I've been at maintenance for all of ten minutes (well, really trying to figure it out since October). As I've been trying to figure out my optimum maintenance calories, I've continued to lose, and I have been amazed that I seem to be able to eat 2100-2200 calories a day to maintain my weight (current weight 135). However, during the past couple of weeks, I've been starving. Seriously, I am consuming more calories now than I did throughout my weight loss (my average then was 1400 per day), but I feel as if I'm hungrier than ever before. Today, for example, I had a Fage yogurt for breakfast (2% w/ honey) & coffee w/ half-and-half, but by the time lunch rolled around, I felt almost desperate to eat. I couldn't get home until 1:30 or so, and between 1:30 and 2:00 I consumed 800 calories (had planned on only about 400)!. I'm on my own for tonight's dinner (husband is out), so I had planned on having tuna salad on a salt bagel (bagel from Manhattan bagel; tuna salad homemade w/ real mayo) & a salad w/ blue cheese dressing (full-fat) & feta cheese around 6:00 or so Well, I took a nap at 3:00, woke up at 4:00, and again, felt desperate to eat. I popped some microwave popcorn, ate half the bag (threw the other half away to prevent myself from eating it), ate the dark chocolate that was supposed to be tonight's treat, and finally gave in and ate the tuna sandwich portion of my dinner---that's how desperate I felt. Right now, I feel satisfied (thank God!).

As you can see, I'm not depriving myself. Also, before anyone points to carbs, I'll admit I do eat plenty of them, but I've eaten them throughout my weight loss with no ill effects.

Has anyone ever experienced this when moving into maintenance? I am so scared about regaining the weight. Thankfully, because I can eat so many calories, I've managed to stay within my calorie range thus far---just barely. I have been the queen of moderate throughout this journey, so this recent behavior is perplexing and concerning.

BTW, the only change in circumstances during this time is that I was off for Christmas break (I'm a college professor), and I just returned to school this week.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Well, for today, I would say you had reason to be legitimately hungry. Just a yogurt for breakfast and then a late lunch would be a recipe to stuff my face.

But it is strange. I am dealing with it now too. I was eating 1200-1450 before the holidays (plus exercising) and I didn't feel hungry. I ate more carbs and morer abundantly over the holidays and now getting back on track isn't hard,, but I'm hungry. I want to eat the right foods, but feel I could eat double what I eat!

And I look at what I eat and i realize I used to eat double what I eat now on a daily basis!

I don't know what to tell you except to not wait so long between meals in the morning if it makes you ravenous. That gnawing hunger worries me for maintenance too... And I'm not even there yet!

Eta: while I was fixing my horrendous typos, I want to say I agree with the next poster and say the carbs make me ravenous too. If you have upped calories mostly by upping your carbs, this might the culprit.

Although you said "it's not the carbs!" when I eat certain carbs, I get a ravenous, gnawing hunger (bagels for example, really set me off, other stuff doesn't bug me as much, like sweet potatoes or brown rice). So, I tend to really limit those foods. When I concentrate on protein/fruits/veggies/healthy fats, I am less hungry.

But like Melissa says, a yogurt for breakfast and then lunch at 2? I'd be starving too! I usually go 2-3 hours before food.

Thanks, you guys. The funny thing is that I usually eat breakfast late---around 10:30 or so. That's because I'm not usually hungry when I get up. Also, when I do eat breakfast early (as I did today--7:30 a.m.) because I know I won't have time to eat it later, it seems to make no difference in my hunger level later. What I mean is, I seem to get just as hungry around lunchtime whether I have eaten breakfast or not.

I may try to cut back on the carbs. I don't track my macros but maybe I've increased my carbs simply by virtue of increasing my calories. I think I'm going to try increasing my protein, cutting back on carbs a bit and see how that goes. I know one thing: I will not give up trying. I have worked much too hard on losing to start gaining it back.

I have had some strange hunger pangs recently (within the past two days or so) too and I do not eat many carbs at all! I'm unsure of why I'm so hungry recently when I was able to eat 1200-1400 calories with little issue.

I just ate a filling dinner that was around 700 calories and now I'm hungry again when I felt full just a few minutes ago.

I'm still at the low end for the day so I can eat more, but these past few days I've noticed that even after a meal where I felt full that I soon felt hungry afterward

Gum and water have been my saviors, and this is more annoying than anything else, but still! I too worked too hard to go back!

Hey lin,
Maybe try balancing your meals a bit better, try adding some fat to your breakfast, like a handful of almonds or some ground flax or maybe an apple with peanut butter in addition to the yogurt. Yanno something with some staying power, because a yogurt & coffee doesn't sound like much fuel in my honest opinion.

