Eating when not hungry

AyLeonIre

Hello, I recently lost my job so I spend most of my days in the house, I only eat once a day not because I'm trying to lose weight this way but because I only get hungry about once a day. Now I know that you're suppose to eat thoughout the day to keep up your metabolism but what i'm asking is should I eat even though i'm not hungry to keep up my metabolism or listen to my body and eat when it tells me to?

Unknown

This content has been removed.

vanguardfitness

eat when you're hungry IMO

Unknown

This content has been removed.

free8gent

If you are getting in enough calories and are eating healthily during your meal, I say go for what you feel works for you. I used to think it was necessary to eat several times throughout the day when trying to lose weight. While I personally like to do this, my mother prefers to eat only one large meal. She has lost a significant amount of weight this way, and doing it in a way that suits her preferences has helped her maintain her weight loss. While this is only one example, there is also quite a lot of evidence that supports the theory that what matters is the number of calories consumed, not when you consume them.

tommygirl15

In the one meal you eat, make it high cal as possible. Try small snacks during the day that go down easy, like yogurt.

JesterMFP

You don't have to eat throughout the day necessarily, but you shouldn't necessarily not eat just because you're not hungry. From the way you're describing it, it doesn't sound like you're eating your whole days worth of calories in that one meal, so yes you should eat more. "Listening to your body" and only eating when you're hungry doesn't work for a lot of people, especially those with a history of weight problems. Just because you're not receiving hunger signals, doesn't mean your body doesn't need more food.

Looking at your ticker, you have 100 lbs to lose. Given that, it probably wouldn't hurt you to have a few days of undereating - your body could probably handle that ok. It's not a good idea to severely undereat on a regular basis though. Your metabolism will suffer, and you'll end up losing more lean mass than you would otherwise.

If you really can't stomach a larger volume of food at the moment, then go for more calorie-dense foods like nuts, avocados, cheese, olive oil, nut butter, full fat dairy etc. Or, try drinking your calories in smoothies, milk, nut milk, protein shakes etc.

vanguardfitness

eat when you're hungry IMO

Even if the one meal she eats isn't large?

depends. She is sitting around the house so her activity levels won't be high. If she does this frequently and happens to be severely under deficit she might run into some kind of negative feedback loop (eating less-> body down regulates leading to less hunger -> eating even less)

"Eat when you're hungry" is more for people with normal appetites I suppose.

akaMrsmojo

There are no short cuts in weight loss. If you are under your goal and can't eat, drink something. I will drink orange juice I need a boost in your calories. If you are depressed and not hungry because of that, I would talk to someone. I got laid off twice and I was so depressed staying in the house all the time. All I did was apply for jobs and then sleep and sleep some more. It is hard being at home all the time.

A great tool on here is reading the forums and learning what the older, more successful members have done to be make it. None of them I know of eats one meal a day.

I always eat when I am hungry, from my understanding, it is my metabolism working properly.

AyLeonIre

thank you guys very much!

syrklc

I have the same problem. It is 1:30 pm here and I am forcing myself to finish my oatmeal. We have to eat to achieve our goals here. Add me as a friend if you want to.

chevy88grl

I guess it depends. Is your one meal a large meal that helps you meet all of your macro and calorie requirements?

I'm sorry about your job loss. I am guessing you are struggling with that and while some of us eat when stressed, some of us don't eat. I think you need to look at what you're eating overall vs how often you're eating. I know people whose bodies like to eat one large meal a day. That's all they eat, but when they do it? It is usually around 1500 calories and has protein, carbs, etc in it.

Firefox7275

Eat enough food that you get all the food groups and all the nutrients your body needs for heath - few people can do that in one meal a day.

AyLeonIre

my one meal usually have a serving of vegetables such as broccoli or spinach, a serving of starch like baked potatoes or saffron rice and a serving of meat like baked chicken breast or pork steak.

aproc

You don't HAVE to eat all throughout the day. That stuff about 'increasing metabolism with __ small meals throughout the day' is crap. It all comes down to macros at the end of the day. If you aren't getting enough calories and enough of each macro in that one meal then you could do two or three large meals. If one meal works for you though and you can meet all your calorie needs in it, then that's fine. You'll just have to make it bigger. ;P

AyLeonIre

ok i'm new here what's a macro?

jacobschwarz

My thinking is to eat only when you want but...you must eat at least 1200 calories a day. So I think that you should eat when you get up. Something like a peice of fruit and then again before bed.

akaMrsmojo

Are you making your calorie goal everyday with one meal?

kat72949

I have the same problem. I try to eat when I'm not hungry bt if it nakes me sick then I stop. I also drink 1-2 nutrition shakes a day and that helps a little. If you decide to eat when your not hungry then take a small bite first and your tummy will let you know if you can handle it. If you can't handle it try eating crackers, if that doesn't work then call your dr and ask if there's anything he/she can do to help.

dhakiyya

I used to regularly lose my appetite because of anxiety caused by PTSD. At the time I was following the "eat when you're hungry" rule, and what happened was I'd go through phases of eating very little (without even realising I was doing that because it was like my mind was stuck in a past situation (i.e. because of PTSD)) and then I'd go through phases when I was really hungry and would eat way too much. The result for my body composition was that I'd lose lean body mass, slow my metabolism, then when I was going through a hungry/eating too much phase, it'd go back on again as fat.

I got rid of that fat by ensuring I eat the correct amount of calories each day whether I was hungry or not. (and I've mostly recovered from the PTSD, plus I reached my goal weight now I'm eating to gain lean body mass and decrease my body fat percentage)

Only eating when your hungry works for some people, but not everyone. Going for long phases without eating properly will cause loss of lean body mass which results in your metabolism slowing, whether you actually feel hungry or not.

So my advice is to set up your calorie goal here on MFP and track what you eat and make sure you eat that number of calories each day. (i.e. not more than that, but not less than that, give yourself an error margain of 100 cals either way because you can't hit the number right on the dot) If it's hard, then eat healthy but calorie dense foods like nuts, avocado, full fat dairy etc. If your goal is to lose weight then set your calories as 20% less than your TDEE, and eat that. As long as you stick to your calorie goal, high calorie healthy foods like those I mentioned will not make you fat, as your body will burn the calories. If you're struggling to eat enough, then these foods really help, I can tell you that from personal experience

lucasriggs

ok i'm new here what's a macro?

Macro is short for macro-nutrient on this site it refers to; Carbohydrates, fat and protein.