Not eating enough calories but not hungry

bangles501
bangles501 Posts: 26 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, any help and advice much appreciated!

I was never overweight but I'd put on a stone in a short space of time at the beginning of the year and wanted to lose it and also become a bit healthier in general. I've always been the same size and most of what I ate was pretty healthy and I've always exercised, but I drank fizzy drinks, added ketchup to everything and generally ate a lot of hidden sugars I didn't even know about. I then started snacking lots and binging because I was unhappy and that's when I put on the weight.

I suddenly decided to become super healthy and cut out all refined sugar in my diet except for the odd occasion maybe once or twice a fortnight when out for dinner with friends or at a party where there was chocolate and sweets - I do tend to eat quite a lot on these occasions and my weight would temporarily go up a bit before continuing to go down. I also stopped eating wheat and gluten because I believed they were giving me tummy troubles and it's looks like I was right. I was having about 1200 calories a day depending on how much exercise I was doing. I quickly lost the weight and would now like to maintain it.

The problem is that I've developed a disliking to the feeling of having a full tummy and this means I'm gradually eating less and less calories. At the moment I'm only eating about 900 calories a day and I'm not hungry. It's not that I don't want to eat food, I see chocolate and want some but I don't feel the need to eat so I don't. If I'm going to eat I'd rather have something that will nourish my body. I'm still exercising lots, most days I run at least 5 miles or go to the gym. Today for example, it's 4pm, I ran 5 miles before breakfast and have only consumed 400 calories so far. I feel a bit shaky but I'm not hungry at all.

I don't want to scare my body and make it go into fat storage mode but I know I need to start eating at least 1200 calories as soon as possible otherwise I'm going to disappear!

Has anyone else been through this or know what's going on?

Replies

  • rowanwood
    rowanwood Posts: 509 Member
    This ..doesn't sound healthy. Please see a doctor.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    If you don't eat enough for your body to fuel itself and your workouts everything you are doing at the gym is pointless.. any sort of look you think your going for won't happen.. or strength gains won't be there if your lifting weights.. just hurting yourself in the long run.
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
    Yeah I've had this, in the bad old days when I occasionally lived on very little.

    Your hunger just goes all of a sudden - which you'd think would be good, but it isn't. Pretty soon you'll get lethargic, exhausted, sleepy and start feeling a bit disorientated.

    Try and up your calories as you can - it doesn't have to be big meals, but stuff like smoothies, peanut butter or Nutella on crackers...

    And if you're still like this in a week or so, definitely see your GP.

    Take care and good luck! xx
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,266 Member
    It's a side effect of starving ones self. Your not going to like the results in the long run especially the road to recovery for not only your body but your mind as well.
  • bangles501
    bangles501 Posts: 26 Member
    Thanks for your advice. It's annoying because I've always wanted to not feel hunger but now I hate it! It sort of takes the pleasure out of eating when I don't feel like I need to. After reading some of the replies I instantly ate a flapjack because it scared me at how unhealthy I've been. I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable now as it was 500 calories but hopefully my tummy won't feel so full for long. It still leaves me with 600 calories to eat by the end of the day so I have no idea how I'll do that but at least it's a start!
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
    Recognizing that you've created some unhealthy habits is a good start. You would probably benefit from seeing a registered dietician and learning how to give your body the proper fuel and nutrition. You may also want to consider seeing a professional to help ensure that your relationship with food is a healthy one. :smile:
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
    Well done sweetheart. There's always plenty of 'been there done that' people on here, to advise and support you!

    Let us know how you go on. xx
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    When you severely limit calories, this effects your hormones, the ones that regulate hunger. When your body is not getting enough calories, it eventually signals that it is not hungry, it is a survival mechanism from back when people had long stretches of famine. People who eat a lot often have the opposite problem, they seem always hungry even if they have eaten, because when there were periods of "plenty", people had to pack on the fat to survive the times of famine.

    Start increasing your calories, and you will reverse this. One suggestion is to look for very calorie dense foods that pack more calories for the amount of volume of food. Peanut butter, avocado, nuts & seeds, full fat dairy.

    See a professional if you need help.
  • CatAMcC
    CatAMcC Posts: 166 Member
    I'm going through this myself.

    Not feeling great at moment and found out blood results are normal this morning. - Hoped for something to just show why feeling exactly like this.

    I love my food - but struggling at moment. Then feel bad for not eating much but no energy to make food and white I want to eat its like how you described - I just don't want to. My mum tried giving me food last night and I just didn't want it.

    How do I go straight into upping calories on top of trying to just eat more in general?!