By incorporating protein & healthy fats at each meal, it keeps me on an even keel hunger wise! So maybe you can try doing the same.

Are you ovulating or pre cycle by chance? If so, these are the two times I get real hungry each month, so I always allow myself extra food to tame the girly hormonal stuff & maybe you should also.

This is my 2 cents, hope it helps make a difference & helps your maintenance somewhat. ~ Wendalyn

My maintenance hunger levels have been a roller coaster and I can't totally put my finger on it. It seems to have settled down, but during right before my period I do have a really hard time. There was also a point when eating over 1600-1800 cals made me hungrier, but that seems to have passed. I don't have any solid advice, but a yogurt and coffe for breakfast would leave me famished!

It's a couple of weeks before my period. Usually, I get hungrier the week before, but who knows---maybe that particular side effect is starting earlier this time.


I'm glad to read this. It seems as if since I added more calories, I'm hungrier rather than more satisfied---which seems really weird.

I've decided on two things: 1) I'm going to try to delay breakfast a bit longer and make it more substantial when I eat it. Since I'm not really hungry when I wake up, it behooves me to put off breakfast until later when I do get hungry. 2) I'm going to really focus on substantial meals until this passes. Tonight, I'm going to try a recipe for curried lentil soup w/ pureed chickpeas---sounds hearty. I feel as if I need some stick-to-your-ribs food.

Thanks for all the great advice!

Ok, not in maintenance yet but still thinking about it so I wonder if it's a few things:

1. Did you track your food when you were eating? Can you compare that to what you're eating now? The reason I ask is look at the two and see what the increase in calories is from. Is it from veggies/protein or from carbs (like honey, bagels) etc? It could be that while you were never eating low carb the calories that you've increased to were more carbs than you were used to before.

2. Timing is a big issue. I would be STARVING too. I need regular snacks otherwise I go crazy.

3. Have you increased/decreased exercise since hitting maintenance?

4. Christmas could certainly be part of the culprit, it's always hard getting back to your eating after a disruption.

I was absolutely starving for 2 days last week. And I count my calories... 1500/day.


So I broke down and made some redskin mashed potato mix. I made it with 1/2 water and 1/2 whole milk.
I added 1 tablespoon of butter to my portion. I ate one cup and figured it into my daily calorie count.


OMG! I was stuffed for hours. That ended my hunger spree.
Next time I get hungry like that I'll know what knocks it out for me.
It might work for you too.

The fat cells put out chemicals into the blood stream (ghrelin and leptin) that make you feel hungry. That adds to the problem.

I found this site that explains it a little:
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/conten...-for-food.html

I too go though phases of gnawing hunger. When I doing well, I try to add in more protein snacks and loads of veggies. When I'm struggling I tend to spiral into an abyss of sugary treats... Thankfully, those abysses are less often and smaller than they used to be.

Thanks for the tips. It could be #1; I'll take a look back. But . . .

#2 - I can't do regular snacks. I've found that when I do, it encourages me to eat even more. Also, I feel as if I never have a substantial meal. I'm not saying that I don't snack, but it's not something that I intentionally incorporate into my plan because it doesn't work for me.

3. Nope---it's the same (or even maybe a bit less).

4. I did pretty well at Christmas time in general. I had 1-2 days of massive calories, but otherwise, I stayed on track. In fact, I lost a few pounds during Christmas season.

I'm going to try #1, though. I'll bet the increase has been from carbs.

I find that I get extra hungry in the following scenarios:
1) That time of the month. In this case there's nothing to do about it, I just eat more and try to eat more red meat.
2) Didn't have a big enough breakfast. A small breakfast will make me hungry all day long.
3) Not enough fiber and fat. Some people stay full from protein, but I stay full if I have fiber and fat at each meal. You might consider this one, have you ever tracked how much fiber you get? Try adding some to your breakfast -- plain yogurt has basically none. My typical breakfast is oatmeal w/flaxseed, fruit, and walnuts.

FWIW I have also found I need to not eat as often. I am more successful with not going overboard on food if each of my meals is 450+ cals and I don't eat between them. And I have always eaten a lot of carbs with no ill effects.

Thank you! I was thinking about the fiber component as well.

I do go through hungry times but not nearly as often. A few things have helped me. I keep track of what types of calories effect me more than others. This means not only carbs, proteins, and fats, but also combinations too. I have also incorporated intermittent fasting by way of JUDDD. I have found calorie cycling to particularly helpful in decreasing my appetite, thus hunger. An unexpected surprise and quite helpful for me in maintaining.