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Old 11-26-2014, 12:09 PM   #1  
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Default Struggling, gaining weight, hungry, low

Hello everyone.
I'm on this forum again to try to do something other than give up on my diet.
If anyone has any suggestions for me please help. I really need help right now.

I've been attempting to diet again for the last month. I've successfully kept my weight down from a terrible high of size 22 to a size 12 or 14 by generally eating well, healthy low calorie meals and then when my weight creeps up by seriously calorie counting until I lose weight again. This has worked for me for twenty years and my weight has never fluctuated greatly in that time. This time it's different and I don't know what I'm doing or should be doing that isn't working. I need some help, if only encouragement maybe.

These last two weeks I really knuckled down and stuck to 1200 calories a day, apart from a weekend with my parents when I went up to 1400 per day. In that time I've woken up at night hungry, feel deprived, have been obsessed with food all the time and after all this I've gained a bit of weight! This has never happened to me before. I'm finding it much more difficult than in the past to diet and in return I'm gaining weight! I feel miserable. Is it because I'm older that it gets harder to diet or lose weight? I know that I should stick it out and I know that in time my stomach will shrink or get used to the smaller amounts of food but it's taking longer than ever. Usually after about four days I feel less hungry. After a week or two at 1200 a day I've always in the past lost weight, not gained it. I'm in despair. Any suggestions?
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Old 11-26-2014, 07:04 PM   #2  
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I'm certainly finding it harder as I get older. 32-33 seems to be the magic year for me when my metabolism said "I can't keep up with your crap. If you are going to eat, you're going to gain" whereas I used to be able to eat pretty well what I wanted.

If you are feeling hungry and deprived make sure that there is a lot of fat and protein in those 1200 cals. If it is all fruit and veggies or simple carbs they will burn off too fast and you will never feel full. You don't need to worry about getting fat by eating fat.
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Old 11-26-2014, 07:23 PM   #3  
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What are you eating?

I would focus on eating lean protein (lots of fish, eggs, chicken) to help you feel fuller, longer. I am not a believer in high fat unless it's good fats. Good sources of soluble fiber such as steel cut oats might help you as well.

Last edited by IanG; 11-26-2014 at 07:24 PM.
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Old 11-26-2014, 08:01 PM   #4  
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Yes, I should have specified what kind of fat I eat - avocado, nuts, seeds, coconut.
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Old 11-27-2014, 07:39 AM   #5  
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Ouch. Boy, can I relate.

First off, what you are doing is almost certainly working. You probably have lost weight, but due to some fluctuation factor, your progress has been masked on the scale. You might have water weight due to hormones (ovulation/menstrual cycle/even diet can affect hormones), salt (a lot of times ppl eat/use more salt when dieting to compensate for less sugar/fat), muscle repair (a lot of folks exercise more when dieting). You might be eating more fiber and just have more stuff in the pipeline. In my own experience, scale fluctuation can easily mask a *month* or more of real weight loss.

I don't know why it's taking longer for you to adjust to your smaller portions this time, but possible causes include hormones (hunger cues come from a complex set of systems; I always felt more ravenous before my cycle) or it may have something to do with your food choices (I'm sure there are other possibilities as well).

As others have suggested, there are ways to make CC less onerous-- putting a focus on healthy fats and protein along with high-moisture/high-fiber fruits and veggies can help fill you up. But even if you're doing all that, you might still feel deprived (and hungry) and like you're spending too much mental energy thinking about food choice trade-offs (I know I did). Periods of CC might just not be the lifestyle that works well for you. I did it for decades (see user name) and often felt unhappy about it, but thought it was the only approach that would work for me (and it did work for me, although more slowly as I got older).

