On a diet? This is why you ALWAYS feel hungrier after you lose weight
When we lose weight our stomachs produce more of the hunger hormone, ghrelin, thinking it needs you to consume more calories
EVER wondered why you feel hungrier after you've lost weight?
You may have thought that it's down to your body being used to you eating more food and it just needs to adjust, but you would only be partly right.
It actually comes down to the levels of the hunger hormone, ghrelin, in your body, according to new research.
Experts from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology discovered that when we lose weight our stomachs produce more ghrelin, thinking it needs you to consume more calories.
The bad news is, the levels of the hormone don't adjust over time - they remain at higher levels.
So that means you are likely to feel hungrier on a daily basis.
Lead author Catia Martins, an associate professor at the university, said: "Everyone has this hormone, but if you've been overweight and then lose weight, the hormone level increases.
"A person who's been very obese has needed more energy just to breathe, sleep, digest food or walk.
"When the body loses weight, less energy is needed for these basic functions, simply because the body is lighter."
The study followed 34 patients who were considered morbidly obese and put them on a two year weight loss plan.
The participants began weighing more than 19 stone on average.
They were given exercise plans and taught about nutrition.
On average they lost 1.7 stone over the two years.
But the reported feeling hungrier than before they lost the weight.
"Someone who has weighed 12 stone whole life can eat more than a person who is 12 stones after losing weight," Catia.
"The difference in the amount of food is about 400 calories - the amount of a good breakfast or four bananas."
In other words, people who have lost weight need less energy to maintain their new bodies but still feel hungrier.
Catia called for obesity to be handled as a chronic disease, with patients receiving close follow-up over time to help them manage their health.
"Obesity is a daily struggle for the rest of one's life," she said.
";We have to stop treating it as a short-term illness by giving patients some support and help, and then just letting them fend for themselves."
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