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

chellycakes

I've noticed when I switched to night shift for a week I have no appetite, so weird. Go back to days and hungry always haha.

Machka9

Mslmesq wrote: »

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.

You've just described me too.

I'm exactly the same way. The more I've got to do and the more stressed I am, the less I want to eat. And it gets to the point where I feel sick even thinking about food.

And, like you, when I get upset, I need to be active. My house will shine and I'll fit in time to go for a long hard bicycle ride. But eating is just not appealing at all.

karacourtneyw1

I'm definitely a person who forgets to eat or doesn't have an appetite a lot of the time. I struggle with drinking water too. You know how some people are social drinkers? I'm a social eater. I love to eat and enjoy a big meal when I'm with someone but otherwise...I don't take a lot of pleasure out of it.

Once I got on a solid meal/workout plan, I realized that I was going to have to eat way more to gain muscle, and it's honestly been a struggle. Sometimes I have to resort to smoothies because food is just grossing me out that day. My husband thinks I'm insane, but hey, we're all different!

amusedmonkey

Yeah, I don't get it either, but I can imagine how people would do that without having actual experience with it. I have days where I'm not very hungry, and days where I have one meal a day or even nothing, but I don't forget about food or stop wanting to eat it, I just got better at not responding to every single cue and learned to dismiss them sometimes. I also got better at not freaking out when I'm hungry if I need to be hungry for a large evening meal with friends, and my lower hunger days I still have to be conscious about my food because my eating isn't always motivated by hunger, so when I say "I'm not hungry" it rarely translates to "I don't want food". It simply means "consciously making the decision not eat is easier". When I'm playing a very exciting game, I don't exactly forget to eat, I'm just too involved in it and don't want to leave it to get food, it feels like less of a priority at the time, which is weird but I'll take it. I do eventually get up and eat.

Yesterday I ate eggs too many days in a row, and that usually causes me nausea and stomach pain for a few hours. I still managed to want and eat a piece of chocolate cake.

Now, how you go all day without food for a big meal at the end of the day? You just do. First couple of times are hard, but then it gets easier as you familiarize yourself with the feeling of hunger and it doesn't freak your out anymore. In fact if you watch closely, you'll see your hunger goes in up and down waves and you aren't hungry all the time despite what your brain is telling you. In fact after you get used to it most of the time you aren't truly hungry, except for that low level easy to handle feeling of an empty stomach and you're more aware of your brain's tricks making the memory for hungry moments more vivid and stretched out than they really are so you remember being hungry all day. It's not ideal, and I would rather not be hungry, but if the meal is worth some discomfort then it's worth it and I'm not intimidated by the process anymore!

The hunger I have a real issue with is when I have eaten but I'm still very hungry. If the meal isn't doing what it's supposed to be doing (making me less hungry) then I tend to overeat trying to get it to do what it's supposed to do. I can expect a certain delay for satiety to register, but if after that it doesn't happen I tend to overeat. That's why I make sure my meals are satisfying both mentally and physically. In some odd way it's much easier for me to not eat than to eat and not be satisfied.

aokoye

For me it's depression as well as busyness make it happen. It's really not that exciting and I can assure you that you don't want my depression. When my depression is especially bad it will make me not want to eat (because I don't want to get out of bed and eating requires leaving my bed to get food) and/or forget to do so. Being more busy than usual will result in either forgetting or not having time.

passenger79

The only time I don't want to eat is when I don't feel well with IBS flare up.

I plan my next meal while Im still eating one. First thing I do when I book a trip abroad is research local cuisine and if weekend away close by good pubs/restaurants.

I eat when I'm stressed,when I'm happy,when I'm bored,when I'm excited ...I don't get how people forget to eat as it seems everything revolves around eating for me.

That's why I'd be crap at intuitive eating lol and will have to count my calories forever.

Example :going away with my partner this weekend as he booked us a night away and a spa as my birthday present .
Guess who has already found a restaurant to get dinner at and another one for breakfast

Sorry no tips just wanted to let you know you are definitely not alone in this.

sytchequeen

I often have my lunch at work because it is "lunch-time", not because I'm hungry.

Having said that, some days I am clock watching because I'm hungry and it's not "lunch-time" yet.

I put it down to how busy I am and what I had for breakfast.

rikkejohnsenrij

If I do something interesting I sometimes forget to eat ...for me that can be:
-Gaming (but since I have kids I only rarely get to play more than an hour these days)...
-If I get an interesting task at work
-Being on a trip to an interesting place (had a trip last month with some friends where I had breakfast at 6 and lunch at 14)

rainbow198

I don't snack and mainly eat big, balanced meals. They keep me satisfied for a long time.

If I get busy or time flies by it can be easy for me to forget to eat. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Other times I'm legitimately not hungry.

After doing a bit of research early on, what probably helps me is that I'm "fat-adapted". I'm not sure.

As someone who ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted most of my life, it is a strange thing to experience. Especially working from home with my home office right next to the kitchen! Food just doesn't have that power over me anymore.

It's weird for me now being with others that need to eat every 2 hours and they think I'm weird seeing how I can go for a long time without eating. But when I eat, I eat.

Francl27

I never forget to eat. If I'm busy, I'm still going to get hungry, and I might postpone my meal but I won't FORGET about it. Even when I'm stressed or depressed and don't want to eat, I'm still hungry.

