Still hungry at the end of the day...what does it mean?
 

On days I work out hard, I'm still hungry at the end of the day. What does this mean? Should I eat more? I've heard sometimes you have to eat more to lose weight and that you shouldn't starve the fat but burn it. I'm so confused lately, my first 90 lbs came of consistantly, now that I'm in home stretch it's getting sporatic, is this normal?

i can try to help a bit, but i would need to know how many calories you are eating in a day and how much you are working out.

Sometimes it is good to trick your body and eat a higher calorie day... by that i don't mean 3000 Cals. I mean.. if you usually eat 1500 try a day or two a week at 1800.

Yes, how many calories do you eat a day and how much are you working out?

At first I was eating 1300-1350 cals lost a couple lbs in a couple weeks then stalled, so I bumped it up to 1450 lost a couple more lbs. and now have stalled again. I hike about 4 miles 2xs a week, walk/jog 3-5 miles 3xs a week and have recently added some balance ball exercises 3xs a week for about 30 mins. So I think I'm going to try the following zig zag.

M - 1550-1650
T - 1400-1450
W - 1650 - 1850
Th - 1550 - 1650
F - 1400-1500
S - 1900-2000
Sun - 1550-1650

I got this from freedieting, but I reduced the cals because they just seemed high. My additional cals wil be in the form of extra veggies, avocado, ground flaxseed and wheat germ so they are easy to reduce or omit if the higher cals don't work out. Also for what it's worth, this week I actually gained, but I noticed my pants seem looser even with a big valentines day splurge. So I'll see how this goes and if it doesn't then I know I can drop back down to 1450. I mean I guess I wasn't starving in the pm, but pretty hungry. And today, I just had 390 cals for lunch and I'm still pretty hungry. Yesterday I walked 2.5 miles, jogged 2.5 miles and did 30 minutes of balance ball. I just wish there was some magic number of cals I could stay at and lose til I hit my goal, but don't we all :)

I have found that there is a huge difference in my hunger levels based on the type of cals I put into my system.

I've found focusing a lot on protein helps me feel more full. I try to eat a lot of protein compared with carbs/fats. Esp days I work out, I try to get up to 150g or so of protein. I'm a guy that had no trouble polishing off an entire meat lovers pizza and eating again 4 hours later so I'm surprised I haven't had hunger issues.

When my daily calories come from more carbs and less protein I get a lot hungrier.

I haven't tried zig-zagging my calories, so can't really comment there, but it seems the average range of your plan is 1400-1650 (not including the high day).

Try bumping up a little and see how it goes. If you start gaining you can always pull back, but I have a feeling that your body may respond better to 100-200 more calories.

Another poster was asking the same sort of question. If you are physically feeling hungry definitely eat! An extra 200 calories now and then won't hurt and might help a lot.

Sometimes you have to just feel it out and do trail and error.

I have to have protein or I starve.

I'm eating plenty of protein, 100-150 grams a day so I don't think that is the issue.

On days like that when I am hungry at the end of the day, I don't care what my caloric intake for the day was or whether or not I've used it all up: I EAT! I make sure and have some protein for sure.. I've found that even a hard boiled egg or some cottage cheese does wonders. I figure on the days where I'm not very hungry and don't eat all my calories that it all evens out.

A lot of times when I'm hungry at the end of the day, I try drinking some water first. Usually, that's what I was missing. However, if you ARE hungry, then do actually eat.

And, I know I hate raw vegetables, but it works. If you are hungry, go for a serving of broccoli or other types of cruciferous veggies (maybe dip in some FF ranch or mustard or something). Great source of nutrition and bumps up your metabolism while keeping you full.