Still Hungry...

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Replies

  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    I also say eat. Your body is telling you something. But I suggest eating at maintenance for a few days. Set a day right now that you will go back to a deficit. For instance, Friday. Flip over to Friday food diary now and prelog what you might eat to stay in your calorie deficit. By doing this, you know you’re not falling off the wagon, you’re not giving up, you’re not going to gain back all that you’ve lost, because you’re still in control. You might even prelog Saturday and Sunday if it makes you feel better.

    As someone above said, your weight is gonna go a little crazy for a few days. It’s just adjusting to a new normal. It will settle back down soon.

    It’s also a good time to reassess. You have some great suggestions about considering macro changes, slowing down your speed of weight loss, etc. Also a good time to seriously think about what maintenance will be like.

    Good luck!
  • AshHeartsJesus
    AshHeartsJesus Posts: 460 Member
    Here are some ideas for breakfast

    Egg white scramble= 3 or 4 egg whites with 1 whole egg, 1 piece of toast, and coffee
    Sugar free french toast= 2 pieces low cal bread soaked in egg whites stevia and cinnamon
    Maybe a savory oatmeal with egg would be more filling

    Look up anabolic recipes it might help curb your hunger just watch your calories close

    LORD JESUS bless
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    taramont45 wrote: »
    ahoy_m8 wrote: »
    Another vote for a diet break. You have made fantastic progress, and it sounds like you are overdue for one. So helpful for so many reasons -- re-balancing hormones, practicing maintenance, mental break...

    Also, you SHOULD expect to lessen your deficit to slow your rate of loss as you near goal. Maybe it's time?

    In terms of satiety, which as others have said is highly individual, I do best with my first meal being late morning and high fat/mod protein. When I have porridge, fruit and toast at breakfast, I'm ravenous all day. I love them and eat them a lot, but as afternoon snacks, not first thing.

    Good luck with some minor adjustments! You're doing great!

    I'm still so far from my goal weight, though. I'm trying to get down to 150 so I'm at least no longer morbidly obese and I can feel somewhat good about myself. And the weird thing is that usually porridge, fruit, toast etc is what I usually eat and it lasts me until dinner. I very rarely snack at all.
    It's just this super random spike of absolutely stupid hunger driving me crazy. And it's taking everything four of me not to snap.
    I'm counting the hours down until I can eat supper. Keep glancing at my clock. It's getting ridiculous.

    I agree with others that a diet break could be a really good plan.

    Also, I'm concerned that you haven't answered the question about how fast you've been losing. Sounds like you've lost 45 pounds so far (230 to 185), but you only make a vague reference to "summer" when it comes to timeline. I started losing around your current weight (I was 183) and would have lost like a house afire at 1450 + exercise. (I still lost at a decent rate at 1400-1600 plus all exercise, when in the mid-150s).

    If you've been losing fast, it would be very, very common to experience a hunger/appetite crash eventually. The best potential remedy for that is, in fact, to eat at maintenance for a couple of weeks. (As others have said, that's good practice for future skills you'll need to maintain a healthy weight long term, so it isn't a waste of time. I get that you want to reach goal weight as fast as possible . . . but sometimes getting there fast is in conflict with staying there, and sometimes even with getting there in the first place.

    At this point, at 185, with 35 pounds to go, losing at a pound to maybe a pound and a half a week, tops, would be a good idea IMO. Much faster would be likely to have . . . consequences . . . for many people, if doing that for many weeks.

    As an aside, and I'm asking this because it could conceivably affect how we'd give you advice: How tall are you? Extremely petite? Are you really 4'9" or shorter? If you're morbidly obese (BMI >= 40) at 185 lbs, that would be just into morbidly obese at 4'9". But in order to stop being morbidly obese only at 150, you'd have to be 4'3". (At 5'5", I was just over the line into class 1 obese BMI at 183, FWIW. 185 would be pretty far from morbidly obese for an average-height woman, even a sorta-short woman.)
  • taramont45
    taramont45 Posts: 9 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    taramont45 wrote: »
    ahoy_m8 wrote: »
    Another vote for a diet break. You have made fantastic progress, and it sounds like you are overdue for one. So helpful for so many reasons -- re-balancing hormones, practicing maintenance, mental break...

