Thoughts on Under Eating When Not Hungry

So I'm supposed to eat 1200 calories a day, anf with my activity level lately and eating back those calories, it's actually between 1400 and 1600 these days.

The last few days in particular I haven't had any appetite. I have been practicing eating only when I'm hungry, and have found at the end of both days that I hit MAYBE 700 calories. I do not feel a lack of energy or hungry or faint and I know my food measurents are accurate.

Anyway, tomorrow I am planning on packing enough food to hit the calories I need and just eat it regardless of hunger. I know eating 700 calories at the end of the day is a bad plan so this is what I've come up with.

What do you think? I've always felt like part of my eating problem is that I eat when Im bored or stressed but not necessarily hungry, so it feels wrong taking so much food and possibly eating it even when I'm not hungry.

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If you aren't hungry, you aren't hungry. It's not like you aren't eating anything that day, just continue to eat when you feel hungry. You aren't forcing yourself to starve so it likely wouldn't have a negative impact on anything- you might be getting a decent level of glucose when you do eat and your body just stays happy throughout the day.

I would be careful, I did this for awhile and believed it would be gluttonous to eat more, but my body atleast always found some way to make it up eventually, I'd get a really strong urge to binge and would end up doing so at some point that week if I'm honest. Also you can't get your nutritional needs in 700 calories, I would really stick to the 1200 a day min recommendation especially if any of these points hit home to you.

I have the same sort of issue; some days I just don't feel like I need all that food, and end up sub-1000 calories. For me, it's generally days that I haven't been very active. I really don't know if it's hurting me. I have noticed that on those days, I don't tend to lose any more weight than if I had eaten many hundreds of calories more (maybe that's because of the low activity).

A while back I decided to fast for a day and a half. It wasn't hard - I really wasn't hungry. What was interesting is that, even though I wasn't hungry, when I stopped fasting, I ended up eating twice the calories the next day. I don't think fasting helped at all. I wonder if these low-calorie days are a bit like that . . . Do we tend to follow up with a slightly higher calorie day???

I'm interested to hear what people have to say about this one.

The problem with consistently undereating is that you're likely missing out on nutrients your body needs. Every so often, it isn't a big deal, but if you routinely don't eat enough, you'll start losing hair, your nails become brittle, etc.

Little tip for you: When you feel peckish or a little hungry drink some water!!!! You can lightly flavour it with natural juices like lemon. Its all about mind over matter. You can do it!!

jorinya wrote: »

Little tip for you: When you feel peckish or a little hungry drink some water!!!! You can lightly flavour it with natural juices like lemon. Its all about mind over matter. You can do it!!

doesn't op need to up her hunger, not reduce it...?

In most cases your appetite will regulate itself, so if you go at a lower intake for a few days expect higher intake hungry days. Now if eating too little lasts for more than a week, then you can't trust your hunger signals because it's easy to get used to smaller quantities. My advice is to just do what you've been doing but keep a weekly budget (or a 2 week budget) and allow yourself more food on hungry days. If you find yourself severely under budget by the end of the week, start eating even if you aren't hungry or choose higher calorie foods. You are less likely to get full from a brownie than you are from chicken even though brownies have more calories.

When I first started exercising, my appetite pretty much disappeared, I was quite chuffed.
But alas, this soon resolved itself and I went back to having my normal appetite after a few weeks

Like the others said, don't make under eating an everyday habit. You're body needs fuel to run at optimal levels.

For myself if I don't eat breakfast I really don't get hungry for lunch. I force myself to eat something. I usually feel better if I eat something with a lot of whole grains, especially when I am running a lot. But I am usually really hungry when I am working out a lot. Are your user settings correct? I have mine at low active right now because I am not working out a lot and I sit quite a bit at work. Most online sources say you should never eat below 1200 per day. Your body will start storing everything that you eat. And thus no weight loss and not healthy.

I have the same issue. I got shredded on the board for a week or so ago for under eating but seriously... you spend your entire overweight life being told to ask yourself if you are hungry or just bored and only eat when you are hungry. The only times I have actually met my 1200 goal lately is when I had a cheat. I'm just not hungry, and I'm really not hungry after I work out. I swam almost 4 miles today, I kept a steady pace and had no leg cramps which had been a problem. I had a protein drink before I left and had a bar and some OJ in between sets. I logged another bar tonight just because I knew I should have something, not I still have not gotten around to eating it. I am losing weight at a consistent pace, I am lifting larger amounts of weight in the gym and swimming longer distances. Although there is a general rule of thumb, not everyone fits into these neat tidy packages. The most important thing to pay attention to is your body, if you are feeling more run down or weaker or light headed or your brain feels stuck in a fog then yeah, eat more but if you feel good, and your brain is there for the ride and it's working for you, then do your thing.

The most annoying thing for me is that I have my goal at 2lbs a week. When I actually hit the 1200 calories, even without eating back any workout calories MFP rewards me by saying ... Great job, keep up and this pace and you'll lose 4lbs in the next 5 weeks. Really? Is that supposed to be motivating me?

