I assume it's due to increased metabolism?

Here's a day in the life of Kim...

Every morning I wake up at 5-5:30 and drink about 16-24 oz of water, get dressed, hit the gym. When I return around 7ish, I take my vitamins and supplements, drink another 16-24 oz of water (minimum), shower/get ready for work, then have my protein drink and most times a bowl of regular oatmeal (no sugar or butter...blek!) It's amazing what tastes gross once you've been without it for so long...anyway....

I have a negative calorie snack around 10:30

eat lunch around 1:30

have another neg. cal snack around 3:30 (by then I'm STARVING)

eat low fat low carb dinner no later than 6:30 and SOMETIMES have one more neg. cal snack before bed but I'll pick something from the vegetable list rather than the fruit list if I do decide to have that last snack

Here's the snack choices I pick from to give ya an idea of what I'm consuming for said snack time...

Negative Calorie Vegetables
Asparagus Beet Root Broccoli Cabbage Carrot Cauliflower Celery	Chicory Hot Chili Cucumber Garden cress Garlic Green Beans	Lettuce Onion Radish Spinach Turnip Zucchini
Negative Calorie Fruits
Apple Blueberries Cantaloupe Cranberry Grapefruit	Honeydew Lemon/Lime Mango Orange Papaya Peach	Pineapple Raspberry Strawberry Tomato Tangerine Turnip Watermelon

Anyway... I'm starving all damn day and this is a recently new development. Some friends I've met at the gym tell me it's just my metabolism kicked into high gear, and be sure to eat tons of small portions all day long. I get full quickly so I'm not worried about overeating per sitting but I don't want to over eat on a daily basis and exceed an 1800-2000 cal diet either.

So my questions are...

A) am I going about this the right way? Is there anything I could / should be doing better/different?
B) WHY the hell am I so damn hungry!!?
C) What else can I do to curve the appetite, or is this only temporary? Or is this a good thing that I'm so fucking hungry?

Were you really dependent on starchs before you started this diet? Not seeing much of that in your list, which is good. That is the hardest thing to cut back on in my experience.

Just keep drinking water, don't be afraid to drink upwards to 100oz.

it's not good to be starving hungry all the time

you shouldn't be losing more than about a pound a week

I drink a metric ton of water daily... translated.. probably equal to or slightly over 100oz.

Before I decided that enough was enough, I was eating WTF ever tickled my fancy. White breads, white rice, any old box of cereal, potato based products friend or baked... the sky was the limit.

It's been very easy for me to cut out a lot of the starchy shit. I make small allowances on rare occassion, but it usually makes me feel like shit thereafter so it's not high on any craving list. Actually I don't get cravings for junk at all. Just the idea of some lard based calorie loaded item sliding into my gut makes me feel ill LOL!

Maybe I shouldn't say "starving" all day, but for breakfast lunch and dinner, I most certainly feel like a hungry mother fucker (more so than I did before I began to change my intake) Once I eat, I'm nice and full for no more than 2 hours, then I start to feel hungry again, so about 3 hours after a meal I'll have a snack. In between meals and snacks I'm pounding water and pissing like a race horse all day.

I definitely haven't been losing much weight, especially on a weekly basis. Most of my weight is shifting from fat to muscle, and my shape is continuing to improve so I'm fine with my weight overall.

I always have the sensation that I could stand to eat something though and didn't know if that was 'normal' per se, or if I needed to change something, or just ignore it

You might need to increase your portion sizes. Clean calories generally require much larger quantities of food, especially if you're going low carb. Also, you might need to up some of the fats, which, at least for me, help sate the appetite a little better.

I eat until I'm full Any suggestions on some foods that can be a good appetite filler?

Eat more protein.

I read one cant effectively digest more than 30g of protein per sitting, so I take my pro-complex protein in the a.m. within a half hour of a hard workout. Is drinking another protein shake later in the day the same as what you suggest? If not, do you have any particular foods you can suggest to fulfill that suggestion?

