Eat When Not Hungry? Yes OR No?
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no. I actually wait until my stomach growls.0
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If I ever experienced a situation where I wasn't hungry, I'd seize the opportunity to not eat!
But unless I'm seriously not well, I'm ravenous all the time. I can eat a whole pizza ... and an hour later I'm prowling around the kitchen trying to talk myself out of eating something else.1 -
It depends. I sometimes forget to eat because I get busy and then I pay with grumpiness later. And at work I need to eat at lunch or I won't have time to eat for several hours.
But on a lazy off work day, I eat when hungry and don't follow a strict meal schedule. It's a little harder to count calories that way.0 -
I do. Otherwise, I get too hungry later and make bad decisions. I'm trying to regulate my inability to regulate my appetite, here, after all. lol But, seriously, consistency is key. I should've learned that when I lost 85 lbs 5 years ago.
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I prefer waiting until I'm hungry to eat and usually do.
The exception is when I know I'll be hungry in a couple hours but won't have an opportunity to eat at that time.
Another exception is eating for social reasons.0 -
If I'm eating when I'm not hungry it probably means I'm eating somthing I should be eating.
I usually only eat when I'm hungry. There is no need for me to do otherwise because I don't starve myself and I'm usually hungry by lunch and dinner.0 -
endlessfall16 wrote: »The whole darn challenge of losing weight comes from keeping from not eating too much. It's never eating too little anyway.
That isn't true. The number of posts we see on here saying "help me, I keep binging and I don't know why!" and on questioning, we find the person is consistently undereating which is triggering a binge cycle - there are just so many of these.
Many people - so many - are stuck in an unhealthy cycle of restriction and binging and cannot lose weight effectively until they learn to feed themselves adequately and consistently. In those cases, eating too little is absolutely a problem.
And when I see a post about "do I have to eat if I'm not hungry?" I see someone who is consistently underfeeding themselves and has a jacked up appetite, looking for others to validate their self-starving ways.
Sure, very occasionally that will be someone who averages a good amount of calories and wants to go under once in a while (which is of course fine, it's the average that matters) - but usually it's not.
If you need to lose weight, you know your appetite is not 100% reliable as a guide. So if your numbers say you need to eat, eat.4 -
Nope, almost never. Eating when I wasn't hungry led to obesity, which led to a screwed up appetite where I was always hungry. I'm thankful to have resolved those issues and I'm thrilled to have days where I'm not really hungry again.
If I don't eat when I'm not hungry I don't have to limit myself when I am hungry - it all balances out like it should.2 -
Depends. If it's an important meal (ex. planned family meal) or something I really like, I eat it. If it's not something important or I don't feel like having something particular (this is often breakfast) I just skip it and eat later when I'm hungry or feel like eating something. If I skip a meal and have calories left over at the end of the day, I either bank for another day or have something higher in calories if I feel like it.
I basically don't sweat it and go with the flow of what life/personal desires throw at me. I feel that stressing over the minutia isn't worth it if I'm going to be doing this for life, so I don't. As long as my general calorie balance is in a good place and is going as planned (be it loss, maintenance or planned gain) I'm happy.2 -
no. there have been times i couldn't reach my daily goal and i forced myself to eat.well i felt aweful for the rest of the day and the day after.so full and bloated,i hated it.so after it happened a few times,i stopped forcing my self to eat.there will sooner or later be a day when i feel hungrier,or want something extra sweet to eat,and then those calories come in handy.0
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No, but I have a big appetite and tend to overeat. Sometimes my appetite tells me to eat when I really shouldn't and I have to follow my data rather than my feelings. So if I'm actually not hungry I just save the calories for another time.
However, if you have tendencies toward undereating or rarely get hungry, then your appetite might mislead you in the opposite direction and lead to malnutrition or too-fast weight loss.
So...if it is an occasional moment in an otherwise healthy diet, then bank the calories. If it is a consistent issue to not be hungry, then I say follow the plan and eat your calories whether you want them or not. Your body still needs sufficient fuel and nutrition regardless of whether the mechanism for notifying you to eat is functioning correctly.0 -
If I'm at work, I eat lunch whether I'm hungry or not (I usually am). I'm a teacher, and that 20 minutes they schedule for me to shove food down my throat is the only chance I'll get.
When I'm not at work, I only eat when I feel hungry.1 -
CattOfTheGarage wrote: »endlessfall16 wrote: »The whole darn challenge of losing weight comes from keeping from not eating too much. It's never eating too little anyway.
That isn't true. The number of posts we see on here saying "help me, I keep binging and I don't know why!" and on questioning, we find the person is consistently undereating which is triggering a binge cycle - there are just so many of these.
Many people - so many - are stuck in an unhealthy cycle of restriction and binging and cannot lose weight effectively until they learn to feed themselves adequately and consistently. In those cases, eating too little is absolutely a problem.
