Abnormal appetite without EC

[AldrichAStern]

It seems like I cannot do a carb based diet without the use of EC. Is this normal?? I'd like to know if I am just making excuses or if this is valid. Just to give you some background, my setpoint bf% is about 25%+. ie: if I weren't dieting and just ate whatever, my bodyfat would be about 25%.

About 2-3 days into dieting without a gigantic refeed, I get uncontrollable hunger to the point that my brain rationalizes all of these reasons that I can take liberties to eat whatever. This "eating whatever" turns into a food binge in which I can easily consume up to 6-8k+ calories of junk in a day. I'd like to think that I have strong will power, as I can always drag myself to the gym to do cardio or lifting no matter how lazy I'm feeling, but with an uncontrollable appetite, I literally make excuses in my head to binge. When I am on EC for its appetite suppressing effects or when I am low-carbing to some extent, I am fully aware of how ridiculous these excuses are and have no desire to binge. I don't feel that this hunger is the result of my calories are too low when I am cutting... I am about 194 lbs consuming about 2200-2500 calories a day. I just naturally go on an eating frenzy.

Is this normal or am I just making excuses for lack of willpower?

 

[dsl]

It sound to me that when you say that you are on EC you very well know it and don't want to binge. It's almost as if the EC is giving a placebo effect towards suppressing your appetite (yes, I know it actually does in some). You won't want to screw up your diet because you are supplementing and when you go off EC you feel that you are lacking that stimulation needed to suppress you appetite.
It really just sounds psychological; however, since you are low-carbing it, then physiologically you body is also craving carbs. So just eat more veggies and foods that are not very calorie dense.

 

[AldrichAStern]

interesting theory... it makes a lot of sense. Only thing is that I've tried other appetite suppressants, such as muscle tech's diet-tech (never buying a muscle tech product again) and m1t, which supposedly has good appetite suppressing, and neither had the same placebo effect on me. At any rate, do you suggest that I just ride the EC until I reach my suggested bf? It seems to me like there's a definite feeling that cannot be explained by placebo. The appetite is almost like when you're in starvation mode and haven't eaten anything for a very long time.

 

[TheCrownedOne]

You pretty much said everything when you said that your setpoint is around 25%. When your body starts to lose fat, leptin will drop, ghrelin will rise, and appetite will take control of your mind like a telepathic alien. I highly recommend checking out the Leptin article series over at Mind and Muscle mag. (http://magazine.mindandmuscle.net/) for further understanding of why what's going on is completely normal.

 

[TheCrownedOne]

Hoodia is supposed to work very well for appetite suppression. Check out custom's Lean Support: http://customnutritionwarehouse.com/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=155

 

[AldrichAStern]

Does that mean I'm doomed to feel like this for the rest of my life if I don't take an appetite suppressant and am dieting?

haha that kind of sucks...

 

[TheCrownedOne]

From what I've read AAStern - yep :sad: Seems like caloric and macronutrient manipulation is the only way to "win"

 

[Seven11]

damn that same stuff happens to me when im dieting my brain just some how convinces me to binge, i have no idea how but it does. well at least im not the only person with this

 

[phadedwish]

Through personal experience I found that overtraining can lead me to a binge. Too much cardio on a low carb diet always made me ravenous but when I lowered it to 3 - 4 sessions a week, 30 minutes each, moderate intensity, I was able to continue my diet without ever getting any binge attacks.