I've been progressing through OWL, raising my carbs and adding more food. Currently I am up to 30 grams net. Recently I've noticed my hunger has been out of control... my body now craves about 1400 calories daily (up from the 1100-1200 it used to). I think 1400 calories is too high to create a meaningful caloric gap (I am only 154 and live a sedentary lifestyle).

Do you think this new found hunger is because of the increase in carbs, and if so, will it ever go away? I don't think raising my carbs has affected my loss yet (I was down half a pound this morning), but I'm telling you it is very uncomfortable to feel like I am on a "diet" and I need to watch my food intake. It has actually made me quite depressed, as it brought back familiar feelings of being out of control with food. I'm just afraid. Afraid if I eat that many calories frequently, loss will stop. Afraid that if I keep feeling like this I won't succeed.

Another reason I think I might be more hungry isn't the carbs but because I had been losing nicely for awhile... my body might be rebelling against the loss (leptin and all that).

For example, my food portions now look so small to me. I will eat a 300 calorie breakfast (or more!) and 2 hours later I'll start to get that old feeling like a need a boost. 3 hours later and I am hungry again. This hasn't happened to me since starting atkins. Before, a 300 calorie breakfast was like a huge amount of food and I would usually stop eating before I finished it all.

This hunger doesnt feel like normal hunger, either. When I do eat it is very hard for me to stop, whereas before it was easier. It's almost as if my body is dying for food, so once I start to feed it it just "sets me off" and I feel like consuming a lot.
Another very, very disturbing thing is that even when I am full after eating, I am thinking about my next meal. I've started eating till discomfort sometimes, because I just have the overwhelming desire to again. I feel so out of control with food right now. I feel like I have been starving for a long time, and I think I feel this way because that's exactly what my body thinks was happening, actually.

What do you recommend I do? Should I just give in to my body and eat till satisfied for awhile (do maintenence) until my body stops freaking out, or should I try lowering the carbs first before I try that? I'll try anything because I don't like feeling like I'm dieting and I don't like feeling out of control.

I really think I am starting to run into issues of Leptin depletion here, so I am leaning towards trying maintenence for 2 weeks (or however long it takes) until I can get a handle on things again. But, if anyone else felt similarly when they raised the net carb limit to what I describe, I will try to cut back on carbs first. I just don't think raising carbs that slightly (5 grams to 30) can produce this kind of food obsession...