Emotional Undereating

KillingAurora

It's currently 10:02pm where I live and I am lying in my bed with only 445 calories in my body. Actually it's probably less than that since I last ate something over 9 hours ago.
I'm an emotional undereater.
Does anyone else here in MFP land have this problem? For as long as I can remember, whenever I am feeling stressed, anxious or upset I completely lose my appetite and my desire to eat. I know, I know, starvation mode blah blah blah... This isn't about starving myself to lose extra weight or anything like that. I know it's not good for me, but I don't know what to do about it. I searched the forums for topics about this before I wrote this post, but I haven't really seen anything about it. Is there anyone else who stops eating/ eats less when things get hard? I'd really like someone to talk to who has had/ is having similar experiences. Thanks.

janesmith1

Do you emotionally undereat then binge eat at times? Or do you just undereat only when stressed?

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BrianJLamb

@Killing...also, what type of stressors cause you to undereat?

This is potentially an eating disorder. I imagine you might already know this. I also do it, but only during breakups or the loss of loved ones. It is a coping mechanism that I use to regain control in situations that I would otherwise feel like I had absolutely no control in. You don't need to binge for this to be a disorder, but if you think about the not eating aspect of what you are doing, are you seriously not hungry? Are you not hungry from start to finish of your 'no food periods'? Or do you get hungry, potentially let it ride it out and then lose the hunger? If you are losing the hunger, that is a normal cycle that happens with everyone. At one point, I even went as low as controlled vomiting, and this was all regardless of calories. My motivations were to control something.

VezNo1

Maybe you need someone to talk to, especially if this is frequent and your underweight. The body needs energy to feel good, so breaking this habit could help break out of feeling low.

jaylu

this happens to my boyfriend-if something really bad in his life happens he cant eat. like a lorry crashed into our garden one night and the driver died we had to call 999 it was a few days before he ate properly again the same happened a few years ago- a boy our age in our village drown and my boyfriend was so sickened by the idea of it that he again couldn't consume anything worth while for days. my boyfriend is slightly overweight though so i don't think this kind of thing would do any harm to him it only happens once a year at the most when really bad news comes along! BUT in saying that if it happens a lot to you and you go for weeks and weeks with out eat properly go to your doctor because its not good for your body or your mind!!

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kerrymh

Well are you doing this everyday??Probably not a good thing for your body...but it its once and a blue moon try not to drive yourself bonkers..better than binge eating in my opinion.
But really probably won't hurt to look into methods of stress management, journaling, reading inspirational books, meditation...things along that nature and working out help me relax so I can find out what I really need for my body/mind and soul

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hottottie11

When I'm really upset, I can't eat. Even if my stomach is growling, I cannot get myself to put food in my mouth. Its pretty rare and I have to be really upset for it to happen. But when it does, I literally do not eat for days.

I know how you feel and as long as its temporary its not too damaging. I try to calm down and assess the reasons why I'm upset to get over it quickly and start eating again. I hope you feel better :flowerforyou:

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Influence2

I have the same problem, for me its just that I physically cannot eat as much. I still eat, but its like I cant fit the normal amount I eat down. Usually my sleep is effected too.

I lose the desire to eat, but I still try to eat, just not much fits. Almost like my stomach shrinks when I get emotional.