I'm currently working out with Jillian Michaels DVD's, doing a rotation where I'm exercising anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour per day (usually one hour now.) My question is this: why am I so freakin' hungry? These last few days, it's like I'm simply unable to maintain fulness for any length of time. I had a (perhaps) 1,000+ calorie meal 6 hours ago, and a 300+ calorie healthy snack only two hours ago and I'm sitting here with my stomach starting to rumble again. I'd estimate that I normally consumed 2000-2500 calories daily, sometimes more: I'm definitely not dieting. But lately it's been ridiculous. I was under the impression that Jillian's workouts didn't burn that many calories! And I don't want to "eat back on" all the hard work I'm putting in...seems to me working out is pretty pointless if you have the constant urge to stuff your face because of it.


What to do? Is there a way I can structure my meals/mealtimes so that I don't run into this problem? Something else I should be doing/not doing? I feel like I'm always eating. :/

Another solution could be that your dehydrated. Dehydration can make the brain give hunger signals so people then usually eat more when starting exercising, when all they need to do is drink more water. Try drinking about 2ltr of water each day and more if your exercising. Spread your mealsnout and eat little and often. hope this helps.

I've read reviews that her workouts burn between 300 and 500 calories depending on the workout, so it's doing alright by the calorie burn, anyway.

Are you getting enough protein? I just followed the formula out of The Biggest Loser Food Journal, and it said someone my weight should eat 92 grams of protein a day, which seemed like alot to me. Maybe you're not getting enough protein?

^ Theresa nailed it on the head. I know I personally don't get enough protein unless I make a conscious effort to do so.

Both protein and fats will increase your post-meal satiety, but protein is more calorie-sparing (only 4 calories per gram versus 9).

From what I understand the JM workouts are primarily cardio focused, and you wouldn't be the first one to get super hungry from cardio.

And Banish Fat Boost Metabolism is legendary for spiking your metabolism in the first week. So since you're not doing it consistently, you may just be seeing that over and over. The first week of BFBM for me, I ate everything that was either dead or seriously slowed down. I ate like crazy! And then as fast as it came, it was gone!

Perhaps you could space out your calories more evenly throughout the day? Eating half of your daily calorie intake in one single meal doesn't seem like the best idea to me. I track my calories often and the only time I've eaten a meal of 1,000+ is when I've either eaten a 3-course meal, or a KFC.

Louise wrote:

Perhaps you could space out your calories more evenly throughout the day? Eating half of your daily calorie intake in one single meal doesn't seem like the best idea to me. I track my calories often and the only time I've eaten a meal of 1,000+ is when I've either eaten a 3-course meal, or a KFC.

Actually, eating fewer higher-calorie meals is considered superior for appetite-control: www.leangains.com . . .

1000 calories is a lot for a meal though, I still think if you added (more) lean sources of protein to your meals you would be more satisfied for 1/3 less calories.

Thanks for the advice guys.

As far as protein, I don't eat much meat since hubby is vegetarian, but I try to get some protein into each meal and snack (nuts/nut butters, beans, lentils, whole-grain pastas with protein, yogurt, cheese, etc.) and I also supplement with protein powder when I'm working out. Maybe twice a week I eat fish, and once in a blue moon I'll have chicken or something. So I doubt lack of protein is the issue, but I'll be sure to keep track of it to be certain.

Something I thought of...I've been keeping tabs on myself over the last couple days, and I've determined that I probably eat too much white flour. Not that I never consume whole grains: I probably have 1-2 servings of something like whole grain cereal, brown rice, whole grain pasta, or Kashi waffles daily, but the rest of my intake for the day is pretty refined. I'm going to try to work on that.


Hydration? That could potentially be an issue. Over the last 3-4 months I've become much better about drinking plain water instead of juices, sodas and flavored waters. But the problem is, if I'm not actively thirsty, I have a very hard time remembering/forcing myself to drink. I think I'll definitely need to work on that; I didn't realize that could be contributing to my hunger issues.


Thanks again. Hopefully I can get my appetite under control here!

Carry water. Get a cool water bottle, and always have it with you. If it's always in your hand or in your direct line of sight, it's alot easier to remember to drink it. That's why you see the people on The Biggest Loser carry their water around like most people carry cell phones - if it's always on you, you remember it!