HUGE Appetite! Need HELP!

gemiwing · April 2012

12-1400 seems really low, honestly. You don't have to starve yourself to lose weight- especially if you are adding workouts and diet changes. Going from fast food/fatty food exclusive to adding in good fats, protein etc will give you weight loss without starving.

Calculate your TDEE- take fifteen to twenty percent off that and eat that amount. Just because someone is a personal trainer doesn't mean they know what they're talking about. Doctors get included in this category too if they are advocating starvation to someone who can exercise. Don't let them say you have to super-restrict your calories because you have 'more to lose'. Since you have more to lose you will be better served by learning how to eat properly and that doesn't come from starvation dieting.

Buddhasmiracle · April 2012

I really appreciate your suggestions. Thank you! I've never heard of the brush your teeth thing. It's a good idea.. if I can make myself do it.
I'm wondering if my calories are too low. I'm trying to go by what my trainer says. She wants me to stick with 12-1400 calories a day. It's hard. I think I will do really good and then at night it will hit me, and I feel like I'm starving. Then I just start shoving food in because I don't care by then.
What's extremely hard for me, is that I am a very picky eater. I try things, but so much disgusts me to the point of gagging (like a lot of veggies). Which is why I've tried to juice. I bought a juicer and juice fresh fruits and veggies. By mixing the fruits with some veggies, it's a little easier for me to get them down. Only problem is, I was doing a juice fast for a whole day twice a week. After so long, everything just looks disgusting. It gets old really quick. Like today, I was going to juice all day, but then, my second juice actually made me feel bad. My stomach felt really empty. Then I drank the juice which just didn't seem to settle good. I ended up having to quit and eat some real food.. and even now, my stomach still feels a little blah.
Again, thanks for your advice! I've been getting a lot. Trying to figure out what's best for me can be really hard and confusing. My trainer telling me one thing, my doctor telling me something else, and then to hear what everyone on mfp says.. it can really be mind boggling!
Hope to talk again!
~Mandy

Mandy-- I think your trainer may be short changing you on the calories. Go to fitness frog and use their calculators to determine for yourself your BMR, bodyfat %,(use the US Military Standard -- or certainly your trainer must have a device to measure it for you) TDEE (total daily energy expeditures). Compare those daily caloric requirements results. You will see what the results for caloric requirements based upon your activity level. You can even determine what your maintenance calories would be at your desired weight.
On MFP what did you set your weekly weight loss goal to? At a maximum stick to no more than one pound.
Other than that, all the strategies folks recommended are great. But please do your own calculations as a comparison to w hat the trainer is recommending.
Best wishes to you.

coconutbuNZ · April 2012

You ARE trying Mandy I know how you feel. It isn't a failure when you keep on trying. A lot of us here, we're in the same boat. I haven't been here that long but I'm sure others in here will give you some helpful advice. If only we had a button on our body somewhere and when we push the button our appetite will instantly disappear! HA! If only.

jcpmoore · April 2012

Hi Mandy!

I can SO relate! First and foremost, your trainer is not also a nutritionist, so don't take her word for what you should eat. Anyone here on MFP will tell you that 1200-1400 calories is not enough-not even close! I was just in a recent discussion about upping the calories to something more realistic and I think you'd get a lot out of that discussion. Here is is: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/548294-up-my-calories-to-what

Also, don't do all day juicing. Your body needs more than liquids. I'm not a nutritionist so I'm only going by experience here, but you can really get some serious acid issues going by doing that. I totally understand picky eaters-I'm married to one! But if I can get him to eat vegetables (and I can!) then you can do it too. Make a list of the vegetables you do like and how you like them. My hubby eats most of his raw 'cause he really only likes them that way. Carrots and broccoli with dip, so that's what he eats. I think it's best to eat what we like and find ways to make it work rather than try to force ourselves to eat what we don't like. Change comes slowly.

I also have a book I highly recommend that helped me tremendously with emotional eating. It's called "If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight?" It's a fantastic read and has great steps to help those of us who need to break the cycle of emotional eating. I needed this book a lot and it really helped. It's a small book, but worth it, IMO.

Friend me if you want, hon, I'd be glad to share the journey!

I really appreciate your suggestions. Thank you! I've never heard of the brush your teeth thing. It's a good idea.. if I can make myself do it.
I'm wondering if my calories are too low. I'm trying to go by what my trainer says. She wants me to stick with 12-1400 calories a day. It's hard. I think I will do really good and then at night it will hit me, and I feel like I'm starving. Then I just start shoving food in because I don't care by then.
What's extremely hard for me, is that I am a very picky eater. I try things, but so much disgusts me to the point of gagging (like a lot of veggies). Which is why I've tried to juice. I bought a juicer and juice fresh fruits and veggies. By mixing the fruits with some veggies, it's a little easier for me to get them down. Only problem is, I was doing a juice fast for a whole day twice a week. After so long, everything just looks disgusting. It gets old really quick. Like today, I was going to juice all day, but then, my second juice actually made me feel bad. My stomach felt really empty. Then I drank the juice which just didn't seem to settle good. I ended up having to quit and eat some real food.. and even now, my stomach still feels a little blah.
Again, thanks for your advice! I've been getting a lot. Trying to figure out what's best for me can be really hard and confusing. My trainer telling me one thing, my doctor telling me something else, and then to hear what everyone on mfp says.. it can really be mind boggling!
Hope to talk again!
~Mandy

butterflyliz32 · April 2012

I feel ya!! I suffer from massive issues with anxiety and panic disorder, as well as a food obsession. I have gone through a lot of therapy (group and individual) over the past 18 months, and I will tell you that I truly belive that the food addiction is the hardest addiction out there. Think about it - You can live without drugs and alcohol... you cannot live (very long) without food. It isn't something you can just stop! My weight loss progression (about 40 lbs total) has been extremely slow, but I am still plugging away at it.

