should you still eat when your not hungry?

jwillow1987
jwillow1987 Posts: 44 Member
in Food and Nutrition
hi everyone :)

I'm new to mfp and I have been properly healthy eating since 1st January and so far lost 15lbs :) ....

My question is..

I cooked a nice big sunday lunch for my family today, I ate too but I hardly ate much (I don't tend to when I am the cook for some reason?) and that was at 1.30pm, its not 7.30pm and I have not had any tea yet and I plan on having a prawn salad but to be honest I am not hungry at all! should I leave it a little bit and have something when I am (hopfully!) hungry or should I have it now even though I am not?

thank you all!!

Jeanette xxx

Replies

  • Guamybear
    Guamybear Posts: 1,061 Member
    I would wait to your hungry but not starving..
  • booboo68
    booboo68 Posts: 302 Member
    I wouldn't eat if I weren't hungry, but that's just me. Side note: That never happens to me!
  • underwater77
    underwater77 Posts: 331 Member
    I generally only eat when I am hungry, but if I am significantly deficient in calories for a day, I try to eat some nuts, almond butter, avocado to get myself up to a good calorie intake.
  • dollymixturesdiva
    dollymixturesdiva Posts: 3
    Listen to your body, eat when hungry, you dont have to eat on q because the clock says lunch time!
  • jwillow1987
    jwillow1987 Posts: 44 Member
    Thank you! does it not matter what time in the evening you last eat with going to bed?

    Not being hungry is a new thing for me too!! lol

    xxx
  • CurvaciousBeautyToBe
    CurvaciousBeautyToBe Posts: 100 Member
    I wouldn't eat if I weren't hungry, but that's just me. Side note: That never happens to me!

    LOL. Me neither. I always feel like eating. :P
  • taylorwaylor
    taylorwaylor Posts: 417 Member
    If your at a pretty big deficit your supposed to eat your calories even when you arnt hungry.. you dont want to risk under eating all the timee... that will end up slowing down your metabolism.

    If you've already lost 15 pounds keep doing what your doing!!
  • losingweightfindingme
    losingweightfindingme Posts: 109 Member
    I have this problem! I actually have to push myself to eat enough to consume my calories. If I only ate when I was hungry, I would probably eat once a day. I live on bottles of water and I eat plenty...it's just all like fresh veggies and fruits and recipes that are low-calorie. It all tastes good and it's all very filling...but some days I find that I've only consumed 500 calories by mid-afternoon and I'm still not hungry for dinner. I eat anyways...but definitely not until I stuff myself.
  • NocturnalGirl
    NocturnalGirl Posts: 1,762
    does it not matter what time in the evening you last eat with going to bed?

    Meal timing doesn't matter provided your calories are constant. Eat whenever you prefer.
  • paulywoo
    paulywoo Posts: 169 Member
    Personally I find that having a proper routine for mealtimes helps prevent snacking but each to their own. You can eat when you want as long as you stay within your calorie allowance.
  • 35khris
    35khris Posts: 33 Member
    No, you should listen to your body and not calorie calculators/counters. I think a lot of us ended up here because we didn't listen to our bodies!
  • cuterbee
    cuterbee Posts: 545
    There have been a few times this month that I wasn't hungry. The times I didn't eat, I was later TOO hungry. So now, if it's a regular time I would normally eat, I eat a little something. Since I've been overeating for years, I think my mind and body don't always correlate well.

    You should probably pay attention to how you do on the days you are not hungry, and then you will know if you should eat or not eat at those times.
  • jwillow1987
    jwillow1987 Posts: 44 Member
    thank you everyone! the silly thing is now that I am thinking about food I think I am a little hungry! I think maybe because I have been running around like who knows what I have only just sat down to think!
    Thank you all for your replies! I know I get fast answers on here if I ever need them :D

    xxx
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
    Okay, quick education:

    Leptin is the hormone in your body that regulates hunger. Leptin production follows caloric intake: if you restrict calories, your Leptin production will decrease and you will feel less hungry. This is how anorexics can eat 800 calories a day and not feel hungry. If you eat more, your Leptin production will increase, and you will feel more hungry.

    Because you are restricting calories, your Leptin production is out of whack; meaning, DO NOT listen to your body about how much/when to eat. Get your calories in and your Leptin production will follow, soon it will be no problem. Of course, every now and then, a day off this won't hurt you, but don't make it a habit to only eat when hungry, especially when dieting.
  • PurplePookie
    PurplePookie Posts: 85 Member
    I make sure I eat at least 1200 calories each day - if I'm not close (rarely happens) and I'm not hungry I'll let myself have a higher calorie treat that I wouldn't normally eat. I would also make sure I ate something small for supper even if I wasn't hungry because otherwise I may snack later on or be famished in the morning and eat too much for breakfast. But that's what works for me - you need to do the healthy habits that work for you. :)
  • JenniTheVeggie
    JenniTheVeggie Posts: 2,474 Member
    Listen to your body.
  • Skeebee
    Skeebee Posts: 740 Member
    Okay, quick education:

    Leptin is the hormone in your body that regulates hunger. Leptin production follows caloric intake: if you restrict calories, your Leptin production will decrease and you will feel less hungry. This is how anorexics can eat 800 calories a day and not feel hungry. If you eat more, your Leptin production will increase, and you will feel more hungry.

