What the ****, hunger?

[chonax2000]

M, 16, 172cm, 125 lbs

This year I dropped from 175 lbs to 125 lbs and this month I decided to jump back to maintenance (I have no idea what my maintenance at this age is supposed to be so I just set it to 1800)

I lift hard 4 days per week, bike around 1hr every other day

Ever since I jumped to maintenance I was ****ing hungry as ****. I was very low energy from the dieting and my libido went from feeling like jacking it 10 times per day to nothing for months

I ate close to 5k cals today (48% fat, 45% prot, 7% carb, most of which fiber so imma be on the toilet for the next 5 days) and my energy all came back, felt so good

But how do I get my hunger back under control? I am still hungry by the way, the day is not over. It takes a lot of willpower to not go eat more right now

[andy0w]

Every 16 year old is hungry. Time to grow.

[chonax2000]

Every 16 year old is hungry. Time to grow.

Dont know any that eat 5k cals

It wouldnt hurt to grow more tbh

[Heisman2]

You lost way too much weight too quickly for your age, likely went into a state of protein-calorie malnutrition, and are now experiencing the rebound hunger that comes with that. The good news is that if you do eat and gain weight you will hopefully avoid having an eating disorder. At your height and age you should have stopped losing weight when you got to 155 pounds as you would have no longer been overweight at that point. Instead you kept dieting, compromising not only your muscle building potential but also your height potential, bone mass accrual, as well as started developing lots of altered hormonal and neural pathways that can screw up your hunger cues for a very long time.

The best thing you can do now in my opinion is:

1. See a doctor for a regular checkup and to discuss this further, especially if there are other psychological considerations.
2. Eat a generally healthy diet with a good amount of protein and fiber and let your hunger dictate how much you eat while you keep training hard. Eventually when you get up to a healthier weight for yourself and restore your lost lean body mass you'll most likely stop being really hungry at that point. The longer you put off doing this the worse the hunger and the longer the duration the hunger will be.

[chonax2000]

You lost way too much weight too quickly for your age, likely went into a state of protein-calorie malnutrition, and are now experiencing the rebound hunger that comes with that. The good news is that if you do eat and gain weight you will hopefully avoid having an eating disorder. At your height and age you should have stopped losing weight when you got to 155 pounds as you would have no longer been overweight at that point. Instead you kept dieting, compromising not only your muscle building potential but also your height potential, bone mass accrual, as well as started developing lots of altered hormonal and neural pathways that can screw up your hunger cues for a very long time.

The best thing you can do now in my opinion is:

1. See a doctor for a regular checkup and to discuss this further, especially if there are other psychological considerations.
2. Eat a generally healthy diet with a good amount of protein and fiber and let your hunger dictate how much you eat while you keep training hard. Eventually when you get up to a healthier weight for yourself and restore your lost lean body mass you'll most likely stop being really hungry at that point. The longer you put off doing this the worse the hunger and the longer the duration the hunger will be.

I still am pretty high body fat, didn't really drop that much. Keep in mind I am at this weight with little to no water weight since I don't eat that many carbs (can't tolerate them) and piss like 10 times per day

And I actually kept most of my muscle. They got smaller in the first 3 weeks, probably muscle glycogen. I suppose the muscles helped with this weight loss. I am currently training hard though.
And I'm all about eating healthy. I didn't lose weight eating junk, not really into that. Also not really afraid of gaining some weight, but I'm not sure I want to go bear mode, my plan was to lean bulk.

Thanks a lot mate.

[Heisman2]

I still am pretty high body fat, didn't really drop that much. Keep in mind I am at this weight with little to no water weight since I don't eat that many carbs (can't tolerate them) and piss like 10 times per day

It's very unlikely you lost 50 pounds without losing much bodyfat. However, if you really didn't lose much bodyfat, that means you lost a lot of lean body mass, which is even worse as it is the loss of lean body mass that is one of the drivers for increased appetite.

Water weight has more to do with sodium intake than carb intake. Adult males generally will have ~500g of glycogen, so that may store an additional 3-5 pounds of water. If you are eating low carb but not currently dieting your glycogen stores will not be fully depleted so we're talking maybe 5 pounds of water/glycogen.

And I actually kept most of my muscle. They got smaller in the first 3 weeks, probably muscle glycogen. I suppose the muscles helped with this weight loss. I am currently training hard though.

So if you didn't lose much fat and you kept most of your muscle, where did the 50 pounds you lost come from?

And I'm all about eating healthy. I didn't lose weight eating junk, not really into that. Also not really afraid of gaining some weight, but I'm not sure I want to go bear mode, my plan was to lean bulk.

There is no such thing as maintenance or a lean bulk at your age as you are growing naturally. As seen here: https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/dat...l/cj41c071.pdf most males who are 16 will gain 10 pounds of weight by the time they turn 17. That is assuming they eat normally and don't even workout. If you train hard and eat well you should be able to put on considerably more than this assuming you have completed or are close to completing puberty. It makes so much more sense for teenagers to follow their natural hunger cues with a generally healthy diet while training hard UNLESS this leads to said teenager becoming obese, in which case other considerations should be made. As a pediatrician, while I see lots of overweight/obese teenagers, rarely it is when eating a generally healthy diet with sufficient protein/fiber. There is almost always a fairly obvious cause for why they have become as big as they have.

