While this may sound like I'm complaining, it's more of a question than anything else.

I've discovered that I'm not the type of person that loses fat with any consistancy. In other words, I don't get on the scale once a week and notice that I drop a pound or so. Instead my body seems to hold on to it's scale weight for a couple of weeks than suddenly drops. This week is acting like a perfect example.

The Monday or Tuesday, my scale weight dropped a half a pound. This morning I dropped a full pound. The odd thing is right before I drop a pound, I get really, really hungry even though I'm eating like I normally do. Last night I had 2 low fat string cheese sticks because my stomach actually hurt from being so hungry.

Does anybody have any idea why this happens?

I've been using Jeremy's ratio method for measuring to give me some clue as to what is going on and according to that, I'm not losing lean mass with this sudden drops. I put on a pair of pants yesterday that I wasn't able to button without sucking my gut a few weeks ago and they fit with no problem now. If anything, they are too big, especially through the legs because mine have leaned out. I've also been keeping tabs on my strength gains and improvements with my cardio. Both of those continue to improve as the weeks go by.

I don't consider myself a newbie to the world of resistance training, but I'm certainly not a pro either. I honestly don't think this is a case of 'Newbie Gains" either. I think it's just my body's own way of dropping fat, but I don't know, so I'm throwing it on here for anybody that would like to take a stab at this weird trend of mine.

I don't think that's odd at all. It's usually how it works for me as well. I dropped ~4.4 lbs over the course of two weeks, then didn't drop anything (or very little) for the next to weeks. I can usually 'feel' it when I'm burning fat and am about to go down in weight and it's usually preceded by feeling hungry all the time, like you said. Mastover said in Chameleons's journal that feeling hungry between meals is almost a sure sign that you're burning fat :).

So, like I said, I don't think your experience is odd. In fact, I'd wager that most people don't experience linear fat loss, but that it happens in fits and spurts.

I tend to go that way. Some times 10-14 days with the scale flat or even up a bit. Then a drop of say 1/2 pound. Then the next day or the day after a bit more.

Some of it is my scale only reads in 1/2 pounds. Combine that with the usual daily changes and the scale gets fooled.

A friend was once telling me about her progress on Weight Watchers, and it was an interesting trend. For every week that she lost more than a pound, she would never maintain it the following week. She would always gain a pound or two, but never quite as much as the amount she'd lost the previous week.

I think it's because of recording error (scale calibration) and also in the patterns in which we hold weight. If your scale shows a drop in weight of a pound (or even a tenth of a pound), it may not be precisely that amount. And your body may be holding different amounts of water on some days than on others.

Hormonal differences also make a huge impact on weight, especially for women. Women burn more calories during specific points of their menstrual cycles, and if you don't adjust your food intake for these variances, your weight may jump around more than usual during these periods.

If you're feeling hungry, doesn't that mean you should eat?

From what I've learned around here, staying fit and healthy is a way of life. I don't think I could live my life being hungry all the time.

Now what exactly you eat is another issue altogether. There are lots of low-cal foods out there that will take that hunger away. Things that take longer to digest would also probably be something to consider.

Canned or frozen veggies usually fill me up quickly and are really low-cal. Cottage cheese has lots of protein. Strawberries and oranges are perfect when I want something sweet.

I find a good ol steak and potatoes type meal keeps me full for hours! If I only eat 300 calories, I feel hungry again in less than 2 hours. But on 500 or 600 calories I can go for 4 to 6 hours with no problem.

Hormonal differences also make a huge impact on weight, especially for women. Women burn more calories during specific points of their menstrual cycles, and if you don't adjust your food intake for these variances, your weight may jump around more than usual during these periods.

When I was on E-diets, the group there noticed this, especially the closer you got to a good maintenance weight. It comes close to a two week cycle for weight loss, caused by both the PMS and ovulation. One week would be little to no weight loss, followed by a week of very good loss.

I find a good ol steak and potatoes type meal keeps me full for hours! If I only eat 300 calories, I feel hungry again in less than 2 hours. But on 500 or 600 calories I can go for 4 to 6 hours with no problem.

I used to eat one meal a day and not feel hungry. It wasn't a good plan :nono:. Your body adapts to what you give it.

Now I eat 5 meals a day. I rarely feel really hungry. But my body knows when it's about feeding time and reminds me :lol:

[quote=Robert2006;502130]I used to eat one meal a day and not feel hungry. It wasn't a good plan :nono:. Your body adapts to what you give it.[quote=Robert2006;502130]

Second that . Your body adapts . Two months ago I was eating 1600 Cal ( cutting phase ) at first I felt hungry , but after 5 days I didnt feel hungry anymore , at this moment I'm consuming 2600 Cal. .

I don't get on the scale once a week and notice that I drop a pound or so. Instead my body seems to hold on to it's scale weight for a couple of weeks than suddenly drops. This week is acting like a perfect example.

This is very common. It happens to me too. Right now I've been putting a lot of exercise Calories in, and I am seven pounds lighter than I was seven weeks ago. But looking at the weighings every few days looks like just a bunch of fluctuation. I would say I have probably cut three or four pounds of fat, the rest is all water and glycogen noise.