    Also, you SHOULD expect to lessen your deficit to slow your rate of loss as you near goal. Maybe it's time?

    In terms of satiety, which as others have said is highly individual, I do best with my first meal being late morning and high fat/mod protein. When I have porridge, fruit and toast at breakfast, I'm ravenous all day. I love them and eat them a lot, but as afternoon snacks, not first thing.

    Good luck with some minor adjustments! You're doing great!

    I'm still so far from my goal weight, though. I'm trying to get down to 150 so I'm at least no longer morbidly obese and I can feel somewhat good about myself. And the weird thing is that usually porridge, fruit, toast etc is what I usually eat and it lasts me until dinner. I very rarely snack at all.
    It's just this super random spike of absolutely stupid hunger driving me crazy. And it's taking everything four of me not to snap.
    I'm counting the hours down until I can eat supper. Keep glancing at my clock. It's getting ridiculous.

    I agree with others that a diet break could be a really good plan.

    Also, I'm concerned that you haven't answered the question about how fast you've been losing. Sounds like you've lost 45 pounds so far (230 to 185), but you only make a vague reference to "summer" when it comes to timeline. I started losing around your current weight (I was 183) and would have lost like a house afire at 1450 + exercise. (I still lost at a decent rate at 1400-1600 plus all exercise, when in the mid-150s).

    If you've been losing fast, it would be very, very common to experience a hunger/appetite crash eventually. The best potential remedy for that is, in fact, to eat at maintenance for a couple of weeks. (As others have said, that's good practice for future skills you'll need to maintain a healthy weight long term, so it isn't a waste of time. I get that you want to reach goal weight as fast as possible . . . but sometimes getting there fast is in conflict with staying there, and sometimes even with getting there in the first place.

    At this point, at 185, with 35 pounds to go, losing at a pound to maybe a pound and a half a week, tops, would be a good idea IMO. Much faster would be likely to have . . . consequences . . . for many people, if doing that for many weeks.

    As an aside, and I'm asking this because it could conceivably affect how we'd give you advice: How tall are you? Extremely petite? Are you really 4'9" or shorter? If you're morbidly obese (BMI >= 40) at 185 lbs, that would be just into morbidly obese at 4'9". But in order to stop being morbidly obese only at 150, you'd have to be 4'3". (At 5'5", I was just over the line into class 1 obese BMI at 183, FWIW. 185 would be pretty far from morbidly obese for an average-height woman, even a sorta-short woman.)

    I started actively trying to lose weight in September of 2019. Started on keto but due to the costs of the diet I had to turn back to adding some carbs in. But decided I was only going to eat whole grain carbs and cut out the over processed crap/watch what I eat calorie-wise. So it's been 45 pounds over more than a year. I wouldn't say it's terribly quick? Doesn't feel like it, anyways.

    I'm barely five feet tall. Not petite by any standard, but very short and squat.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    taramont45 wrote: »
    I want to thank everyone for the advice so far.
    I did a tiny increase yesterday and changed my settings to maintaining my weight. Realized I just needed an extra 200 -260 calories to be happy. Didn't need the extra 500 the maintaining my weight option gave me :)
    Might be the weather, might be hormones. We'll see. This just gave me the confidence to keep going and not be so hard on myself. Like some of you said, it's good practice for maintaining later on in my life :)

    Thank you everyone for your kind words.

    That's great news! I'm glad to hear adding 200ish calories has done the trick. :)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    taramont45 wrote: »
    I want to thank everyone for the advice so far.
    I did a tiny increase yesterday and changed my settings to maintaining my weight. Realized I just needed an extra 200 -260 calories to be happy. Didn't need the extra 500 the maintaining my weight option gave me :)
    Might be the weather, might be hormones. We'll see. This just gave me the confidence to keep going and not be so hard on myself. Like some of you said, it's good practice for maintaining later on in my life :)

    Thank you everyone for your kind words.

    Good show! Going all the way to maintenance for a couple of weeks is still a good idea, just to smooth the path ahead, of course.

