massive appetite from T but trying to lose weight HELP

[Jay.Lewis.P]

hi all,

I've been on T since june 13th and my voice has deepened and menstruation has already stopped but the problem is... i have a massive appetite and i really need to lose weight and it's making it hard so far i've only been able to maintain my current weight. i just wanna EAT ALL THE TIME


anyone got any tips to help?

[LordKAT]

Yup, big thing, Drink lots of water. Eat small meals every few hours. By small I mean half a sandwich, a small piece of fruit, 2 or 3 crackers with peanut butter, or similar foods. The carbs keep you going now and the proteins will stretch out, The water fills your stomach so you feel like a full meal. Fresh fruits and vegies to keep healthy.

[Nygeel]

Fruits and veg tend to be low calories while having a large volume. A tablespoon of cooking oil has more calories than 4 carrots or a head of lettuce. So eating things that take up a lot of space without giving calories helps.

[spacerace]

If you like black olives, you can keep a container of them in the fridge and grab a few when you get hungry. Eating them makes you feel as if you have snacked without too many calories. I just open a can of whole olives and toss them in a tupperware.  I can eat them without anything else and enjoy it, so this works for me - not sure if everyone likes to just eat black olives.

Pickles are another essentially 'empty' snack nutritionally that can curb your appetite.

[Jack_M]

Don't have any bad stuff in your house, or replace bad stuff with low calorie versions. I have butterscotch pudding mix that's low fat without any artificial sweetner crap in it. If I fold then I know it's not that bad for me.

Eat smaller meals more regularly, like breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner.  And keep some low fat yogurt, fruit and nuts around for those snacks. Nuts have the good fat your body needs.  Salads are good too, but if you use dressing, try to use something light.
 
HOWEVER, plan a cheat day every week or two. It's better to have a plan for life than diet. Diets never work!  You're not going to live the rest of your life without a treat here and there, so don't deny yourself the stuff you love or you're likely to give up on any healthy plans. Learn moderation and portion control. It also helps to workout if you want to lose weight, especially in getting rid of female fat distribution because that won't shift on its own, you gotta work that off. Building up some muscle will speed up your metabolism too.

Just be careful because working out means you do need more calories, and it's important to drink plenty of water each day. Lots of folks mistake dehydration for hunger.

Oh and btw, keep supplies on you just in case shark week comes back. I went 2 months with nothing and then it just started for me and I started T not long after you. Best to be prepared, just in case. Lol.

[FTMDiaries]

LordKAT is bang on the money here, but I just thought I'd add that it's a good idea to keep the water chilled (or drink it with lots of ice). I read some research several years ago where they found that cold water will slow down your stomach - almost paralysing it for short periods - so you will feel less hungry because your stomach is 'stunned' by the cold. I drink about two litres a day, which I keep in separate 1-litre, pre-chilled bottles (so it's always cold when I drink it),

Also, most body fat comes from excess carbs, not excess fat in your diet. Refined sugar is especially bad, so try to not have any at all. Use low-calorie sweeteners if you really need some sweetness (but avoid those containing sucralose, because recent research has found that your body metabolises those into fat in the same way as sugar) but just try to go without if you can. Above all else, avoid carbonated drinks. Popular brands of cola contain around 8 teaspoons of sugar in each glass... so they're really bad for you if you want to lose weight.

I've cut out many of the carbs from my diet: I have a hit of them at breakfast in my high-fibre, high-fruit cereal, but then I'll have chicken breast with a ton of salad at lunch, followed by meat of some sort and either salad or low-calorie veg (broccoli, cabbage, carrots etc. - as much as I can pile on my plate) for dinner. I avoid sweets/candy like the plague: I just picture them going straight to my hips and that's enough to turn me off the idea. But I'm not out to punish myself, so like Jack_M I give myself one 'off' day in the week, when I can eat whatever I like. It's usually Sunday, but if I have a major craving for a chocolate bar on a Wednesday I'll make that my 'off' day for the week and get right back on the wagon on Thursday.

The biggest cause of my hunger is a lack of sufficient protein, which is why I try to fill up with hi-protein, low-carb foods like broccoli.

[dalebert]

I'm a fan of the low-carb approach; not the crazy low Atkins level, necessarily, but most people eat way too many of their calories in the form of carbs when fat is a slow-burning and more satisfying fuel. I realize it's an ongoing debate though. Carbohydrates wreak havoc with your insulin levels which can cause you to get hungry rapidly and often and then you crash after your body releases a lot of insulin making you tired and/or hungry. It tends to be easier to maintain energy levels for exercise and not get hungry as much if you replace some of your carb calories with healthy fat calories.

One thing I agree with that's been said is raising the quality of the food you eat. You probably should eat more protein because you're probably gaining muscle mass. A couple things to consider:

1) Muscle weighs more than fat
2) Muscle burns calories at a higher rate than fat. Fat only burns calories while you're active but muscle burns calories even while you're asleep.

And that means your body muscle to fat ratio could be shifting meaning you're losing fat even though you aren't obviously smaller right away or the scales might not show a dramatic change.

[chuck]

If you are trying to lose weight, burn more calories than you consume. So either continue eating whatever you want and add some cardio (like 45 intense minutes a day) or cut back on your calories and contiue with the same level of activity.

You may be succesful with low carb, high carb, low fat, high fat, etc etc, but in the end it comes down to burning more than you consume. 3000 calories of lettuce (which would be almost impossible to eat which is why veggies are great for a diet) is still 3000 calories. If you only burn 2k a day you can get still gain weight.

Track your calories and then get rid of some.

[geek]

i tend to eat whatever i want to but stick to a calorie limit that way i dont end up binging - so that probably doesnt help you - but i drink a LOT of water - it really helps

[anibioman]

eat more frequently and eat food thats less dense my big push is salad.