getting "full" faster

S

sean

New Member
I'm doing my first cutting HST cycle so I'm cutting down on my caloric intake. On some meals (lunch and dinner specifically), the food that I eat varies so it's hard to keep know exactly how many calories I'm eating. To manage to cut down on that, I went from eating as much as I could when I was bulking to eating until I got a feeling like I was almost full. I've been noticing, though, that I've been getting this feeling earlier and earlier. So, I'm eating less and less food.

What causes this change? Should I keep using this subjective method?

Thanks

Sean
 
You should definitely count calories when you are dieting - at least for a couple of weeks to get ballpark figures. Depending on the macronutrient composition and fluid content of your meals, you may end up eating more or less calories than you want. The first part will not matter too much, you will simply end up gaining instead of losing. The latter part will be a lot more damaging to your results, as an excessive caloric deficit will lower metabolic rate, which in turn will slow fat loss, induce loss of muscle, fatigue etc etc.
 
Well, I knew about how many calories I ate per day when I was bulking. Since I started dieting, I just systematically cut down on each meal. I eat exactly the same meals every day for all but 2 meals. Lunch and dinner though vary so I just cannot count the calories...i can only estimate. I'm actually trying to eat about maintenance. I ate this amount during my SD and I didn't lose or gain weight for 2 weeks so I think it's ok. But, I since I'm getting full faster during those 2 meals, I'm wondering how much my diet has changed since then. Do you think I could just use a bit of trial and error with the way I'm doing things now, or is there some easy way of estimating calories (ya know without calculating the calories of all of the ingredients and then multiplying that by the percent of the entire portion that I ate, etc.)?
Thanks,
Sean
 
If you maintained with no activity on that caloric intake, you will definitely lose weight (mostly fat depending on other factors) when doing HST.

Try www.fitday.com for counting calories - it has a database containing a vast number of fast foods (burritos, pizza, ham and cheese sandwiches) which I'm sure you can use as estimations to your lunch and dinners by adjusting a couple of things.
 
Fitday - I just tried it these last couple of days after seeing it recommended here.
It totally blew me away. I had no idea how much of my calorie intake came from fat and alcohol, nor what my food intake really added up to. Essentially my intuition has been badly astray. It certainly explained a lot.
Biggest thing, I think I'd subconsciously been working as though the energy contribution by weight was roughly equal, whereas of course fat provides about twice as much enery by weight as protein.
Even if what you are doing is working, I think you would find fitday instructive...
It's a lot easier to bash some foods and serving sizes into fitday than work it all out on paper, that's for sure.
 
Yes, it is the first thing I tell my clients - and is always a shocking perspective to gain. Those who can't gain muscle are always eating less than they think, and those who can't lose fat are either eating way too much or too low calorie - which is just as bad as eating too much btw.
 
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