I’m looking for advice from those who have experience with my situation or those who have enough tested knowledge in the subject. As you know our bodies will try to recoup the weight so hunger is elevated. I’m easily able to eat 2000 calories in one sitting now and still feel like I have room for more. Previously 1200 calories would make me feel like I’m ready to die. My TDEE is around 1800 calories. Volume eating isn’t helping as I don’t feel satiated after eating like that.
What can I do. My fasting window is 28-36 hours typically.
Also what hope is there for the future, will I be able to get back to a normal hunger level?
That’s a very long fasting window. I’m assuming you are doing ADF? If you are, keep in mind TDEE of 1800 over two days is 3600, and you’re only eating 2000 calories. Of course your body is going to want more food.
I haven’t been in your position, but have you tried having some tea or coffee with your food? Caffeine can help lower ghrelin levels, making you feel less hungry. I often drink tea during my eating window to ensure I don’t overeat my calorie goals (also try to practice more mindful eating so I’m not just scarfing down food to fill an empty belly).
One other thing I do may not work for your particular diet, I’ll often have a little something sweet to end the eating window. It’s a bit of a mental trigger that “okay, dessert is done; the meal is over.” Then if I’m still feeling peckish when the next fast has started, I’ll brush my teeth since that’s become an appetite suppressant for me (conditioning for the win; food tastes terrible when combined with toothpaste breath. Not worth the calories if I can enjoy the food!).
Good luck! You’ve already hit an amazing accomplishment.
I’ve been reading about low-dose naltrexone. There are studies that say it prevents your body from lowering your body temp while fasting as an attempt to keep you from losing weight. And then I kept coming across sites that claimed it curbed hunger too, but I don’t know what that’s based on. And then I saw studies that it helps with other unrelated things that I need to work on (bone density, autoimmune stuff) so now I’m ordering some and going to see how it goes. It’s prescription but there are places now that will prescribe it to you online for reasons like weight loss and “anti-aging” so it doesn’t seem hard to get.