I have no idea what people mean when they say 'some days I'm not hungry'. I might be less hungry some days, but you bet I'm going to get hungry if I don't eat.

Baffles me a bit.

Bannakafalatta

Have you ever tried fasting? If it's medically safe for you, I'd recommend trying it. It's interesting how it changes your relationship with food.

Seffell

If you are very busy and stressed out you might forget to eat. Well I could. If I'm relaxed and I can never forget to eat.

kshama2001

nvmomketo wrote: »

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

Ya, I'm not low carb, but reducing carbs also reduced the munchies for me.

Sunshine_And_Sand

I have had jobs that were so busy/crazy that I wasn't able to eat (hospital jobs) but I never forgot to eat, I was aware of how hungry I was the whole time and ate as soon as I got home no matter how tired I was or that it was 3AM.
I know some people really do forget to eat, but I believe a lot of people are just lying when they say they aren't hungry bc they don't want to admit that losing weight is a struggle for them just as it is for everyone else. After all, like other have said, they didn't get here by never eating...

hesn92

Yeah I don’t understand it either. My son is that way. Sometimes he just can’t be bothered to eat dinner and he’s just like meh whatever. Nbd. Huh??? You just didn’t eat dinner and you don’t feel like dying? So confused.

seltzermint555

As everyone else is saying, people are just different when it comes to this. I never forget to eat! The idea is laughable. However, I will say when I sleep late, let's say I sleep til 10 am - I could easily skip breakfast, go straight to lunch at 11 or 12 and then eat a normal dinner around 6. My husband is not that way. If we wake up at 10 on the weekend he eats breakfast and then is ready for lunch at noon like usual. He also needs a snack if we stay up later than usual and I don't. I used to be married to someone else and he ate about 3000 calories every day at 7 pm and no other eating or snacking...that was weird to me, I don't think I could do that!

czmiles926

Sometimes I'm hungry but just can't be bothered to eat, especially when I know I haven't got any good food in the house

witcherkar

For me, the reason i got to the highest weight i was, 350 pounds, was because i had untreated binge eating disorder. I would binge all the time. In junior high and highschool, i thought i was fat and people would judge me if i ate so i didnt eat in front of people. By the time i got home, i was starving and would eat basically a huge meal of snacks, then two plate fulls of dinner, lots of dessert, and when everyone went to bed i would sneak food and hide it in my room and eat it. I also drank almost 3/4 a gallon of milk a day, sodas and energy drinks out the wazoo.
But i also knew i was fat and would try dieting, but they would always be crash diets and i eventually ended up in a cycle of i either restrict to the max of under 1000 calories a day or i binge over 10000 calories a day. Im now in therapy and see a psychiatrist. I take a medicine that controls my binges. I can say no to food now and i dont think about it 24/7 like i used to. Apperently with binge eating disorder, you either lack a certain chemical in the brain or have super low levels of it. Which the medicine replaces and balances. Also if im doing something, im the type of person that i cannot stop in the middle and finish it later. I have to finish it now. So i forget to eat meals because im so focused on what im doing. I read all 4 twilight books in 4 days. I didnt sleep. I didnt eat. I didnt shower. I took the book to the bathroom with me. Lol. So basically i ended up fat because of an eating disorder and i forget meals because my medication tells me i dont have to think about food plus everytime i diet i go in a cycle of restriction and bingeing (which im getting help for) plus if im focused on a task food is the last thing on my mind. Keeping busy always helps. I hope this post helps you!

LadyMustard

I've been on both sides of the spectrum on this.

This happens to me on occasion. Some days I'll be fine, but other days I'll get up, look in the fridge, and nothing looks appetizing. Basic biology: women's hormones spike and plummet monthly. For me, it affects my appetite big time. Usually it amps it up, but sometimes my appetite does a complete about-face.

As for how it feels, it's like feeling really bored or super depressed. Nothing looks appetizing. Like, someone filled the fridge with all the foods you hate when your back was turned.

Another way of putting it. Like when you're bored and you want to do something but nothing really appeals to you as something you want to do.

It's one of the reasons I track. That way it doesn't matter if I feel like constantly stuffing my face and all I can think about is food or if I'm looking in the fridge, my stomach is growling and my brain is saying, "Food. Meh."

OP, as for tips, I talk to my husband. I've gotten into the habit of telling him, "I want to eat, but I'm not hungry." He does the same to me. He'll open up the fridge and say to me, "I want to eat more food, but I just ate. I'm not actually hungry." Then he shuts the fridge without me having to say a word, picks up his latest book and chills on the couch with me as I get horribly lost in Xenoblade Chronicles X.

As stupid as it sounds, it's really helpful just getting it out and saying it. Having someone to say it to gives accountability. We don't find it annoying hearing it everyday because we both know what it's like to want to eat when we're bored and the urge to snack is always there.

Ebony_Kitty

I have Invisalign and find it very difficult to eat while I work (Flight Attendant) because it’s necessary to brush, floss, and clean the aligners. Doing that in an airplane bathroom is disgusting. So many times I go 12-15 hours without eating. It’s absolutely awful and I get cranky, especially when my breakfast isn’t a big as I hoped it would be- eating on the road is very hard sometimes. I could never imagine simply “forgetting” to eat; not having time to eat is understandable.