What do you do when nothing sounds good to eat?

emmylootwo

I haven't eaten a single morsel of food all day, and it's already 7pm where I live. I'm physically hungry (STARVING!!), but I can't decide what to eat. Nothing sounds good! Not even my usuals/cravings. Plus, my jaw is clenched tight, like it's trying to keep me from eating. This has happened 5-6 times in the past month since restarting on MFP. I usually end up /eventually/ eating something. Sometimes I end up eating things that are not friendly to my calorie intake. I would say the ONLY thing that sounds remotely appetizing is cheese pizza and Caesar salad from a local pizzeria, but there's no way I could accurately log those calories.

Anybody else felt similarly? What do/did you do?

Purplebunnysarah

Last time I felt like that I found out a few hours later that I had a stomach bug...

CooCooPuff

I'm related to someone that gets like that from time to time. There's time she'll let food in the fridge rot because the thought of eating it makes her gag.

I would just look for some entries for the pizza and salad, pick one that's a little higher in calories and eat it. You have a lot of calories to play around with right now and forcing yourself to eat something you don't want to just sounds silly.

RosieRose7673

CooCooPuff wrote: »

I would just look for some entries for the pizza and salad, pick one that's a little higher in calories and eat it. You have a lot of calories to play around with right now and forcing yourself to eat something you don't want to just sounds silly.

Agreed. That's what I would do too. This happens to me every so often also.

caffeinatedcami

I'm no expert but it seems like you are describing symptoms of anxiety brought on by calorie counting. Especially the jaw tightness and the inability to eat despite being very hungry. Have you ever had issues with disordered eating? MFP is great but it is not the only way to lose weight. If you think you are becoming obsessive to the point of starving yourself then it may be time to take a break from calorie counting. Hope you start feeling better soon.

hiyomi

caffeinatedcami wrote: »

I'm no expert but it seems like you are describing symptoms of anxiety brought on by calorie counting. Especially the jaw tightness and the inability to eat despite being very hungry. Have you ever had issues with disordered eating? MFP is great but it is not the only way to lose weight. If you think you are becoming obsessive to the point of starving yourself then it may be time to take a break from calorie counting. Hope you start feeling better soon.

I agree. The jaw clenching and her believing "its not letting me eat" isn't completely normal. >.<

positivepowers

Go to the hospital. The day I'm not hungry is the day I'm deathly ill lol! Have a cheese pizza and salad and guesstimate the calories (they are in the database if you use the restaurant app.)

afatpersonwholikesfood

If I am that hungry, ANYTHING sounds delicious. And if you have your whole day's calories, then pizza and salad is fine. Pick a restaurant that has published info and similar food and estimate as best you can. A few posters above have said this happens to them, but I admit I think that's a little strange.

CherylG1983

Really? Nothing? Pizza? Burger? If it's either of those things, have at it! It's better than nothing! But, when nothing is really appealing to me, I make a chocolate protein shake with banana, spinach, almond milk, flax seed and peanut butter. It's just liquid, but it's nutritious and delicious!

ElphabaWeasley

I get like this when I am stressed. Although, I have never experienced the jaw clenching, I do experience the "everything healthy makes me gag" quite a bit (especially when classes are in session). My best advice is to just eat something. Whatever you feel like you can eat. Count the calories as accurately as possible and move on. When I get like this (usually once a month ish) I just remind myself that eating something is better than eating nothing. One rough day here and there will not de-rail your progress. I would also take into consideration what other users have said and reconsider calorie counting if you think the stress of it may be causing these issues. For example, I know when this happens to me it is because of stress from school. If you even have the tiniest notion that this is due to stress from calorie counting then I would consider speaking with a health care professional and finding a different method to lose weight. Good luck.

codename_steve

I've been so hungry that nothing sounds good and I'm nauseated. I usually have a few mini pretzels to settle my stomach then make my boyfriend decide what we're having for dinner lol. I agree that finding a close enough entry is fine and if you have a full days with of calories it doesn't matter that it's "not super healthy".

itsbasschick

if i don't feel like eating anything, i eat anyway. it's necessary for your well-being.

a simple blaze pizza is 660 calories of deliciousness. otherwise have some milk or yogurt or a quest bar every few hours.

emmylootwo

caffeinatedcami wrote: »

I'm no expert but it seems like you are describing symptoms of anxiety brought on by calorie counting. Especially the jaw tightness and the inability to eat despite being very hungry. Have you ever had issues with disordered eating? MFP is great but it is not the only way to lose weight. If you think you are becoming obsessive to the point of starving yourself then it may be time to take a break from calorie counting. Hope you start feeling better soon.

Thanks. Yes, I do have a history of bulimia. I thought that it might have something to do with this, but my ED has never presented itself in this way and I've been suppressing those thoughts/behaviors for a good year and a half now. Plus, jaw clenching is actually a big problem for me when I'm stressed, but considering I'm on summer break from college and just hanging around the house for a couple weeks, I didn't think I had anything to be stressed about. Something to think about... Again, thanks for the concern. I did end up getting a couple slices of pizza and a salad finally around 9:30pm. I told my dad that it was the only thing that sounded even the tiniest bit decent for dinner, so he said okay, let's get take out then.

Like I said, it's been happening quite often this month. I didn't know what was going on and wondered if anybody else had had the same experience. I thought maybe I was just getting tired of food in general, haha. I was not intentionally (or, at least consciously) starving myself, just to clarify. I honestly couldn't think of anything to eat before my little brother mentioned pizza (and then I got even more anxious because I didn't know how to accurately log it!). I think I'm going to pre-log some meals from now on. Thanks everybody for your replies. (The smoothie idea is a good one I think too!)

ogtmama

You should talk to whoever helped you with your bulimia before...I'm sure they'd have some insight.