Not eating enough calories??
 

So I am currently doing a combination of low-cal and low-carb and I've noticed a trend in my weightloss that I don't quite understand.

Once I hit the 4th day or so of consistently eating between 1600-1800 calories and approx 40-60 min of cardio per day, I start to get really hungry. It's almost like the little bit of hunger that I have at the end of the first 3 days compounds and really hits me on the 4th day! I don't feel overwhelmingly hungry for those first few days, usually feel a little hint of hunger in general, but it's a feeling that I enjoy (a contrast to the many years of feeling stuffed all the time!) but a few days in and I start to get a little bit ravenous towards the end of the day. I actually went a little crazy on some leftover pie-not a total loss because I've been great all day and am still hitting the exercise today (my second session today, after a TV strength workout). Basically, I feel like I'm doing everything right and it's working, but it's hard to sustain for too many days. Should I just be eating more calories? I like hitting around 1800 per day, but perhaps with the exercise I should add some calories every few days on purpose?

For me, I was never satisfiable on low carb...I seemed like I was always hungry. 1800 calories should be enough, but, everyone is different so maybe add a few hundred calories and go from there.

Maybe you should eat more on the 4th day (say, 200 calories more), then go back down for another 3 days? That might help.

For the record, that happens to me too. Maybe not necessarily on the 4th day, but I have started diets where I'd feel fine the first 1 or 2 days, then ravenous on the 3rd.

How old are you? At 267, if you are fairly young (as in pre-menopausal), then you probably can still lose just fine on another 200 a day, and if it's more sustainable, that's a great thing.

It is always better to eat 200 more healthy calories than to go crazy and have a cheeseburger. That only took me 20 years to learn.

Are you eating lots of veggies? My solution to that kind of hunger is TONS of low-calorie veggies. My big thing right now is to fill a full-size casserole dish with chopped cabbage and onion, salt and pepper it, and bake it. It's a huge amount of food and only about 200 calories. All that volume and fiber really fights hunger--it gives your stomach something to do.

I weigh almost the same as you and I shoot for 1,700 a day. I am not low carb, but I'm low crap and white stuff. No white bread, rice, ect and no cookies, candy and junk like that. I think good carbs from grains, fruit, veg, dairy products are a good thing. I'm a carb junkie so if I don't get any I will be ready to binge like you. I think its worth noting that your mini binge was on pie - perhaps your body signaling your too low carb. I love bread so I get my daily fix with a wheat engkish muffin with peanut butter - you have no idea how much I live for that english muffin!!! Also like someone else said you can probably have more calories. I'm just a moderate walker, you work out really hard. At 260 some odd pounds, our bodies will use up 1,500 or so calories even if we never got out of bed that day.

I find the same thing, and I think it's because weightloss doesn't just happen in one day, but over several days. So if you eat high one day, and low the next, your body is still using the calories from the high day on the low day. That's why it takes a few consecutive low days before your body really starts to feel it.

I don't know what the answer is...you might want to try calorie cycling, there is another thread for that. You basically go 2-3 lower days and then a high day (or 2 high days) and then back down to lower days. It's worth a try, just make sure you get an average for the week at what you were aiming at per day. As others said, you could probably lose at higher than you are eating, so you may just need to work in a higher day every 4th day and your average would be just fine for weight loss.

Thanks everyone for your help! I initially started at 2000 but dropped a little bit recently. I think I may look into calorie cycling so I can add in some cals every few days. I'm still going to do low-carb, as it really is the best for my body for losing weight. Also, my 'low-carb' is not too crazy restrictive, I shoot for 50 grams or less per day so I still get a slice of bread in for breakfast and misc other little carbie things so I won't go crazy (done that one before!) and I occassionally allow myself a bit more carbs every few days. Overall I think I'm doing well and I'm proud of myself, it just gets me once I feel that hunger built up a bit! Thanks everyone for the help :-)

What kinds of foods are you eating? 1800 calories of the satiating, filling, voluminous foods *should* be enough to keep one satisfied. Of course we are all so different.

But are you getting the most bang for your calorie buck? What does a typical day look like for you? Maybe we can help you tweak your menu so that you can get lots more filling power from the calories that you are consuming.

Are you subtracting out fiber carbs? The problem with strict low carb (and under 50 is pretty strict) is that you don't have access to all those lovely high-fiber, super-filling veggies: cabbage, broccoli, green beans, squash and the like. The carbs in these are largely fiber, which is barely absorbed (depending on soluble vs. insoluble, but either way, it doesn't have a huge impact).

An interesting point you make! For the most part I am getting a lot of these good veggies in-lots of cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, romaine,the list goes on- but admittedly I do sometimes have days or chunks of days where I don't eat enough of them, or any at all. Typically speaking, I eat a good amount of them, and I do not count the dietary fiber in that stuff, so I'm usually about 50net carbs/day, not counting an average 12-20 grams of fiber. I wasn't thinking that it was too strict, I still get some good bread and some fruits in most days, and even an occassional sweet in (McDonald's cone!!).

Haha, I also wanted to include a little side not that it is officially my TOM, and that always kind of skews things a little bit for me and also leads to some more real hunger pangs-especially with the exercise in there. Anyway, I am going to play it a little by ear and see how my body responds with a little bit more caloric input.