# Getting very hungery with over 60,000 calories
**URL:** https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704
**Category:** The Garage
**Created:** [April 17, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704 "2019-04-17T04:45:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Luce\_of\_fire](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Luce_of_fire)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/1 "2019-04-17T04:45:30Z")
I’ve been getting the very hungry/famished stasis with over 60,000 excess calories i even got malnourished, my character is from before the stomach content update, my character is gourmand, fast metabolism, and is heavy bionically modified, with extended digestive system, metabolic intercharge, and recently a recycler unit, and now is unable to become not very hungry without the use of the debug menu
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### Author:  [@Cynicus26](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Cynicus26)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 4:52am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/2 "2019-04-17T04:52:31Z")
My understanding is that the famished status now merely means your character is living off of their excess fat. You can have tons of excess fat and still be really hungry if it’s been a long time since you’ve eaten. I haven’t tested this with any bionics though so I can’t attest to their effect.
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### Author:  [@Luce\_of\_fire](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Luce_of_fire)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 4:57am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/3 "2019-04-17T04:57:01Z")
From what ive read is that, hungry means your living off fat, very hungery means your low on fat, famished means that your extremely low on fat
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### Author:  [@Trigon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Trigon)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 4:59am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/4 "2019-04-17T04:59:19Z")
As Cynic said. Hunger is no longer a function of calories, but more about how recently you ate. Just bring light snacks with you to keep the edge off and you’ll generally be fine.
But I just tested it now. I can go from “famished” to a blank space by eating three servings of wild veggies. So it’s just a matter of how long ago you ate, since 3 wild veggies is a frankly pitiful amount of calories.
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### Author:  [@Luce\_of\_fire](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Luce_of_fire)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 4:59am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/5 "2019-04-17T04:59:24Z")
Also right after this post i ate like a quarter of the easy food stash in my…lets say 4wheeled tank and after a minute suddenly got full…whitch makes no sense with how the system says it works (and i also deactivated metabolic interchange)
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### Author:  [@Luce\_of\_fire](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Luce_of_fire)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 5:00am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/6 "2019-04-17T05:00:21Z")
Also yes i get that but my big concern is being malnourished with a ton of excess calories
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### Author:  [@TheMurderUnicorn](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/TheMurderUnicorn)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 5:09am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/7 "2019-04-17T05:09:07Z")
I’m listed as famished and malnourished/starving in the character menu. I’ve been eating multiple times a day for several days, including a binge of like 2000 calories in the last 24 hours. I don’t understand it and there’s no explanation given in game. In real life I function on food once per day. It’s not good for me, but I do it. I don’t get how my guy eating many calories multiple times a day is being treated as starving.
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### Author:  [@anothersimulacrum](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/anothersimulacrum)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/8 "2019-04-17T13:20:42Z")
How this system works:
- Currently, your survivor needs about 2500 kcals every day. (This is old info - it’s now based on your activity)
- Hunger is different from your physical caloric needs, and is instead based on the volume of food in your stomach - and the time since you last ate
- If you are hungry, but don’t really need to eat - your hunger display will show `peckish`
- If you are hungry, but need to eat - your hunger display will show `hungry`
- If you are hungry, and have a kcal deficit - your hunger display will show `very hungry`, then `famished`, and then with a severe deficit `starving`
- Your kcal count is internally measured out of 55000 kcals (formerly 77000), and you can see how much in deficit/surplus you are by turning on debug mode.
Quoting the person who made it:
> [@KorGgenT](#):
>
> now that’s done: food goes into your stomach volume-per-volume. water gets separated out, but still takes up volume in the stomach. next, water and food get moved through the stomach at different rates. water moves much, much quicker than food (so if you drink water and see that you get the full status, that’s why it goes away quickly)
> how the hunger string on the sidebar _currently_ works, and how i want it to work is that mostly it’s a combination of how full your stomach physically is (water counts! it takes up space too) combined with how long it’s been since you ate, with another variable being if you’re running a calorie deficit (simply put – starving)
> all this together is a little complex, but only really behind the scenes. front-facing, it’s just this: you get hungry over time. when you eat food, try to eat a reasonable meal. a reasonable meal being something you’d eat IR in terms of calories. if your character is _still_ hungry after you ate, you either didn’t wait long enough (remember eating in game is currently a little broken, since you can eat in seconds) or just didn’t eat enough volume. the calories are important to hunger, but still actually secondary. there’s a lot more that can be done with this, but it must be incremental.
