Is it 'wrong' to eat when you aren't absolutely hungry?

IdcShrimp

I've been maintaining my weight fairly well for a while now, but recently (and only recently) I've come to a weird feeling where I'm not really hungry like I used to be at meal times.

For instance, I always used to wake up at 5:15 AM and eat breakfast at 5:30. I wasn't 'hungry.' But I would not have access to food again until 11:30 AM and by that time I would be STARVING. So, I ate and commuted to school. It worked out ok, I fueled my body to get me through the morning, and then I was hungry at 12:00 PM anyway and I would eat lunch, getting comfortably hungry for dinner at 6 PM-ish.

But as of late I'm waking up not hungry at all. Now that I'm out of school, I wake up at 9 AM. So, you would think I'd be hungrier, since it would have been hours past my normal waking time. But no, not at all, I wake up completely full for no reason. My dinners are not bigger, later, or different. I just wake up and don't want food. But in a force of habit, I push myself to eat a 300 calorie minimum breakfast every day. I find that if i don't, I overeat lunch and feel nasty.

But my question is, is this wrong? My body doesn't really "know," I guess, how I've been sleeping so many hours and in turn ready to eat another meal...I think...but today is where the problem is...I woke up at 9, completely full, but thirsty as hell, so I drank water and ate an apple for the H20 content in it. That turned into a yogurt, some angel food cake (i'm serious, don't hassle me on this, it's fine and like a pastry for breakfast plus I'm not overeating it), & some whipped topping.

I felt like a moron. i just ate a 300 cal breakfast and I was never hungry to begin with.

Then a few hours passed. At 12 I looked at my cabinet, and was compelled to have some popcorn. Figuring I was a bit hungry (I could feel stomach growling so it was real, but I was not yet 'starving') i had a sandwich, nuts, two peach cups, a pastry, and some whip cream on top. That was only a 400 calorie lunch, anyways, but I felt like an IDIOT after, because I wasn't truly starving when I started eating it.

I guess my problem is, I feel like a glutton if I'm not keeling over hungry every time I go to have a snack or something. I feel like it is 'wrong' to eat when you aren't 'hungry' in the traditional sense (total headache, feeling weak, etc.). Is this the wrong way to think? Sometimes, in life, is it ok to eat a meal because you are PREVENTING the soon-to-be starving feeling? Like, if you are 50% hungry but could wait a bit, is it wrong to eat because it is, per say, lunchtime, and you want to eat lunch? I'm scared this is the wrong way to be, I never overeat my calories for the day either way, but feeling full all day is weird to me. Is it weird to be satisfied all day and not feel hunger? What do you think?

SezxyStef

it is against the ToS to post the same topic in multiple forms...

MB2MN

I think it's kind of strange that you feel like you should be STARVING whenever you eat...I hate that feeling and eat every few hours to avoid it. As long as you stay at your maintenance calorie goal I think it's perfectly fine to eat wherever you want.

Also...how did you manage to have a sandwich, nuts, 2 peach cups and a pastry for 400 cals?? A sandwich alone is that for me usually!

ninav1980

oh my, I think you are making this too complicated. Eat when you are hungry and dont when you arent. When I sleep in on weekends, I dont force myself to eat bfeakfast if I am not hungry. I just make an early 11:00 lunch and then maybe a yogurt at 2 when I get hungry. All the while staying within my calories


I would keep it simple and stop over thinking.