Should you eat even if you are not hungry?

2

Replies

  • trdepalo
    trdepalo Posts: 106
    In my personal experience, once I started dieting I too lost my appetite. I thought if I just listened to my body and didn't eat if I didn't feel like it it would be fine. I felt good eating little and I keep up up, but then a week or two doing that my body just forced a binge and I went back and forth from not hungry to very hungry for a while and it made my weight loss stagnant. After a reset, when it started to happen again I just forced myself to eat smaller meals at scheduled times and I've been losing slowly but consistently. Plus, if you're not that hungry it makes planning in treats easier which make maintaining it easier too. But this was just my experience, do what works for you.
  • MyM0wM0w
    MyM0wM0w Posts: 2,008 Member
    When I first started my body wasn't used to eating on a schedule... since I just shoved food into it 24/7.... I had to learn to eat at meal times and now that my body seems to have adjusted that is usually when I start to get hungry. I'll feel my stomach rumbling and check the clock and sure enough it's getting close to a meal time.

    If i got super hungry in between meals I would have a SMALL healthy snack to hold me over. (Still do at least once a day).

    Early on there were meal times I didn't feel like eating but I made myself eat it all (since it was portioned out properly for my needs). In the beginning I ate three meals religiously. No skipping then and now i don't want to because I'm usually hungry at that time. Breakfast and lunch at set times because of work but dinner is flexible. If I'm not hungry @ 5 then I'll eat at 6.. or 7 ...
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
    Ok, you're getting a lot of mixed responses, which is not surprising.

    I'll say this - Just be aware of your general eating habits. If eating less than 1200 calories becomes a trend for you, that's not a healthy habit to allow yourself to continue, and at that point you should be consuming more calories whether you feel like it or not. Eating 1000 calories one day once in a while is as fine as eating 3000 calories one day once in a while. Just keep an eye on your eating trends and don't let your calorie intake get too low. If eating less than 1200 becomes a habit, at some point you are very likely to want to start binging on food.

    Remember that if hunger were always a perfect indicator of how many calories you need, you wouldn't be overweight.
  • wildfirediva
    wildfirediva Posts: 212
    While I agree you do need to listen to the signals your body is sending, in the long term that is the key to knowing what is and isn't working for you. But you should also be very familiar with your body's base caloric intake to operate. In the short term ( a day here and there) being under your Basic Caloric need is not going to hurt you, but in the long term it is essential that you give your body the baseline calories it needs to operate (breath, keep the organs operating, keep the heart pumping, etc).

    If you want to listen to your body, get a good calculation/range (initially) of what your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is and always keep your NET caloric intake in that range (or not too far under) for long.

    You will not have the energy to work out or think for that matter if you are not fueling your body and giving it what it needs.
  • dantrick
    dantrick Posts: 369 Member
    This. Starvation mode myth gets used so much. There's been studies on it, you don't actually go into starvation mode unless you have less than 5% body fat. x.x Eat when you are hungry, if you are not hungry, don't eat.

    who did this study? where can I get the information on this? how reliable is the source? I keep asking and no one will answer.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
    Nope! Dont care what anyone says if you eat a child........

    wait what
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
    Nope! Dont care what anyone says if you eat a child........

    wait what

    I like where this thread is going
  • Cgrnlaw
    Cgrnlaw Posts: 84 Member
    Good one....
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    Nope! Dont care what anyone says if you eat a child........

    wait what

    I like where this thread is going

    LOL oops!
  • RoadsterGirlie
    RoadsterGirlie Posts: 1,195 Member
    I'm on maintenance, and am just one pound shy of being underweight. I don't want to lose anymore obviously, but I also don't want to go back to old habits.

    I do eat when I'm not hungry to meet my calorie goal for the day sometimes, but I make sure it's something healthy like boiled veggies with a touch of parmasan cheese. I might have a small scoop of ice cream as well. Even if I'm not hungry, I will eat ice cream (using portion control, of course). :)
  • Dementedllama
    Dementedllama Posts: 177 Member
    What I do in cases like this when I'm not hungry but still need a landslide of calories to net above 1200 I drink a protein shake. They're healthy, taste good, and don't make you feel full or sick. (Not me anyway.) I have some that are 190, and some that are 290. But you definetly do need to be eating and consuming at least 1,200 calories or you will royally screw up your metabolism.
  • funkycamper
    funkycamper Posts: 998 Member
    Ok, you're getting a lot of mixed responses, which is not surprising.

