Not hungry...

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Eryndil
Eryndil Posts: 32
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been following my MFP suggestion of 1200 cal/day for about a month now, and have started finding myself not hungry enough to eat my full 1200 cal + whatever I earn back after exercise. I usually work off about 200-250 cal/day at the gym.

Yesterday I didn't want to eat anything and I still had 500 cal left! Since I am trying to lose weight, I don't see the point of eating just for the sake of it, and maowing down on 500 cal worth of carrots and celery is not as great as it sounds.

I understand that if I don't eat the right amount my body will go into starvation mode. Any one else have this problem, or have any advice?

Thanks!

Replies

  • pf3855
    pf3855 Posts: 31
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    Listening in for any words of wisdom.
  • antipanic
    antipanic Posts: 64
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    For me, it seems to come and go. I find that when I have a really big exercise day, I have a tough time eating even my regular calories, much less the exercise calories. But the next day I am ravenous. Listen to your body, and try not to go below 1200 too often, you really do need the food - not just the calories, you need the nutrition.
  • AmyLRed
    AmyLRed Posts: 894 Member
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    for me, its about planning. I plan yummy and nutritious ways to use up my cals evenly throughout the day, because i dont do well with huge amounts left at the end of the day or with too little left over.
  • HauteP1nk
    HauteP1nk Posts: 2,139 Member
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    Well, I have been told in the past to eat only when i am hungry. It is all about listening to your body.
  • Dorianlg
    Dorianlg Posts: 71 Member
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    At 5'8 you need to be eating AT LEAST 1200 calories every day, especially on those days when you work out. While having a low calorie day every once in awhile isn't going to send you into starvation mode, it still makes it harder for your body to recover from workouts, and makes it more likely that you're losing muscle instead of fat.
    Have you thought about why you're not hungry? Are you upset about something? That's my problem, depression makes me not hungry. Another problem with dieting is that it trains us to turn off our body's natural "I'm hungry" signals.
    For the short term, I suggest you keep some high calorie but high nutrition foods around, such as nuts or avocado, that you can munch on and don't need preparation. Definitely try to eat right after your workouts. Think more about why you might not be hungry.
  • Phrak
    Phrak Posts: 353 Member
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    I have not stalled in my weightloss and if you look at my diary i am always around 1100 even with working out.

    What do you plan to do when you do stall out?? Really cant drop calories any lower, and more exercise might be deterimental. Why eat less then neccessary? Your intake as high as possible but still facilitate fatloss, so when you did hit a stall you can at least cut calories.
  • suztheq
    suztheq Posts: 171
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    I love going to this site for fitness information. It's called Last Stop Fat Loss. There is all kinds of info there. Josh Vales wrote this particular article. He's a professional trainer and author. Hope this helps you out. :smile:

    http://www.laststopfatloss.com/is-starvation-mode-a-myth
  • jhartram
    jhartram Posts: 165
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    I used to have that problem too... I started looking for foods that were higher in calories and reasonably lower in the other things I was trying to watch (like sodium and saturated fat).

    Some examples are
    Almond butter... 190 cal, 2 sat fat, 60 sodium, 7 carbs and 6 protein
    Fish (you can eat a lot of fish to build up calories, and Tilapia is fairly inexpensive)...Calories 80 Sodium 220 mg
    Total Fat 0 g Total Carbs 2 g Protein 19 g Cholesterol 50 mg
    Fruit smoothies (I use 1/3 cup of frozen berries, 2 scoops of protein powder, a tbs of benefiber, a container of Great Value light fat free yogurt and about 1/4 c of 1% milk)... 516 cal, 54 carbs, 3 sat fat, 236 sodium, 8 fiber, 57 protein)

    You can find your own, tailored to your own tastes, but there is stuff out there. You just have to do a little looking! =D

    Also, you should make sure you take a good multivitamin when you're having trouble eating your calories... that way your body gets most of it's nutrition anyway. =D

    Hope this helps! =D

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