I am so hungry and I can't figure out why . I am on my 3rd day of serious calorie counting and just ate 30 minutes ago and I am hungry again. Now I know that a lot of you would ask if I'm getting enough protien and calories. According to Fitday I have been getting the average of 24% protien and average about 1300 calories per day. I am a little low on carbs and a little high on fat. I am 5'2" and weight 151, so I think 1300 calories should do me, don't you ? What am I doing wrong? I don't want to go around being hungry all the time. I know me, and I will lose it and pig out.

Any suggestions would be wellcomed!

Trying not to eat ,
Me

Can you go for a walk? Or do some sort of exercise that will take your mind off food for at least 20 minutes? Then if you are still hungry after that work-out, your body is telling you that it needs fuel. Also try drinking a full glass of water post work-out before eating.

My bad - you said you were high in fat and low in carbs - my apologies, but i will keep the rest in case it helps someone else. sorry sorry sorry


Don't lose it... hang in there. I am so with you and I understand. I know my response is long, but please read. You're doing great and you are right on with the caloric intake. But I might know why the hunger pangs....

I think I can help you here. My mom is a really awesome nurse who has been studying nutrition because (althought she is tiny) she has always watched her food intake. She doesn't do the calorie thing, she does the lots of protein and about 50 - 100g of "good" carbs a day thing. The good carbs include your fruit and whole grains. But you said your intake was mostly carbs. Believe it or not if you take in the not so wonderful carbs that burn too quickly and before they can work with your body, you feel hungry. Your body actually craves those quick carbs again. For example, the carbs in a fruit bar or those healthy fruit bites, burns quickly and so your body doesn't want to hit its reserve source, rather it wants to get some fresh in to keep that reserve (our fat lol) up. So your hunger is really your body wanting more carbs. I know I am not explaining that well, but I hope it helps you realize you are not doing this in vain and you won't feel hungry forever. If you give your body more protein and 50-100g of good carbs (whole grain & fruit rather than white breads, rice, etc... anything white is the fast burning carb lol) then your insulin levels out and it doesn't crave that fast sugar anymore. I'm sure someone can explain this better. I understand completely though. I am not a big meat eater and I am doing this protein diet and it is biting because I have to find some protein rich dishes that I like. But if you understand chemisty - this makes good sense. We are nothing but proteins and carbs & water. That is why these things are necessary, but with foods being so processed that is why there are good carbs and bad ones and why we have to drink so much water. If you do a search on ketosis, maybe that will explain also.

okay well if you are a bit high in fat that suggests you are eating calorie dense foods. which is fine... except that these tend to be less filling. try adding some fiber to your diet to stay full longer and stretch your cals out.
i suggest adding some of the below to your diet if you want to do this....

jiccama (pronounced hic-a-ma) im not sure if i spelled it right.
cucumbers (you can eat a WHOLE one for not very many cals.)
spinach
popcorn (light on the oil, butter etc but it is a whole grain, very filling too!)
water!!!! it fills you up!
soup- warm things make you feel extra full! (careful on the sodium)

try to make sure you are getting the most bang for you buck and getting big ffilling meals instead of a smaller calorie dense meal.

good luck! it gets easier after the first week imo because your tummy shrinks a bit.

okay well if you are a bit high in fat that suggests you are eating calorie dense foods. which is fine... except that these tend to be less filling. try adding some fiber to your diet to stay full longer and stretch your cals out.
i suggest adding some of the below to your diet if you want to do this....

jiccama (pronounced hic-a-ma) im not sure if i spelled it right.
cucumbers (you can eat a WHOLE one for not very many cals.)
spinach
popcorn (light on the oil, butter etc but it is a whole grain, very filling too!)
water!!!! it fills you up!
soup- warm things make you feel extra full! (careful on the sodium)

try to make sure you are getting the most bang for you buck and getting big ffilling meals instead of a smaller calorie dense meal.

good luck! it gets easier after the first week imo because your tummy shrinks a bit.

