To eat or not to eat?

cxdyer

Do you eat even when you're not hungry? I noticed the first week I started dieting I was hungry all the time and no amount of snacks helped. My appetite decreased slowly and there are some days where I will go a meal or two and not really feel hungry, but I eat a little of something to keep my metabolism going. Does this happen to you? Should I eat anyway?

elvensnow

Well it's pretty common for your body to adjust to your new eating levels. For example I remember at my highest weight I used to go to my favorite burrito place and get one of the giant burritos with a bunch of chips and salsa and eat the whole thing. I tried doing that once after losing a lot of weight and I was STUFFED by the time I ate just half the burrito, not even touching the chips.

So yea, it's pretty natural to lose appetite. Especially if you're eating more protein and healthy fats than you used to, among plenty of other biological changes.

I would say "Don't eat if you're not hungry" except for one condition - if you're not hungry to the point where your intake would just be way too low that day, like eating 800 calories and exercising a ton. Maybe once or twice won't hurt, but if you do it too often it can have negative affects on metabolism. If that happens I would try to eat more calorie dense foods, like nuts, avocado, etc, in order to get more bang for the buck, so to speak.

cxdyer

Well it's pretty common for your body to adjust to your new eating levels. For example I remember at my highest weight I used to go to my favorite burrito place and get one of the giant burritos with a bunch of chips and salsa and eat the whole thing. I tried doing that once after losing a lot of weight and I was STUFFED by the time I ate just half the burrito, not even touching the chips.

So yea, it's pretty natural to lose appetite. Especially if you're eating more protein and healthy fats than you used to, among plenty of other biological changes.

I would say "Don't eat if you're not hungry" except for one condition - if you're not hungry to the point where your intake would just be way too low that day, like eating 800 calories and exercising a ton. Maybe once or twice won't hurt, but if you do it too often it can have negative affects on metabolism. If that happens I would try to eat more calorie dense foods, like nuts, avocado, etc, in order to get more bang for the buck, so to speak.

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it

kellijauch

Listen to your body. Only eat when you are hungry.

ItsCasey

There are some days where I could go without eating at all, but my training would suffer tremendously, and it would completely throw off my fasting schedule. So I eat when I am supposed to, and I eat as much as I'm supposed to (or as close as possible). I do not skip meals.

elvensnow

There are some days where I could go without eating at all, but my training would suffer tremendously, and it would completely throw off my fasting schedule. So I eat when I am supposed to, and I eat as much as I'm supposed to (or as close as possible). I do not skip meals.

Fasting and things like that are special cases though. Certainly makes sense if you are doing something like that. But if you're eating normal then missing a meal because you're not hungry isn't bad-- it won't "hurt" your metabolism or anything assuming you're not under-eating every day or something like that. I skip meals pretty often if I'm just not hungry (usually when I eat a very calorie dense or larger meal earlier in the day).

jwdieter

It's ok to be off a little. But eating to the plan is part of the plan.

shirleygirl910

There are some days where I could go without eating at all, but my training would suffer tremendously, and it would completely throw off my fasting schedule. So I eat when I am supposed to, and I eat as much as I'm supposed to (or as close as possible). I do not skip meals.

There are alot of head games going on when we try to lose weight. I fell into the mode of not hungry so I wouldn't eat. Then after a couple days of not eating very much, I noticed I had no energy etc. It's best to eat on a schedule, and plan days at a time, so you aren't going to the fridge saying "what am I hungry for?"

jacksonpt

I don't follow any type of scheduled eating. I eat when I feel like it. Some times that means all day long, some times it mean 1 huge meal when I get home from work. But either way, I always get my calories in.


A couple of side notes

1) eating more frequently doesn't "keep your metabolism going". It's always going (unless you're dead), so don't worry about that
2) depending on your habits and your relationship with food, "listening to your body" may be good advice, or it might be horrible advice.
3) your body needs fuel to function properly... but when it gets that fuel is largely irrelevant. It's important to eat your cals, but when you eat them is unimportant.

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cwolfman13

As with anything, it depends. Are you more or less getting your requisite calories and nutrition...getting your requisite vitamins and minerals, essential amounts of proteins and fats? Do you have days like this but other days where you go over and they balance each other out? Or does this lack of hungriness carry over into days and days of substantially under-eating and missing on your calorie and macro goals (I'm not talking about 100 calories here or there, I'm talking about substantially missing on your calorie goals).

If it's that latter, more than likely what is happening is that you're under-eating and as a defense against those discomforts, your body is releasing excessive amounts of a hormone called Leptin which signals the brain that you are full and everything is hunky dory. This is part of the metabolic slow down that people talk about (No, not starvation mode) because when the body is flooded with Leptin, the hormone Gherelin is depressed. Gherelin is the hormone that "makes your stomach growl" and increases metabolic efficiency.

ItsCasey

There are some days where I could go without eating at all, but my training would suffer tremendously, and it would completely throw off my fasting schedule. So I eat when I am supposed to, and I eat as much as I'm supposed to (or as close as possible). I do not skip meals.

Fasting and things like that are special cases though. Certainly makes sense if you are doing something like that. But if you're eating normal then missing a meal because you're not hungry isn't bad-- it won't "hurt" your metabolism or anything assuming you're not under-eating every day or something like that. I skip meals pretty often if I'm just not hungry (usually when I eat a very calorie dense or larger meal earlier in the day).

Fasting is not really a special case. I eat the same amount of calories as I would if I ate 3 meals or 6 meals per day. I just eat them all at once. Most people who are trying to lose weight are not going to fare well on a random, "eat whenever you're hungry" diet, especially if those people are also doing any significant amount of exercise. Hormones play a huge rule in appetite. It's not always about when you "feel" hungry. It's about how much food your body needs. Like I said, there are days when I'm not hungry at all, but that doesn't mean I don't need to eat. Your body also tries to adapt to your eating schedule, and if you're eating in a haphazard fashion, then you're never going to settle into a pattern. There will constantly be days where you feel hungry all the time or not hungry at all.