    I'll say this - Just be aware of your general eating habits. If eating less than 1200 calories becomes a trend for you, that's not a healthy habit to allow yourself to continue, and at that point you should be consuming more calories whether you feel like it or not. Eating 1000 calories one day once in a while is as fine as eating 3000 calories one day once in a while. Just keep an eye on your eating trends and don't let your calorie intake get too low. If eating less than 1200 becomes a habit, at some point you are very likely to want to start binging on food.

    Remember that if hunger were always a perfect indicator of how many calories you need, you wouldn't be overweight.

    Good advice.

    I would add that if the OP is consistently netting less than 1200 calories a day and can't eat more without feeling sick, it's very possible that she is already experiencing a suppressed metabolism (i.e., starvation mode but I hate that term) and needs to increase her calories before she damages her metabolism enough that it's harder to reset it and, possibly, does other damage to herself.

    OP, it might help you to have a weekly calorie target instead of a daily one. Just take your 1200 net calorie x 7 for 9400 net calories per week. You might find that you have days where you eat low but other days where you eat high. And that's OK. I do this on purpose. It's called calorie cycling or zig-zagging. When I exercise intensely, my appetite drops and I also find it hard to net my BMR but I might have another day where I'm hungrier and eat more. As long as my calories for the week are around my weekly target, it's all good.
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
    Eating less than 1200 calories will NOT cause starvation mode if you're more than 10% body fat.

    where was this information found? did i miss something?

    Minnesota starvation experiment. If you're not familiar, look it up.
  • FeebRyan
    FeebRyan Posts: 738 Member
    On wednesday it was my sons nativity play and i spent all morning running about getting stuff ready for him and i forgot to eat lunch, i ended up eating choccy and crisps on the way there

    not good, made my run later that day kind of pointless! But i still didnt go over my amount

    I would say eat when your not hungry if you think you might crash a little later and find it more difficult to get to proper food. I generally eat a a time of day rather than when i am hungry but my body tells me its hungry when it clearly isnt because i am addicted to food.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Feelings of hunger are far more complicated than indicating a physical need for food. Various physical, mental, and emotional factors come in to play.

    If some people always ate when they were hungry, they would gain 2 lbs a week. If others never ate unless they were hungry, they would end up in the ER.

    If following your hunger signals doesn't even get you to 1200 calories, then yes, you need to eat when you're not hungry.

    ^^ This

    Our feelings of hunger are largely regulated by hormones, which can be impacted severely when on a low calorie diet such as yours. Eat as close as possible to your goal, or you could actually hamper your goals.
  • Nina2503
    Nina2503 Posts: 172 Member
    I have found that by getting into a routine of eating at fairly regular times helped me. I have a small snack between breakfast and lunch and again between lunch and dinner. I have found eating breakfast has also helped me. I now feel slightly hungry just before meals times and full in between
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    Eat based on daily energy needs not whether you are hungry or not. For those saying don't eat if not hungry, research scholarly journals on what happens to your satiety hormone, leptin, during calorie restriction.
  • jmkmomm
    jmkmomm Posts: 3,247 Member
    Since I don't get up early enough to get breakfast I know I have to have to good meals and two good snacks, even if I don't want it. But I am on a diabetic diet. So my reasons for staying on my diet may be different than yours. But many times I am not hungry but I know I ahve to eat.
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
    Your appetite has decreased most likely as a result of metabolic damage.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Feelings of hunger are far more complicated than indicating a physical need for food. Various physical, mental, and emotional factors come in to play.

    If some people always ate when they were hungry, they would gain 2 lbs a week. If others never ate unless they were hungry, they would end up in the ER.

    If following your hunger signals doesn't even get you to 1200 calories, then yes, you need to eat when you're not hungry.

    ^^this.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Feelings of hunger are far more complicated than indicating a physical need for food. Various physical, mental, and emotional factors come in to play.

