Would you be hungry if you ate the following?

[Autumnleaves257]

I have lost a lot of weight this year largely by switching to a whole foods diet. The problem is I got to quite a low bmi (18.5) and my weight is still going down albeit quite slowly now so I am starting to get a bit worried. I went to the gp and they were pretty dismissive as all blood tests came back clear. A1c for diabetes was 37 (which I thought seemed a little high given I don't eat much sugar).

I thought this was plenty but I added up the calories on an app and it is only 1200-1300. Calculators say I need 1500 to maintain. The problem is I really feel very full on this diet and struggle to eat more. I have added lots of fat (nuts, cheese, ev olive oil etc) and 2 snacks even when I am not hungry.

In a typical day I eat the following.

Breakfast
Black coffee X 2
6 Walnuts, 5 almonds
2 rye crackers with cream cheese and smoked salmon, tomatoes extra evoo

Snack
Peanut butter, apple

Lunch
2 chicken wings
Green salad with beetroot, feta, carrot, saukercrat, pea sprouts, nuts, olive oil dressing
Strawberries, sq dark chocolate

Snack
Mixed nuts (around 10)

Dinner
Fried Mackerel
Fried Lentils with tomatoes, onion and garlic
Steamed broad beans, french beans, peas
kiwi, sq dark chocolate

Do people think it is normal not to feel hungry eating the above? I have to remind myself to eat now as it is rare I even feel hunger.

I am also trying to maintain muscle mass through weights but fairly sedentary otherwise (5000 steps a day)

I tried reintroducing cake yesterday as a 'treat' but did not enjoy it and felt quite ill after. Another day I tried a protein powder but it just made me feel really bloated and made me want to eat even less so I am wondering what I should eat to gain more weight.

I hope the above doesn't offend anyone as I know many struggle to loose weight but it is equally worrying when you loose too much and feels very odd not to feel hunger anymore.

No-one has commented that I look too thin, my dh just thinks I need more muscle so maybe I shouldn't worry if the gp and others aren't?

I wouldn’t be able to eat that much, it’s a lot of food even if the calorie intake is small. If you’re full what’s the problem?

OP is underweight and still losing weight @MoonShinesBright

I can see why you're curious. I'm not as knoweldgeable as other folks on here so I'm just posting to say that yes I would feel full on that, and I'm 11st4 and 5'6.75"

Then you start losing muscle

I'd be hungry to start with but I think our bodies adjust.

Have milk with your coffee.
Double the amount of pnb with the apple
Add higher fat cheese.
Avocado with the salad.
Switch the chicken wings for something more substantial.

Generally, add some fats. Have the nuts with full fat greek yogurt.

It seems to me that you're still losing because you're still in a calorie deficit. So you need to increase it for a period of time and see if that helps.

Have a slice of wholemeal bread with lunch, an extra square of dark choc after dinner and a couple more teaspoons of cream cheese on your breakfast rye.

That’s a great diet & what most people should be eating. The trouble with adding carbs back in is it will make you hungrier & you’ll pile the weight back on. Just add in a mix of seeds and more nuts, avocados, cream with your fruit if you want to add a few pounds.

@Autumnleaves257 would you be willing to not do the weights for a week and increase your portion sizes a little to see how that impacts your weight ?

I can understand your lack of appetite, when I have reduced carbs, especially the beige processed ones which are my favourite go to food source, and increased my fluid intake by drinking more water, I go from absolutely ravenous to little appetite quite quickly, within a week at least. The difference between us is I weight three times what you do, so my body has a walk in larder of stored energy and calorie supplies to dip into

I would maybe not feel hungry, but I would end up losing weight. My husband did a low carb diet, high protein and fat diet, and he usually cooks for everyone. I felt full, but was losing weight and started feeling unwell and faint. I googled the symptoms, turned out they were symptoms of hunger...

I would suggest adding some wholegrains to your diet, such as porridge, wholegrain bread and rice.

Your carbs on that are 84%. But you aren't getting it from eating complex carbohydrates, you are getting it almost entirely from the sugar in the fruit. Fats are over 100%. Seems to me that your body has decided it gets all the energy it needs from sugar and fat, which could be one of the reasons why you don't feel hungry.

I'm not sure why you are concerned about your HbA1 being 37 as that is well within the normal range. Unless it has previously been in the pre-diabetic range of 42-47 (as I am) then there is no need to be even thinking about that. Even then, the recommended portion of complex carbs (potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, couscous etc) is that your meal should be 25% carbs, 25% protein and 50% veg.

Eating what you're eating I would class as being on "a diet" and would be expecting to lose weight, especially if you're also exercising

I don't think that is true, these were my top carb sources this week. Only apple and kiwi made the list, most were beans, chickpeas (chana massala) and grains.

I was concerned about my blood glucose becuase I was getting big spikes to 11 when I used to eat peanut butter on sourdough for breakfast followed by a crash to 3.5. I switched to the rye becuase that helped stabilise it.

Sorry above reply meant for fiddlesticksandotherwords

protein is 4 kcal/gram of protein
fat is 9 kcal/gram of fat
carbs are 5 kcal/gram of carbs

I know there are fine tuning for other aspects, decimal places, fibre content, but it's a decent enough estimate for most people / most diet compositions.

ps: my arithmetic may be faulty, of course

That sounds incredibly delicious and I don’t think you need more carbs. But maybe your protein sizes are too small? How much smoked mackerel do you eat for instance? I would maybe eat bigger protein servings - what do you mean by a chicken wing? Like a small one or a big wing and leg? Two chicken wings isn’t much protein - perhaps a chicken breast would be better. Need about 1.7 G protein per kg of body weight to build muscle - I’m 55kg and need to eat about 90g of protein a day.

Thanks for that @lljkk

Is all that food really only 1200 calories? I thought nuts were very calorie dense.

@Beezknees probably about 150 calories in total from the nuts, if she is eating about 30g.

Ikeameatballlunch what happens if you don't have much body fat ?

I have run into issues before and lost muscle. Not good.

That's the way that I tend to eat, and I'm not underweight (75kg at 173cm) or ravenously hungry or anything.

Can you add some 'easy' calories by adding oil to dressings or similar? Can you drink whole milk? As per a PP, add darker meat, so replace chicken wings with chicken thighs?

Is that seriously the meat off 2 chicken wings?

You need to eat more. It’s really that simple. You will end up causing your self to have huge health problems. Potentially including heart failure.

You are full because you are eating a huge amount of fibre. 10g of fibre per 100g is the usual aim. You are eating loads more than that.

i think (I have a background in the fitness industry and weight lifting) you are developing or developed orthorexia

Yes once you stop eating carbs you don't feel hungry.

I wouldn't eat that much in a day and I don't feel hungry really ever

Been low carbing for months.

I eat when it's mealtimes but not because I'm hungry