Weightlifting increases my evening appetite to the point of not being worth it.

[Ice That Jaw]

I recently started weightlifting to help lose 20lb so I can be lean like I was in my teens. For a few months, I've doing solely elliptical training but it is getting rather boring so I bought some extensible dumbells and an adjustable bench.

The problem is, the second I started lifting, my appetite has skyrocketed in the evening and nighttime. Before, I could get by just with dinner bit now, I'm eating bagels and cream cheese, eggs in a basket, granola and milk, straight cheddar cheese, and whatever else I have laying around.

This is the exact reason why I was weary about lifting again. The last time I did it, I gained about 15lbs in 4 months. That's great for skinny dudes, but not for me.

How can one lose weight and still weight lift? Should I just force myself to eat veggie at night? Or maybe step up the reps to 20-30 so I burn more calories?

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Doing heavy lifting will make you hungry any time of day. I does not matter the type of weights. You can be doing heavy construction, or lugging buckets of paint up stairs, you be hungry. Why so many of construction workers have huge bellies. After work they pig out and chug beer.

 

[JabToucher]

Any time I get back in to lifting I experience a huge hunger increase. But what runs parallel to this, is it feels like my testosterone fires up. Feels pretty great.

I think as long as you're not pigging out on shite, it's not too bad. I'll snack on nuts or a small can of tuna or something with little carbs.

 

[beat...people...up?]

Well yeah, if you just binge on crap then you won't do well.

Eat a whole foods diet of primarily vegetables and adequate protein, starch, and fat. Eat some carbs before and after your workout. Fruit, oatmeal, something satiating. A lot of people say don't eat carbs, but lifting goes a lot better without it and your blood sugar won't crash afterwards. Blood sugar crashes harm willpower and cause binges.

Half the people binge-eating are trying to restrict carbohydrate. Realistically you don't need to, just don't eat junk like bagels for your carbs. VEGETABLES, fruit, squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, whole grains prepared from scratch. Also adequate protein! Without a solid protein source you will be hungry af.

 

[MisterHappy]

Keep in mind that watching the number on the scale isn't the end all be all. If your hunger is up because your metabolism is going up (due to increased muscle mass) you might weigh more to begin with as muscle is more dense than fat. That will eventually turn and result in weight loss (due to fat loss = good) with a proper diet but IMO you're better to look at body fat percentage than weight. (Or at least both)

 

[Oblivian]

I've actually changed my eating habits recently and like how it's going. I have always wanted to eat at night, no matter how much I have for dinner. I try not to eat a huge dinner, and then I have room for snacking at night. I'm now skipping breakfast, and I only have an apple and a handful of almonds at work until I eat lunch around 1. Lunch is never huge either since I eat at home. Basically, I never feel really full except at night before bed.

 

[Renard]

There's been studies which show that exercise increases appetite, to the extent where there's no direct weight loss benefit for aerobic exercise, even though it is healthy for the body and for brain function.

Lifting should be useful for weight loss though because you're building lean muscle mass, which consumes more calories even when you're at rest. You're making your BMR go up. It's not that bad if you're just eating as many calories as you just burned, you're still retaining the positive of increased muscle mass. However if you're grossly overeating, much more than you just burned, then yeah I agree you should be experimenting with different routines until you find something that doesn't cause this.

 

[MisterHappy]

I've actually changed my eating habits recently and like how it's going. I have always wanted to eat at night, no matter how much I have for dinner. I try not to eat a huge dinner, and then I have room for snacking at night. I'm now skipping breakfast, and I only have an apple and a handful of almonds at work until I eat lunch around 1. Lunch is never huge either since I eat at home. Basically, I never feel really full except at night before bed.

Ooof, I'd be one grumpy hot mess if I ate like that. I ended up going almost the opposite and ensuring I have a decent breakfast then tapering off my late night meals. Depends a lot on lifestyle/when you sleep/etc too. At the end of the day, like Renard said, eat less than you burn and you'll lose weight. All in how that's accomplished but lifting definitely helps.

 

[Nuffnuff]

Eat simple carbs after exercise.

Eating bagels and cream cheese is completely the opposite of what u should be eating

 

[PlayswellwithLawnDarts]

Getting back into lifting more seriously and I am going through the same thing. Not worried about my weight perse more eating right to help with strength gain. Stan Efferding and Jay Cutler have some good resource information online. Have you tried substantially uping your protein intake starting with breakfast?
Eggs, Tuna, Beef, Fish any combination of the above with rice in the morning.

 

[Ice That Jaw]

Thanks for the replies. I might just lay low on the lifting for now and go hard on the eliptical until I get down to 195. At that weight, I'll be thin and I don't care if I pack on an extra 15-20lbs, since some of it will be muscle. But I need to drop about 15lbs first.

