Help! I'm Working Out And Now I'm Starving!

Now I'm sharing what I know with you fitness , nutrition and all the deeper stuff to help you discover your strongest body . Hello , hello , welcome back to another episode of your Strongest Body .

I am laughing because I start the podcast the exact same way every time , and every time I'm like okay , you don't have to , there's no script here , you can say whatever . But as soon as this little little recording button goes on , I just shift into my pattern . So I mean , it's a three-second little thing that I say the same every time .

I'm not sure it's going to change . There are some things we can change about ourselves , and then there are some things that I'm afraid we cannot , and maybe the intro my little two-sentence intro to the podcast is just not going to change . My little two-sentence intro to the podcast is just not going to change .

I hope you're having a good day as you're listening to this . We are talking about getting hungrier because you are working out more and what to do about it . This was a great question that came from my Built Bodies group . With their increased exercise , they wanted to know . So I wanted to make an episode for this person that asked it .

I didn't ask her if I could share her name before I recorded , so I'm just going to make this episode and know that it is for you and I'm giving you the answer here as well as going to reach out to you , but I thought this could apply to everyone . So I think that's really important .

But before we get into it , let me see if there are any updates or important things to know . I started the podcast and I remembered that this weekend my daughter , my almost three-year-old loves this microphone and I'm begging her not to play with it because it's a nice podcasting microphone .

So I said , if you leave it where it is , if you don't touch it , you can do a little song . So she always is singing Belle and she sang Belle into the microphone and I think she didn't mess with it too much . But every time I come back to it I'm like I got to shift it around . Other than that , got a lot of things I'm accomplishing this week .

A little programming note , though I don't know that it really anybody is losing sleep over it , but next week I go on vacation , so I am going to release podcast episodes , but I'm going to release them on Sunday and Friday . I usually do it on Mondays and Thursdays , but I'm going to release them on Sunday and Friday .

So , just for anyone who is attached to a schedule , that is when I'm releasing the episodes . All right , let's get into this conversation . So , like I said , member of the Built Bodies group asked about feeling . They're feeling way more hungry now that they have been so consistent with exercise and that they are training more . This totally makes sense , right ?

We are moving more , we are burning more , so we are going to feel more hungry . The question becomes and what I love about it is there is an attention to yourself , an ability to tune in and notice that you . An awareness that's the word I was looking for . I don't know why it left my mind An awareness around feeling more hungry .

Sometimes our biggest obstacles are that we aren't aware of how we're feeling or what we're taking in or what we are consuming , and so when we aren't stopping to think about our hunger cues , our fullness cues , what we are eating mindfully eating then that's where we kind of get messed up , because if we're not paying attention then we're not able to determine

whether we've changed something and then we don't see the results that we want to see . So I love the awareness around noticing more hunger cues . Like I said , it totally makes sense that you would feel more hungry because you are exercising more . The question becomes with that information , we have to ask ourselves what is the goal that you are trying to reach ?

Because what we do with that added hunger is going to depend on the goal , on the goal For life in general .

If you are trying to feel better , stronger , you want to enjoy your quality of life more , anything like that then eat more Eat when you are hungry , aim to have more nutrient-dense foods , aim to have a high protein diet , aim to eat mindfully so that when you have this added hunger you're not just consuming at will and not really thinking about what you're taking

in . But in general , our body is pretty good at letting us know .

If we're burning more and we're trying to be the same size that we are currently , as well as feel energy and feel capable , then honestly , we just need to eat when we're hungry and , again , we're prioritizing those foods that are going to support our training , because it's not necessarily just eat more .

It's like eat more of the foods that are going to nourish you , support what you're doing . You can certainly eat more of the foods that have less of those qualities , because they're probably nourishing your soul and they taste great and they're an important part of your life .

But if you really want to feel your best , you're probably going to prioritize protein , nutrient-dense foods . But basically use your sense of hunger as a tool for eating more when you want to build muscle and you're only focusing on building muscle . So this is specifically on kind of putting on muscle and this is a goal for people .