My therapist recommended a great workbook for Binge Eating and Compulsive Overeating, based off CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and it really did open my eyes to a lot of things I was doing that I didn't even recognize (sneaking food, lying to myself about what I actually ate, etc). The workbook is called, "The Binge Eating and Compulsive Overeating Workbook: An Integrated Approach to Overcoming Disordered Eating" by Carolyn Coker Ross. Check it out and see if it can help you work through the emotional side of eating.

I don't have it all figured out, by any means. My anxiety causes a lot of problems with my eating (often leading me to become violently ill), so it is still a process. I just started taking Prozac for the first time to see if that will help, at least with the anxiety. Crossing my fingers!!

Please feel free to add me as a friend, if you would like someone for support.

FlaxMilk · April 2012

I wouldn't recommend shakes if you don't like them--especially as you are having trouble with overeating. Shakes are just going to be an easy way to get calories in and if you don't like them, leave you unsatisfied and wanting real food.

debswebby · April 2012

First of all well done for starting this journey in the first place. That's always the hardest thing to do.
I also think you are setting your calories too low. I weigh 222lbs and MFP have mine set at 1600. I'm losing pretty much every week.
I also have a huge appetite. Its obscene the amount I can put away in one sitting and spent my whole life avoiding vegetables and salads. One thing I learned really quickly was to like vegetables now I eat them all the time.
Also don't be afraid to be hungry. You're not going to starve if you have excess weight to lose. Eat to your calories and if your tummy wants more you have to ignore it. It will soon learn. I'm often heard saying to my tummy "I'm not listening. You can't possibly still be hungry" lol

danagisana · April 2012

this may sound crazy but there is a diet plan out there called the Shangri La diet. You might want to read up on it and give it a shot.
Basically the doctor used himself as a patient to come up with a plan that would help him lose weight. It involved having tablespoons of oil twice per day. Apparently this works to suppress appetite, and helps you eat fewer calories. Yes, sounds crazy, but based on the message boards it his helping curb the appetite of thousands of people.
I gave it a try for two days and it didn't work as well for me, but based on what people wrote it will work more quickly if you are not close to your goal weight.
Anyway, just a suggestion but you might want to give it a read and see if it works for you. It is not unhealthy or expensive and might be worth a few days of your life to see if this crazy thing works for you as it seems to have done for others.

good luck

dovesgate · April 2012

12-1400 calories seems a bit too low. If you're going from 3000 to 1400, no wonder you feel like you're starving since that is half your food intake!

I've been trying this for the last couple weeks (with results):
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map

nsimportant · April 2012

How can anyone say that 1400 calories is not tons of food?

You can eat (35oz) 1kg of lettuce (28oz) 800grams of raw chicken breasts and (3.5oz) 100g of raw lentils.

If You are not stuffed from 1400 calories You are making wrong food choices.

Decide what Your goal is and stick to it.

buckeye86 · April 2012

Hi, the huge appetite happens to me too! In fact, it seems to sabotage all my efforts -- just when everything seems to be going good, the appetite hits in a bad way. On some days sticking to my goals is easy and some days it seems impossible.

So this last month, after tracking everything I ate, I made a graph and tried to look for patterns. I checked if it happens after I have low calorie days -- no. I checked if it was on the weekends -- no. Then I found a female hormone graph and to my amazement, my appetite surges coincide to when progesterone levels peak. All of the days where I went over my calories like crazy happened at that time. Here's the link to the graph in case you want to check when your "overages" occur, who knows, it might be happening to other people besides me: http://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/wwwhuman/MCycle/images/Mcycle.GIF

I've been trying to figure out what to do with this information. I don't think I can white knuckle my way through it, that hormone is stronger than I am So for April, I'm trying to reduce my caloric intake throughout the month on the days that I can actually pull it off, and then bank those extra calories to compensate for the crazy appetite days. I guess my approach is, "I can't beat it, but I can plan for it". I hope it works!

Wow, thank you for posting this! I knew my insatiable appetite issue was hormones and exactly when in the month it happened, I just didn't know which hormone. You're totally right, definitely progesterone! Sorry this is several days later, but I just noticed it and had to point it out.

Suzieqgirl · April 2012

I do the same thing and would get mad at myself for not having control over myself of what I eat. So I finally figured out , I am a food addict. So in order for me to not have all these craving, I can nor eat sugar, bread or starches when I first start my diet. After three days the craving are not so bad and it helps me to stay on program.

So one of these days I'm going to slip and I hope I can come on here and get some support to stop and get back on track!

HUGE Appetite! Need HELP!

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