I Feel Like I'm Both Eating Too Much and Not Eating Enough

I created a topic last week regarding the teen calculator at the BCM website, and how it suggested that I eat 3000 calories to maintain my weight, and therefore 2500 to lose. I thought that that sounded slightly high, as I'd never heard of a weight loss program with that many calories, but a few kind posters explained how it was sensible for a girl of my age (17).

I've been poking around old forum posts, and I found one entitled "Any Athletes?" in the YCC forum. I am a triathlete (only sprint tris so far...I just started this summer), and this thread sparked my interest. Most of the posters on that thread said that they were eating 2000 calories or less to maintain their weights...some with 18 hours of exercise per week! Nobody seemed to be maintaining on the 3000 calories that the teen calculator suggests...not even close to that, in fact. I'm confused. Am I overeating, then? Are they all under eating? I really want to be a successful athlete. I recently decreased my exercise to about 14 hours per week of training (plus walking with friends and active work around the house every day) rather than 21+ hours. I realized that that was an excessive amount of exercise, and I worked my way down to my current activity level, which I intend to maintain. Now I feel like a slug, and the fact that all of the posters on the "Any Athletes?" thread eat just the same or less than me to maintain AND some of them exercise more than me makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong. I probably shouldn't be comparing myself so much...argh.

On top of that, I've been waking up every night hungry (and I have a balanced, low GI snack before bed every night) after 1-3 hours of sleep every night. Some nights I can't even sleep because I feel too hungry. It's really odd. I've been eating 2500 calories, and I don't eat junk or anything. I'm hypoglycemic and I eat balanced meals and snacks throughout the day in order to keep my blood sugars balanced. I don't understand how 2500 could leave me feeling hungry still.

Any insight? I really appreciate you reading this and responding to it. I apologize if I'm being annoying or anything...

By the way, I am a little taller than 5'4 and I weigh around 140 pounds.

Other people are other people.   If they choose to undereat to maintain an artificially low weight (and that's unfortunately quite common around here), that's really their business, their health, their look-out.  You don't want to be bent double with osteoporosis aged 40... maybe they're OK with that.   But if you're waking up feeling hungry in the middle of the night, that's got to be a really strong clue that you either need to eat more (calories) or get better nutrition from your food choices or find foods that are more filling and sustaining... or some combination of the three..... you that is, not necessarily all these others.  

140lbs for someone 5'4" isn't overweight.  And that's especially true for someone who is very muscular.  I'd say your body is telling you that it needs more than you're giving it.... and that it doesn't especially want to be any thinner.

Hi, Char, I was one of those people telling you to listen to your body, and I ditto everything GI-Jane says in her response.

All the tools here at CC are great, but they are estimates.  How much any given person burns at any given activity level can only be known by monitoring the changes over a significant period of time (weeks and months, not days). 

Also, remember that there are lots of sources of error in estimating intake.  Many people think they are eating a certain amount of calories, but are not weighing everything that goes into their body, and logging every single thing they eat.  Also, even the calorie/nurtrition database is full of estimates or averages. 

I have also noticed that some people make a claim of eating such and such calories, but when questioned admit that they don't actually log their intake at all, let alone accurately.

Eat enough good foods to fuel your athletic endeavors and stay healthy, and your weight will take care of itself.

I'm 21 and do triathlons. I'm 5'2" and around 140lbs so not too different from yourself. I maintain on around 2500 calories and train approx 7-10 hours a week atm. You're younger, slightly taller and train more so 3000 calories doesn't sound too off for maintenance. Everyone is different though-you can try out 2500 cals for a couple of weeks and see what happens with your weight.

Thank you--all three of you--for your support and help. I think that I should just avoid the YCC forum from now on...that should help me to avoid comparisons. I do record what I eat very carefully--food scale and all, and I eat plenty of nourishing foods and a balanced diet of them. I haven't eaten sweets in a LONG time...I lost my taste for them years ago.

Nobody can ever seem to guess my weight. Those around me think that I weigh 130 lbs, if that. So yes, I likely do have a fair amount of muscle mass. Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that I physically feel miserable. I've had major stomach and fatigue issues for the past few years, and they hit an all time high after I put on 20-30 lbs this past Spring. My doctor is having my thyroid checked by a holistic doctor (the blood tests are only 60% accurate, and mine came back borderline), as I suffer from many of the symptoms of Hypothyroidism. If that is the case, I guess that that could be the true cause of my current physical discomfort.