It won't hurt if you eat less for a few days, especially if you allow yourself a little extra afterwards (not a lot extra..this is not an excuse to binge). If it continues more than a few days, then you might want to consider eating more calorie dense foods to ensure that you get enough calories... Nuts, avocados, adding butter or olive oil to your veggies, etc. If you seriously find that you can't eat more after a few days, you might also consider making a doctor appointment to be sure there's not something more going on.

I can give you a hundred different high calorie low volume suggestions

wow... under 1000 cal a day is very bad for you.
im on 1500 cal a day, i want to do less but this darn app wont let me change it.... grr.

You really aren't eating much at all. Sometimes you just aren't hungry, but unless you are sick or something (when it would be normal), I'd worry a bit that something was going on.

One thing about not eating when not hungry is that people can be really unable to tell, often the same people prone to overeating. I'm not really someone who is all that hungry in a physical sense usually--I usually could eat (could eat lots, in fact), but would also be fine waiting. It's only when I'm eating for non hunger reasons (bad) or in the habit of eating good meals to a good schedule (good) for me that I tend to feel hungry. So anyway, when I started this I'd discount the "could eat" feeling as not real hunger and think "well, I'm not really hungry." I ate anyway since I thought it was important for me to eat regular meals and get in the habit of cooking, but would eat smaller amounts at first than I actually should have been (once I started logging and thinking about these things more). This is because when I'd "feel hungry" in the past it was typically desire or emotion driven (either because I wanted to eat appealing food or was eating for other reasons). The point is that I didn't have a good sense of what hunger was like or expected it to be something more than it was (or would be when you have plenty of food and ate that day, of course). Oddly enough, once I'm in the habit of eating well and at a good calorie level (not too much), then I will feel hungry when my schedule is disrupted. It's just mental to a large degree and we have our different ways of experiencing it.

I think it's probably best to get in good habits of eating reasonable meals (at 1200 calories they aren't going to be all that huge, after all) on a regular basis and to make sure you enjoy the food you are eating and don't feel not hungry because the foods you plan to eat are unappealing to you. If you try to do this and find that you really don't feel like eating, I'd see a doctor, as at this level of calories something like that going on for more than a couple of days is a sign that something might be wrong. I'd bring the log and explain that you just can't get yourself to eat, or whatever.

But what seems quite likely is that once you get in the habit of eating regularly at your calorie level you will be better able to judge real hunger vs. emotional or boredom driven hunger. At first many people aren't, but you don't have to worry that you are eating for reasons other than physical needs at the calorie level of your goal and definitely not based on what you are eating currently. It's more likely that it ends up derailing you by you being "not hungry" until you run into something super appealing and lose it or just go from "I'm fine" to wanting to eat everything. That's why one tactic can be not letting yourself get too hungry (the mini meals thing, which I don't subscribe to personally).

Given your history of ED I would suggest that you seek professional help. If you are already doing this, I would bring these questions to your doctor/RD/therapist.

SideSteel wrote: »

Given your history of ED I would suggest that you seek professional help. If you are already doing this, I would bring these questions to your doctor/RD/therapist.

Jeez, I looked at the diary and didn't even read the profile, which is always a mistake.

OP, this is the advice you should follow.

leahraskie wrote: »

If you aren't hungry, you aren't hungry. It's not like you aren't eating anything that day, just continue to eat when you feel hungry. You aren't forcing yourself to starve so it likely wouldn't have a negative impact on anything- you might be getting a decent level of glucose when you do eat and your body just stays happy throughout the day.

Eating a 700 calories a day is starving. That's 52.5g of carbs at 210 calories, 70g of protein at 280, and 23g of fat at 210 calories on a 30/40/30 ratio. Without any exercise. Low on all measures.
There are people with eating disorders don't feel hungry either.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

If it helps, drink some liquids. Milk, whey.. things of that sort. It's a different approach than throwing food in your mouth. Good way to get an extra 300 or something calories.

ninerbuff wrote: »

leahraskie wrote: »

If you aren't hungry, you aren't hungry. It's not like you aren't eating anything that day, just continue to eat when you feel hungry. You aren't forcing yourself to starve so it likely wouldn't have a negative impact on anything- you might be getting a decent level of glucose when you do eat and your body just stays happy throughout the day.

Eating a 700 calories a day is starving. That's 52.5g of carbs at 210 calories, 70g of protein at 280, and 23g of fat at 210 calories on a 30/40/30 ratio. Without any exercise. Low on all measures.
There are people with eating disorders don't feel hungry either.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

How one can eat 700 calories a day is pretty mind blowing... that's my breakfast lol.

The problem is that listening to your hunger cue just isn't a reliable way to feed your body for overweight people.

Personally, if I wasn't hungry at all (like that ever happens, when I can have ice cream), I wouldn't eat more, but I know that there are days when I'm starving, so it balances out. If it's a regular occurrence though, eat more calorie dense foods.

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