Help!

I started Atkins in March and have had very good success. I didn't worry about eating healthy early on, but have modified my eating habits over the past 6 months to less fat, more vegatables. I am almost to my goal weight and still losing slowly. I've increased my carb intake slowly and seemingly had things under control. The carb increase is coming mainly from nuts, an occasional sugar free snack and I have also been eating Atkins morning start bars (instead of bacon and eggs all the time) for about 6 weeks which is not something I was doing the first several months.

This past week I am hungry an hour or two after every meal. I just didn't have this problem before and am stumped as to what happened to cause this?

One other thing, I am excersizing more now than I was before, usually an hour or so every other day, riding my bike a lot or doing something with weights. I have steadily increased this activity in the past couple months. I don't notice a difference on days when I excersize as opposed to days when I don't.

Anyone have any ideas what could be causing all this hunger? I've tried to maintain my eating habits but having this hunger all the time is getting to me. I am losing a pound or so every three weeks, so I know if I eat more, weight lose will stop and I am determined to meet my goal.

I appreciate any ideas or thoughts anyone may have.

Thanks,

Bill

I can think of a couple of things that might be causing this. How many carbs are you eating a day? I know on the days I have higher carb days, I get hungry more often.

The increased excersize might also be a factor. You are increasing your metabolism all the way around. Your body will continue to burn fat hours after a good workout. I would think that considering this, you could probably up your calories a bit as long as you kept your carbs at the current level without it hurting your weight loss.

Those bars can be killers. I had to give them up. Nuts can also be a problem for some folks. Also, it is normal for your hunger to come back. What's weird is that it is coming back so soon after eating. Are you eating enough fat? It can be tricky to balance everything as you get closer to your goal. The first thing I'd try is dropping the bars.

Good luck.

I do not maintain a daily average of carbs. However, I average between 30 and 60 carbs a day on a continual basis. I think my "ACE' is around 50. The higher carb days are generally filled with more nuts, some fruit, low carb breads and sometimes low card snacks like sugar feee chocolates, low carb ice cream, stuff like that.

I guess I should try eating more, I just hate to interfere with getting to that final goal. I am kinda obsessed with it because it's been a huge and so far successful challenge.

Thanks for your reply.

Last week for the first time I ate one of those Morning Start bars and then later that day ate an Atkins bar for the first time since starting Atkins. All last week I was starving all the time even right after a meal. Maybe a coincidence, maybe not. I eat sugar free chocolate bars and never had this problem with them.

i too notice that when i eat an atkins bar, i get more of an appetite

Thanks to all for replying. I think I will try to go off the bars for a week or so and see if that helps any. I hope it's not them because I love those creamy cinnamon bun bars...

bill, also one of the reasons you may be experiencing hunger more quickly is that you are cutting back fat. remember that it is the fat in this diet that is keeping us more satiated. how much fat are you eating a day? dr. atkins suggested about 70%. i'd suggest up the fat and don't eat the bars as often. maybe that will work.

good luck!

Billj
You mentioned that the appetite increase isn't the day of your workout but the next day ... well I'm the same way. Its sort of like my muscles don't complain the day I work out but wait until the next day to let me know how they feel. I've noticed that my appetite does the same thing ... hungrier the day after.

Also, if you try to eliminate the bars and find that they are not part of the hunger problem you might want to think of upping your calories and/or fat a bit. You said that you've been increasing your activity ... your body may be telling you that it needs more calories. Sounds funny but if it needs more calories it won't let you loose that last bit of weight to goal.

I'm in OWL and I've upped my calories and carbs just this week and instead of 1 lb/week it looks like I'll have 2-3lbs loss by the end of this week. Of course you seem to know what your carb level is already. I'm still increasing mine to find my level.

Congratulations on being so close to goal. Good job!

You said that you have gradually been increasing your exercise. You could try stabilizing it for a couple of weeks -- stay at the same level you are now -- and see what that does to your appetite. Whenever I increase the intensity of my exercise, I notice that I get much hungrier. After I get used to the new level, my hunger goes down. I think that what is happening is that I am physically tired when I am pushing myself more and our bodies often confuse tiredness and hunger. I know that the same thing happens when I don't get enough sleep -- I am famished the next day.

In the DANDR book Dr. Atkins addresses the question of "Why has my appetite increased, and what can I do to manage it?" His answer:

Appetite can return when you are no longer in lipolysis. Or you may have added a food that may be causing your blood sugar to become unstable, contributing to hunger or the reemergence of cravings. Examine what you've recently added and determine if it contains sugar or refined grain. Be sure that you are maintaining a regular intake of protein and fat and, if eating more of acceptable foods assuages your hunger, eat a bit more. If all else fails, stop the most recent additions until you get your appetite under control.

To add to what Lori posted. Some of the atkins indulge bars seem to have suger in them. Namely the good ones. I noticed that after eating the wafer bars i get hungry soon after the plain choclate and the peanut butter cups don't do this to me. YMMV thoguh.

Gabrielle