I'm going to give what I'm doing a couple of weeks and see what happens. If I wake up to my stomach screaming for food, then I'll eat, but otherwise I'll stick to 2500 calories per day. Perhaps not eating right before bedtime would help, too.

One other thing...when I say that I exercise for 14 hours per week, it isn't composed solely of heavy exercise. I run for 3.5 hours per week, bike for 7 hours, weight train for 1.5 hours, and speed walk (4 MPH) for 2 hours. I don't count my job, my daily housework, leisurely walks with my friends or stretching as exercise, but I wonder if what I do count as activity all qualifies as such. The teen calculator never really specifies what counts as activity in its calculations...

I'm OCD, can you tell? ;-)

'Activity' is everything that isn't sitting down.  In your case you'd just bundle all that together and call it 'very active'.... more than an hour a day.   But if, when you eat the 'very active' amount of calories you lose weight or you feel hungry, eat some more.

Keep it simple....  Eating well is a natural bodily function.  It isn't meant to be a maths exam.

Original Post by gi-jane:

'Activity' is everything that isn't sitting down.  In your case you'd just bundle all that together and call it 'very active'.... more than an hour a day.   But if, when you eat the 'very active' amount of calories you lose weight or you feel hungry, eat some more.

Keep it simple....  Eating well is a natural bodily function.  It isn't meant to be a maths exam.

 

I like that way of thinking, Gi-Jane. Thanks. I giggled a bit when you said that activity is anything that it not sitting down, as I sit down for an hour a day at the most. Most of my web-surfing is through my cell phone when I'm walking to a friend's house or something of the like. But, anyway, I shall try to play it by ear and stop myself from letting my OCD take over. :-)

If you ever get the chance, spend some time in France.   Ask a french restaurant how many calories were in your 'steak frites' and they will look at you as if you are a prize lunatic.  Suggest to a frenchwoman that the little chocolate cake she is about to indulge in will ruin her figure and you will be met with a gallic shrug of the shoulders and entreatments not to be so silly.   'Obsession with food' in french terms is seeking out the quintessential cheese or making the perfect truffle omelette.....

And, if you can't get to France, I'd recommend a hilarious little read by Mireille Guiliano called 'French Women Don't Get Fat'.  Not strictly anatomically correct..... some frenchwomen are very generously proportioned..... but an education in how to leave the miserable business of calorie-counting and nutritional head-banging behind.

Original Post by gi-jane:

If you ever get the chance, spend some time in France.   Ask a french restaurant how many calories were in your 'steak frites' and they will look at you as if you are a prize lunatic.  Suggest to a frenchwoman that the little chocolate cake she is about to indulge in will ruin her figure and you will be met with a gallic shrug of the shoulders and entreatments not to be so silly.   'Obsession with food' in french terms is seeking out the quintessential cheese or making the perfect truffle omelette.....

And, if you can't get to France, I'd recommend a hilarious little read by Mireille Guiliano called 'French Women Don't Get Fat'.  Not strictly anatomically correct..... some frenchwomen are very generously proportioned..... but an education in how to leave the miserable business of calorie-counting and nutritional head-banging behind.

My mom actually followed that diet for a while...she found it difficult to maintain, actually. I guess that that was due to the immense amount of emotional eating in US society and the fact that she's pretty go-go-go, often having to skip lunch at work and rarely having time to savor a meal. I love the French's way of thinking, though...they really have a fantastic relationship with food. I've not read that book, but I speak French as a second language and have researched their culture in conjuntion with my laungage studies.

Thank you so much for your kind help.

From my extraordinarily brief time in Paris (I had a one day stopover there), I can see how that would work in France.  I went into the city, and after I came out of the metro, I passed a few shops that sold food, but I wasn't hungry at the time, so I figured I'd just pick up something later when I was.  Later, when I was hungry, I passed a couple of expensive sit down cafes, but I was by myself and didn't have a lot of money to spend, and was just looking for something simple and inexpensive.  I walked up and down the streets of Paris and couldn't find anything.  It was a far cry from US cities where you are constantly bombarded with multiple places to buy quick and easy food.  I grew up near New York city, and in Manhattan, you can't walk 2 blocks without bumping into a deli, a pizza place, a chinese place, a couple of vendor carts and an ice cream store.

In Paris, I finally found a street fair where I bought a crepe.  Best crepe I ever had, actually.  Food is definitely treated very differently in France.