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Waking Up Starving at 3, 4, 5 AM


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Hello all!

I am hoping you guys might be able to tell me what might be up with my body. I am waking up at the crack of dawn and really, really hungry. Now, I do go to bed early but I don't think the level of hungry I experieince is "normal." I eat dinner between 6 and 7 PM and go to bed between 9 and 10 (and sometimes even before). I wake up around 3, 4, or 5 AM and ravenous.

I'm not sure if I should be eating more in general or if I should up one of my macronutrients. Here is a what I ate yesterday:

M1 - Grilled pork chop cooked in lard, mixed green cooked in lard + coffee with coconut milk

M2 - Approved sausages (total of about 3 oz), fermented pickles, piece of fruit

Snack - about 1 oz of leftover steak + homemade mayo wrapped in hydroponic lettuce

M3 - slow roasted pork belly, asparagus with lard, kombucha

This is a fairly typical day but now that I type it out, it is not looking like much food. I don't tolerate raw vegetables very well (don't digest them) so I know I struggle to get in veggies.

This round of W30, I have been SUPER hungry. I have been eating paleo for almost 2 years but had a little run in with sugar/excessive carbs/paleo treats for the month of Oct/Nov so doing W30 to put the sugar/carb monster to bed. I am still craving sugar like a champ. If it is helpful, I am 5'2 and weigh somewhere in the mid 160's. Lots of walking and standing during the day. Occasional rebounding + yoga. I sleep well, just think I would sleep longer if I weren't so hungry. I also have fibromyalgia.

I would love to have your input.

Thank you!

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I am wondering if you are getting enough protein as well. 3 oz is basically one serving, and the template calls for 1-2 servings. Maybe you are too limited on your portions? That might explain the need for a midafternoon meal as well?

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Thank you, both!

I feel like I eat "normal" sized portions but my hunger levels are for sure saying I am not eating enough. Will add in more protein + a serving of starchy veg and see how it goes. Tonight, I will add sweet potato to dinner and have a larger portion of meat.

Do you guys do well with just three meals per day?

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At first I snacked more, but by the time I was into a Whole30 for the second or third time I didn't need to anymore. There will definitely come a time when you'll eat breakfast and go on your merry fat burning way and suddenly look up in surprise at 2 p.m. to find that lunchtime has passed you by.

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At first I snacked more, but by the time I was into a Whole30 for the second or third time I didn't need to anymore. There will definitely come a time when you'll eat breakfast and go on your merry fat burning way and suddenly look up in surprise at 2 p.m. to find that lunchtime has passed you by.

Yeah, that hasn't been my experieince, at all. The max I seem to be able to go without food is about 4 hours. Thank you. It is good to know that this will start shifting soon.

Last night, I did eat sweet potato with my dinner. I was able to sleep until 5 but, again, woke up ravenous. Today, I am going to really focus on eating plenty more protein + more carb. I get a bit paranoid about carb intake because I have had repeated issues with candida overgrowth and don't want to tip in that direction again.

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Here's what I ate for a day, taken from my log. It's fairly typical.

9:30am breakfast

Squash, ½ of a 4 egg frittata with peppers, onions, zucchini and mushrooms fried in ghee.

Fullness after eating: 8

2:00pm Lunch

Leftover ham, roasted roots, and broccoli.

Fullness after eating: 7.5

6:30pm Supper

Roasted beet and onion salad, ham and onion and egg pie, steamed broccoli.

Fullness after eating: 8.0

The ham would have been a big chunk of leftover fat free roasted picnic ham, not deli slices! Roasted roots refer to a medly of cut up chunks of carrots, sweet potatoes (both orange and white) and parsnips coated in olive oil and/or coconut oil and obviously roasted. Sometimes I sprinkled them with garlic and/or basil.

For a couple of years now, I have been trying to incorporate at least two vegetables into our meals (alongside our nasty grains, legumes and such, but whatev). so eating this way actually made my life simpler by giving me one less thing to prepare.

My blog has all my food logs, plus pictures of my meals if you want to get an idea of portions.

http://mypsychemysoma.blogspot.ca/

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When I am hungry like you its from not enough fat especially at the dinner meal... Often fat from cooking doesn't all transfer to the food you are eating. Many people I note try to have another fat as well in this case like olives, avocado or coconut.