    When you resume deficit eating, even that 250 calorie daily deficit will result in gradual weight loss, so you can hang out there for periods of time or until you reach goal, too. At a small deficit, it can take weeks for fat loss to show up clearly on the scale (to sort itself out from the background of couple-pound random water weight fluctuations), which can be frustrating/confusing . . . but it definitely does work, and can be very sustainable and healthful.

    BTW: At 185 and 5 feet tall, you already aren't technically "morbidly obese", just a little bit into class 2 (at 36.1 BMI). For some intermediate milestones: At below 179, you'll be into class 1, at around 151 into the overweight category. Every pound improves your odds of improved long-term good health.

    You've been making great progress, and with the attitudes and introspection you're bringing to this, you're lined up to keep on winning!
  • smiley4198
    smiley4198 Posts: 2 Member
    One thing I've found helpful is eating smaller meal/snacks every two and a half to three hours. Maybe try this? I find I'm never starving because I'm eating something frequently rather than eating three bigger meals
  • bellkat31
    bellkat31 Posts: 74 Member
    The most important thing for me to realize is it’s okay to feel Hungry. If you know you have consumed enough calories to support your activity level it’s mental hunger and not physical. I have a list of busy work if I start having mental hunger I try to work off that list. It usually occupies my mind so the Hunger passes
  • jflongo
    jflongo Posts: 289 Member
    Add in more Vegetables!!! There are many out there that you can eat quite a few of to add more fiber and fill you up. You can eat a ton of some vegetables and add a very little amount of calories. For example 2 cups of broccoli is only around 60 calories. There are tons of good recipes out there to roast broccoli and cauliflower in the oven, will add very little calories and tastes great.
  • taramont45
    taramont45 Posts: 9 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    taramont45 wrote: »
    I want to thank everyone for the advice so far.
    I did a tiny increase yesterday and changed my settings to maintaining my weight. Realized I just needed an extra 200 -260 calories to be happy. Didn't need the extra 500 the maintaining my weight option gave me :)
    Might be the weather, might be hormones. We'll see. This just gave me the confidence to keep going and not be so hard on myself. Like some of you said, it's good practice for maintaining later on in my life :)

    Thank you everyone for your kind words.

    Good show! Going all the way to maintenance for a couple of weeks is still a good idea, just to smooth the path ahead, of course.

    When you resume deficit eating, even that 250 calorie daily deficit will result in gradual weight loss, so you can hang out there for periods of time or until you reach goal, too. At a small deficit, it can take weeks for fat loss to show up clearly on the scale (to sort itself out from the background of couple-pound random water weight fluctuations), which can be frustrating/confusing . . . but it definitely does work, and can be very sustainable and healthful.

    BTW: At 185 and 5 feet tall, you already aren't technically "morbidly obese", just a little bit into class 2 (at 36.1 BMI). For some intermediate milestones: At below 179, you'll be into class 1, at around 151 into the overweight category. Every pound improves your odds of improved long-term good health.

    You've been making great progress, and with the attitudes and introspection you're bringing to this, you're lined up to keep on winning!

    I've made progress, yes, but it still feels like I've got a long way to go. My doctor wants me to be in the 110 range within a year and a half.

    Unfortunately I find unless I'm very strict on myself I relapse into old bad eating habits. And I'm scared of regaining what I've lost. I'm not exactly the most active person in part due to an injury as well as lung damage from covid. Currently I'm fighting a wave of wanting to eat more than I should, and I'm beginning to suspect it's my body yelling at me to eat more due to the winter- and due to cutting off a medication that killed my appetite. It's been incredibly hard this last week. Even now, after I ate at five (because I was too hungry to wait until six) it's ten now and I've been nibbling on soda crackers and drinking water to try and stave it off, but nothing's working.

    Eating at maintenance feels dangerous to me. Like I'm slacking off.
    And I'm beginning to suspect that due to me having to stop taking my Vyvanse that I'm suddenly having to deal with hunger pangs I never got before.
  • KickassAmazon76
    KickassAmazon76 Posts: 4,511 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    briscogun wrote: »
    Having low cal snacks helps (cheese, nuts, etc)
    In what world are cheese and nuts low calorie snacks 😛
    Highly individual too, which snacks are satiating. I don't find nuts very filling at all when I have to limit them to a sensible amount, the calories add up very quickly.

