Do you eat even if you aren't hungry?

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  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
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    Jonnythan has made a lot of good points. There are a lot of people who need to learn how to eat well, and for those people following the numbers and a schedule will be beneficial. Though I think, eventually, it's important to learn how to do it on your own without the numbers. If you notice that one day you had to force yourself to eat then maybe you need to adjust your eating schedule a little bit tomorrow to avoid that, for example.

    Some of us, though, already knew how to eat well and developed bad habits. For us, I think eating when not hungry is one of those bad habits and breaking that habit would be pretty hard to do if you forced yourself to eat just because the clock says to.
  • Thena81
    Thena81 Posts: 1,265 Member
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    i cant, sorry babes! i cant force feed at any time
  • MrsPong
    MrsPong Posts: 580 Member
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    I eat about 5-6 little meals a day. Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Snack.
    If I'm not hungry for my afternoon snack, I won't eat it. But I know If I'm eating dinner later I'll eat the snack, so I'm not starving.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    Jonnythan has made a lot of good points. There are a lot of people who need to learn how to eat well, and for those people following the numbers and a schedule will be beneficial.

    Some of us, though, already knew how to eat well and developed bad habits. For us, I think eating when not hungry is one of those bad habits and breaking that habit would be pretty hard to do if you forced yourself to eat just because the clock says to.

    You're within 100 calories of your goal every day. I doubt you do that by accident or happenstance or just listening to your body. You plan the numbers and execute the plan.

    The OP is off by hundreds of calories quite often. She needs to understand that she has to get closer to her goal, whether or not she is "hungry."
  • SweetestLibby
    SweetestLibby Posts: 607 Member
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    If I only ate when I was hungry I would go days without eating and then eat a massive amount of food. I've done it before. My apetite/nunger is not constant. It's actually pretty cyclically - I track/monitor it to see how my workouts alter my hunger pattern.

    For me it's: Plan the meals and snacks. Eat the meals and snacks. Even if I'm not hungry.
  • Saucy_lil_Minx
    Saucy_lil_Minx Posts: 3,302 Member
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    I try to eat meals that I will not be so full I can not enjoy the next meal, but if I am just not hungry I will skip a snack time. If you listen to your body it tells you what to eat. I do not let myself get so hungry I over indulge! Since I am trying to control my blood sugar levels to prevent a spike, and then blood sugar drops out (this is what causes us to over eat) I eat five smaller meals a day.
  • cbirdso
    cbirdso Posts: 465 Member
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    In a word, YES. If I wait until I am hungry, I make poor choices, eat too fast and too much. What works for me is to plan my meals ahead of time and eat them on schedule. This has solved mindless eating, over eating, and unbalanced eating problems that contributed to my weight gain. I have found that planning is smarter than listening to my body. period.
  • 212ackley
    212ackley Posts: 431 Member
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    I typically hit my 1600 calorie goal, but have changed my habits over the past few months. I originally set up my foods list with normal B-L-D with a snack after each and most of the time I don't have the snack after breakfast or dinner like I used to. I changed my breakfast from eating at 7 am (when I wasnt usually really hungry) to eating it at 8:30 at work...this keeps me full until lunch now. I exercise in the evening s and I have a few days here and there where I might be under on my calories because I am not hungry after my workout, but if it is only once in a while (like 2 or 3 x's a month)...no big deal. starvartion mode and muscle loss is NOT going to happen from the occasional day of undereating!

    Overall you have to do what is most comfortable for you! Good Luck!
  • MyM0wM0w
    MyM0wM0w Posts: 2,008 Member
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    My reasons are probably a bit different than some others. I've been morbidly obese for so long that I don't trust myself yet to decide if I'm actually hungry or if I just want food. So, for now I prelog and eat my planned meals and snacks each day whether I feel hungry or not. I also find that if I skip a meal or snack I take the chance of getting way TOO hungry before my next meal/snack and then I eat more than I've prelogged and have to scramble to 'pay back' those calories with extra exercise.

    Some days I am under calories and some days I'm over calories. I try to hit at least 1200 calories and if I'm over I try to work out enough to cover the excess calories (unless I've binged, then there's no hope in hell of getting those calories back).
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,022 Member
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    In a word, YES. If I wait until I am hungry, I make poor choices, eat too fast and too much. What works for me is to plan my meals ahead of time and eat them on schedule. This has solved mindless eating, over eating, and unbalanced eating problems that contributed to my weight gain. I have found that planning is smarter than listening to my body. period.

    Good post.

    I think it is also important for women to be cognizant of the fact that changes in hormone levels will affect your appetite. You could end up eating too much or not enough because of a response in your brain that has nothing to do with whether or not your body has actually received the amount of food it needs.
  • MysticRealm
    MysticRealm Posts: 1,264 Member
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    I honestly rarely feel hungry, I also rarely feel full. So I really need to plan my day and my calories, cause honestly I could eat nearly constantly throughout the day and never feel full. I could also not eat till very late in the day and not feel hungry. It's like I'm constantly on a half filled tank.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    In a word, YES. If I wait until I am hungry, I make poor choices, eat too fast and too much. What works for me is to plan my meals ahead of time and eat them on schedule. This has solved mindless eating, over eating, and unbalanced eating problems that contributed to my weight gain. I have found that planning is smarter than listening to my body. period.

