Constant hunger - should I raise my daily calorie goal?

hotpepr2018 wrote: »

That would be about 1500 calories per week or more ... feels like too much if I want to keep losing. I wish there was a way to just add 100 or 150.

If you're losing 1lb per week that's a deficit of 3500 per week, so if you're eating back exercise calories you're still going to be 2000 calorie deficit per week, that's not going to stop you from losing. It's important for weight loss to be sustainable, faster isn't better.

If you're constantly hungry, what difference do you think 100 cals is going to make?

How much water do you drink per day? When I started drinking more water a day like 6 bottles I started to see my weight go down.

hotpepr2018 wrote: »

Thank you, that is helpful info. Logging the workouts would give me big spikes and troughs. For whatever reason, I just find it easier to stick to my goals if I maintain consistency day to day, so I went ahead and changed my goal to 1/2 lb per week.

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies!

If you find it easier to have a consistent calorie goal, work out your TDEE through a calculator, deducting 250 cals for half a pound per week and set a manual goal in MFP. This is a relatively simple one - https://tdeecalculator.net/

hotpepr2018 wrote: »

OK, I hear ya, I will read those resources and change my approach. Please be patient I felt great while losing the first 15 pounds at a reasonable pace over several months, so I really didn't think I was being a total eff-up by not logging my workouts on MFP, although I do realize it has that feature. I just figured MFP had perhaps overestimated my daily burn, so it would all come out in the wash.

The other thing I have read on this site is that people usually need to REDUCE their calorie intake as their weight falls toward their goal weight. Supposedly, MFP will automatically make that adjustment for you (at least, so I have read on this site). Hence my surprise at the sudden hunger and cravings at a static amount of calories.

Thank you again for your help! Not arguing at all, just explaining how I got to this point. I'm sure you are correct. You explanation and my quick look at the resources you linked make a lot of sense. I clearly need to eat more real food in order to stay on track.

If someone is letting MFP set their calorie goal, they should eat back a fair chunk of exercise calories, to start. They can spread them over the days of the week instead of eating them on the day of exercise, it doesn't matter.**

But almost universally, advice here is that one sticks to that routine for 4-6 weeks, then adjust intake based on weight loss results, to stay at a reasonable and moderate actual average weight loss rate, not a calculator-eatimated weight loss rate (which can differ, in rare cases even differ dramatically).

You're beyond that start-up point: You know that by eating what you're eating, without eating back your exercise, you're losing a pound a week. That's the guiding piece of information that really matters: Your actual weight loss rate. You have, on average, a 500-calorie daily deficit.

Since you're fairly far on in the weight loss process (weeks/months in), you may be reaching a point where stress-related water weight fluctuations will cause more seeming stalls on the scale (a calorie deficit is a physical stressor). You may be reaching a point where your long-ish challenge to hunger and appetite hormones is catching up with you. On top of that, as others have said, you are reaching a point where slower loss would not only allow you to eat more, but also be a way to minimize health risks.

Another point you may be reaching is a point where it would be a good plan to take a couple week's diet break, i.e., eat at maintenance calories. (More info here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1).

That can have three (or more ) benefits for someone like you: (1) It can provide a bit of a reset for those hunger and appetite hormones, (2) it can give you some practice at eating at maintenance, sort of a trial run of what it will be like to eat at maintenance calories forever, and (3) if you're beginning to accumulate subtle fatigue from a long period of calorie deficit, potential reducing daily life activity in small ways, it may perk up your energy level and let you resume losing with slightly higher calories-out.

If you switch from your current loss rate to half a pound a week, or take a maintenance break, you'll almost certainly see a suddent weight jump, potentially several pounds. This is not fat gain. Overnight or even a fewe days, with such a moderate calorie adjustment, it can't be. It's slightly higher water retention (because more calories commonly mean a little more sodium and a few more carbs, both of which require a little more water to be processed in the body), plus higher average digestive system contents. Since neither of those are fat, they're not worth worrying about. Expect that scale jump, and don't worry about it.

You're absolutely correct that people will need to reduce calorie intake as they get lighter in order to keep the same weight loss rate. A lighter body burns fewer calories hour for hour just going through life, or per hour when doing exercises that involve body movement. But that advice really only matters to (say) someone who has lots to lose, such as a 5'6" woman starting at 300 pounds losing a pound a week, then getting down toward 200 pounds, where it's still reasonable risk-wise to lose a pound a week, but her calorie burn is much lower because she's 1/3 lighter. That's not you. You're getting down to those last few pounds, where it starts to make better sense to reduce weight loss rate in order to coast into maintenance with best body composition, health, and energy.

Best wishes!

** If someone really wants to eat the same number of calories and knows that up front, it would be better to use a TDEE calculator and set goal calories manually by taking a deficit from the TDEE estimate, to start. The potential down side of that is that if the person doesn't do the anticipated exercise, their weight loss will be slowed by that amount. This problem may which may be especially acute for someone who's trying to revolutionize both eating and exercise all at once, and suddenly, since exercise compliance is potentially as much of a challenging as eating compliance, at first. (This part doesn't apply to you because you're not at the start of the process; I'm writing it in consideration of other potential readers.)