I was always told by those who know, that a good rule of thumb is 10 to 12 calories per pound of body weight to lose, 15 per pound to maintain.

So at 151 you should be eating 1510 to 1812 calories a day.

I also read that you should not go more than a thousand calories a day below your maintainance amount. So 1265 is your absolute minimum calories a day that you should eat. Now this "1000" calories is in either the form of exercise OR in reduced eating. So if you are burning off 500 calories by exercise you should be eating 500 more than you would if you were cutting calories alone.

In other words you focus on the deficit. 2265 should be your maintenance amount, you cut calories by 500 and then you exercise by 500 and you are at 1765 a day. By that way of looking at it 1300 is very low.

Of course this way of calculating assumes that you haven't trained your body to be super efficient by lowering your metabolism by dieting too extremely most of your life.

If you're hungry, eat more food. It's your body telling you you need fuel. Have a healthy fiber rich snack- fruit or raw veggies.

Sounds more like head hunger to me than stomach hunger...you're probably thinking too hard! Get your mind off food and stick to plan, you can do it.

Some days I have that problem too. usually it is after (sometimesa whole day after) I eat something with more sugar in it. Yesterday I had a fat free muffin and now i can't stop being hungry today. Hang in there, eat some kidney beans on a salad, that helps me.

Thanks guys for your input. I think it might be a little "head" thing . That, or I don't do well with high protien. I tried the Adkins Diet once, and it made my stomach feel like a big gum ball was in it. Maybe all the protien (along with the head thing) might have just made my stomach feel funny. I didn't eat much fiber today either.

I went and watched TV for an hour and I kinda forgot about it. By the way, I have not been working out (maybe a couple of walks at the mall at lunch) so I don't think I'm burning too many extra calories.

I won't pig out (at least not tonight) and I'll keep plugging along. Maybe I just need to get used to this whole thing and figure out how to balance my carbs, fat and protien a little better.

I really appreciate your input and support

You are not exercising ... Start for sure!! It will definitely suppress your appetite. Eat often 5-6 meals/day, also eat as whole food and as unprocessed as possible, lots of water too... up your calories a bit to 1400-1500 cals if you think you are not ''head'' hungry...

I second Ilene, get out and exercise!

Also, you said it's day three of serious calorie counting. It's totally normal to be extra hungry and your body adapts to the new system. After a week or two it should be a lot better

I went to see a nutriontist last month and she told me to gradually go down in calories. She wanted me to drop a couple hundred a week until I got down to 1400 calories a day. I was at 1700-1800 (oh, who am I kidding-many days it was over 2000 and I wonder why I wasn't losing any weight?) Maybe that would work better for you. Figure out how much you normally eat and then drop some each day or each week. I found it a little easier to handle then an sudden drop to 1400.

Just an idea.

Sarah

i chew gum. when i come back from lunch, i have that desire to have something sweet afterwards, so i stick a peice of gum in my mouth. it tends to do the trick. i chew it from 1pm to about 2:30 or 3pm and then around 3:30 or 4pm, i go get my apple. then, i may put another peice in my mouth.until i get home and have dinner. it's hard to put cookies in my mouth with a peice of gum in it.

Do you know that a womens minimum requirement for fiber is 25-30 grams? Try to get in plenty of fiber rich foods and you will never feel hungry.

Are you really feeling hungry? Is your tummy feeling empty, are you a little lightheaded? Or do you just feel like eating? Try the gum suggestion if you just feel like eating. I was going through 3-4 packs of gum at one point until I settled down and became used to the eating plan.

For breakfast try Fiber 1 cereal with milk or yogurt, it relly fills me up and I also add 1 cup of raspberries to it and I have already had 22 grams of fiber so I know I will get in enough for the day.

Lot's of other good fiber food ideas already listed, try some of them. Jicama is an amazing food, great by itself with a dip or wonderful in a salad.