[AdamWW]

I still am pretty high body fat, didn't really drop that much. Keep in mind I am at this weight with little to no water weight since I don't eat that many carbs (can't tolerate them) and piss like 10 times per day

And I actually kept most of my muscle. They got smaller in the first 3 weeks, probably muscle glycogen. I suppose the muscles helped with this weight loss. I am currently training hard though.
And I'm all about eating healthy. I didn't lose weight eating junk, not really into that. Also not really afraid of gaining some weight, but I'm not sure I want to go bear mode, my plan was to lean bulk.

Thanks a lot mate.

Dude you're 16... why are you counting calories, worrying so much about bodyfat, and not out living your life?

[chonax2000]

It's very unlikely you lost 50 pounds without losing much bodyfat. However, if you really didn't lose much bodyfat, that means you lost a lot of lean body mass, which is even worse as it is the loss of lean body mass that is one of the drivers for increased appetite.

Water weight has more to do with sodium intake than carb intake. Adult males generally will have ~500g of glycogen, so that may store an additional 3-5 pounds of water. If you are eating low carb but not currently dieting your glycogen stores will not be fully depleted so we're talking maybe 5 pounds of water/glycogen.



So if you didn't lose much fat and you kept most of your muscle, where did the 50 pounds you lost come from?



There is no such thing as maintenance or a lean bulk at your age as you are growing naturally. As seen here: *** most males who are 16 will gain 10 pounds of weight by the time they turn 17. That is assuming they eat normally and don't even workout. If you train hard and eat well you should be able to put on considerably more than this assuming you have completed or are close to completing puberty. It makes so much more sense for teenagers to follow their natural hunger cues with a generally healthy diet while training hard UNLESS this leads to said teenager becoming obese, in which case other considerations should be made. As a pediatrician, while I see lots of overweight/obese teenagers, rarely it is when eating a generally healthy diet with sufficient protein/fiber. There is almost always a fairly obvious cause for why they have become as big as they have.

I cant speak exactly on my bf as I didn't get tested but my muscles are basically at the point where the fibers are visible without flexing at certain spots and when I flex its decently sized. About half of my palm, when put next to the flexed bicep for example. I could be wrong though.

And trust me, I was not healthy before. No matter what damage was done by my dieting, I doubt my diet of 2 pizzas per day combined with KFC was a healthy diet for me. I wanted to start from scratch.

And perhaps that weight gain is correlated with an increase in height as well, which I have not seen in roughly 2 years and I fear I'll stay a manlet forever

Thanks for the answer regardless

Dude you're 16... why are you counting calories, worrying so much about bodyfat, and not out living your life?

Personal stuff, but you're right my friend

[AdamWW]

I cant speak exactly on my bf as I didn't get tested but my muscles are basically at the point where the fibers are visible without flexing at certain spots and when I flex its decently sized. About half of my palm, when put next to the flexed bicep for example. I could be wrong though.

And trust me, I was not healthy before. No matter what damage was done by my dieting, I doubt my diet of 2 pizzas per day combined with KFC was a healthy diet for me. I wanted to start from scratch.

And perhaps that weight gain is correlated with an increase in height as well, which I have not seen in roughly 2 years and I fear I'll stay a manlet forever

Thanks for the answer regardless



Personal stuff, but you're right my friend

What do you mean 'personal stuff'? This is your health you're talking about...

[chonax2000]

What do you mean 'personal stuff'? This is your health you're talking about...

I definitely want to not worry about calories and such, and I'm not worrying about eating 5k+ today, but I definitely don't want this to be a daily thing

[Heisman2]

Have you had yearly checkups? Most males do not finish growing at age 14 and your pediatrician should discuss this with you. I'd definitely schedule a check up if you haven't had one in awhile.

If you simply haven't grown while dieting there is still a chance your growth can catch up when you give your body proper nutrition but it's vital to do that now as once your growth plates fuse you won't be able to grow.

[chonax2000]

Have you had yearly checkups? Most males do not finish growing at age 14 and your pediatrician should discuss this with you. I'd definitely schedule a check up if you haven't had one in awhile.

If you simply haven't grown while dieting there is still a chance your growth can catch up when you give your body proper nutrition but it's vital to do that now as once your growth plates fuse you won't be able to grow.

I lost the weight in around 5 months on a 1k deficit + fasting. Catecholamines could have sped up the plate fusion, and I was aware that was a possibility, which is why I wanted to do it as fast as possible instead of drag it for years. But haven't grown before either. Have grown muscle previously so I imagine it's probably my genetics holding me back or my previous diet.

I am 172, my mom is 176, my dad is 165. I honestly might have reached my genetic potential sadly enough

[jthomasofficial]

You are 16. Hunger is your ally, not your enemy. It is telling your body that it needs more nutrients and energy to grow and work. Don't limit your calories. If you need to eat more, eat more. Stay away from high sugar foods and processed carbs.