I also struggle on the days I have too little carbs but usually with irritability and feeling out of sorts during the day rather than hunger in the morning.

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  • 3 years later...

I officially ended whole30, but this has been every night since the night before day 30. 5AM on the dot pretty much, and not just a little hungry but ravenous, like hungry pains. I tried having a scoop of almond butter and lots of water, but I ended up waking up an hour or so later either starving again or nauseous (prob from having gone to bed right after eating something.) I also have had a cold-- I have a pretty terrific immune system and can't remember the last time I had a cold or the flu, not in at least 6 months possibly a year-- so it's kinda ironic that I would get sick right after a whole30! But maybe the hunger is related to the cold-- I suppose your body needs more energy to fight off a virus? I eat dinner around 730/8 every night and never feel hungry after, then go to bed around 10/1030 also feeling satisfied and not hungry. My dinners have been as follows (and you'll note that they don't have much starch in it but I've never had this issue before when having dinners without potatoes/squash/etc).

 

Friday: 6oz poached sea bass and bok choy with 2+ cups of cole slaw made with compliant mayo. Apple with almond butter after because I was still hungry.

Saturday: 1/2 rack of lamb chops (4, weighing about 1/2 a pound) with 1/2 of a large zucchini served carpaccio style with evoo and olives.

Sunday: Big bowl of chicken soup made with thighs with lots evoo poured into the broth (my stomach was really eh this day so that's why it was a lighter meal), plus 2 large handfuls of olives.

Monday: 2 big bowls of chicken soup, with some extra evoo added in.

Tuesday: 1/2 a large cauliflower made into a mash with ghee, a 6 oz sirloin steak cooked in short rib fat because I live on the edge. also several large handfuls of spinach sauteed in evoo. 

 

Again, not super starch heavy but pretty good amount of fat and protein and each time I felt full!

 

Any other ideas?

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You definitely need more starchy veggies. Some ideas: roasted or shredded sweet potatoes, cubed steamed or roasted butternut squash, parsnips, roasted kabocha, acorn or delicata squash, rutabaga (shred and fry up with onion, spices), baked potato with ghee, shredded carrots, canned pumpkin.

 

I'd add more fat, too. The Meal Template is a minimum recommendation. If you're not making it 4 - 5 hours between meals, add more food.

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oh yeah i'm definitely fine between the 3 daytime meals which is why it's so strange I'm starving the next day. I'll add some starch and extra fat (sweet potatoes with ghee anyone??) over the next couple days and see if that helps, thanks!

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OK the past couple of nights I tried this! Last night I had a sweet potato with 2 chicken thighs that were pan fried in oil until super crispy/juicy. also had kale sauteed in evoo and a handful of nuts (i don't like to eat too many of those but they do tend to keep me full.) Weds night I was out for dinner with friends at an Indian restaurant (it's a place I've been before that is very allergen friendly)-- had 3 chicken thighs, about 10 shrimp, maybe 1 or 1.5 cups of rice (bc it was grain reintro day), cucumber salad, and lamb chop with big cut of fat on it. Both nights I woke up at the same time, just before 5AM, famished. What is going on ughhhhh

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No I can't take magnessium because it conflicts with a medicine I'm on, unfort. I do drink a cup of sleepy time Herbal tea made with valerian root every night. I workout prob 4-5 a week, always cardio (running, spin are my favourites) with some weights/other types of strength training like planks mixed in. Honestly the only day I didn't sleep poorly was the day i reintroduced gluten, oddly enough!

Speaking of which-- I've felt kinda run down during reintro (I had been sick but didn't start the reintro until I was sure I was feeling better) and I'm wondering if maybe it has something to do with how poorly I've been sleeping (likely it does.) I don't have time to do another full whole30 until probably the fall because of overseas trips.) but I'd like to give reintro another go. would taking a week or so off then starting reintro again help at all? I've been eating compliant other than the reintro days. So far i think dairy is the only really noticeable reaction-- stomach problems, brain fog and the next day I just felt SAD. So I'd probably skip dairy during the 2nd reintro and just do the other 3. I've felt tired like I said but can't tell if that's from gluten or if it's from not sleeping well. I slept like magic during most of my whole30 and never had the waking up early starving issue!