But I've found I'm much happier with a form of Intermittent Fasting (IF), in my case eating just once a day (and starting with an unlimited low calorie fresh course). I got to this point by trying an eating window (at first my window was 10 AM till 10 PM!) and shrank it until it was only one meal (I didn't know I'd end up here). My body has gotten used to its schedule and I don't normally get very hungry during the day (if I get hungry, I drink a cup or coffee, tea or broth, depending on my mood and it passes). On normal nights, I limit my fats and desserts to small servings, but other than that I don't track or count. I lost weight slowly, but I didn't mind and the transition to maintenance was easy. It's very liberating for me and I don't have to think about food all the time. I eat out for dinner a lot and have awesome, satisfying meals and I don't have to struggle to get "back on track." I'm much happier this way and I don't feel like I am the wet blanket in my family any more.

But that's just me. Other people have success with other lifestyles, including other forms of IF, high-fat-low-carb/Atkins/other forms of low-carb, Intuitive Eating (IE), or other approaches and lots of people make CC work for them (in fact, I think most successful maintainers still rely on some form of CC). I believe that finding something that works well for your lifestyle and meets your highest priorities (and getting buy-in from your "inner rebel") can be key to success.

Last edited by yoyoma; 11-27-2014 at 08:11 AM.
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Old 11-27-2014, 01:25 PM   #6  
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This is wonderful feedback! Thank you so much everyone!

The last two days I slipped back to 1400 because I was so tired of the hunger but I'm going to go back to try 1300 for four days again and see how I go. A gradual reduction may be easier to achieve.

I am eating protein, twice a day (about 50g a day) but since I cut down on drinking tea I am taking in less low fat dairy protein so maybe this is what is having a negating impact. I might try yogurt or cheese but I love the stuff so I'll have to be really disciplined in portions. So yes, hopefully protein will be the solution! I don't include good fats as they are so heavy in calories, I take fish oil supplements but that's all.

I am hoping that it's just my cycle/ hormone changes that caused the problem over the last two weeks. And possibly my age is making this more difficult. I'm doing the same amount of exercise for years and have made no major changes to my diet apart from limiting the calories, drinking less tea and having no sweet things during the week. I don't use much salt so that can't be it.

The more fibre could be it though! I'm drinking a smoothy that I make with the juice of an orange that I blend lots of spinach into. It helps to keep my appetite at bay for another hour but definitely has more fibre. So maybe there is just more stuff in me.

The idea of eating once a day is tempting to try. I remember seeing Joanna Lumley being interviewed and that is how she says that she has always kept her weight down. (Although even that one meal sounded tiny) She thinks that her appetite doesn't get going if she doesn't eat early in the day.

Thank you all for the tips. I'll keep weighing, try some dairy protein, drink more water (actually I am with more fruit flavoured teas) and hopefully I'll start shifting weight soon.
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Old 12-04-2014, 02:19 PM   #7  
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Thank you all so much for your help!

I'm six weeks in to the diet and finally I'm only moderately hungry. Eating low fat rice pudding at breakfast and tea has helped. I think it may be the milk protein that helps. Or the caffeine. I don't know really. But it's helped. I'm still afraid to weigh myself yet. I'll wait a couple of days but this is a big improvement.

I'm going to try fasting on Sunday and see how I go.
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Old 12-04-2014, 03:53 PM   #8  
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Intotouch,

Being hungry is a terrible thing to deal with. The question of how to nourish my body well for good health & avoid hunger to keep the weight off was one I knew needed to be answered if I was to maintain my weight loss. I cannot handle being hungry. The one thing that has helped me maintain my weight loss for over 5 years without going hungry is the linking method from The Insulin Resistance Diet. It is very simply having at least 7 grams of protein with every 15 grams of net carbs every time you eat. They also advise that you never have more than 30 carbs in any 2 hour period. This has really helped my appetite stay under control. They go into more detail about what to count as carbs, etc., but you get the idea. Good luck.
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Old 12-17-2014, 10:44 PM   #9  
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Make sure you are eating whole foods. Cut out all junk foods, and make sure you are getting healthy fats. Also make sure you keep track of everything that goes in your mouth.

I know it is a pain to weigh and measure, but that is part of my meal experience. I know I will have to do this forever, because if I don't my portions will increase. Been there done that and am battling the same 50 pounds.

Perhaps you are doing all that if you are congratulations. Celebrate your victories, and realize you aren't going to be perfect everyday.
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