How does one "forget/not want to" eat?

valiantrunner

As a mom...sometimes I look up from what I'm doing and realize I should have eaten lunch hours ago. Sometimes I'm watching that clock waiting for a reasonable time to eat lunch LOL!! Every body (not to be confused with everybody) is different in how it regulates, and some people can go 3 - 4 hours between hunger urges. It's within the realm of normal.

shadow2soul

I have my days were I'm just not hungry. It's not so much forgetting. I know I should eat, but I'm just not hungry. It's hard to describe. Then other days I am easily satisfied eating my allotted calories for the day. And then there are days were I want to eat everything and have to be careful not to over eat. Usually it balances out over the week though. If I am super stressed I won't have an appetite at all.

corinasue1143

I am one of those people who just forgets to eat. Be careful who you are jealous of. Like you said, I'm here, trying to lose.
I just have no hunger signal. I have appetite. Food looks good and smells good. But if I don't make the effort, I may go all
Day without eating, realize I am way too tired, then eat 2 candy bars and a pint of ice cream while deciding what to eat.
Sometimes I cook something healthy. More often, I am too tired and run to Sonic.
And that's why I'm here, setting a mental alarm to eat regular, reasonable amounts of healthy good foods.

genchiyu

I mindlessly eat when I'm in front of the TV out of boredom.

Today I couldn't do that at all because I woke up late and had to make late breakfast around 10am. I cook for my younger brother so that he can get his calories in when he comes home from school. (He's struggles with gaining weight.) I kept myself busy today and made my own breakfast while I cooked for someone else. Right now I'm at school figuring out what to eat for lunch/dinner.

Keep yourself busy if you get hungry/eat because of boredom. I, for one, am a product of eating out of boredom. The worst of it all is eating in front of a TV, mindlessly eating, before I realize I was full 20 minutes ago, but still go for that bag of chips and a 2-litre soda.

Lounmoun

In my youth I was able to ignore hunger and it went away when I was busy. I didn't exactly forget but I was able to ignore it. When you are in the habit of doing that I think it becomes easier. I have different habits now.
If you are in the habit of eating every 2-3 hours you will get hungry then. If your habit was skipping breakfast you probably wouldn't feel hungry in the morning most days. If you always have had a huge dinner it is going to be harder to change to the habit of having a smaller dinner.
Develop new habits and hobbies I guess if you eat out of boredom. Leave the kitchen. Leave the house. Get some projects going. Chew some gum. Drink some water. Wait 20 minutes before eating something. It takes time to change habits. If you stick strictly to a schedule for weeks then you will likely feel less hungry at times you don't typically eat.
Or
Eat frequently as is your current habit but stick to your calorie goal. Plan your eating. Stock up on low calorie snacks. Get enough protein, fats and fiber to help you feel more satisfied. Change calories or type of food but not frequency of eating.

goalsforever03

Plain coffee with some cinnamon helps me

RoxieDawn

I work from home. So I have full access to an open kitchen ALL day! That is how I got fat.

The only way I can control when and how much I eat is through logging. I have a few days here and there where I am not that hungry, but I never forget that I have to eat. Exercise drives my calorie goals and my calorie goals is how I get my overall results. When I leave the house, I eat terrible that day because I will skip a meal or 2, but I will come home and eat what ever I have to, calorie dense has its place sometimes to get my cals in.

I witness people that say are so full on 1,000 -1200 calories and I honestly think they have 100% overhauled their diet, become so heath food conscious (think eating clean/food is now bad/junk). I will say that when on a 1200 calorie diet eating volume foods is a big help, but you are eating that way because you are 'hungry'.

Maybe they say "hey, I feel fine on this calorie amount, I can lose faster if I don't eat my exercise or cut out another 100-200 calories, etc".

To be fair, usually they eating more due to logging issues, but they are still psychologically in a low calorie diet which is not mentally healthy. Most post here here after the fact when weight loss has stopped when eating 1200 calories and exercise a fair amount.

I think most everyone gets hungry, I think they formed a new ability to ignore their hunger cues. Sometimes you will see someone that knows they are under eating, may even say they have side effects and they are seeking approval for what they are doing. It so easy to fall victim to an eating disorder.

All this said, I often wonder what happens to the cases I have seen the past 4+ years of these individuals that struggled with this.

ccsernica

For me, it's usually happened when I'm focused on something other than the sensations coming from my stomach. If I'm unfocused or bored I get hungry right on schedule.

Crafty_camper123

I understand the feeling. I am always thinking about when my next meal will be, even if I'm not particularly hungry yet. I have never forgotten to eat, or went a whole day without food. Even when I am busy. It'll delay the hunger for a while, then I'm hit and am suddenly starving. The only time I have no appetite is when I'm sick or depressed, which isn't very often.

peggy_polenta

i am not an eater. i eat once a day (OMAD), because i have to. sometimes i will go 36 hours on purpose because the thought of the effort of shopping for, preparing and eating a meal is too much to deal with. i am not an emotional eater either and i dont see food as a reward for things. now, i love to cook and very very much enjoy cooking for other people but for myself...meh. does my tummy rumble? yes. but it goes away and i won't die of starvation just because my stomach is growling. i'll eat when im ready. i also do intense cardio 5-7 days per week and has not real impact on my hunger.

glassyo

I can understand forgetting to eat. Sometimes you just get so busy that your brain doesn't have room to realize you need or want food. That's never happened to me, of course, but I'm sure other, normal people.

bbell1985

I don't get it either. Sometimes I'll be hanging out with someone and like 6 hours have gone by and I'm wondering when the *kitten* they're going to say their hungry.

