Not Hungry...Should I still eat!?!?

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'They' say that you should eat all day everyday to keep your metabolism working hard. But what if your just not hungry.

I try to eat every two hours, like after breakfast I'll have a banana, then after lunch I'll have a small bag of special K breaks. But I'm eating them for the sake of eating them and not because Im hungry. Is this a good or a bad thing?!?

Replies

  • crobinson3
    crobinson3 Posts: 35 Member
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    I'm not sure what the official line is supposed to be, but I've had the same problem. Quite often I would realise that I'd not actually eaten for hours and I wasn't actually hungry.

    I've done ok and I just ate when I was hungry, although I always made a point of having breakfast in the morning as routine.

    If you're doing a fair bit of exercise to help with the weight loss I think your metabolism will be fine.
  • rachie78sw
    rachie78sw Posts: 28
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    I try to eat when I am hungry and not when I think I should.

    I have breakfast, then snack about 10.30ish, lunch 12.30ish and then tea at around 6ish or later if working out.

    I am also trying to stop eating when feeling full, which I do most of the time now. Trying to get over the fact that I am not really wasting food.
  • Katherine1687
    Katherine1687 Posts: 106 Member
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    Just my opinion and not backed up by scientific advice but..........

    I don't think you should be eating snacks if you are not hungry. As long as you don't skip meals and give your body enough calories (so it doesn't go into starvation mode) you should be fine. This is a lifestyle change and only eating when you are hungry can only be a good thing.

    Part of my problem is not being able to distinguish between hunger eating and boredom/comfort eating. As a result I can eat loads when I am not truely hungry.

    I hope that helps a bit.

    Luv Kat
  • anu_6986
    anu_6986 Posts: 702 Member
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    My day starts late, so I have light breakfast at 11 am, then lunch at 12.30pm, snack at 4pm, if I don''t workout another snack at 6pm and dinner at 8.30. If i do workout, I skip the snack at 6.30 since I will be running then.

    Maybe your meals are heavy and you don't feel hungry. You can check out my diary, some are indian foods but still you can get a fair idea. Hope I was helpful.
    Trying to get over the fact that I am not really wasting food.

    Me too... I look at it like this, if I eat this(when I am no longer hungry), later I have to get rid of it the hard way(exercise) which is throwing out anyway. So better not eat it now :)
  • VolatileChocolate
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    If you have tendency to keep eating beyond being full, what about trying to gradually cut back on what you cook and put on the plate, that way you won't feel you're wasting food.

    This only happened for me as part of sessions I had with hypnosis, that I started automatically reducing my potion sizes little by little so that in the end rather than having a pasta bowl of pasta for my tea I now only have a cereal bowl just filled about 3/4 full. Its about 2/3 less than what I used to eat and it just takes me to the level of feeling satisfied. Occasionally I will have some fruit or yoghurt if feel a bit hungry later on. If do end up with a big potion I do tend to keep eating til I realise I've eaten way too much and have to stop.

    I don't think I could have gone from the orginal potion size to what I eat now in one hit as would thought I was being deprived.

    In between meals at work I tend to snack on healthy options because I'm eating for sake of it (bored)!! but weekends I don't tend to unless i'm actually hungry.