete / eat like an athlete (and that's not big deficit / low carb).

    You might find that starchy carbs help enormously with hunger, they do for me.