Hungry at night?!

[Hillsaremyhappyplace]

This is not helping my sleep, urghhh

I do a lot of exercise (weights mainly), lots of steps and some HIIT classes. I’ve had to restrict my food a bit as I was gaining weight so obviously my cardio requirements have reduced. I’m 52 and on HRT

My sleep has been shocking again over the last 2 weeks. My trainer at the gym has been in at me for eating more, “fuelling my body” but he’s a 28 year old bloke! So on his advice last night and the night before I had a (small) bowl of cereal before bed. Some shreddies. I did sleep better but I’ve put on a kilo already.

Any advice?! Thanks.

Better to have something higher in protein eg yoghurt with nuts and berries, or a couple boiled eggs, shreddies are high carb and won’t help.

You need to separate your weight and your body fat levels. Your scale weight may increase because you're holding more water etc, or because you ate lots of fibrous veg and your gut content has increases etc etc. You haven't gained a kilo of fat from two bowls of cereal.

My PT is a similar age and I am a menopausal woman and yes he thinks that more food solves everything which, when you are late twenties and male it probably does!! Having said that if you are training more and are hungry then you should eat a little more. Aim for more protein and some less sugary carbs.

Thanks. Yes he specifically said carbs. I don’t know why… I do eat a lot of protein anyway.

Thanks. I know. It’s hard as I’ve watched my weight my whole life. I’m struggling a bit mentally with losing control in this way. I’ll try a high protein snack. I do have chocolate in the evening as I look forward to it but maybe I need to mix that in with some protein yoghurt or something. I’m hungry a lot!

Sorry meant to say calorie requirements had reduced in my OP

Interesting @Hillsaremyhappyplace so potentially a few options. If you are in a deficit especially for a while then being hungry at night is normal but if it's affecting your sleep then that is counterproductive and a smaller deficit might be better.

If your protein intake is good then you could adjust the protein/carbs balance temporarily. When I get into a steep deficit my coach gives me 2 carb/protein split options and I can go for the slightly lower protein/higher carb option if I am really hungry. It's still more protein than a lot of people eat!

Also how is your fat intake? If mine drops too low I get really hungry so in your position my bedtime snack might be brown toast and peanut butter or just a (measured) spoonful of peanut butter to curb my hunger.

Final thought: maybe you need a period at maintenance? Building muscle and getting stronger is better for your long term health than an endless quest to be thinner! I don't know what your body fat levels are but maybe you need a break from fat loss ( or a gentler approach ie a smaller deficit/period of body recomposition?).

Thanks so much for your detailed reply. I’ve a history of disordered eating so I don’t really track as such. Just monitor my weight and if I gain, I cut back. I am trying to build muscle but I can’t do a proper bulk and cut as I just can’t handle it mentally. So it’s slow progress. Scales say body fat 26.4%. My BMI is 21. I am lifting 4 times a week.

I'm going to make a different suggestion @Hillsaremyhappyplace

Is your hunger waking you OR are you waking up and then noticing hunger?
(It's quite unusual to wake from hunger unless someone is not eating much at all during the day.)

Maybe your HRT needs a review?
Poor sleep is my main issue without HRT. I'm much older than you but when I've tried to reduce the dose my sleep suffers.

You might need more gel or a higher dose of patch.

Ideally, we shouldn't eat (especially carbs ) before sleep and the most recent research shows that eating carbs late a night actually causes insomnia / poor sleep as well as weight gain.

Again, ideally, we should all be aiming for a 14 hour fast between the last meal and first meal the next day. This promotes gut health and overall health.
So- last meal at 6pm, breakfast at 8am.
Not everyone can do this but a 12-13 hour gap is ok. 7pm then 8am.

@JinglingSpringbells that’s a good point. I’m not sure if it’s hunger waking me or I’m waking then realising I’m hungry! I have an HRT review next week.

Good point @JinglingSpringbells. I completely agree

Also @Hillsaremyhappyplace if you are training regularly and training hard with heavy weights then your body weight may well increase - that's ok! Your goal body undoubtedly weighs more than you think it does and you will constrain your progress if you hold yourself to an arbitrary body weight number. You can keep an eye on your body fat levels other ways ( progress photos, how you feel etc). At this point your weight isn't that important - target feeling good and getting stronger!

TBH I doubt if it's hunger waking you up.
I try very hard to eat by 7pm and then nothing more till 8am.
If I wake at night I often do feel 'hungry' but that's 'normal' for me and it doesn't stop me going back to sleep.

What dose estrogen are you on?

I've been on 2 pumps for many years. If I drop to 1 pump my sleep suffers.
In early post-meno when I was your age I was having to go up to 3 pumps for a short time. That's the equivalent roughly of a 50mcg patch and a 75mgs patch.

Hi thanks both. I’m on a 50 patch plus uterogestan.

I’m still getting my head around the getting heavier thing @everycowandagain - it’s hard to undo 45 years of “small and light is good! “

Ah well worth a chat to your GP about a dose adjustment by the sounds of it @Hillsaremyhappyplace

It IS hard! When you've spent most of your adult life trying to take up less space it takes time to adjust to wanting to take up more space. I want more muscly arms but I instinctively struggle sometimes when they feel bigger. Even though that's what I want!

I have done a bulk, it was really interesting to see how my body responded to different levels of calorie surplus but I did struggle a bit with the fat gain and the swing from surplus to deficit even though I have no history of disordered eating. For me I learned that I can do a lot at or just above maintenance and I don't need to go into a big surplus to see changes in my body and muscle. I am maintaining at the moment and I do plan to do a bulk later this year but I won't go much more than 2-300 calories above maintenance this time. I am doing it for fun but I learned that there's a lot of progress to be had at or around maintenance.