    If some people always ate when they were hungry, they would gain 2 lbs a week. If others never ate unless they were hungry, they would end up in the ER.

    If following your hunger signals doesn't even get you to 1200 calories, then yes, you need to eat when you're not hungry.
    Good point. I should have added:
    1. Learning to differentiate desire to eat, for various reason, from true hunger is a very important part of learning your body's hunger signals.
    2. Man made, artificially concentrated foods can be more calorie dense than foods found in nature, so it's easy to fool your body's satiety mechanism if you are eating processed foods.

    Re #2: That is not what he was saying at all.
  • CassieReannan
    CassieReannan Posts: 1,479 Member
    I make sure I eat 1200 but if I can't... then I can't. Dont force it.
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
    Eating less than 1200 calories will NOT cause starvation mode if you're more than 10% body fat.

    You can't be serious! Does that apply even for women? Do you hav any clue what happens to women in the child bearing range when they get below mid teen BF%?
    And if a grown man is eating at 1,200 cals, It'll almost certainly damaging his metabolism and wrecking havoc on test production.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    This. Starvation mode myth gets used so much. There's been studies on it, you don't actually go into starvation mode unless you have less than 5% body fat. x.x Eat when you are hungry, if you are not hungry, don't eat.

    who did this study? where can I get the information on this? how reliable is the source? I keep asking and no one will answer.

    This is based on a very misunderstood, in the that it is thrown around here, series of studies that were done in the military to understand the impact of severe conditions on performance ("The Ranger Studies" by Friedl et al). People throw this around and have not actually reviewed the studies. The studies did not say you lose no LBM above this BF% - what they did indicate is that muscle will be a preferential source of energy over fat at that BF% (for men btw, not women which would be higher). There were also many other negative side effects noted during these studies which often gets ignored, including severe fatigue, a lack of mental clarity and decreased aerobic capacity.
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    Eating less than 1200 calories will NOT cause starvation mode if you're more than 10% body fat.

    where was this information found? did i miss something?

    Minnesota starvation experiment. If you're not familiar, look it up.

    I am familiar with it - maybe you should read it. It was done in 1945 and they didn't test BF% - try again!
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    I'm really confused why people bother to track their food if they're going to attempt the goals they set.
  • SweetCheekszx0
    SweetCheekszx0 Posts: 478 Member
    No. Learning to listen to your body's own hunger drive is one of the more important things you can learn. Just like if you are hungry, listen to your body and eat some (healthy) food. If you are not hungry, don't eat.

    I'm definitely gonna 2nd this been maintaining and honestly all those days of not eating a much because I wasn't hungry then eating when I was makes for a splendid week of zig zags and maintains my wieght lol -good luck I do think listening to ur body is best tho
  • lar4290
    lar4290 Posts: 55 Member
    Back to the original question...try not to focus on the 1200 for any given day. Think of it in a three or four day range. If you're not hungry one day and eat only 1050, that's fine....then you may be more hungry the next and eat 1400, etc. It's a problem if it becomes a habit and you're not getting enough nutrients.
  • hkry3250
    hkry3250 Posts: 140
    This. Starvation mode myth gets used so much. There's been studies on it, you don't actually go into starvation mode unless you have less than 5% body fat. x.x Eat when you are hungry, if you are not hungry, don't eat.

    who did this study? where can I get the information on this? how reliable is the source? I keep asking and no one will answer.
    I just posted actually proof of starvation mode under, "starvation mode MYTH BUSTED"
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
    Eating less than 1200 calories will NOT cause starvation mode if you're more than 10% body fat.

    where was this information found? did i miss something?

    Minnesota starvation experiment. If you're not familiar, look it up.

    You obviously have not read the study.
    1) bf% where not included in that research
    2) conclusions were that for the restricted diet cohorts depression, binge eating, thinking about food all the time were much likelier at restricted calories
    3) metabolic change and adaptation was observed including decrease in BMR as evaluated by core temp changes, etc.

    It's over a thousand pages and the only conclusion you can reasonably come up with if you read it is that severe calorie restriction is a very very very bad idea.

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