Some people really want to put on muscle . They're not concerned about losing body fat . They are concerned with adding muscle to their body , maybe actually even increasing their size .

If you are feeling more hungry because you are working out and you're trying to just build muscle , then you are feeling more hungry because you are working out and you're trying to just build muscle . Then you are going to want to eat more and you are going to want to eat more protein .

We know that for muscle recovery , for increased muscle size and for strength . We want to increase our protein content . So that's if that is your goal . So that's if that is your goal .

If your goal is body recomposition which you probably have heard from me before where you're trying to either build or maintain muscle , so you want to create , maybe , defined muscle , maybe you want to .

You know we use the term kind of colloquially as getting toned , so you want to have that happen as well as you want to lose body fat , then we have to take a look at these hunger cues as a means of kind of letting us know we're a little bit on the right track . Now I am going to say this so carefully .

I'm not encouraging you to cut back so much that you constantly feel hungry , and the idea of feeling hungry as some sort of moral victory is not something I want to promote . I hope that that's clear .

I also want to say that if you're trying to be in a calorie deficit , meaning you're trying to eat less than you burn in order to lose body fat , it is very likely that you're going to feel hungry sometimes because you're actually taking in less food than your body needs to stay at that given size . So that is going to have to happen at some point .

How do we manage that ? Well , by maintaining or increasing our protein intake we can feel less hungry as we reduce those calories . That's a big part of it . We can also manage that with eating timing . So food timing , what do I mean by that ?

I mean making sure that in our windows after our workouts or in we don't go too long throughout the day without eating . We kind of position our meals and snacks around times where we would feel more hungry or where we could optimize our recovery window .

It's really important to eat within that two to three hour , you know , workout post-workout window super important . We also want to eat , you know , frequently enough that we aren't getting so hungry where our decisions about food start to kind of get out of control . That's kind of an important thing .

We want to feel like we can make the decisions that best suit our recovery , best suit our muscle gain or maintaining muscle , so that we have the energy to do things , so that we can concentrate on our life . Because also , we want to remember if we're not competing in a bodybuilding competition or something . This is in support of our real life .

We do not want to have to feel obsessed about what we're taking in or feel so hungry and so distracted all the time that we can't live our lives . So we optimize that caloric deficit with increased protein and meal timing .

Something else to think about If you're feeling really hungry and you're in a caloric deficit when you're working out a lot , if your workouts are suffering , it's probably time to increase the amount of calories you're taking in . If you are feeling distracted , like I said , or like you can't do anything , the hunger is too much .

We are probably just going to have to adjust that caloric deficit . So sometimes people who are trying to lose body fat try to cut a drastic amount of calories . Depending on the level of activity that you've increased as well , that can feel even more .

So I typically suggest for people who are just trying to do body recomposition for their general life to feel better , to look better . You know and I say look better in quotes . You know what I mean Thinking about how you feel , about the way you look .

If that is a goal for you , then we're probably shooting for somewhere between 250 to a 500 calorie deficit . If you are shooting for that 500 calorie deficit and you're increasing your activity level you might feel super hungry . It is okay to shift it to 400 calorie deficit , 300 calorie deficit , 200 calorie deficit .

The results might take a little longer but they might be more sustainable because you don't feel way too hungry all the time or you have so much training energy that you're accomplishing more there and you don't need as much of a deficit .

So really it's a bit of a puzzle game of figuring out which pieces work best for you , tuning into your body , trying something for at least a week to two weeks , maybe longer , and what I mean is the calorie deficit stuff .

If you're feeling really hungry and you can try it for a week and then you start to see it really is distracting for your life , then it's time to change it .

If it isn't impeding on your life and you're feeling good , you probably want to allow still four to six weeks to be able to see if it is giving you the results you want before you adjust those totals . I hope that makes sense . If something is really detracting from life , don't wait too long to change .

