Cannot eat even min cals- why?

swordsmith

So I've been on this lifestyle change for a little over a month. MFP pegged me at 1800 cals/day at my then weight to drop 2 lbs per week. About 4 weeks ago I started hitting the gym hard as well as other things. My normal exercise looks like this:

Mon-Sat: 1 hour in gym with 30 mins cardio and 30 mins strength under the supervision of a trainer.
Mon, Tues, Thur, and Sat - 1 hour of Krav Maga
Daily - A 30-40 minute walk at lunch and if the weather is nice similar at dinner.

All of the above will typically push my allowed cal intake into the high 2000's or low 3000's. Until last week I could usually manage to eat 1800-1900 cals. I tried to leave a 500 cal deficit each day prior to this to lose about 3 lbs per week.

About a week ago I have all of a sudden lost any taste for food. I had one day above the 1200 cal minimum (at <1600) but all of the other days are sub 1200 cals. I had one day where I at e barely 500 cals with something like 1800 left over. I simply was not hungry and the thought of eating made me queasy.

Now I know this is not healthy and I have actually tried to choke down enough food to at least get to the 1200 cal minimum with little success. And I dont intentionally starve myself- when I am hungry I eat but I now fill up pretty quickly (example- bacon ismy favorite and prior to my change I could easily swallow 8-10 thick slices- yesterday I could barely eat one before I was too full to eat any more)

WTF is going on? have others experienced this and will it go away? If not any hints, tips, etc on what to do?

SueInAz

I won't even pretend to know what's going on or try to take a guess. I've never been a big eater myself, so I can't imagine eating nearly 3000 calories a day. You might try liquid forms of calories to see if that makes you more comfortable getting to your 1200 calories. Something like protein shakes, berry smoothies or even Ensure would do the trick.

bmontgomery87

Not sure whats going on. I've had periods of a week or two where I just wasn't hungry.

Look for liquid cals, it can be easier.
A glass or two of whole milk or a protein shake can get you up to where you need to be.

erickirb

As a man you should never eat below 1500 minimum for more than a day or 2. You don't have to eat more food to eat more calories, just change what you are eating to more calories dense foods.

Try having nuts, seeds, or dehydrated fruit as a snack. Add olive oil to soups and sauces. Add avocado to sandwiches and salads. Eat higher fat version of products that you already eat such as milk, cheese, yogurt, salad dressings, etc. have a glass of juice in place of 1 glass of water.

mgreen10

abnormal loss of appetite sounds like a medical issue, not a diet issue for MFP. I would say see your doctor... could be stress, hormonal changes, stomach bug, or a number of other variants that I am not familiar with because I'm not a doctor.

swordsmith

ahhh... all good ideas.

I forgot to add I am diabetic also which compounds what I can eat. My sugars are currently in flux as my doc adjusts my meds down so somethings like nuts, etc I have to be careful of as they can really cause my sugars to go crazy.

ejmcam

i think it may not be much of a problem right now, as long as you are eating enough to not put your body into starvation mode, but you may hit a plateau as you get towards you goal weight. I know for sure that there are some people who swear you wont lose weight unless you eat all of your calories plus your exercise ones, but it has not really impacted me at all to just eat my minimum number of calories and not my exercise. But I agree with the above poster who said try to drink some of them....a glass of milk, a protein shake after working out, etc...Even a tablespoon full of peanut butter will provide you with a bunch of healthy calories, as long as you eat the kind that isnt loaded with sugar and oil (all natural is best)

biged335

I was in that same boat... To me it's the hardest thing for me in losing weight is eating enough healthy food. One thing that's helped me is protien shakes... I take a weight gainer shake after I workout every morning... it gives me 620 calories... I would look at something like that. Look at the Vatimen Shoppe or GNC..

mishelnkiki

I go through those same periods as well. especially on mondays and wednesdays. those are my two busiest days of the week and i just dont have time to eat, and when i do, im not hungry! i agree with the below. try to drink some more cals. they have high cal drinks u can get at gnc, or u can do the protein shakes, which is what i try to do on the days im just not hungry, but i would def get one u will like, bc i bought the generic stuff, and sometimes its even harder to get down then real food! today however, i am STARVING. best of luck!

jdg1mfp

When I was focusing heavily on my abs and taking a "core" class two times a week I found that I was rarely hungry.
I chalked it up to the muscle developement and my abs getting tighter.

NiallWallace

ahhh... all good ideas.

I forgot to add I am diabetic also which compounds what I can eat. My sugars are currently in flux as my doc adjusts my meds down so somethings like nuts, etc I have to be careful of as they can really cause my sugars to go crazy.

Seen your doctor about it yet?
I'm not on the medical side of Diabetes but a system support side, know enough that it seriously screws everything up.

A quick search shows that Loss of Appetite can be a symptom of Ketoacidosis which is as serious as a hypo if not more so as it is less well understood by medics and if you collapse due to it your breath will smell fruity/alcoholic resulting in the wrong response from the public, police etc.

Are you Type 1 or Type 2? It could be your meds are now wrong, what's your blood glucose levels like? and any idea of HbA1c?

dawnemjh

Medical issue, go to the doctors