About feeling hungry, some advice would be nice

[ambishosa]

Hi, I'm Ambishosa and I'm new but really interested in getting into the whole bodybuilding thing. I started my diet three days ago and although I've been on diets before since I've started my training I've only been feeling hunger, all the time. I eat six small meals a day high protein, slightly lower than moderate carbs, I never starve myself and I eat before I start working out and after as well to replenish myself, but this time around I've just been hungry all the time (as I'm writing this I'm hungry). I feel the pangs an hour right after I eat and whenever I do eat I feel like throwing up, although I never eat to that point, only until I feel is enough to be full but not feel full.

What's going on! I keep myself from scarfing food down but it's been hard going through the day only thinking about food all the time! At this rate I'm afraid I might give in and never reach my bodybuilding goals (I have a long way to begin with!)

Please help, this website and the people that keep it alive are truly inspirations and are so knowledgeable...please help me, why am I always hungry even when I'm eating right? and what can I do about it?

[nunu713]

Tell us what your diet looks like. What do you eat in a typical day? How many calories? Excess hunger could mean that you're deficient in a macronutrient - like fats, for example.

If your diet is well-balanced, you could try eating bigger meals less often. I used to eat 6 small meals about 2-3 hours apart and I would be hungry again within an hour of eating. So I made my meals bigger and less often. Now I eat 3 meals 5 hours apart and I'm rarely hungry in between. As a current example, I eat lunch in 5 minutes, and my stomach isn't even growling

[ambishosa]

Tell us what your diet looks like. What do you eat in a typical day? How many calories? Excess hunger could mean that you're deficient in a macronutrient - like fats, for example.

If your diet is well-balanced, you could try eating bigger meals less often. I used to eat 6 small meals about 2-3 hours apart and I would be hungry again within an hour of eating. So I made my meals bigger and less often. Now I eat 3 meals 5 hours apart and I'm rarely hungry in between. As a current example, I eat lunch in 5 minutes, and my stomach isn't even growling

well, for starters my diet consists of lots of water because of my environment (super hot), for the past few days I've only been eating a low calorie home made burrito in the morning (one that I divide into two), 2 cups of sweet potatoes, and vegetarian chili when I get to dinner. I eat chicken and fish in moderation as well, just today I had a Kenny Roger's Healthy Food Plate and within and hour I was hungry AGAIN! Currently my goal is at about 1000-1200 calories per day, im really overweight for my height and according to calculations it seems right for my weightloss goal...what am i doing wrong?

[Amanda76]

well, for starters my diet consists of lots of water because of my environment (super hot), for the past few days I've only been eating a low calorie home made burrito in the morning (one that I divide into two), 2 cups of sweet potatoes, and vegetarian chili when I get to dinner. I eat chicken and fish in moderation as well, just today I had a Kenny Roger's Healthy Food Plate and within and hour I was hungry AGAIN! Currently my goal is at about 1000-1200 calories per day, im really overweight for my height and according to calculations it seems right for my weightloss goal...what am i doing wrong?

The only way 1,200 would not be to little for you is if you weigh about 110 pounds, are hardly active and are trying to lose weight. At that weight, you'd need to be about 4'7" to be considered overweight. It's not impossible, but chances are that does not describe you.

The first thing you probably need to do is let us help you figure out how many calories you actually need to be eating. Also looks like you don't understand the importance of healthy fats or fibrous veggies. From there, you need an actual meal plan. Your current efforts look pretty hap-hazardly put together.

A little hunger discomfort while dieting is normal but being ravenous all the time is self-sabotage.

[ambishosa]

The only way 1,200 would not be to little for you is if you weigh about 110 pounds, are hardly active and are trying to lose weight. At that weight, you'd need to be about 4'7" to be considered overweight. It's not impossible, but chances are that does not describe you.

The first thing you probably need to do is let us help you figure out how many calories you actually need to be eating. Also looks like you don't understand the importance of healthy fats or fibrous veggies. From there, you need an actual meal plan. Your current efforts look pretty hap-hazardly put together.

A little hunger discomfort while dieting is normal but being ravenous all the time is self-sabotage.

ok, in fairness to everyone here, i used an Ipod App to calculate that (lame I know). I'm 5'3", 147 lbs, and my goal is 106lbs which is according to it, the ideal for my height. I do get fats and veggies in my diet although that does depend on the seasonal deliveries here and on my financials...

