What do you eat for...the meal..the time...or your body?

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Replies

  • JaydedMiss
    JaydedMiss Posts: 4,286 Member
    Work days i eat because i know i need the calories and yummy, Honestly to hit anywhere near my calories (tend to still undereat pretty severely on work days even eating high calorie foods) on work days i have to eat donuts and icecream and stuff lol. Dont have to ask me twice. yummy.

    non work days i tend to wanna run errands and clean so i eat alot of fruit in the "mornings" -few hours after i wake and putter around- which gives me 1.5-2 hours of quick energy i get so much done hah. Then i just go back to my normal meals around 5-7pm and if im hungry after that i eat bowls of veggies only. I found sugar after dinner just makes me snacky and go from not hungry to overly hungry in no time flat.

    So i guess depend on the day and its plans. I know how to eat for whatever goals i have that day.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    I eat for all sorts of reasons including enjoyment of good food and good company - didn't eat confit duck in a good French restaurant yesterday with my wife due to hunger, meeting my macros or to fuel exercise!

    There's times I will eat due to hunger, nutritional need or fuelling exercise but for the vast majority of time I also simply enjoy my food.

    When I'm stressed my appetite increases rather than decreases.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    I eat just before I start getting physically hungry. I work and workout at home so I have a lot of flexibility when it comes to meal times.

    I do pre-plan my meals ahead of time, but that's always subject to change. Some days I'm not as hungry so I eat less...but I make up for it. Or vice versa. Other days I'm really hungry so I eat more, then eat less the next day so it all balances out.
  • loserbug
    loserbug Posts: 6 Member
    I'm diabetic and trying hard to get my numbers under control, I've never been a "regular" eater, eating on schedule, instead when i'm hungry or can fit it in, but now with injections prior to eating and testing my blood sugar I have to be consistant. Wow is it difficult. So many things get in the way, then bam you MUST stop, check, find something healthy and eat. Very new to me.
  • TXEXrunner
    TXEXrunner Posts: 178 Member
    I tend to be hungry the same times each day, so mealtimes are pretty routine. I am pretty consistent with my cal intake at each meal, and level of activity each day. This helps my routine, and hence meal planning.
  • _AshLynn
    _AshLynn Posts: 134 Member
    newmeadow wrote: »
    I eat in response to my relentless, hedonistic food fantasies.

    I’m such a sicko. I will get other people to eat to satisfy my food fantasies. Like, I’ll offer to make my boyfriend a quesadilla bc I want one.

    Omg! I do the same thing...but my husband calls me out on it. He will ask me "did you make this because you wanted to eat it?" ..especially since I went vegan lmao.

    I'm so glad I'm not the only one!
  • _AshLynn
    _AshLynn Posts: 134 Member
    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    Doesn't anybody eat based on family meal times anymore? Breakfast, lunch, and dinner? or Breakfast, Dinner, and Supper? Most of the responses above seem to be "I" responses and not "We".

    Totally. Whether I'm eating,dinner with my family or not I sit down at the table though. That way I take care of the I and we. I think most people are responding just for their personal reasons they sit to a meal...because even if there is a we at the table we need to use the I's to say how only we feel about,food. But it's a good point. Keep dinners with family at the table a priority!
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    I eat when I'm physically hungry sometimes, other times I eat when I feel like eating or when someone has already prepared food and set the table. I don't worry about meeting my calories because I'm more than capable of reaching them, I just need to be careful not to exceed them too often. I also sometimes do not eat despite being physically hungry or feeling like eating because I'm planning something calorie heavy for later. My eating or not eating is not driven by a single factor, it just works itself out organically and flexibly on its own depending on how the day is going and what I feel like doing.
  • jesspen91
    jesspen91 Posts: 1,383 Member
    I mainly eat when I'm hungry but that coincides pretty well with mealtimes. The only time I eat when I'm not hungry is sometimes lunch at work. I live close to my work so tend to eat a fairly substantial breakfast at around 8am. The people who have travelled further have often had a much earlier breakfast or none at all so they are really hungry by 11:30 and tend to eat lunch around 12. I would rather hold off until 1 or 1:30 but I eat at 12 to be social.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    I never have to force myself to eat to meet calories!
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,261 Member
    I usually get hungry at my regular meal times but if I don't get hungry for dinner, I eat anyway even if it's less or else I'll get super hungry near bed time
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    I never have to force myself to eat to meet calories!

    You are lucky! When you have super high cals it can get exhausting. The first few days are ok.. then you realize you have to do this everyday... day in, day out.. :/
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    TonyB0588 wrote: »
    Doesn't anybody eat based on family meal times anymore? Breakfast, lunch, and dinner? or Breakfast, Dinner, and Supper? Most of the responses above seem to be "I" responses and not "We".