I think when I was fat, before I started logging, there would be stretches that I might not eat. Or I didn't think about food as MUCH. Now with calorie counting it's always on my mind. I always eat up to every calorie I possibly can. I kind of wish I could go back to being a little more careless, afterall...I was fat but I maintained that weight my whole adult life.

ms_havisham

So I'm another anomaly, the overweight girl who can forget to eat. I spent years in and out of the hospital because of GI issues. I spent weeks at a time on clear liquids, soft foods, no food and IV's or TPN, and periods where I was terrified to eat because it hurt (I could think about eating and my stomach would cramp up). I have a very weird relationship with food. I love food, I love cooking, I love eating. I also hate food, and hate eating sometimes. My hunger cues are non-existant. I know I am hungry when my head feels light, I get dizzy, and I feel headachy or cranky...so I have to try to eat before that point. I will tend to eat out of boredom or be an emotional eater at times. The other problem is that I will go all day without eating and then go for the quick and easy before bed (read high cal and awful for me). My stomach is a bit touchy in the mornings so i skip breakfast often, though if I am working out at all I need some sort of food so I am working on doing better with that. I am also not much of a snacker...I would rather have one or two big meals than nibble all day. But that is why I am here. Trying to figure out the best way to eat reasonably, stay healthy (its easy to set off a flare up if I eat the wrong things), and try to regulate my body in the absence of normal cues. I do find that the busier I am the less likely I am to eat. I spent today cooking dinner ahead of time and making brownies for my family, and had my first bite of food at 4:30. I just really don't think about eating until I stop moving. Then I can't stop thinking about eating, it seems

blueheartrisen

When I'm really into something, researching or a new hobby/project, I can forget to eat. That sense of flow/connectedness is awesome and better than food.

SCoil123

When I’m busy working I’ll often forget to stop and eat. That leads to being famished after work and a huge evening meal. When I first started losing weight I was naturally drawn to intermittent fasting for this reason. All I had to do was make my one main meal a little smaller to see results.

Once I got back into fitness my appetite changed and that pattern stopped working for me

canadianlbs

i seem to have done something to that part of my system by taking up lifting because i get far more 'normally' hungry these days, most of the time.

but back in my twenties and thirties i was able to go all day on a box of smarties just so long as there was coffee around. or i'm that person who can be starving to death, and still she'll go walk all around a grocery store and then leave lamenting about how there is nothing she 'wants'.

i don't think there are tips and tricks, in my case. all i can say is it's kind of a state where food just doesn't seem relevant. my head knows it is, but it's a very abstract idea and one i just can't count on my autonomous system to take seriously. the rest of me is just as likely to register hunger, pay it theoretical lip service and still not feel arsed enough to do anything about it.

fun fact: the word 'anorexia' is a word in its own right which just means lack of appetite or interest in food. it's not really a synonym for the longer form 'anorexia nervosa'. i'm a not-bad example of the distinction, i guess. i'm definitely capable of being anorexic if i quit paying attention, but i definitely don't have anorexia nervosa. i'm sort of 'anorexia apathetica' if i'm anything.

Kst76

It’s more not having the time to eat than forgetting. Not having time happens all the time for me.

Mslmesq

I used to get so busy with work I wouldn’t eat. My husband does the same. I eat more regularly now, but still sometimes forget to eat. I really do. Sometimes I remember I forgot to eat breakfast.

Either way, I end up getting the same calories cause I eat them later in the day. So it evens out. But I do forget to eat at times.

What’s your question? Why I do it? I think when I’m stressed I lose my appetite. Same as when I’m upset. I had a bad break up once and couldn’t eat at all. I lost a lot of weight. Too much. But I literally felt like throwing up when I ate. I think some people eat when they are upset. I don’t. I do other weird stuff. Like clean my house.

Machka9

RecognitionT wrote: »

Then I read stories of people that forget to eat or can't be bothered preparing a meal, so they just skip it, and for the most part it doesn't even disturb them.

Tips, tricks? Most of my day is spent at home studying, nothing physically strenuous beyond walking around the house cooking, cleaning, and ~20 minutes of jumping rope.

I feel like most of the eating I do isn't so much because I'm hungry... but bored.

You've answered your own question right there.

I'm one who can forget to eat or who can't be bothered with whatever preparation might be required to eat.

Why? I'm anything but bored. When I forget to eat or can't be bothered eating it is because I am so incredibly, insanely busy that I can't see fitting in 10 minutes to fix something to eat ... so I just don't.

I work full time. I attend university part time (working toward my Masters). I train for and do long distance cycling events. I am an active participant in my cycling club doing much of the promotional work and also organising events. My husband and I are organising, and quite possibly also doing, 8 events in the next few months. Because I wasn't quite busy enough, I threw training for and doing a 10K running event in there for something extra to do in December and January. We also travel quite a bit. In my spare time I dabble in photography. And I've got a list as long as my arm of things I'd really like to get around to doing.

One of the things I really liked about joining MFP is that I started eating certain foods at certain times, and by doing that I ate the number of calories I needed to eat to lose the weight that was holding me back from cycling to the top of our local mountain (I've done that twice now since losing the weight). Thus food and eating could take a backseat to everything else I do. I don't have to be bothered with it ... I can focus on things that matter more to me.


So I guess, in fewer words, do more. Occupy yourself with things other than food. Go for walks outside. Find sports/exercises you enjoy. Take up a hobby or two. Volunteer. Get a part time job.

nvmomketo

My food choices seem to dictate my hunger. If my blood sugar is varying widely - due to higher carb foods, mainly low in fibre - then I am hungry every couple of hours. The fewer carbs I eat, the less frequently I need to eat.

Boredom may make me feel like eating, but it isn't actually hunger and is pretty easy to ignore when I am eating low carb. When higher carb, it's a low harder to ignore.

YMMV