And when I see a post about "do I have to eat if I'm not hungry?" I see someone who is consistently underfeeding themselves and has a jacked up appetite, looking for others to validate their self-starving ways.
Sure, very occasionally that will be someone who averages a good amount of calories and wants to go under once in a while (which is of course fine, it's the average that matters) - but usually it's not.
If you need to lose weight, you know your appetite is not 100% reliable as a guide. So if your numbers say you need to eat, eat.
The OP was not talking about someone who restricts their eating to very low calorie levels. It is about if it gets to be meal time and you just aren't hungry yet. I don't think the question was about starving yourself and then binging.
My appetite varies especially in the mornings. Sometimes within an hour of getting up I am hungry...so I eat. Most of the time however I don't get hungry until almost lunch time. Actually it works better for me to eat "brunch". I am not as snacky in the afternoons.
Some days I might end up not eating all my calorie allotment...other days I eat slightly above my allotment. It all works out in the end.
I want to live the life of a healthy normal weight person...do you think that all thin people force themselves to eat when they aren't hungry?0 -
I try to eat around the same time. I'm usually hungry but I find that if I don't go ahead and have my meal I am later over hungry and tend to want to eat more than I should.0
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Alatariel75 wrote: »I tend not to eat when I'm not hungry, but I think if you are finding that you are sated and not hungry, but well under your calorie goal, you need to look at the make-up of your meals and start adding in some more calorie dense foods. Not necessarily more food by volume, but more calories per meal.
satiated.0 -
CattOfTheGarage wrote: »endlessfall16 wrote: »The whole darn challenge of losing weight comes from keeping from not eating too much. It's never eating too little anyway.
That isn't true. The number of posts we see on here saying "help me, I keep binging and I don't know why!" and on questioning, we find the person is consistently undereating which is triggering a binge cycle - there are just so many of these.
Many people - so many - are stuck in an unhealthy cycle of restriction and binging and cannot lose weight effectively until they learn to feed themselves adequately and consistently. In those cases, eating too little is absolutely a problem.
And when I see a post about "do I have to eat if I'm not hungry?" I see someone who is consistently underfeeding themselves and has a jacked up appetite, looking for others to validate their self-starving ways.
Sure, very occasionally that will be someone who averages a good amount of calories and wants to go under once in a while (which is of course fine, it's the average that matters) - but usually it's not.
If you need to lose weight, you know your appetite is not 100% reliable as a guide. So if your numbers say you need to eat, eat.
The OP was not talking about someone who restricts their eating to very low calorie levels. It is about if it gets to be meal time and you just aren't hungry yet. I don't think the question was about starving yourself and then binging.
My appetite varies especially in the mornings. Sometimes within an hour of getting up I am hungry...so I eat. Most of the time however I don't get hungry until almost lunch time. Actually it works better for me to eat "brunch". I am not as snacky in the afternoons.
Some days I might end up not eating all my calorie allotment...other days I eat slightly above my allotment. It all works out in the end.
I want to live the life of a healthy normal weight person...do you think that all thin people force themselves to eat when they aren't hungry?
This is precisely why I let the situation dictate if I'm eating while not hungry or not. Naturally thin people (and by that I mean people who consume an amount of calories that keeps them at a healthy weight without paying any attention or making any weight related food decisions outside of preference) will and often do eat when not hungry, but it's mostly in social situations or if they are craving something in particular. On the flip side they sometimes don't eat despite being hungry because they're "too lazy to eat" (I've heard that) or too busy. They also can, and do, gorge until they're overfull in some situations, or barely eat anything for the whole day in others. It's just normal eating. Adapting to life as it goes. No rules regarding hunger or meal time, at least no conscious rules outside of habitual behaviors.
I know I will always have to keep an eye on my calories because I lack many of the natural balancing mechanisms these people have, but I can mimic the flexibility and the stress-free spontaneity, consciously adjusting the other parameters to fit.
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No, but my schedule is flexible. If I knew I wouldn't be able to eat for 4 hours after, yeah, I would eat something, otherwise I'd end up starving and making bad choices.0
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No, you should never eat when you are not hungry - whatever you are eating will turn into fat because your metabolism has slowed down and it will not burn up the fat. I went through a program called Naturally Slim (www.naturallyslim.com) and they say you can eat a snack between meals. Very good program and it works if you follow it.0
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EttaMaeMartin wrote: »Alatariel75 wrote: »I tend not to eat when I'm not hungry, but I think if you are finding that you are sated and not hungry, but well under your calorie goal, you need to look at the make-up of your meals and start adding in some more calorie dense foods. Not necessarily more food by volume, but more calories per meal.
satiated.
Sated is a synonym of satiated and can be used interchangeably.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sated 4 -
I usually don't eat if I'm not hungry. If it's a special occasion or we having guests or going to a friend's house for dinner then yes, I will eat because I don't want to be weird or rude. But usually if that is the case I will be pretty hungry because I'll skip the previous meal so I can indulge more at the shared meal.0
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