If things are working or you're feeling good , at least give it enough time to see if there are results and then , if you have to make an adjustment . You can make an adjustment . Moral of the story sometimes , if our goal is fat loss , we've got to feel a little hungry .

Too hungry means we can't concentrate , we can't train well , we are a pain in the butt to be around because we're hangry all the time . And is it worth it , especially if our goal is for that fat loss to improve our quality of life , even if you like the way you look better but you're miserable all the time ?

It is probably not worth it If you're feeling hungry and it's not too distracting and you are able to increase your protein a little , to feel a little more satiated most of the time , and you're making sure you're optimizing those windows of eating a little bit before your workout , prioritizing protein and carbohydrates within those first two hours after your workout ,

spreading out your protein and calorie intake over the day , so you're not going too long without food and you're still a little hungry , but your workouts are crushing and you're starting to see results . That's the magic spot . That's the magic spot .

And we don't want to be hungry all the time , but we got to be okay and comfortable with , like , we might not feel entirely full all the time . Now we're not going to do that forever , ideally , because we don't want to stay in a deficit all the time .

Once we get to where we want to be , we're going to find our maintenance place where we can maintain our training and our bodies . At that place , feel good , enjoy mostly nutrient-dense food with a lot of the things that we love mixed in , and we're not going to be hungry forever . If that's a goal .

If those are not the goal and you're just trying to get stronger or feel better , then listen to your body and eat more food . Maybe eat more food that is nutrient-dense and protein-rich so that you see the best results and so that you feel the best . Protein rich so that you see the best results and so that you feel the best .

But you know , go with what works best for you . Go with what works best for you . Just realize it's going to be different based on your goal .

Last thing about this is one of the great things about the awareness of the increased hunger is that for many people I see and work with , they aren't all that aware that when they have started increasing their workout , they are eating a lot more and then they're frustrated with a lack of results because they are working out a ton , working really hard and not

seeing change . But if they are just refilling those calories that they burned and their goal is to lose body fat , we're not going to see that change . It is okay . It's just maybe something you're not thinking about .

So if you haven't brought awareness to your hunger cues or to how much you're consuming , if you haven't done any practice , sort of like tracking for some amount of time and I only use tracking for people who have muscle building or fat loss goals If you have quality of life stuff , I don't know that it's all that important , but if you have a fat loss goal

and you want to see some change in that way , you probably need to know how much you're taking in so that you know that you aren't just overeating because you are working out more .

And so building that awareness cue which this client has done so well , building that awareness is going to be really helpful in determining what to do next , because then they can take this information and decide what is best . And again , it is real life .

So you're going to have like some wins some days and not some other , and sometimes you're going to be so hungry and you're going to be like I need to eat more . Okay , eat more . Just realize , like you know , in general we are not talking about every day has to be perfect . We're going with . Most days need to be pretty good .

Most days need to be pretty good to see the kind of consistent , sustainable results that we want . Okay , and I know you can do that . So hopefully this helps you sort through that feeling . If you're feeling more hungry because you're exercising more , you can go through which is your goal and then determine how to approach it best for you .

Like I said , we talk about this and we do this kind of strategizing for our training and for our physique goals and for our strength goals in the Built Bodies program , really giving people the skills to sort of discern this for themselves and then make decisions that are best , that appropriately fit their life , so they can see these big changes in themselves that

they can manage for the long term . The Built Bodies program ends this week for this round , but it will reopen in the fall and so I have a waitlist open . The waitlist is a no-purchase obligation but you can get the information earlier and deals earlier . So if you're interested in being on the waitlist , the link will be on in , not on in the show notes .

Thank you , as always , for being here . I am so grateful that you take the time to listen to this podcast and listen to what I have to say . If you have anything you want to talk to me about , you can reach me via email , betsy , at BeFosterStrongcom . That's the letter , befosterstrongcom or you can send me an Instagram DM at Foster underscore strength .

All right , I hope you have a great rest of your day . Go build your strongest body and I'll talk to you later . Bye .