I’ve started calorie counting to lose some weight. I know it’s a rough estimate, but according to my TDEE, I’d need to eat 1600 calories to be in a daily 500 calorie deficit.
Yesterday I ate:
Nut/seed muesli with soya yoghurt and berries
Rice and black beans with salsa and avocado
Tofu and fajita vegetables with 2 mini tortillas
200g green beans, mini BK apple pie and a bag of rocket lettuce with balsamic vinegar
2.5 litres of water
It came to 1609 calories and my macros were: 64g protein, 220g carbs, 49g fat. I also went to the gym and did some light cardio (cross trainer, fast uphill walking) for an hour.
This seems like a reasonable amount of food but all day I had no energy and my stomach was constantly rumbling. I’ve even fitted in some pea protein powder today to bring me up to 84g protein and still HANGRY whenever I eat this amount of calories.
I just can’t work out why I’m feeling absolutely ravenous. I have some problems with stress eating junk food, sometimes eat till I’m bursting and I LOVE BREAD. Do you think I just need to stick it out and feel drained of energy for a while until I get used to it, or should I listen to my body’s hunger signals? Is there any truth in shorter people needing to cut with a less extreme deficit? Am I doing this all wrong?
@dawn16 Your comment has just made the penny drop for me - burning more than I consume will make me hungry. I don’t know why I was thinking about it that simply haha.
Yeah I’ve tried and failed a few times (ended up binging) but I’ve been going a few days consistently thanks to meal prepping. Guess i’ll just have to focus on being as satiated as possible. Thanks so much!
@wolly If you are having trouble cutting 500, then I suggest start by cutting 100, then 200, etc, you might not even need to cut that much to see a difference, maybe simply sticking to whole foods and watching what you eat is enough.
But if you are used to eating a lot more, maybe start with a smaller deficit and work up to 500?
I am sure you want results fast (don't we all), but you have to look at the bigger picture here. I think that the best approach to weight loss and/or fitness is the one you can stick to (for a longer period)!
@dawn16 that’s true. i think i’ll give myself a week or two to adjust/try some tips, but if it feels unsustainable then reducing the deficit to something more manageable might be the way to go.
@wolly Yeah, this is pretty normal for me when I start a diet. I just drink water when I get hungry for the first few days, and then my body acclimates to the new calorie intake. Good luck!!!
@wolly All that sound good. Don’t know your history but maybe it’s a mental thing. As in fasted for five days based on the book of Valter Longo - Fasting mimicking diet, I got aware of mental and physical hunger and how capable the human body is on very low cal. It was a bit of an eye opener for me. Maybe this is an option to reassess your mind.
@harmano1 I definitely think it's partly mental because my hunger is highest when my body "expects" food. I think I just get really hungry as soon as I tell myself I'm restricting. Thanks!
@wolly Also the slower your cut is the more muscle you keep. Conversely the faster you lose fat the more muscle you lose with it which in turn can make you more flabby even if smaller. Just something to keep in mind.
In terms of staying satiated and full I strongly reccomend this video it is a great simple guide on creating meals that will leave you full.
@rvin I'm trying to build some muscle too and have started weight training too. I'm pretty clueless - can I lose fat and build muscle at the same time? I keep reading that I need a deficit to lose weight and a surplus to gain muscle so I'm not sure what to do...
@wolly that is where I am as a 6'2" skinny fatty. Basically the more of a beginner you are when is comes to muscle training the easier it will be for you to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. I highly recommend watching these videos.
You just have to get used to it ime. In reality 1600 is a very small amount of food. You shouldn't really listen to your hunger signals because your body's biochemistry/hormones works against you losing weight. The lower your energy requirements are generally the lower deficit you can be in. For example despite being short it is easy for me to lose weight when doing a lot of sports when I can dedicate that much time to them because me deficit is large. But to have a large deficit without doing a lot of sports would be hard to do while remaining healthy.
The biggest thing is consistency. One "bad" day with junk food can ruin multiple days of deficits because the deficit is too small each day.
With having no energy I find that it's all psychological. Like how sometimes when you're hungry you're actually just thirsty. Sometimes you just "think" you have low energy but once you put those shoes on and go out for a run it picks right up. Like a placebo because you think you're supposed to have low energy from being at a deficit.
I would try to get more protein, I know I feel more energized/less hungry with 100g+. Maybe cut out the pie. Also more water, everyone's different but I need AT LEAST 4L/day, more now bc it's summer where I'm at.
@caracarn I’ve started meal prepping which is helping a lot with keeping on track, but next time I prep I’ll make sure to add more protein! The pie was a result of ordering apple fries (cut up apple sticks) and receiving apple pies instead. I gave one away but couldn’t face binning the other lol. But I agree, I could have got a lot more volume for 120 cals. I’ll try to get 4l of water today too and hopefully that’ll make a difference.
The psychological thing does put it into perspective, I feel a lot less hungry when I’m busy rather than sitting around obsessing over food so I’ll try and distract myself (waiting to start work). The least hungry I felt was when I was exercising!
@wolly Yep, exercising is kinda like starting a positive feedback loop for me. Makes me less hungry and kills cravings for junk food bc it's easier to see a short term goal like that. It's going to take me until the end of the year probably until I get down to my goal weight (idk like 115-120) but it's a lot easier to think "I should eat a nice healthy dinner so I feel good for my run tomorrow". As opposed to "i shouldn't have this dessert because I want to lose like 25 lbs in 4-5 months".
@wolly I may be wrong but it’s sounds like you didn’t factor in the calories you burned at the gym into your calculations. I.e., if eating 1600 puts you at a 500 deficit, then eating 1600 plus doing 300 calories of exercise puts you at an 800 calorie deficit.
@dawn16 This was my initial thought. There's a reason that calorie tracker apps will add calories burned during daily exercise to your daily goal. It's so you don't overdo the deficit, and get enough calories to stay healthy and functional.
I gave one away but couldn’t face binning the other lol. But I agree, I could have got a lot more volume for 120 cals. I’ll try to get 4l of water today too and hopefully that’ll make a difference. 