Reactions to eating

[KulaShaker]

Hey John and others
I have a question about the body's response to food.

I've noticed that when I eat a moderate and balanced meal (500 cal 40/30/30 like the zone) and try to wait 3 hours or so between meals, I get the following reaction:
end of meal - 1+30 - not hungry enough to notice.
1+30 - 2+00 - Getting really hungry
2+30 - edgy and/or sometimes sleepy if not ravenous
3+00 - symptoms fade away into background hunger that's hardly noticeable again.
Option: eat and repeat or forget and get food within the next 3 hours. I can go all the way to 6+00 before my energy drops off and I NEED to eat!

Why is this happening?! If I wait 6 hours between meals, I trend toward overeating, but I don't get enough during the day and I think my body is holding onto fat because it thinks it's starving a little. But I also don't like the crashes all the time

Any insights?

[John Peterson]

Hello KulaShaker,

Yours is a perfect example of a man who is discovering why he needs to be his own best expert on how and when to feed his body. Regardless of what may or may not work well for other people, if it doesn't work for you then you should dump it.

I recommend that you try a variety of possibilities. For instance, have another 200-300 calories at the 1+30 to 2+00 time when you feel really hungry then wait and see how long before hunger hits once again. Keep a record and try out different scenarios for a month. i assure you that you will see patterns emerge and you will be able to work out a customized eating schedule that is right for you.

---John Peterson

[Free]

A couple thoughts. You could be more insulin resistant and need fewer carbs and more fat than a Zone ratio.
:cake::starving:

Another possibility is that you might be eating something that you have an allergy to. This can cause withdrawal and cravings.:pizza::doctor:

These new emoticons are fun!!

[gruntbrain]

Experiment with green tea; perhaps there's somethin' to all the hype

[KulaShaker]

Hello KulaShaker,

Yours is a perfect example of a man who is discovering why he needs to be his own best expert on how and when to feed his body. Regardless of what may or may not work well for other people, if it doesn't work for you then you should dump it.

I recommend that you try a variety of possibilities. For instance, have another 200-300 calories at the 1+30 to 2+00 time when you feel really hungry then wait and see how long before hunger hits once again. Keep a record and try out different scenarios for a month. i assure you that you will see patterns emerge and you will be able to work out a customized eating schedule that is right for you.

---John Peterson
Hey John - thanks for the advice!

Last month, I did try seeing what happens when I eat around the 2+00 mark for 2 days. I'm fine until I get home and realize that I'm just not satisfied and it's harder (not impossible) to not start snacking. Banana, yogurt, green beans, oatmeal, cheese, chicken, pistachios - whatever I can find. It's like I start craving something, but can't figure out what. I feel very restless for sure, so I'll have to keep experimenting.

Free - how can I see if I'm allergic to something? II would say it's fairly subtle if I am

It's funny, my weight has been at 220 (I'm 6'2") and it won't budge. I'll eat a lot/little and not see changes. I'll work out a lot and drop 1-3 and then I'll burnout some and float up 1-2 pounds. There's not a lot of consistency in my life, so I can't always set up controls to notice small changes.

I'll be compiling a month of data to look for patterns

[cjt1979]

Hey John - thanks for the advice!

Last month, I did try seeing what happens when I eat around the 2+00 mark for 2 days. I'm fine until I get home and realize that I'm just not satisfied and it's harder (not impossible) to not start snacking. Banana, yogurt, green beans, oatmeal, cheese, chicken, pistachios - whatever I can find. It's like I start craving something, but can't figure out what. I feel very restless for sure, so I'll have to keep experimenting.

Free - how can I see if I'm allergic to something? II would say it's fairly subtle if I am

It's funny, my weight has been at 220 (I'm 6'2") and it won't budge. I'll eat a lot/little and not see changes. I'll work out a lot and drop 1-3 and then I'll burnout some and float up 1-2 pounds. There's not a lot of consistency in my life, so I can't always set up controls to notice small changes.

I'll be compiling a month of data to look for patterns

Hi KulaShaker

Maybe you have hypoglcemia? I have this too, whereby if i don't eat regularly my blood sugar goes too low making me feel bad (anxious, panicky) etc and have to go eat something, but i sometimes - if i leave it too late - can't stop eating! Guess it's a brain response in panic to my blood sugar having gone too low which it's hard to over ride consciously

I have read that this problem can be caused by adrenal fatigue, and also insulin resistance.

With my condition, i have found that eating smaller meals ever 2, 2.5 hours helps keep it at bay. I set my countdown timer on my phone for 2 hours so when it goes off i know i have a small window in which to eat something before i feel bad. I try to eat a complex/low gi carb and a protein. If i do this,i feel fine - it's apparently very stressful to the body if it has to keep rescuing from a low blood sugar situation

I actually found this helped me lose weight, too. Perhaps try googling hypoglycemia and see if that fits in with what you experience?

Chris

[Free]

Subtle food allergies can manifest as cravings, that are mistaken for hunger.

If this is a blood sugar issue, you might want to examine your meal ratio's more closely. Can you give us an idea what foods your regular meals are made up of?

[gruntbrain]

Experiment mindfully with caffeine.

[JoeJustice]

KulaShaker, I feel your pain muh brotha! Us fat boys gotta stick together :highfive:

I have been stuck at 200lbs and a 37" wast for months! I was eating around 1,800 calories a day and working out (resistance training) 5 days a week. And what happened? Nothing, flat out nothing. I just kept at it hoping something would change and it just didn't.

Finally I did two thing that have done this month has gotten me past this plateau! And what I did was basically harking back to old-school somatotype training. A lot of this type of self evaluation has been eschew by the fitness industry lately for more of a one-side-fits-all approach to diet and exercise. I am an endomorphic type, which means I gain weight pretty easily. So I needed an exercises program to work with that body type, 1,800 callories was too much to lose fat and too little to build muscle.

So I did two things: More cardio and more food!

I run 2 miles (soon to be 3) three days a week first thing in the morning and have been eating close to 3,000 calories a day. I eat more than 1,000 calories more than I did when I was spinning my wheels and am still losing body fat! which I have to say I'm thrilled about because I was really getting upset at that plateau for so long.

So my suggestion is to make sure you get enough to eat and no matter what the "experts" say, cardio will do you a world of good if you are of an endomorphic type like me. Also stick with whole foods as much as you can the fiber in fruits and veggies help you feel full and slow sugar absorption and get plenty of protein.

-Joe

[gruntbrain]

Another experiment:
Add a strength component to your cardio sessions - eg while walking perform upper body isotonmetrics ( isotontics + isometrics with clasped hands). The resulting activity will build muscle while at the same time ramp up your calorie burning heartrate