Hello,
If you read my earlier threads, you may remember I was worried that I was flubbing my weight loss attempts and permanently altering my metabolism by eating too few calories. The problem was I just wasn't hungry, so it was a struggle to eat, and as a consequence I was taking in an average of only 1000 cals per day, more or less.

However, I recently incorporated a cardio routine and since then I have noticed my appetite has greatly increased (or made a return to normal). It's not like sugar fueled hunger, it feels like a natural hunger. I also feel much better physically, I used to have dizziness and fluttering which have resolved themselves.

So I have two questions...
1) Is the hunger a sign my cardio is working, and that my metabolism is reved up and burning fat? Or is this probably unrelated, or caused by a lower concentration of ketones or something like that?
2) Is it alright if I totally indulge in my new hunger assuming I stick to the woe? See, I have a poor sense of portion control (caused by a lifetime of conditioning myself to respond to sugar-induced unnatural hunger) so I am kind of scared to just eat till I am satisfied without monitoring calories. In the event I do feel the urge to eat beyond my resting metabolic rate, should I, or will it cause me to be stalled?

Thank you

Hi there, Toots.

To answer your questions:

1) Increased activities will often lead to a corresponding increase in appetite. It's normal and it's to be expected. You're doing more therefore you require more food. In your case, you were eating too little and that is probably just contributing to the increased hunger. Your body is now getting more of the fuel it needs and it's enjoying it. I would take it as a positive sign, especially since I notice you're down another lb

2) If you're worried about going overboard I would monitor my intake, just to reassure myself. This is new territory right now, but once it becomes familiar you'll know you can trust yourself with the increased intake. If you're hungry, by all means EAT! Eating beyond your RMR isn't what leads to gaining or stalling - eating beyond your total caloric deficit is. RMR is only 60% of total caloric needs. In fact, eating beyond your total calorie needs every once in a while isn't going to hurt you! It can actually help you. Those big calorie days help to convince the body that calories are not restricted and dieting isn't really happening. It also resets some hormones that fall when caloric intake is restricted (chiefly, leptin).

Keep up the good work, you're doing great
Nat

Thanks again nat

In my experience, when I increase the intensity of my exercise, I often get very hungry. However, once my body gets used to the new exercise routine, my hunger falls back to reasonable levels -- I'm hungry at mealtimes and eat good meals, but I don't usually get hungry between meals.

I'm glad you are feeling better and that your appetite has returned.