I'm losing weight but I'm so hungry 😭

[Clemopesea]

I've been about a stone to a stone and a half overweight for pretty much all my adult life, yo yo-ing back and forth on various diets (I've tried them all including keto). After a shit time and 3 back to back miscarriages I comfort ate my way into oblivion and had a nasty shock when I realised I was now nearly 2.5 stone overweight and had just tipped into the "obese" BMI range. at 5ft 3 with a desk job my TDEE is 1700 cals so a 1lb loss requires me to eat no more than 1200 calories a day. I've been doing this for 8 weeks (that's the longest I've ever stuck to a diet) and I've lost nearly a stone which is obviously great. However, I'm starving all the time and I'm finding it is seriously affecting my mood. I follow a Mediterranean style diet with plenty of protein, healthy fats, fibre etc (which I always did, just ate too much of it) and I am just starving. To the extent that I'm often so hungry it wakes me up at night. I eat two meals a day, 400 cals for lunch and 600 for dinner with 200 left for milk in tea or a small snack etc. I cannot do any high impact exercise due to a knee injury but I walk 10-15k steps per day and do some yoga. I'm completely healthy otherwise. My thyroid is normal (not just within NHS normal ranges but genuinely completely normal).

I would have thought after 8 weeks I'd be getting more used to the smaller calorie allowance but I'm so hungry I can't bear it. I tried upping my calories to 1400-1500 but weight loss completely plateaud. With all previous diets I've felt hunger like this but always assumed it was because I hadn't stuck to them so hadn't adjusted. Am I destined to just feel starving forever now?

OP is in semi-starvation. Honestly OP
increase your cals, focus on protein and fibre.

There seems to be a idea that you have to starve yourself for a bit to lose weight, and then you can go back to 'normal eating'. Why is that? Slim people aren't going hungry or living in a deficit to maintain their weight. They are a higher percentage of muscle, which burns lots of calories, so it's arguable that they need to eat more than someone who carries lots of fat and very little muscle.

Fuel your body to build muscle, and fuel it in the way that encourages it to burn fat, and ditch calorie counting; it doesn't make any sense.

What do you eat for protein, @Clemopesea ? What do you eat for fat?

I don't expect to go back to "normal" eating. Once I lose the weight I'll stick to my maintenance calories of 1700. I'm afraid I cannot intuitive eat - I over eat. I promise you I know myself better than you so!

For protein I eat chicken, fish, some red meat (not much), eggs, full fat greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, flaxseed. Fat comes under the above, with the addition of nut, nut butters, olive oil, butter.

There is no way u will be able to keep that up long term, will do little to lose u need to take a different approach no need to go for quick weight loss.
Up yr calories to 1400 for 3 weeks, u nay find yr weight goes up for a week but then it will start to come down.

Yes totally agree. I snack on a few raw, skin-on almonds or two or three raw skin-on Brazil nuts. Or thin oatcakes spread with a small amount of peanut butter (free of salt, sugar and palm oil). Eat those slowly and consciously. 🌹

have a look at broccoli_mum on instragram

Are you deciding you should lose weight based purely on BMI? It's quite a clumsy tool, people the same height and weight can have very different physicalities! If you feel you are carrying too much fat then that's a different matter.

I wouldn't go hungry, your body is trying to tell you something. In your shoes I'd add some tinned beans or similar in here and there - like a handful of butter beans with your greek salad, or some chickpeas with your dinner. It will fill you up while providing protein and fibre.

The pace of weight loss might slow a bit, but so what?

She's vegan, no? I'm the least vegan person on earth, I love my dairy!

Every time I have lost weight I just had to put up with being very hungry. I think some people get stronger hunger pangs than others.

I'm definitely carrying too much fat. I'm OK being around 10st (despite many on MN saying that's massive at 5ft3...but I have big boobs and hips, classic hourglass). But currently I am 11st8 which is much too heavy for me.

Try replacing your milk with yellow top B.O.B milk (best of both) It's usually found with the filtered milks like cravendale etc
It's skimmed milk but has the creamy taste of semi-skimmed.
You can use the saved calories on a healthy snack so you'll feel fuller.
They also do a semi-skimmed that tastes like whole milk.

Nuts are very high n calories. There are over 100 calories in just ten peanuts in their shells. 260 calories in ten pieces of walnuts.

I am going to up my calories to 1400 and see how I go. I have had breakfast this morning and feel much better than I did yesterday.

I also don't expect to go back to 'normal eating' after losing weight. As I have said upthread, maintenance requires vigilance

Sounds like a good compromise - good luck

@Clemopesea

I don't expect to go back to "normal" eating. Once I lose the weight I'll stick to my maintenance calories of 1700

Not sure what you thought I meant by 'normal' eating, but I meant eating in a way that maintains your weight. You do know that it's hormones that control our weight, don't you? Rather than calories? You know that a type 1 diabetic can eat and drink as much as is possible for them to get into their mouths, all day long, and drop weight to dangerous levels whilst doing so? And that a person with low thyroid function can eat and exercise in exactly the same way they always have, and gain substantial weight? Or that menopausal women gain fat when they never have before, despite no lifestyle or diet changes? We all have the same mechanisms, and can manipulate them at will, if we choose to.

Again, what is it you think I should be doing that I'm not doing? I get the sense you think I'm going about all wrong but I'm not seeing how.

Yes, you keep focussing on calories. And if you're hungry and eating so little, you are definitely doing it wrong.

However, I've asked you questions you haven't answered, so I've told you what I think and I'll wish you luck going forward.

Nobody needs to go to the extremes you're going to to lose weight. You're a human. We all work along the same lines. Perhaps follow the advice on the thread and things will get better.

I've answered all your questions!

I have to focus on calories, because if I don't, I eat too much and I gain weight. Any food will cause weight gain if you eat it to excess, and I eat all food to excess if I don't keep a log.

I do 1200 calories four days a week and 1500 for the other three. I've lost 6lbs in three weeks and happy with my food. I find the skyr 0 fat yogurts are really filling and I love the sour cherry one (it really is quite sour though!)

(And I enjoy logging it all on MFP)

I've done keto and I lost weight but got absolutely sick of all the meat and fat.

You seem to want to argue that you've got it all sorted, when you posted for advice because you felt hungry and miserable.

The calories aren't it. People don't eat to excess, for physiological reasons, if they are eating a diet high in the right fats and proteins, so, if you've seen a doctor and you trust that there's nothing wrong physically, perhaps a therapist, to look into what food is linked to in your mind. Cortisol can play a big part in hunger and cravings, so perhaps some stress is involved that you haven't catered for.

Anyway, as I said, good luck. I hope you crack it and can start to eat in a way that won't leave you malnourished. Think of your bones and them weakening as you age. Don't regret, with a broken hip at 62, that you didn't eat enough now.

Thank you to whoever suggested apple and peanut butter as a snack by the way, that's gone down a treat.

See, Watchkeys, that's an example of where I have to count the calories - if I didn't weigh out 10g peanut butter (which is a tiny amount), I'd have eaten triple that amount no problem and clocked up at 350 calories instead of 120. I like to eat. If a food tastes nice to me I like to eat large amounts of it, that's how I am and how I always have been. If I don't take note of the amounts I could easily clock in at 3000 calories a day even though what I eat is very healthy - healthy fats, protein, lots of freshly cooked veg and fibre.

Also I won't be eating 1200-1400 calories forever. Once I have lost the weight I will go back up to my maintenance calories.