I seem to always be hungry and I’m not sure what I can do about it! I try eat a well-balanced diet but eventually I just binge (seems to happen when the hunger just builds up until a day I can’t handle it). I’m getting quite tired of the up-and-down of it all and have tried to vary my diet to better suit my needs but nothing seems to work.
Currently, I eat:
Breakfast: 1/3 cup of oatmeal w/sprouted almonds, goji berries, mulberries, sprouted sunflower seeds, sprouted pumpkin seeds, raisins, cinnamon, shredded coconut, chia seeds
Snack: Japanese sweet potatoes or rice cake w/almond butter, banana
Lunch: Typically salad, sandwich, or rice w/stir fry
Snack: Rice cake w/almond butter, banana
Dinner: Typically salad, rice dish, or pasta
I usually eat handfuls of Organic Girl SuperGreens salad mix (plain, no dressing) with each meal. With this, I am rarely satiated. And when I am, I never feel 100% energy wise. But then eventually, I get to a day where I feel I just need to gorge and I do (…and not always on the healthy stuff…). I feel bad about it but then the following days I feel much better, both mentally and physically. But I’m also sure this prevents me from improving my fitness.
I’m not sure what else to do and am here asking for your help! Any suggestions on what I could change?
Also, to note, I also do a bit of strength training, P90X to be specific. But nothing too intense. Usually lower weights/reps this time of year except on the legs workout. I’m pretty sure this has something to do with my hunger as well as I tend to feel hungrier the days after.
I am def no expert but have you tried some more carbs (or an increase on what you are having now) in the morning? Maybe you need more, depending on you training amount at the time. 1/3 of a cup of oatmeal doesn’t seem alot to me. I try to eat my carbs in the morning or lunch at the latest, body burns through out the day. Apparently if you eat your carbs early (good carbs) it helps resist cravings later in the day / night.
It looks like you need to eat more. You didn’t really say how much you’re training but I’ll assume you’re at least swim/bike/run training a few hours a week at a minimum. You also didn’t say what your body type is. Are you overweight and trying to loose a few pounds? Or are you at a good, healthy weight and just tyring to recover from training and maintain weight?
Best option I’d say would be to keep a running total of both how many calories you eat throughout the day and also keep a seperate total of how many calories you are burning during your training. These might not be 100% accurate of course but it will give you a good idea. If you’re burning a lot more than you’re putting back in, you’ll probably be hungry.
To really answer better though, we would need more information about how much you’re training and your current body type.
Try the Myfitnesspal app for a few weeks. Its handy for tracking things like this and can be quite telling. You can enter you workout data to get your calorie burn and it comes with a barcode scanner so food entries are easy. After a few days you’ll know if your way under your intake and you can adjust from there. I only use it from time to time, especially if I notice I’m feeling sluggish. The other thing I see is that you haven’t included anything specific to post workout. I’m no expert, but I feel the same way if I don’t eat something to replentish the stores after a workout.
First let me commiserate. I am always hungry too Especially if I swim!!!
I really have no official expertise, so take it or leave it, but it really doesn’t look like you are eating enough especially if you are doing P90X AND training for triathlons. First figure out your BMR. Mine is about 1500 calories a day at rest. With training I probably burn, on average, another 1500 calories (2 disciplines). If I added in P90X or insanity I would need to add another 700-1000 calories burned. That is 3000 to 4000 calories!!
Breakfast: 1/3 cup of oatmeal w/sprouted almonds, goji berries, mulberries, sprouted sunflower seeds, sprouted pumpkin seeds, raisins, cinnamon, shredded coconut, chia seeds 300 -400cals
Snack: Japanese sweet potatoes or rice cake w/almond butter, banana 200-300 cals
Lunch: Typically salad, sandwich, or rice w/stir fry 400cals
Snack: Rice cake w/almond butter, banana 300 cals
Dinner: Typically salad, rice dish, or pasta 400-500
So I think you eat about 1500-2000 calories a day, and I am estimating on the high side
I think you are greatly underestimating your daily caloric needs and starving yourself, your body needs more fuel. Good healthy fuel, but more of it. Some more fruit, protein, and healthy fats might be beneficial.