[Amanda76]

Considering the accuracy of the iphone app in figuring out how many calories you need, I highly suggest you NOT try using it as a food scale and go purchase one (I prefer digital) today. Prepare as much of your own food as possible. You can't be sure how much of (whatever) other people used to prepare your food. Prepared foods like stews and chilis can also be difficult to measure with accuracy.

Assuming you work out more days of the week than not, you should be able to lean up at the rate of a pound a week (average over the course of several) eating 1,800 calories a day. You'll want to eat at least a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and at least .3 grams of fat per pound. You can fill the rest with carbs (your sweet potatos, whole grains, fruits and veggies). If progress stalls over a 4-6 week period, you can drop calories at that point but it doesn't have to be a whole lot. 200 calories is enough to get the ball rolling again.

106 pounds is actually really close to underweight for your height. Does the app say what the "ideal weight" statistics are based on? Work on changing your body composition without worrying about hitting some arbitrary numbers. Remember that "progress" can be measured without a scale. Measuring tape, pictures and how your clothes fit often show a more complete picture.

[ambishosa]

Considering the accuracy of the iphone app in figuring out how many calories you need, I highly suggest you NOT try using it as a food scale and go purchase one (I prefer digital) today. Prepare as much of your own food as possible. You can't be sure how much of (whatever) other people used to prepare your food. Prepared foods like stews and chilis can also be difficult to measure with accuracy.

Assuming you work out more days of the week than not, you should be able to lean up at the rate of a pound a week (average over the course of several) eating 1,800 calories a day. You'll want to eat at least a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and at least .3 grams of fat per pound. You can fill the rest with carbs (your sweet potatos, whole grains, fruits and veggies). If progress stalls over a 4-6 week period, you can drop calories at that point but it doesn't have to be a whole lot. 200 calories is enough to get the ball rolling again.

106 pounds is actually really close to underweight for your height. Does the app say what the "ideal weight" statistics are based on? Work on changing your body composition without worrying about hitting some arbitrary numbers. Remember that "progress" can be measured without a scale. Measuring tape, pictures and how your clothes fit often show a more complete picture.

thanks!

[wantfirmcurves]

Good luck to you in your goals Ambishosa!

Reps to Amanda76 for such great, simple, to the point advice!

[IronPeach_79]

I always come away from Amanda76's posts learning something. Thank you!

[nunu713]

I'm 5'3", 147 lbs, and my goal is 106lbs which is according to it, the ideal for my height.

FYI - I'm 5'3" and I haven't seen 106 on the scale since 8th grade. I don't know who suggested that 106 is ideal, but it's definitely wrong! Anyone with our height and that weight would either look like a bag of bones, or competition shredded. The former is unhealthy to say the least, the latter is only attainable for a short period of time.

Listen to Amanda - get your calories and diet straightened out and give it a good solid 8 weeks - see what happens!

[sy2502]

FYI - I'm 5'3" and I haven't seen 106 on the scale since 8th grade. I don't know who suggested that 106 is ideal, but it's definitely wrong! Anyone with our height and that weight would either look like a bag of bones, or competition shredded. The former is unhealthy to say the least, the latter is only attainable for a short period of time.

Listen to Amanda - get your calories and diet straightened out and give it a good solid 8 weeks - see what happens!

I have to agree with nunu here, if you want to get serious about body building, you need to realize muscle weights more than fat, even though it takes less space, so a lot of bb women are like size 0 and size 2 but scale wise they are relatively heavy. It's all the muscle. If you just want to starve until you are down to some goal weight it's one thing, but if, as you say, you want to do body building, you should set as goal not so much a number on the scale, but rather a fat %.

[skinnyfatlean]

FYI - I'm 5'3" and I haven't seen 106 on the scale since 8th grade. I don't know who suggested that 106 is ideal, but it's definitely wrong! Anyone with our height and that weight would either look like a bag of bones, or competition shredded. The former is unhealthy to say the least, the latter is only attainable for a short period of time.

Listen to Amanda - get your calories and diet straightened out and give it a good solid 8 weeks - see what happens!

^^^^agree