Like many others on here I go through times where I'm really hungry and times when I'm not hungry at all. Besides TOM and illness I haven't found any real correlation to anything that is causing this to happen.

That being said, I was sick for a good long while and I basically have no appetite when I'm sick. I actually lose a lot of weight quickly because of that. I'm better now and I'm STARVING. It's not even that I want to eat but after eating a full meal I'll still want more. Case in point, this morning I ate a good sized breakfast (I eat the same thing every day!) but I even added in an extra egg because I was hungry. Well, after eating breakfast I'm still HUNGRY.

This has been going on for almost a week now. I hate this feeling of constantly being hungry. I've been eating really well on plan, making sure that I'm getting my food from lean meats, veggies, fruits and whole grains but nothing seems to help. After every meal I feel like I need more! I haven't shrunk my portion sizes or anything.

I hate this, I want to be creating a calorie deficit, I really want to continue to lose weight but I'm so incredibly uncomfortable now. I saw a nutritionist last week and she told me some things to change but that was right at the end of me being sick (so before this insane hunger) and I won't have a meeting with her for another week so what do I do in the meantime?

Unfortunately calorie deficit almost always leads to hunger, whether it's physical hunger or people getting used to the very normal feeling of "not full" ~ people use various strategies (diet pop, sugar free gum, crossword puzzles) but at the end of the day, you do whatever you can to "embrace the suck".

Your body is trying to recuperate what it lost while you were sick. It felt and knew you were getting too little food when sick and it spent a LOT of energy while you were sick. Now that you are better, but body is starving.

I think you may find is that you need to eat a bit more while your body heals/recovers from your illness. You may 'feel' OK, but your body is depleted. Try to make it good quality foods (that's what your body needs), but you really may need to eat a bit more. That big loss when you were sick was an artificial loss, so regaining a wee bit of it might be realistic/warranted, even if you don't want to see a gain on the scale.

I agree with this. I know a lot of people who say "well at least I lost __pounds." when they are sick. I don't say that because I've never kept them off.

BUT I wonder after learning more about thirst and hunger, if you are not in fact dehydrated a bit from being sick. I would try drinking a big glass of water after you meal a waiting a bit to see if that helps (at least) as much as eating something else.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I have been drinking TONS of water and also trying to eats lots of fruit/veggies so I'm hoping it's not dehydration because it's hard to drink even more!

I have upped the amount of food I'm eating for these few days (although I'm still hungry afterwards ). I'm really trying to make sure I'm getting in good calories and not just go crazy eating crap. I also took a vitamin during the entire time I was ill in the hopes that would help. I don't calorie count but I do estimate my in take sometimes and that puts me at about 1600-1800/day. When I was sick I tried to estimate what I was getting in and it was more like 1200/day, which is quite a bit lower.

I was sick between a cold and the flu for almost a month and some of my measurements have gone down too so I tend to think some of it was actual weight loss but probably not all of it. I'm still waiting for the fluctuations to die down to figure out where I'm at (right now I seem to be going from 181-182 a lot. I think part of it too is that I've been REALLY active since Friday. I started working out again on Friday and then over the weekend we finally got caught up on a bunch of errands that we didn't do while we were all sick and since we don't have a car that =lots of walking.

One thing that did really help today was eating a very spicy lunch. That always seems to help with hunger so maybe I'll eat spicy food this week until my body's back to normal.

Maybe if you posted one day's meals we could see better what you're eating and make some suggestions.

Jay

Today so far:

Breakfast
2 pieces of whole wheat toast
~tsp butter
1 egg+onions+mushrooms (I did have two today because I was so hungry!)
drizzled pan with olive oil just so egg wouldn't burn
100 cal of cheese (not a type you'd be familiar with in the states)
1bl milk (in coffee)

snack: pear and slice of watermelon

Lunch
Whole grain noodles
ground beef
various veggies (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc)
cooked with a bit of olive oil (about a tbl but that was for the whole thing and I only ate about 1/3 of it)

Snack: haven't had it yet but probably 1/4 cup cottage cheese+small apple cut up+cinnamon

Dinner: probably the leftovers from lunch+some fruit

I used to eat just eggs+veggies for breakfast but my nutritionist wants me to eat more whole grains so, eh, hence the toast and cheese there (she actually said that exact breakfast). She also wants me to work on eating more fruit so I have been eating more than normal.

I suppose it could be the addition of more fruit and whole grains too? I forgot to mention in the OP that that was one thing the nutritionist wanted me to change.

Well, adding whole grains could be what's making you hungrier. makes me hungrier. And for me, having blood sugar issues, I simply have to avoid whole grains altogether (not taht I've ben very good abotu that the past few weeks).

I think you need more protein in your diet, it will keep you fuller for longer. I get my protein from greek yogurt, cottage cheese (which I put in everything- make pancakes with it, protein milkshakes that are actually delicious, and protein shakes from a powder mixed with water.) The days that my diet is 25-30% protein, it's incredibly easy to stick to my plan and I lose a lot of weight that week too.

agree with BBB - if you are adding in grains and fruit into what sounds like a low carb plan, those will likely make you feel more hunger. Maybe you can dial those back down a little bit and add them in more gradually? I think it's definitely something to work with your nutritionist on, to find the right balance for you between adding these foods back in, and not letting them make you too hungry.

in the meantime, I would make sure you are drinking lots of water and try things like drinking tea or chewing gum to see if they help.

Hmm... good point. I'll try to maybe ease back on the whole grains a bit (somewhere between where I was before and what I'm doing now) and see if that helps.

PacSunMama- I do get a lot of protein in (the few times I've calorie counted I normally get way over the daily amount needed ). I eat eggs for breakfast and meat at every meal and often have cottage cheese as a snack. In general, I tend to eat a fair amount of red meat because chicken/fish don't fill me up as much.

I have found that eating a can of Campbell's Chunky soup kills my hunger.



And if I eat a boiled egg with 1/2 Tablespoon regular mayonnaise, that also does the trick all night long.

I WANT IT ALL!
AND I WANT IT SMOTHERED IN WHIPPED CREAM AND CHOCOLATE.

........

What does your nutritionist say about the added hunger? Grains seem to be a 'trigger' food for alot of people as previously stated. The plan hubby and I are on is a 7 stage plan with grains added last and even certain types of grains added even later so the dietitian can determine if we get triggered by certain grains.

Lots of good ideas from everyone. Here are a few things that work for me, sometimes:

- green tea, hot or cold. I'll fill my water bottle with green tea instead of water, sometimes
- lemon in water. I'll put a wedge of lemon in my water bottle and drink that all day.
- Hot lemon water
- Hot coffee with flavored Stevia in it
- Hot broth.

Grains are a trigger food for me too. And fruit to a lesser extent. I'm concerned that the nutritionist may be offering good advice for the general population that isn't as good for you in particular. Unfortunately, you may need to become the expert on yourself and find sources for the nutrients you need that work for you.