Problem for me is I like to eat breakfast but usually a small breakfast. I can’t eat a whole lot or I just feel uncomfortable/bloated for the rest of the morning. I’ve tried making breakfast the biggest meal of the day and each subsequent snack/meal is smaller than the previous but I’m starving by the time I go to bed.
Heh, sorry, I didn’t jot that (protein) down as part of my meals but I eat quite a bit of meat and fish during both lunch and dinner. I also try adjust the amount as I feel I need but, still, I am hungry!
I appreciate all your help very much! I’m going to try increase my caloric intake and see how I feel the next couple of weeks.
To tell you a little more about myself:
5’7"
142lbs. muscular build
4-5% body fat
4 hours/week running + cycling
P90X
~6 hours sleep a night
One other question, with how things have been, I’ve neither gained nor lost any weight. I maintain 142 whether I workout intensely or sit on the couch for a week. If I am eating under my caloric needs, why would I not lose weight? I’m sure there are many other factors and maybe the binge eating helps balance it out? But I’m just at a loss as to why I maintain a specific weight no matter what I do.
Appreciate your help! Sure hope I don’t have worms! I apologize for not being more specific about what I eat. In addition to what I listed above, I eat tons of broccoli, cauliflower, kale, chard, chicken, tuna, avocado, almond butter, to name a few. There still could be a shortage of something in my diet but I’m just not sure what else to add to it. I mean, I feel like I eat a lot and usually feel stuffed after eating.
I eat anything and everything in site, and am still slowly losing weight. The other week I went out for dinner as part of a bachelor party. I had run 30k in the morning. By dinner I was ready to eat the person sitting next to me. I ordered an appy and TWO entrees and still finished my food first.
Sounds like me between the ages of 15-25. Non-stop hunger.
I recommend adding more garbage into your diet. Sounds like your eating way too healthy. Also add more beer. I didn’t see any beer in your current diet.
Your diet looks great, lots of nutrient dense stuff in there. My diet is very similar, I have about 10 lbs more bodyweight - and I am 6-2" but a very slim build - I can’t put on muscle for anything. I also find I am hungry a lot of the time. Adding some healthy fats might help to get more calories in. I eat tons of avocado, add some coconut oils to my food, snack on nuts/seed - all fairly calorie dense. I also eat a much bigger breakfast - I just had basically what you normally have, and I am going back for a whole wheat wrap with some refried black beans, avocado, veggies, spinach and probably a scrambled egg or two - and I am on a recovery week and only doing about 1-1.5 hours of really easy activity/day. Heavy training periods I’ll eat even more for breakfast. All that being said, if you’ve gotten all the nutrients you need which looking at your diet I imagine you are, I don’t think a few empty calories to help you feel full are going to hurt.
Sounds like me between the ages of 15-25. Non-stop hunger.
I recommend adding more garbage into your diet. Sounds like your eating way too healthy. Also add more beer. I didn’t see any beer in your current diet.
Ya, Kliphten needs to review the Little Debbie’s Ironman Choo Choo thread for its quite detailed review of the various LD products that can be used to prevent excessive tri-person hunger. And most certainly, beer is the very best beverage for replenishing glycogen stores:)
I can only offer up my n=1 so take this for what you will. During my IM crazy days I was neurotic about race weight, calories and body fat. Constantly fighting off colds and bugs, cranky etc. I also had no idea what I was doing with diet back then either, very few did. Switch to recent years of swim only. I still put in the same volume of weekly training time and I eat healthy for the most part sans a weekly glutton trip as a reward for the hardest workout of the week, typically big Mexican platters of cardiac death! Difference b/t old me and new me is I deny myself nothing when I’m hungry. Not a lot of carbs, TONS of protein.
In short here were my vitals then an now:
IM training years:
6’1", 155ish and 6-7 percent body fat. Calorie counting, sick all the time.
Swim only sport now last 4 years or so:
6’1", 175ish and certainly well over 10 percent, maybe 12? Guessing. Other than being bit by 2 Lymes tics last year I have not had a cold or the flu since 2010.
Especially if I swim!!!