    Haha I was thinking that too! Cheese is my guilty pleasure. 😊
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    If you have recently had covid and you were taking meds for it, and if you are now taking more vitamins, etc, that can definitely mess with your hunger signals. Not that knowing helps with the hunger, but it can certainly help you to understand it.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    taramont45 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    taramont45 wrote: »
    I want to thank everyone for the advice so far.
    I did a tiny increase yesterday and changed my settings to maintaining my weight. Realized I just needed an extra 200 -260 calories to be happy. Didn't need the extra 500 the maintaining my weight option gave me :)
    Might be the weather, might be hormones. We'll see. This just gave me the confidence to keep going and not be so hard on myself. Like some of you said, it's good practice for maintaining later on in my life :)

    Thank you everyone for your kind words.

    Good show! Going all the way to maintenance for a couple of weeks is still a good idea, just to smooth the path ahead, of course.

    When you resume deficit eating, even that 250 calorie daily deficit will result in gradual weight loss, so you can hang out there for periods of time or until you reach goal, too. At a small deficit, it can take weeks for fat loss to show up clearly on the scale (to sort itself out from the background of couple-pound random water weight fluctuations), which can be frustrating/confusing . . . but it definitely does work, and can be very sustainable and healthful.

    BTW: At 185 and 5 feet tall, you already aren't technically "morbidly obese", just a little bit into class 2 (at 36.1 BMI). For some intermediate milestones: At below 179, you'll be into class 1, at around 151 into the overweight category. Every pound improves your odds of improved long-term good health.

    You've been making great progress, and with the attitudes and introspection you're bringing to this, you're lined up to keep on winning!

    I've made progress, yes, but it still feels like I've got a long way to go. My doctor wants me to be in the 110 range within a year and a half.

    Unfortunately I find unless I'm very strict on myself I relapse into old bad eating habits. And I'm scared of regaining what I've lost. I'm not exactly the most active person in part due to an injury as well as lung damage from covid. Currently I'm fighting a wave of wanting to eat more than I should, and I'm beginning to suspect it's my body yelling at me to eat more due to the winter- and due to cutting off a medication that killed my appetite. It's been incredibly hard this last week. Even now, after I ate at five (because I was too hungry to wait until six) it's ten now and I've been nibbling on soda crackers and drinking water to try and stave it off, but nothing's working.

    Eating at maintenance feels dangerous to me. Like I'm slacking off.
    And I'm beginning to suspect that due to me having to stop taking my Vyvanse that I'm suddenly having to deal with hunger pangs I never got before.

    I can't say whether eating at maintenance would be dangerous for you now, but it's a thing you'll need to wrap your mind around eventually. And there's a decent chance that eating at maintenance now could be a good battle strategy, in pursuit of winning the larger war.

    I can't speak to the Vyvanse implications, but that's certainly possible. Ditto for Winter: I think that happens for me. On the other hand, it seems like quite a few people experience a period of hunger/cravings after a long fairly-fast weight loss period, without the Vyvanse ever having been in the picture (and in any season 😉). If your Covid experience was recent, and you dieted through that, that could be another trigger (disease or injury, it can be good to eat at maintenance for a while, or at least near it - bodies like to prioritize healing).

    Two weeks at maintenance will cause very little delay in getting you "in the 110 range" within a year and a half, if you can stick with the two weeks. A controlled reaction is better than an uncontrolled one, and only you know how close you are to the latter. Is there someone in real life you can talk with, that's part of your treatment team?

    This is a complete aside, and satiation is very individual, but soda crackers and cold water would increase cravings for me, rather than the reverse. What do you think? For me - again, it's very individual - something with a little bit of protein or fat, plus a hot drink like herb tea, or maybe a combo like hot broth (miso or meat broth) would do a better job, if it were me.

    I'm hearing in your writing how troubled you are, and I wish I could help, truly. Can you reach out for support to your treatment team, or something like that? I'm quite confident you can wrangle this situation, and that as you do so, it will be turning a good corner in some way. Hang in there - I'm cheering for you!