    Good post.

    I think it is also important for women to be cognizant of the fact that changes in hormone levels will affect your appetite. You could end up eating too much or not enough because of a response in your brain that has nothing to do with whether or not your body has actually received the amount of food it needs.

    x2
  • mamasmaltz3
    mamasmaltz3 Posts: 1,111 Member
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    In a word, YES. If I wait until I am hungry, I make poor choices, eat too fast and too much. What works for me is to plan my meals ahead of time and eat them on schedule. This has solved mindless eating, over eating, and unbalanced eating problems that contributed to my weight gain. I have found that planning is smarter than listening to my body. period.

    Good post.

    I think it is also important for women to be cognizant of the fact that changes in hormone levels will affect your appetite. You could end up eating too much or not enough because of a response in your brain that has nothing to do with whether or not your body has actually received the amount of food it needs.

    x2



    QFT
  • pghlulu
    pghlulu Posts: 42
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    I don't have to ever force myself to eat. With the rare exception of making sure I eat some kind of small snack before I go for a long run, even if I don't "feel" hungry, otherwise I'll feel like garbage during the run.

    I usually plan my whole next day's meals out so that I can hit my calorie goals, though. I need that structure of I'll be all over the place. :)
  • holothuroidea
    holothuroidea Posts: 772 Member
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    You're within 100 calories of your goal every day. I doubt you do that by accident or happenstance or just listening to your body. You plan the numbers and execute the plan.

    That's not really how it happens. It's just habit, if there's a plan it happens subconsciously. When I got here I was eating around 1300 calories a day, a few hundred more on days that I exercised. I increased my calories to get past a plateau according to IPOARM. It wasn't hard to work that extra 400 calories into my routine, and now this is habit.

    I still only eat when I'm hungry. Some days I eat breakfast, lunch, dinner; some days I skip meals; some days I do nothing but snack; it always adds up the same in the end. I am a magical unicorn.
    The OP is off by hundreds of calories quite often. She needs to understand that she has to get closer to her goal, whether or not she is "hungry."

    I agree, but she asked us what we do!
  • 2FatToRun
    2FatToRun Posts: 810 Member
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    I am hungry when I wake up so after coffee I eat. Sometimes I get a rumbly in my tumbly before lunch so I will have a snack. I am always hungry by lunch. Sometimes I get hungry before dinner and I eat a snack. I am always hungry when it is time for dinner.


    This is what happens when you eat right,listen to your body and exercise. I was force eating to try and reach high calorie goal (felt like ****) but fixed that by finding higher calorie lunches and snacks.

    My diary is open if you need ideas.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    You're within 100 calories of your goal every day. I doubt you do that by accident or happenstance or just listening to your body. You plan the numbers and execute the plan.

    That's not really how it happens. It's just habit, if there's a plan it happens subconsciously. When I got here I was eating around 1300 calories a day, a few hundred more on days that I exercised. I increased my calories to get past a plateau according to IPOARM. It wasn't hard to work that extra 400 calories into my routine, and now this is habit.

    I still only eat when I'm hungry. Some days I eat breakfast, lunch, dinner; some days I skip meals; some days I do nothing but snack; it always adds up the same in the end. I am a magical unicorn.
    The OP is off by hundreds of calories quite often. She needs to understand that she has to get closer to her goal, whether or not she is "hungry."

    I agree, but she asked us what we do!

    Granted, but the question was pretty mixed:

    "I'm used to eating breakfast lunch and dinner, and sometimes 2 snacks. If I'm not hungry for lunch at lunchtime, do you eat anyways?"

    I think she was clearly asking what she should do.
  • JerseyGirl081
    JerseyGirl081 Posts: 98 Member
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    I eat hungry or not. :tongue: For me personally, the trick is to make sure I eat enough so that I never feel hungry so I usually graze through out the day. :smile: Now whether or not this is true or if there is evidence disputing this, I don't really care, but I was told by a few of my doctors that usually when you start feeling hungry most often times its usually a sign that you've gone to long without having had something to eat and that can lower your metabolism just a bit. As I've said, I don't really care if that is true or not because it works great for me personally. ME, MYSELF and I. I feel healthy and energetic and have not ever felt sluggish and I've lost 90lbs and have toned very nicely eating that way and incorporating a nice cardio and strength training program. I can only speak to my own personal experience so I will say it's really up to you and your body. Start listening to your body and start finding out what works for you and apply it accordingly. We are all different and only you can really know what you are most comfortable doing. :smile: I see nothing wrong with eating only when you're are hungry as long as you are making the best choices for your body. It's all about you. :flowerforyou:
  • teddabod
    teddabod Posts: 222 Member
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    I eat to fuel. Eat all the time even when I'm not hungry. Although, I might forget to eat sometimes, but I will always eat some cottage-cheese just before going to bed.
  • toaster6
    toaster6 Posts: 703 Member
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    So long as I meet my nutrients, I don't worry about finishing up all my calories.

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