    Let me see....
    At breakfast time my son has already left for work, my daughter is asleep as she works late. My wife and I rarely eat breakfast and rarely eat the same thing when we do.
    At lunchtime my son is working, my daughter is having her breakfast. If both me and my wife are around we will have a lunch together.
    At dinner time my son is most like not in, my daughter is working and mostly it's just me and my wife for dinner.

    A family meal together is unusual and we make a special effort when it happens.
  • FeelingAlive
    FeelingAlive Posts: 117 Member
    edited November 2017
    I eat because I love the action of eating - I don't drink my calories to make up for it. I have set meal times because I want to eat even if I am not truly hungry. When I am preoccupied I tend to forget about food and can go hours until I am reminded by hunger, but if my day is boring all I want to do is eat even if I am not hungry. I can never say no to a meal, so on days that I don't feel as hungry I still have my three meals, just smaller portions.
  • icemom011
    icemom011 Posts: 999 Member
    I eat when I'm hungry but it's usually a meal time anyway. Sometimes i get hungry before the said mealtime, then i will try to have an earlier meal, because if i snack, then eat, i will definitely overdo it. I eat way too much for premeal snacks, grabbing at everything in sight. And then there are times, when I'm so busy that i completely forget about food. I also always have protein/ carb combo before i go on my bike rides, unless it's after a meal. Nothing worse than getting dizzy and disoriented while cycling, hehe. And this way i avoid being all shaky when I'm back home from the ride.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,455 Member
    _AshLynn wrote: »
    No I am pretty consistent. My issue is my appetite goes away with stress...so I will have a few days of being negative by 500 ish (sometimes more or less). But on normal days I will be +/- 200 calories of 1600.

    I think it just gets me thinking because I don't want to get in the habit of being in a huge deficit. Example Last week my grandmother passed (I'm ok ...all is ok, not saying this for attention) but I didn't eat much and I started getting in the BMI category "under weight" and I don't want to be there because its just not healthy for me in my mind.

    So the peanut butter tip is probably a great suggestion and will be easy enough to fit in when I start to worry about eating when I'm not hungry.

    What are your overall goals OP? If you are already under weight, is your goal to gain? What calorie target are you aiming for? Do you exercise? And if so do you eat back some of those calories?

    Maybe someone can post the link to the "a list of calorie dense foods" thread so OP has a few other ideas on how to get calories up fairly easily.

    To your original question I eat because food is delicious, and because it fuels my body. I eat on a pretty consistent schedule: work out in the morning then eat breakfast when I get to the office around 8:30, eat lunch at the office at my desk b/w 11:30-1:00 and try to fit in a walk as well. Snack in the afternoon around 3, and then dinner is either around 7 if we are eating as a family or if it's a super busy night I often feed my kids something quick before activities and then I will eat after they go to bed around 9 pm.

    Sorry about your grandma.

  • _AshLynn
    _AshLynn Posts: 134 Member
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    _AshLynn wrote: »
    No I am pretty consistent. My issue is my appetite goes away with stress...so I will have a few days of being negative by 500 ish (sometimes more or less). But on normal days I will be +/- 200 calories of 1600.

    I think it just gets me thinking because I don't want to get in the habit of being in a huge deficit. Example Last week my grandmother passed (I'm ok ...all is ok, not saying this for attention) but I didn't eat much and I started getting in the BMI category "under weight" and I don't want to be there because its just not healthy for me in my mind.

    So the peanut butter tip is probably a great suggestion and will be easy enough to fit in when I start to worry about eating when I'm not hungry.

    What are your overall goals OP? If you are already under weight, is your goal to gain? What calorie target are you aiming for? Do you exercise? And if so do you eat back some of those calories?

    Maybe someone can post the link to the "a list of calorie dense foods" thread so OP has a few other ideas on how to get calories up fairly easily.

    To your original question I eat because food is delicious, and because it fuels my body. I eat on a pretty consistent schedule: work out in the morning then eat breakfast when I get to the office around 8:30, eat lunch at the office at my desk b/w 11:30-1:00 and try to fit in a walk as well. Snack in the afternoon around 3, and then dinner is either around 7 if we are eating as a family or if it's a super busy night I often feed my kids something quick before activities and then I will eat after they go to bed around 9 pm.

    Sorry about your grandma.

    My overall goal is to maintain. I don't really stick to the calorie count on MFP sometimes way less and sometimes way more! I am not underweight but if I have a few days of under eating I am underweight. I am right at the border. I exercise when I can...not on a routine schedule though, and I don't eat those calories back unless I really am hungry.