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No I can't take magnessium because it conflicts with a medicine I'm on, unfort. I do drink a cup of sleepy time Herbal tea made with valerian root every night. I workout prob 4-5 a week, always cardio (running, spin are my favourites) with some weights/other types of strength training like planks mixed in. Honestly the only day I didn't sleep poorly was the day i reintroduced gluten, oddly enough!

Speaking of which-- I've felt kinda run down during reintro (I had been sick but didn't start the reintro until I was sure I was feeling better) and I'm wondering if maybe it has something to do with how poorly I've been sleeping (likely it does.) I don't have time to do another full whole30 until probably the fall because of overseas trips.) but I'd like to give reintro another go. would taking a week or so off then starting reintro again help at all? I've been eating compliant other than the reintro days. So far i think dairy is the only really noticeable reaction-- stomach problems, brain fog and the next day I just felt SAD. So I'd probably skip dairy during the 2nd reintro and just do the other 3. I've felt tired like I said but can't tell if that's from gluten or if it's from not sleeping well. I slept like magic during most of my whole30 and never had the waking up early starving issue!

It might be completely unrelated, but one of our other members (Zoe) was having some issues with valerian root & liquorice root teas and her sleep is also not great.

Have a read >here< and see what you think...

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Interesting, I'll definitely keep an eye on that. Last night was awesome actually, I slept through the night and woke up at a normal time actually not hungry at all, had to wait until after showering to eat. The 1.5 small sweet potatoes I ate probably helped. 

 

Did you have any thoughts on the 2nd part of my question? Doing some of my reintros again after a week or two on whole30? Felt sad and bloated and toilet-driven after dairy so definitely wouldn't do that again, but would be interested in trying peanuts gluten and other grains again. They made me a bit tired but I also was getting over a cold and, as you can see, not sleeping terrifically, so that might have been why, rather than a specific food reaction. My worry with redoing them is of course that I've already inflamed my stomach from the first go and so I might be more tolerant than the first time around-- ie, would my stomach have built a tolerance by having one day of non-gluten grains? If it helps, I had GF pasta, two slices of GF bread, and a bit of rice. For gluten I had a pretzel, kebab meat wrapped in a tortilla, and a burger bun.  So not the healthiest gluten choices especially-- maybe whole wheat pasta and a slice of whole wheat bread would be a better test.

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You've been eating pretty much Whole30 since December haven't you? Save for the holidays?

I'd seriously doubt that your gut would be anywhere near as inflamed as it would have been preWhole30, and I know from my own experiences of off-roading with foods that I deem 'worth it' occasionally it usually takes me around a day of W30 eating for every day of non-W30 eating to feel good again - no matter how little non-compliant foods I've eaten. But that's with me eating pretty much W30 every day in between, and really only including dairy, added sugar and/or alcohol.

I'd say two weeks would be plenty of time for your gut to settle for you to try the peanuts etc. It could well be that your body was still prioritizing healing when you tried them previously. Everyone's reactions vary but for me peanuts (& legumes in general) are all about the digestive stress, whilst gluten is apathy inducing, along with bloat/inflammation. Corn I can't do AT ALL, but oats & rice are fine - I just don't really see the nutritional value in either so I choose not to go there.

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If both gluten and sweet potato helped you sleep better, you may not be getting enough carbs at dinner to last you through the night. If you're short during the day too, dinner will only backfill, not cover you for your upcoming sleep.

 

I would be trying a different tea for awhile!

Peppermint tea and ginger tea are both soothing and calming for your insides.

 

Glad you got some sleep :)

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And thanks praxis! I tend to stay pretty low carb during the day actually-- the past few days I've had frittatas with prosciutto and avocado for breakfast, a big salad at lunch, etc saving most of my carbs for nighttime. I think it's just a habit I picked up in my WW days, but I'll try varying it up a bit. And I'll get some new tea :)

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New tea did the trick, i've been sleeping a lot better despite being on the tail end of a cold. Valerian root was giving me really intense/vivid dreams, which was probably making me restless. Haven't dreamed at all the past couple days and have been mostly sleeping through the night and waking up hungry at like 630/7 which is prob just due to the fact that that's when I've eaten breakfast pretty much every day for the past 6 week and my body has an incredibly rigid clock. Thinking I'll do grains on saturday, legumes on tuesday, and gluten on friday. do you recommend separating soy from beans/peanuts? i don't drink soy milk and soy cheeses are gross but i do like tofu and soy sauce.

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