Recently, it seems like more often than not when I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I am hungry, really really hungry. I always ignore it and go back to sleep, because if I gave in and stayed awake long enough to fix myself a snack, I would never get back to sleep. I've always thought it was a good thing to wake up hungry (in the morning), because that said to me that I hadn't eaten too much the day before, and "breakfast" was literally "breaking my fast." Now, I wonder if it means that I am not eating enough?

I hit a plateau in July (stopped losing weight, still eating 1400/day), eventually just gave up and stopped counting, although didn't change my eating habits much, and have been maintaining the same weight since then. I began trying again in January to lose the weight, this time at 1350/day (recalc based on my previous weight loss), but have not made a single pound of progress. I am toying with the idea of increasing my calories, but it just seems so dangerous. I'm afraid if I start eating more, I will gain weight and then still not be able to get it off. Then again, it's getting very frustrating putting in all the effort to see no results. I would be open to going down in calories as well, but at this point I'm afraid that if I AM supposed to be eating more, then eating less will be even worse!

Do you think I should take the fact that I wake up hungry at 4am as a sign that I am not eating enough? If it matters, I exercise ~3x/week, and semi-cycle my calories, in that I keep a spreadsheet that calculates my weekly average, so some days are 1600, some are 1200, and as long as my average for the week is approx 1350 I am good. Do you have any advice for me? Sorry I am so confused... I thought I was on a great track, now I just don't know. Thanks in advance!

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Use that to figure out the amount of calories you need to intake. Also listen to your body because everyone is different. If you're working out three times a week you probably need to eat more because you're body needs more fuel. You are more than likely in starvation mode with your body hence why there hasn't been a loss since July. Jillian says the last 20 pounds are Vanity pounds which are the hardest to lose and since you are on your last 8, You need to shock your body. Eating more isn't going to cause you to gain weight, unless you are eating way above calories. Try on the day you are working out to eat around 1800, your days you don't work out 1500 and see if that helps.

My nutritional therapist urged me to eat a high protein snack before bed, and it was the only thing that helped me sleep through the night. She said something about my body being unable to relax because it was too preoccupied with not having enough calories.

It worked and I felt mildly hungry in the morning instead of ravenous.

I would make sure you eat enough protein at dinner.Waking up hungry in the middle of the night is often caused by a drop in blood sugar; protein keeps blood sugar more stable for a longer time.

Lower your starches, up your veggies and protein and the fiber and protein should handle that!

Yes, your body may be trying to tell you something. I went through something a little similar. I can usually get my workout done before eating anything, but for a month or two at the end of summer, I was getting a growling stomach during my runs which felt awful. I took some advice from here and started having a small snack before working out. I don't remember how long I did it for, but it worked and then one day I realized I forgot to have the snack and I was fine, no hunger pangs. To this day I can still workout without a snack, so I think it was just a weightloss phase I was going through and my body just needed more for some reason at that time