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I'm soooo hungry...ALL THE TIME!

Danielle SantucciDanielle Santucci
in General Training Discussions
Let me first begin by saying I have a very good amount of will power. I eat very well, lean proteins, healthy fats, no gluten, no "recreational sugar" as John Withrow calls it, yet I'm starving all the time right now. I'm in week 16 of IM training and there isn't a moment in the day I'm not hungry. Is this normal and if so how do I tame this desire to eat eat eat?!?!

Thanks for your input image

Comments

  • Dino SartiDino Sarti
    How is weight holding out? If you losing or maintaining consider adding more snacks into the day and then play with the calorie intake to prevent weight gain.
  • Danielle SantucciDanielle Santucci
    Dino, typically I fluctuate in weight +- 3 lbs no matter what I eat. I was blessed with a high metabolism and have played sports all of my life, so weight gain has never been an issue. The problem I think is that I've never been this hungry before (with the exception of when I played basketball in college...but back then I was 20 and I ate cereal and mozzarella sticks as my primary source of food image )

    I'm worried that if I do increase my caloric intake and feed this never ending hunger, it could in fact put weight on that will not be good to have racing IMAZ.
  • Dino SartiDino Sarti
    Others may or may not agree and I am NOT a professional at this, but over the last 3 years I have worked pretty closely with a sports nutritionist and understand how MY body works. That being said, not knowing anything about you, but what you put above, I say flirt with a few more calories. Most advice 3 meals and 3 snacks during the day and when doing tons of exercise, you need to ensure you are not developing a massive calorie deficit. Meaning, burning 3,000 calories on a long ride and then only eating 1,500 that day. Big deficits can hurt your performance down stream and drive you to binge.

    Try eating normally, but eat more while exercising. Sometimes if I starve myself while riding it will haunt me later in the day. Instead, I feed aggressively on the bike and then eat normally during the day.

    All that said.... I say experiment with a bit more and see how you feel. Try either more calories or the same calories with smaller more frequent eating.

    But, who am I to give advice? I have been eating Halloween candy since IM Tahoe ended my season... image
  • Danielle SantucciDanielle Santucci
    Dino, thanks for your input, I will try and add more calories but do it cautiously and see how it goes. Thanks for the belly laugh on eating the Halloween candy...have purposefully not gotten mine yet to avoid the temptation. But for you, after tackling IMLT, I say get at it!!! Lol!
  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    @Danielle, I might suggest looking at more EXERCISE calories...it's more race-specific anyway, and let's you be safe elsewhere with more of a routine diet. You should be eating like you are racing every single workout right now!!!! image So a gel 15 mins before...and next get at 10 minute mark...drink drink chomp chomp drink chomp...

    image
  • Danielle SantucciDanielle Santucci
    Ugh Coach...all that sugar is killing me image. But I'm a good student so I will do as I'm told.
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