Still doesn't mean its enough. Processed foods pack so many more calories into smaller portions, when you make drastic changes like you've talked about, you really have to make sure you don't under eat. If you aren't already, I'd recommend tracking your intake, to make sure you're taking in plenty of calories. Over time your body adjusts to certain dietary and volume patterns that you're in the process of breaking.

For every study claiming something similar, there is one claiming the opposite. The truth is, no two people function exactly the same, so the only thing that matters is what works for you.

Just stick with chicken breasts, turkey, and occasional pork that is low in sodium. I am amazed with how much sodium is in some products.

no dark meat.

Terrible advice, especially for someone going low carb.

I have always heard to stay away from dark meats.

Not being a dick here, just saying: you should do some reading outside of whats widely broadcast in the media by those looking to cover their ass.

Not offended at all. We all know, like you said, one source will contradict another. It is almost impossible to follow anything if you take all opinions into account. Kind of sounds like our government.

I've been tracking a 2000 calorie per day diet since the onset of my decision for better living/better life. I just write down what I'm going to have one day prior, calculate the calories, sugar, fat grams, proteins, etc. Perhaps I should up my daily caloric intake? Or, I could just quit being a pussy and drink a bottle of water to stop the hunger? LOL!!

It's not all day everyday, I just notice that now that I'm eating on a schedule, sticking to a healthy regimen of food intake and exercising like a mofo, my stomach starts growling every so often. Before I'd just eat all damn day which kept me from feeling actual hunger grumbles n such.

Hrmmmmm... time for a broccoli snack!!!!

Yeah I know what ya mean. I've been reading a shit ton of books, magazines, websites, etc. The most useful advice has come from non-biased friends who have experience. I'm willing to give different things a try, but so far I'm doing good so what I've been doing IS working but I'm sure I can tweak it and yield even better results. We'll see!!!

I like to keep track of cals at www.fatsecret.com . Also has a mobile app for Android, Blackberry, and iWhatever.

I'm not the most versed in nutrition info but this is what I've been doing. I split my intake into 5 meals and split those throughout the day. I never workout on a completely empty stomach, especially after no nutrition in the night.
7AM Rice cake with natural peanut butter.
10AM Nutrition shake
Lunch workout
1PM Turkey or chicken in low-carb wrap. I eat a lot of turkey in the wrap, probably like 1/4-1/3 lb.
4PM Cottage cheese or yogurt with high-fiber cereal (Fiber 1)
7PM 300-500 calorie dinner. If I'm wanting fast food, my wife and I split a Chipotle Chicken burrito.
8PM Insanity workout - Usually put a small amount of Gatoraid in my water, looking for something better to use than Gatoraid(sugar).
Post workout protein powder and maybe a couple bites of cottage cheese.

Not saying this is the best but it works for me as far as hunger goes.

So somehow I completely missed the 'negative' calorie part of your first post. No wonder you're starving for your larger meals, because, as you said, you're eating to full at those meals, then snacking between. Well, the problem is that instead of stoking your metabolism with your snacks/small meals, you're just eating filler that doesn't provide you with any added calories. Kimmie, you have to remember that you're working now, not just changing your diet, your body needs fuel.

Try some things like homemade trail mix, heavy on almonds, bananas & almond butter, or any combination of fruits & nuts you like. If you add nutrient dense foods in between meals, it'll be easier to keep energy levels up, and avoid hunger.

zero calorie meals only satisfy the act of eating, but don't actually make you feel full.

you need some sort of snack that actually fuels the fire burning, and keeps your metabolism burning

For my in-between snacks I like to eat 12 - almonds or an apple. However, I don't eat any fruit after dinner.
I don't think you should be pissing all the time if you've been on a high water intake for awhile now.

for the record my lunch yesterday was 2136 calories, 161g of fat, 0g of carbs, and 154.5g of protein

But I did lose two pounds

So take my wacky advice with a grain of salt

Sounds like my kind of meal!

WTF did you eat??

