'starving' if having second breakfast too late

yirara

Just looking for recognition.
Fyi: blood sugar, long term blood sugar and challenge test have all been normal for years. Just mentioning it first.
Fyi2: I'm not dieting but eating at maintenance, being normal weight. Below problem also occurred when I was still 40 lbs heavier and slightly overweight.

Whenever I delay my second breakfast/early lunch by as little as 45 minutes I feel miserable. The reason might be anything: being stuck in a meeting that overruns, stuck in traffic, this latest occurrence is being at my GP for much longer than anticipated.

If this happens I feel completely spaced out, somewhat shaky, can't concentrate, can't hit a key on the keyboard properly, feel hungry and thirsty. Not until after I've eaten but for hours, and no amount of food and water in the world, no sugar, no salt, nothing helps. Once things finally get better in the evening I feel so exhausted and tired as if I've hiked all day at temperatures above 35C/100F. And one such hickup causes the same problem to pop up at around the same time for the coming 1-3 weeks, every day, regardless of the size and timing of my second breakfast.

Anyone recognize this? Did you ever find a solution?

Need2Exerc1se

See a doctor

yirara

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

See a doctor

I wrote above I saw a doctor. I've been seeing doctors for at least 16 years now, nobody ever found anything or has an explanation other than that I seem to be getting hungry very quickly.

jvcjim

have you tried adding more protein and fat to the first breakfast?

yirara

jvcjcooper wrote: »

have you tried adding more protein and fat to the first breakfast?

Yep. I know I don't digest fats properly. Still it should not make too much of a difference as fats get digested mainly in the small intestines. I highly doubt they would get there in the fairly short time interval between first and second breakfast. If I have a very fatty breakfast I'm bound to feel miserable at a certain time in the afternoon. Happened every time I'm somewhere where breakfasts are mainly fatty.

goldthistime

A couple days ago I read something about circadian rhythms and how your hunger hormone levels are affected by your past eating patterns. A starting point to google if you're interested.

Personally, I avoid trying to change my mealtimes when possible. I'm uncomfortable when I'm made to wait, and can get pretty cranky about it, and yes, the crankiness can affect the rest of the day too. I saw some research last night that talked about unusual eating patterns being a predictor of weight regain. It's one of my goals once I have lost the weight to align my eating more with the rest of my family/social group (I tend to get my calories in earlier in the day than everyone else).

yirara

goldthistime wrote: »

A couple days ago I read something about circadian rhythms and how your hunger hormone levels are affected by your past eating patterns. A starting point to google if you're interested.

Personally, I avoid trying to change my mealtimes when possible. I'm uncomfortable when I'm made to wait, and can get pretty cranky about it, and yes, the crankiness can affect the rest of the day too. I saw some research last night that talked about unusual eating patterns being a predictor of weight regain. It's one of my goals once I have lost the weight to align my eating more with the rest of my family/social group (I tend to get my calories in earlier in the day than everyone else).

Thanks! I'll certainly look it up.

Hmpf.. call from my GP: latest blood results were perfect, as ever. Only explanation is that I might not be able to mobilise stored energy as quickly as needed after a nights fast. Doesn't explain lots of things though, why I'm able to lose weight just fine for example, or build muscles fairly well. When I have this miserable feeling I'm not in undersugar either, even though people describe it exactly this how I'm feeling. It just sucks.

edit to add: That I'm always somewhat short on energy is clear when I go running. Even after 1.5 years I still am literally dead on long runs if I don't take gels and the likes. 1h is the max I can run without additional energy sources. Trying to increase this distance, and using body fat as energy source since pretty much the beginning of this year has lead to no improvement.

smotheredincheese

What time do you have your first breakfast?
I wonder if it's a psychological thing, you've got so in to the habit of having a second breakfast/early lunch, that your body is expecting food at a certain time and expecting to feel bad if you don't eat.
Maybe you could try rearranging all of your meal times for a while and see if you can adjust to different eating patterns?

yirara

smotheredincheese wrote: »

What time do you have your first breakfast?
I wonder if it's a psychological thing, you've got so in to the habit of having a second breakfast/early lunch, that your body is expecting food at a certain time and expecting to feel bad if you don't eat.
Maybe you could try rearranging all of your meal times for a while and see if you can adjust to different eating patterns?

Currently at around 9-9.30. The second usually at around 10.30-11. Once those two are in place everything runs smoothly, even if further meals or dinner are delayed big time. I might get hungry and maybe a bit weak, but don't end up spaced out, shaking, loss of concentration and the rest of the lot. I've lived in many different time zones (max 4h difference) in the past few years, and always needed a second meal about 90 minutes after the first, regardless of how big the first was. The same if I'm on vacation, working outside or do things I generally love.

Whitezombiegirl

Sounds like reactive hypoglycaemia ( non diabetic). I get this and have the same symptoms. I keep glucose tablets on hand for that. I also find that avoiding sugary and sweet and grainy things and eating more protein and fat helps.

Sometimes its a mental thing - i want something sweet immediately after eating. I found that something bitter or strongly flavored helps with the cravings - a mint, an aniseed ball, a pickle etc.

yirara

Whitezombiegirl wrote: »

Sounds like reactive hypoglycaemia ( non diabetic). I get this and have the same symptoms. I keep glucose tablets on hand for that. I also find that avoiding sugary and sweet and grainy things and eating more protein and fat helps.

Sometimes its a mental thing - i want something sweet immediately after eating. I found that something bitter or strongly flavored helps with the cravings - a mint, an aniseed ball, a pickle etc.

Yes, I absolutely think it sounds like hypoglycaemia, however, I've never had too low blood sugar values when I start to feel miserable. Hmm.. I have a history of getting sick when certain blood values (ferritin, B12, quite a few others) are still far from the lower reference value. I had a working theory that I might have a low blood volume as those values are measured based on a normal blood volume. If you have less fluid stuff in it is more concentrated though might still be too little for proper bodily function. Not sure though whether this makes sense and there's no easy way to test it...
Back to topic: recommendation to eat every three hours certainly doesn't work for me in the first half of the day and eating more fat is a clear route towards feeling miserable as I don't digest it properly and it digests too slow anyway.

Mental thing: I'm not sure. If I feel miserable I feel like eating anything. Doesn't matter what, and nothing really helps to snap me out of this state. Glucose tablets don't. Another big sandwich, or something with chicken neither. I just end up overeating and having a hurting tummy, but I'm still stuck in that state. I'm generally not too much into sweet stuff anyway. I can't resist paprika or sweet chilly crisps though