I just don't care for the bulky look anymore. I want to look lean like I was in my prime.

 

[Ice That Jaw]

Getting back into lifting more seriously and I am going through the same thing. Not worried about my weight perse more eating right to help with strength gain. Stan Efferding and Jay Cutler have some good resource information online. Have you tried substantially uping your protein intake starting with breakfast?
Eggs, Tuna, Beef, Fish any combination of the above with rice in the morning.

About breakfast, I don't eat it. I literally have not eaten a meal before 10am in over 5 years, and I get up at 6am for work. I'm just not hungry in the morning and I would have to force myself to eat. Coffee with some milk or cream is all I need. Sometimes I'll have a handful of fresh berries but that's it.

It probably explains why I'm so hungry in the evening but I just can't eat in the morning.

 

[PlayswellwithLawnDarts]

About breakfast, I don't eat it. I literally have not eaten a meal before 10am in over 5 years, and I get up at 6am for work. I'm just not hungry in the morning and I would have to force myself to eat. Coffee with some milk or cream is all I need. Sometimes I'll have a handful of fresh berries but that's it.

It probably explains why I'm so hungry in the evening but I just can't eat in the morning.

I am 100% in the same boat. Had to start forcing myself to get in the habit. Wake up a little before 5am and am not really hungry till about 8-9am.
I’ll eat usually what I would consider a child sized portion of meat and rice.
Scrambled Eggs with heavy cream shredded cheese and cream cheese.
Or Tuna packet.
Any one of the above usually with water or cranberry juice, as I recently gave up coffee.

 

[Oblivian]

Ooof, I'd be one grumpy hot mess if I ate like that. I ended up going almost the opposite and ensuring I have a decent breakfast then tapering off my late night meals. Depends a lot on lifestyle/when you sleep/etc too. At the end of the day, like Renard said, eat less than you burn and you'll lose weight. All in how that's accomplished but lifting definitely helps.

Honestly, I'd have said the same thing years ago. I'm 36 now, and all throughout my twenties and early thirties, I had at least two eggs and toast in the morning. I was still snacking before lunch too. I was never really that hungry first thing in the morning (6 AM for me), but I did it anyways. Either way, I was eating a lot at night. I then transitioned to just eating some veggies or fruit in the morning at 6 when I woke up, and now I've moved to nothing besides coffee. Honestly, I don't feel hungry until around 8:30 or so and that's when I have my almonds. It holds me off until about 10:30 or 11 when I have my apple, which holds me off until lunch.

Basically, the food from the night before is more than enough to keep my stomach full for nearly 12 hours. I just can't stop myself from eating at night, so why not embrace it?

 

[MisterHappy]

Makes complete sense. The coffee also is a stimulant which will push off any hunger for a bit longer. One thing I've also added (I'm older than you), a fresh squeezed lemon with water added to a cup total then heated first thing in the am. I've read various reports about it helping stabilize blood sugar levels throughout the day. Not sure if it's bs but my weight loss accelerated greatly after adding just that. Might be worth trying for a couple weeks. It's not the tastiest thing in the world but also not the worst. The small snacking like you do is excellent as it keeps the body in a mode where it's processing calories all the time = higher metabolism.

 

[MisterHappy]

Thanks for the replies. I might just lay low on the lifting for now and go hard on the eliptical until I get down to 195. At that weight, I'll be thin and I don't care if I pack on an extra 15-20lbs, since some of it will be muscle. But I need to drop about 15lbs first.

I just don't care for the bulky look anymore. I want to look lean like I was in my prime.

Maybe consider switching your lifting to all light weights, high reps. That will build lean mass more than bulk and will still help accelerate your metabolism to help with weight loss. You might have some short term (day or two) weight gains due to swelling in the muscles while they heal but it'll go away.

 

[wufabufa]

Makes complete sense. The coffee also is a stimulant which will push off any hunger for a bit longer. One thing I've also added (I'm older than you), a fresh squeezed lemon with water added to a cup total then heated first thing in the am. I've read various reports about it helping stabilize blood sugar levels throughout the day. Not sure if it's bs but my weight loss accelerated greatly after adding just that. Might be worth trying for a couple weeks. It's not the tastiest thing in the world but also not the worst. The small snacking like you do is excellent as it keeps the body in a mode where it's processing calories all the time = higher metabolism.

Maybe consider switching your lifting to all light weights, high reps. That will build lean mass more than bulk and will still help accelerate your metabolism to help with weight loss. You might have some short term (day or two) weight gains due to swelling in the muscles while they heal but it'll go away.

 

[Tayski]

If you wanna keep lifting and not change your diet or be hungry, just do more cardio work on the side; distance running, cycling and swimming are great for weight loss.