Reduced exercise/increased hunger?!

Hi guys,

I don't know if this is the right forum or if I should be in fitness...anyway...

I have cut back on my exercise routine in order to try to regain my period. I went from 1-2 hours a day (intense cardio and three x a week weights) to a "normal" routine (30-60 min a day, three x a week weights) without noticing any change in appetite one way or the other.

Then, about a week ago, I went to just walking (2-3 miles a day) and my thrice weekly 30 minute weights sessions. Switching down to this has apparently sent my appetite through the f===ing roof.

I am not eating disordered by I am definitely struggling with disordered thinking about eating and food and feel that at one point I was very close to having a full fledged ED. I mention this only because I wonder if

a) my body is like, "oh, damn, let's stockpile the fat while we can, while she's keeping the exercise down and the calories up (because I've been eating maintenance for MONTHS now)

b) My hunger is psychological (i.e. getting out of the restrict/overeat/overexercise to purge lifestyle) is causing me to think I'm hungry even though I no longer am

or

c) If this is some normal response to lowering exercise? I mean, I know that intense exercise and overtraining blunts hunger, is this the opposite? Or maybe I'm finally getting my hormones together and this hunger comes from that?

Just wondering if anyone else has had this come up for them? I'm still a little mentally fragile about gaining weight (am 5'5" and 112 pounds, up from a low of 107 but it took me five months to get here and I'm not happy with it) so it worries me. That said, I'm also trying to not be disordered in my thinking and sometimes understanding the physiological reason behind my cravings or moods or whatever helps me accept them.

Thank you in advance for any help you might have to offer. My best to all of you,

cao

I wonder if you were out of touch with your hunger because you were spending so much of your day exercising? Perhaps now that you are spending under an hour a day exercising, you body has more energy and time to send you cues about your physical needs? Also, maybe the only psychology at work here is that you know you are not as healthy as you could be and you KNOW the right thing is to eat more, but you are struggling with this idea that the feeling is "not okay" (when in fact it is totally natural).

First of all, relax :) Has your maintenance cal # dropped since you have quit the intense cardio? Maybe it is in response to that? (being used to more cals). Either way, your metabolism is probably fast as hell since you just stopped the intense workouts. Undereating now will not help that. That said, if you are hungry, eat for crying out loud! Get better now, don't risk falling back into the void!