    :-(
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Thanks for your advice. It's annoying because I've always wanted to not feel hunger but now I hate it! It sort of takes the pleasure out of eating when I don't feel like I need to. After reading some of the replies I instantly ate a flapjack because it scared me at how unhealthy I've been. I'm feeling a bit uncomfortable now as it was 500 calories but hopefully my tummy won't feel so full for long. It still leaves me with 600 calories to eat by the end of the day so I have no idea how I'll do that but at least it's a start!

    a flapjack isnt unhealthy in this situation, so dont feel bad. think of it as a quick way to get lots of calories that your body really needed.
  • Nicoleace22
    Nicoleace22 Posts: 32 Member
    Yeah I feel the same. I am eating below 1400 . Maybe its because I need sooo much. I know that the bigger you r the more you need. Right now I just try not to overdue exercise. I'm hoping that once a hit a plateau I can just start exercising more to break it. Really strive to net 1200. As people before me said any more and I think become a detriment instead of a help. GOO luck.
  • StripedSmoker
    StripedSmoker Posts: 104 Member
    I feel you. Well... had this for a while, then started to feel horrible and forced myself to eat more. The appetite comes back : ) But the forcing oneself is hard.
  • dawnmcneil10
    dawnmcneil10 Posts: 638 Member
    Oh yes I get this. There will be days in life that food really has no appeal but daily is a problem. You'll need to learn your body's own signals. You said shaky, that means you most likely need to eat. I'm guessing salads and veggies in general are a big portion of your diet. I'd suggest adding nuts or avocado to salads, using olive oil (flavor infused or plain), eggplant and spinach lasagna is a great fall/winter meal and provides quick meals throughout the week.
    If you want you can ad me as a friend I don't judge on good days or bad.
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
    You don't have to eat rubbish to get your calories up. The simple solution is to eat higher calorie foods - avocado, nuts, peanut butter, olive oil on your salad, mayonnaise on your salad. This will give you the calories your body needs, without adding much to the amount of food you're eating.
  • stephiehampshire
    stephiehampshire Posts: 160
    First of all congratulations on being so open and asking for help, you are definitely taking the right steps

    I am not trained and no expert so this is just my opinion and it may be wrong ... but if your not hungry then you need to try and get the biggest bang for your buck so that your body gets the fuel that it needs

    Try to avoid filling up on low cal foods like rice cakes and try and eat protein, nuts and complex carbs etc

    Peanut butter on crackers and smoothies is a really good suggestion

    I know that nuts are high in alot of nutrients but they arent very filling so that could be a good thing to snack on

    Maybe try and eat 6 small meals a day rather than focus on the big 3 so that you can eat small portions rather than trying to force yourself to eat a bigger dinner

    If after a week or two you are still struggling then I would see a GP for advice, not because your sick but because they know of trained professionals who can give good advice on nutrition who can help you out of your rut

    xxx
  • teamAmelia
    teamAmelia Posts: 1,247 Member
    If you feel shaky, it's probably bc your body needs food. If you're not hungry, that's a good thing. But, try to fill up/eat the remaining calories w lean protein, veggies, or low-sugar fruits.
  • SkinnyWannabeGal
    SkinnyWannabeGal Posts: 143 Member
    When I feel like that, I drink a smoothie made with fresh fruits, almond milk and some ice. I knew a woman who needed to up her calorie intake, so she drank chocolate and peanut butter milkshakes every day. When my friend doesn't have time to eat, she gets a big smoothie from Jamba Juice. Sometimes it helps to drink your calories.
  • bangles501
    bangles501 Posts: 26 Member
    Thanks again for all the advice. I decided to just go for it this weekend and I've eaten around 2000 calories both days, some of that was alcohol though. I'm feeling a bit guilty about it all now as I didn't do any exercise over the weekend either but I've looked at my weekly summary and I averaged 1200 a day by doing this. Now all I need to do is try find a happy medium and eat 1200 a day. I have no idea what my maintenance calorie intake is so I need to find this out and it will give me target to aim for once I can happily achieve 1200 every day.

    It's really hard work, I'm so used to finding ways of cutting out calories from when I was losing the weight, it's turned into habit that I shouldn't eat unless I am hungry so I just don't unless I'm at social events such as this weekend. I worked so hard to lose a stone and I'm really scared I'll put the weight back on if I'm not able to find my maintenance levels.
  • donjessop
    donjessop Posts: 186
    I don't know if this will work for you (it is sort of working for my wife), but sometimes it is easier to eat if you have a set schedule. My wife has set up her smartphone to prompt her to have a snack at in the morning and a snack in the afternoon. A handful of nuts, a homemade smoothie, even some cheese and crackers. The content, while important, isn't as important as getting your body working the way it should be. You don't have to eat a lot, just enough to keep you going to your next meal. You won't think that it's a lot of food so your body won't object to eating it.

    As for your maintenance calorie intake, try this calculator: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

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