    Because you are restricting calories, your Leptin production is out of whack; meaning, DO NOT listen to your body about how much/when to eat. Get your calories in and your Leptin production will follow, soon it will be no problem. Of course, every now and then, a day off this won't hurt you, but don't make it a habit to only eat when hungry, especially when dieting.

    ^THIS
  • JessicaRobin67
    JessicaRobin67 Posts: 275 Member
    I try not to eat if I am NOT hungry except...I will eat if I know I will not be eating for a long time (I don't want my sugar levels dropping...hypoglycemic).
  • paulywoo
    paulywoo Posts: 169 Member
    No, you should listen to your body and not calorie calculators/counters. I think a lot of us ended up here because we didn't listen to our bodies!

    I'm afraid this is not always the case. I listened to my body but unfortunately my body was a greedy pig and always told me it was hungry. MFP has allowed me to count my calories and know when I've had enough as 43yrs of listening to my body made me obese.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    If it's a rare, once in a while occurrence, and you're just not hungry... no, I wouldn't force myself.

    If it happens frequently and you're often way under your calorie goal, I'd work on better meal planning. I typically planned my entire day, including stuff like exercise calories and snacks, so I'm not stuck at the end of the day saying, "Now, how in the world am I supposed to eat another 950 calories???"
  • maaandyxoxo
    maaandyxoxo Posts: 86
    im the same way.... i usually make myself eat something... cause if i didnt i probably would never eat....
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
    Okay, quick education:

    Leptin is the hormone in your body that regulates hunger. Leptin production follows caloric intake: if you restrict calories, your Leptin production will decrease and you will feel less hungry. This is how anorexics can eat 800 calories a day and not feel hungry. If you eat more, your Leptin production will increase, and you will feel more hungry.

    Because you are restricting calories, your Leptin production is out of whack; meaning, DO NOT listen to your body about how much/when to eat. Get your calories in and your Leptin production will follow, soon it will be no problem. Of course, every now and then, a day off this won't hurt you, but don't make it a habit to only eat when hungry, especially when dieting.

    QFT.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    You also need to consider the calories you've had already and what your body is using, etc.

    Say you were a large man who's TDEE is around 2700 calories, but you've only set a 250 calorie deficit for slow weight loss.
    Missing out even 1000 extra calories is probably going to be absolutely fine - infact I lost the first bit of weight from 225lb by basically doing this - was doing a lot of physical work and eating 1300 calories every day. I know doubt lost a little lean mass - but high protein intake and lots of lifting heavy items (carrying car gear boxes and complete doors up flights of stairs) helped minimise that for me.

    But take the opposite, you're an already fairly small woman on a large deficit - if you repeatedly miss 500 calories+ of food, it's probably not going to be good for you.

    The human body is good at coping with random changes generally - we wouldn't have got to where we are now if we collapsed every time we missed one of three meals a day.
    But also; evolution has far from provided us with perfect bodies that can handle everything, so if you want the best chance of hitting your targets at the right time, it's going to be a case of not straying too far from what works.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Okay, quick education:

    Leptin is the hormone in your body that regulates hunger. Leptin production follows caloric intake: if you restrict calories, your Leptin production will decrease and you will feel less hungry. This is how anorexics can eat 800 calories a day and not feel hungry. If you eat more, your Leptin production will increase, and you will feel more hungry.

    Because you are restricting calories, your Leptin production is out of whack; meaning, DO NOT listen to your body about how much/when to eat. Get your calories in and your Leptin production will follow, soon it will be no problem. Of course, every now and then, a day off this won't hurt you, but don't make it a habit to only eat when hungry, especially when dieting.

    This. Listening to your body is a nice idea but it's not necessarily the best way to go.
  • HotrodsGirl0107
    HotrodsGirl0107 Posts: 243 Member
    I for one can't listen to my body. I fell into bad eating habits in the past and ended up restricting calories to a dangerously low level because I didn't "feel hungry". I would eat 800 to 900 cals a day with no hunger until my body finally said enough is enough. That is when I learned about leptin and what under eating causes as far as long term. It took over a year and a large weight gain to reset my metabolism but I still don't get hungry. I have to plan and adhere to my planned meal times so that I can net at least my bmr (which I had done professionally). If I start under eating the effect are not instant but if I consistanly eat too little for a few weeks my body becomes weak, I get horrible migraines, I feel tired all the time ect...so I know listening to your body sounds like a good idea but you have to actually understand how your body works.

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