> [@Luce\_of\_fire](#):
>
> with over 60,000 excess calories
This is probably you misunderstanding the display - if it’s 60,000/77,000 you are in a severe kcal deficit. If it’s 137,000, then yes, you have found a bug, and please report it on [GitHub](https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/issues/new?template=bug_report.md) with an attached save.
These descriptions are getting [tweaked to be more helpful](https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/29543).
But you don’t need to know how the system works - what you need to do is eat when you’re hungry, and get enough kcals to not have a deficit.
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### Author:  [@Hof1993](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Hof1993)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/9 "2019-04-17T13:48:58Z")
Exercise…fatty…
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### Author:  [@Curlyfried](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Curlyfried)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/10 "2019-04-17T14:42:44Z")
What if you have intestinal worms?
They can certainly starve us out IRL…
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### Author:  [@Luce\_of\_fire](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Luce_of_fire)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/11 "2019-04-17T15:34:28Z")
Thank you very much, i didn’t know exactly how it worked beforehand, now i can have my character eat more
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### Author:  [@TheMurderUnicorn](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/TheMurderUnicorn)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 10:02pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/12 "2019-04-17T22:02:24Z")
That was very helpful, thank you. I had read the PRs (mostly) and thought I understood the system better than I actually did. You laying it out in plain language helps.
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### Author:  [@Trigon](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Trigon)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 10:15pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/13 "2019-04-17T22:15:36Z")
This is a very helpful description indeed. Seems I was off as well, thank you!
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### Author:  [@Estranged](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Estranged)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/14 "2019-04-17T22:28:39Z")
I don’t quite understand…
You say eat when hungry, but earlier you said \* If you are hungry, but don’t really need to eat - your hunger display will show `hungry`
Should I eat when it says “hungry” but I don’t really need to eat or eat because it says hungry?
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### Author:  [@Cynicus26](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Cynicus26)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/15 "2019-04-17T22:36:02Z")
When it says “Hungry,” it means your stomach is empty. Much like in real life, if it’s been a few hours since you’ve eaten, even if the last meal you had was very high in calories, you’ll still be hungry. It doesn’t necessarily mean you are running a calorie deficiency. It just means you’re able to eat or drink a whole lot again.
The debug menu shows your guts have stored calories as well, transferred from your stomach contents. My understanding (someone please correct me if I’m wrong) is that once the calories in your guts are spent, you start to become “Famished” and your store of calories (out of 77,000) begins to drop. This represents you living off of fat stores (if your calories are above 77,000) or your body eating itself (if below 77,000).
I don’t believe there are currently any penalties for excessive stored calories…yet. But it would still be good practice to not overeat. Unless you’re roleplaying.
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### Author:  [@Tatterdemalian\_Threa](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Tatterdemalian_Threa)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2019, 3:51am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/16 "2019-04-18T03:51:07Z")
Wouldn’t it be simpler to have a separate feeling for “stomach fullness” and “hunger/thirst?” There was an old, pre-Y2K game, Alternate Reality, that used this as a mechanic; notably, players who were both starving and dehydrated and then ate until they were too full to eat any more while neglecting to drink anything could die of thirst while still having a full belly, as the game manual itself warned.
Also, instead of trying to combine conditions in ways that aren’t directly explained to the players, instead perhaps characters lacking the “Self Aware” trait might only see the most important message at any given time? For example, a player who is both “Starving” and “Thirsty” would only see “Starving” until that was dealt with, or until “Thirsty” drops to “Dehydrated.”
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### Author:  [@Heartwawy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Heartwawy)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2019, 5:34am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/getting-very-hungery-with-over-60-000-calories/19704/17 "2019-04-18T05:34:47Z")
I get hunger now thanks to this thread. I can’t wait for the new UI updates; the current system is kinda confusing for an idiot like me.