Hunger and Meal Issues

SarahKenney2

For starters, I'm a 36 year old female, 5' 5.5", and 117lbs.

I'm having trouble figuring out if I'm normal, and if so, what to do about it. I basically can't go more than 4 hours between meals without feeling hypoglycemic. Though I can remember times in the past where I occasionally went too long between meals and felt that way, it's been an everyday occurrence now for a couple years. It got so bad I bought a glucose meter, but my glucose has always been normal no matter when I take it. Blood tests have also shown it to be normal. As long as I eat regularly and enough, I feel fine. I will say that I've been constantly stressed out for a few years now (prone to anxiety), and my blood tests have shown a slightly elevated WBC (between 11-13) for about 5 years now. Doctors can't explain it, and tests for leukemia are negative. I'm suspicious that I may have an intestinal parasite infection - I've seen things in the stool that resemble worms. An initial stool test showed a negative result, but I read those are highly unreliable. Other options...

Could high metabolism cause this? I walk dogs professionally, and usually hit 10,000 steps a day. Sometimes it's 20,000. That's the only exercise I do. I also inherited skinny genes and have never had an issue with weight, except being underweight and having to gain. My symptoms were way worse when trying to gain about 15 lbs. I felt like I was dealing with extreme hunger which anorexics supposedly deal with during recovery. FYI - I never had an eating disorder. I lost weight because I wasn't tracking my calories while walking so much. A year ago I weighed 104 lbs.

Now that I'm at a healthy weight again, the hunger is more manageable. However, I'm struggling with breakfast. I don't like eating a lot early in the day, but I usually wake up hungry, or get hungry within an hour of waking up. I've tried so many different things for breakfast to make sure that I stay full until lunch. If I have bran cereal or oatmeal, I'm hungry an hour later - and I use whole milk with those. The only thing that seems to satisfy me long enough to make it to lunch, is a breakfast sandwich with meat eggs and cheese. That's not the healthiest option, I realize, but nothing else I eat seems to do the job. I've often had to eat a mid-morning snack, but it's frustrating having to work while being hungry in the morning. I'm also sick of having to eat between meals.

I crave meat and carbs a lot. While gaining weight, I've eaten lots of unhealthy food - burgers, etc. - which worked, but I don't want to give myself a a heart attack. Unfortunately, when the hypoglycemic feelings hit, I need a substantial meal usually to make them go away, and it takes upwards of an hour to start feeling normal after eating. That's why I don't think it's true hypoglycemia. Just taking in some sugar doesn't make me feel better. I have to eat a meal. I've also read that dyspepsia can cause this - I have chronic acid reflux.

Does anyone else have these issues? Is it normal to NEED food every 4 hours? God forbid if I ever was in a situation where I had to go without food for a day or two. I'd pass out. Any thoughts on breakfast ideas? I'm desperate for some food stability...if I could plan healthy, high calories meals instead of resorting to fast food, my stress would decrease.

kommodevaran

You are at the low end of the BMI scale (19.5).
It's normal to get hungry and eat every 2-3-4 hours.
Feeling of hunger is supposed to be so unpleasant that you are driven to eat. You aren't likely to pass out, but it sure can feel that way.
It's better to eat something that actually works for you, than trying and not succeeding eating something "healthy".
Restictive eating and mindset is not conductive to good health. Eat a variety of foods that makes you feel satisified. Plan your meals around that. Buy foods and ingredients so that you can whip up a good meal at home, and even make something to take with you for work if you want that.

SarahKenney2

kommodevaran wrote: »

You are at the low end of the BMI scale (19.5).
It's normal to get hungry and eat every 2-3-4 hours.
Feeling of hunger is supposed to be so unpleasant that you are driven to eat. You aren't likely to pass out, but it sure can feel that way.
It's better to eat something that actually works for you, than trying and not succeeding eating something "healthy".
Restictive eating and mindset is not conductive to good health. Eat a variety of foods that makes you feel satisified. Plan your meals around that. Buy foods and ingredients so that you can whip up a good meal at home, and even make something to take with you for work if you want that.

Thanks. My doc said I should be closer to 130 lbs., but the most I ever weighed was 125 when I was playing competitive sports and weight lifting. I'd like to get back to 125 and feel that Any weight gained now should be muscle.

I get that it's normal to feel hungry every few hours, but is it normal to start feeling hypoglycemic? I get weak, shaky, tingly, and lose the ability to concentrate. Seems like most people can put off eating and just feel hungry. If I put off eating, I feel like passing out.

TavistockToad

How many calories are you eating?

Being hungry every 4 hours in entirely normal...

sounds like your anxiety over what you should be eating and when could be making things worse.

SarahKenney2

I don't track every day, but I usually hit a minimum of 2,000 and try to hit 2,200 or 2,300. Right now I'm just maintaining my weight, and have been successfully doing that for 3-4 months. I've gained back enough fat, so now the only weight I want to put on is muscle. I'm reluctant to start weight training because my exercise tolerance has gone way down where I hit a wall after only a brief amount of exercise - like I want to pass out. I do have heart PVCs which have always limited my exercise tolerance to a degree, but never this bad. I'm also afraid that lifting will only add to my hunger and need for more calories, which is hard enough to deal with as is.

The reason I'm so paranoid about food is that one day out of the blue, I got extremely lightheaded and had to lie down. My legs were like jelly and I almost couldn't walk to the kitchen to get something to eat/drink. I was swaying on my feet. I drank a Gatorade and had a KIND bar. Half an hour later I could sit up and felt better. I nearly called 911 because I've never had that happen before, and I was alone. I literally felt on the cusp of passing out and not waking up. To this day, I don't know what caused it, because I had eaten that day. However, that was when my weight was low, and perhaps I hadn't eaten enough or I was dehydrated. Now when I feel the beginnings of those symptoms, I get really anxious and am afraid to go too long without eating/drinking.

When I was younger and playing varsity basketball, I could skip breakfast and play a game without it bothering me (except once I skipped breakfast and couldn't play until I ate something). But I used to be normal and be able to go longer than 4 hours without eating. Just wondering if my metabolism has changed, or if I'm inadvertently not eating as much as I used to.