1 pound of brisket from Dickie's BBQ, no sides no sauce

i snack on ostrich jerky and it seems to curve the appetite quite a bit.

It's trial and error. Like Tex said everyones body is different. Just becareful, it takes alot of time to supercharge your metabolism. About 2 years for me. Just don't mistake cravings for a high metabolic rate haha.

My diet has changed up about every 4 months. I've gone from 750 cal a day to 5k a day now all in a 20 month span lol...

If you start gaining or feeling weak or hungry all the time, you know it's time to change. Although, if you eat every 2 hours it's kinda hard to be hungry all the time!

Keep track of calories burned if you can, around 3500 calories is 1 pound of pure fat. If you can lose 1 pound of pure fat a week thats great but personally i would try for more but I go for the extreme. You would be amazed of what 5 lbs of pure fat really looks like and how big it is.

Just remember you HAVE to keep pushing yourself every day. Go alittle longer on cardio whenever you think you can, even 2 minutes! That 2 minutes will turn into 2 miles in no time. If you do 8 reps with weights, try to push for 10 or 11!

All the input makes perfect sense! I guess I'm so afraid of gaining / putting back on the weight... that I scare easily when it comes to higher calorie / higher fat content foods. 2 years ago I had blood work done and my cholestrol/triglycerides (sp?) were off the charts. They gave me a list of things to not eat, and damn near every kind of nut, pork, etc. imaginable was on the list, but I've heard several mentions of almonds, etc. I think it's time to get new blood work done for one. And to quit being so afraid of food since I am working it off.

Fobra, you too have given great insight (as well as all the other folks ) I'm sure my metabolism is far from freightrain status, I'm just glad that it's not stagnant like it was before. I don't like to workout on an empty stomach, so I TRY to have a protein drink and small bowl of cereal (kashi) or SOMETHING before hand, but more often than not, anything consumed prior to exercies makes me ill during my workout There's nothing worse than having to stop exercise so you can go barf. LOL!!! I think I'll try the protein drink mixed with less water to get what I need without making myself sick then eat within a half hour or so of my return home. Is that counter productive to do that? I guess I could just see how I feel and go from there LOL!!

I hate being so naive to all this, but I'm willing to give anything a shot! This morning I had my protein shake before I did my workout. When I finished getting ready for work, I sat down to an egg white omlet with onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, and laughing cow swiss cheese wedge melted in... and I'm still full!!! That just proves Ross' input about putting more fuel in the body to keep the motor running.

I'm still losing fat all over. Today I put on a pair of pants I couldn't zip up 5 months ago and I can pull them off without unbuttoning or unzipping. YAY!!

Try plain old black coffee, it makes my hunger go away for quite a while.

Pregnancy stimulates hunger...just saying.

You lost me at 5:30am.

What is your daily total protein intake ?

Protein is harder to break down so when you eat higher amounts your body will feel fuller longer.

I like beef jerky for a high protein low fat snack.

I eat the jack links brand, each ounce is 80 calories, 12 grams of protein and 1 gram of fat.

Also tuna is a good low fat high protein snack.


Are you taking the full serving of pro complex ?

That is like 60 grams of protein. I take it as well but only take 30 grams at a time.

Also I would take it with skim milk instead of water.

Higher protein intake and being a female you should keep your calcium intake up for osteoporosis
prevention.

My daily protein intake is approx 80g-90ish(ish) (30g per serving of the pro-complex). I do the same as you which is one scoop at a time. I was told that a person can only effectively digest about 30 at a time, so I take one scoop in the a.m. (usually with soy milk that also has 6- 9g of protein in it) or with water,and then another before my afternoon/evening workout . I also take OTC vitamins B-12, C, E, flaxseed oil, and a women's one daily for bone health.

I will certainly add tuna to my list of daily / bi-daily nom noms

Friday I discovered the turkey jerkey jack links so I grabbed some of that and went to town. The neg calorie snacks were obviously not working. I stayed full all day and also bought some nuts with branberries and almosnds from the Planters Nut-rition line.

Any other tips/suggestions?