Tough question to answer without more information, but we will assume you are losing weight so let's start there. Because of your hunger, make sure you are not losing more than 1LB/week. If you are losing more than that, then you should lessen the deficit to no more than 500 calories daily. If that's still difficult to maintain (it amounts to a 1LB loss per week) then increase food intake to lessen the deficit further, such as 250cals/day, which will still allow a 1/2LB per week loss. Remember, the closer you get to your goal the slower you need to proceed because it takes time to adjust all appetite mechanisms and lifestyle changes to your new weight. And the lighter, more fit you become, the fewer calories you burn doing the same activities.
Other tips to try: - a. Eat your last meal immediately before bed. In other words, whatever calories you have left at the end of your day that keeps you on goal, simply consume them, brush your teeth and retire for the night. And we don't care how many calories this is, which means you can save your entire dinner for this late night feeding. EX: if you are allowed 2200 calories for the day, consume 3 smaller meals up to the last hour before bed (3 meals of ~500 calories or because you ate immediately before bed eat only an Apex breakfast square as your 1st morning meal - its only 210 calories - leaving 2000 for the rest of the day). In this scenario you would have ~700-900 calories left to consume for the last meal, which is a fairly large dinner if comprised of healthy foods. I would also make this last meal high in fiber (e.g. large salad, whole wheat pasta or rice) and a large cut of your favorite lean meat. This type of meal gives you high volume with lower calories as opposed to fattier foods. Use the helpful bodybugg feature to determine exactly how many calories you have left to eat at the end of the day, which is rolling your arrow over the calories burned bar and it states: "you will burn X calories for the remainder of the day if you are sedentary" - with this number you now know how much you can consume and stay on goal because you will be sedentary the remainder of the day
- b. Try a mild sleep aid but do not use too long because many can become addicting--you may use it as you adjust your life to your new weight
- c. If you awake in the night, drink a non-caffeinated diet drink, and lots of it if necessary
- d. Move more throughout the day before your last meal so you can eat more
- e. Exercise in the evenings (before dinner) in order to improve sleep
At the end of the day, its always going to come down to how motivated you are to maintain the calorie deficit necessary for you to achieve your fitness goal (the good news is that once you reach your goal you will be able to increase your final calorie intake in order to maintain your new weight) . The main thing to remember is that there should be no hurry to reach your final desired weight, to the point of settling in and holding your current weight for a while until you are ready to attack a second goal. With all that said I will leave you with a question from another bb participant in which the answers may help you to continue progress.
Is there anything I can do to trick my mind? I have been dieting for a year now. I lost 25 pounds in the first three months. After that, every time I tried to start a new diet or meal plan my brain starts to mess with me. I get emotional and feel weak when it comes to discipline in foods to eat. I can't find that long term drive that I had before. Can you help me?? You are not alone! Everyone comes to that point where their body says that's enough fat loss for now, and the majority of the time after any significant fat loss, the body says "give me back that fat you took because it's my job to store fat in case you run out of food at some point". Fortunately that's how we evolved as a species, but unfortunately that innate "appetite wiring" no longer fits in the modern world where food is plentiful and life is very "fast" but basically sedentary (i.e. we hurry up to sit somewhere else).
A 25-pound loss is tremendous and when you get to the point you are at right now Apex Fitness Professionals generally tell people to remain there for a while until you feel you can maintain the lifestyle that got you there before trying to lose more.
When you feel you've adjusted you may then move on to the next goal.
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