How to make myself eat

jommy220
jommy220 Posts: 2 Member
So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

Replies

  • loveliveswithin
    loveliveswithin Posts: 2,256 Member
    Set an alarm on your phone. Eat a couple almonds or 1/2 apple or cheese sticks every couple hours. It seems funny to eat more but it is going to give you so much more energy and that will pay off in the gym. Drink lots of water. I'm not a certified PT but this works for me.

    Good luck to you.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    There are many reasons to eat more calories, but weight loss stopping is not one of them. If you're consistently below 1200 net calories, start adding in some of the foods listed above.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

  • cbtebb
    cbtebb Posts: 34 Member
    Admittedly I always want to eat more than once a day, but I do sometimes find after a late gym session that I need to eat dinner but really don't want to.. I think part of it is a mentality, and if you tell yourself regardless of being hungry that you do need to eat then you can push yourself to do it.
  • cbtebb
    cbtebb Posts: 34 Member
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.

    :huh:
  • cbtebb
    cbtebb Posts: 34 Member
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.

    :huh:

    It's a rather long winded way of explaining it I will admit, but what the trainer said is most definitely true. :smile:
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    You're not going to train your body to eat more; if you need to eat more, you're going to have to train your mind. But do you need to eat more? Are you trying to lose weight? Are you not hungry because you are eating enough already? Number of meals doesn't mean anything per se - eating more frequently or less frequently can increase appetite for some people and reduce appetite for others. How much you eat in total for your meal(s) is what matters. And finally, you can eat/not eat independently from appetite. You can decide to eat at certain times, and set an alarm to go off at those times.

    Or are you underweight? If so, you need to gain weight.

    Not eating can not make you gain weight. But eating too little can make you want to eat so much that you lose control when you eat, and then eat too much, and then you can gain weight.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.

    :huh:

    It's a rather long winded way of explaining it I will admit, but what the trainer said is most definitely true. :smile:

    so explain how people starve if they gain weight eating too little...?
  • kristikitter
    kristikitter Posts: 602 Member
    @diannethegeek 's stickied list to the rescue!!

    Calorie dense foods
  • cbtebb
    cbtebb Posts: 34 Member
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.

    :huh:

    It's a rather long winded way of explaining it I will admit, but what the trainer said is most definitely true. :smile:

    so explain how people starve if they gain weight eating too little...?

    You starve because the body is not consuming enough to function. The body gains weight because unlike a regular day of say 2000 calories, where the body absorbs the nutrients it needs and gets rid of the rest; instead the body is not consuming enough and therefore whatever you put in is stored as fat in an attempt to keep your body functioning correctly, hence weight gain.

    The best example I can think of is if you're ill for 48 hours and don't eat, you lose weight. But then when you feel better and eat again, even if its less than you normally would, you gain that weight straight back. This follows the same process I'm on about of the body going into an 'emergency mode' if you will.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.
    Wow. Where to begin?
    Um. It's a myth. If this wasn't a myth, anorexics wouldn't be able to lose weight and be thin. Ever seen a POW? They're not overweight....

    And if I ate 2000-2500 with the lifting and walking that I do, I would in fact gain or maintain my current weight. A caloric deficit comes from eating the calories mfp gives you, or from TDEE -10/20.

    No one ever got fat from not giving their body enough calories. You cannot create energy out of nothing. Science disagrees with you.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    edited May 2017
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.

    :huh:

    It's a rather long winded way of explaining it I will admit, but what the trainer said is most definitely true. :smile:

    so explain how people starve if they gain weight eating too little...?

    You starve because the body is not consuming enough to function. The body gains weight because unlike a regular day of say 2000 calories, where the body absorbs the nutrients it needs and gets rid of the rest; instead the body is not consuming enough and therefore whatever you put in is stored as fat in an attempt to keep your body functioning correctly, hence weight gain.

    The best example I can think of is if you're ill for 48 hours and don't eat, you lose weight. But then when you feel better and eat again, even if its less than you normally would, you gain that weight straight back. This follows the same process I'm on about of the body going into an 'emergency mode' if you will.

    Holy moly. No. Not even close.

    Please post a reputable scientific source to back this up.

    Your example is a poor one. When someone gets ill and don't eat, they shed.......water weight, mostly. When they start eating again, they replenish their glycogen stores. It's not stupid starvation mode or survival mode. Science debunked that drivel ages ago.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,178 Member
    so OP, are you extremely underweight?
  • cbtebb
    cbtebb Posts: 34 Member
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.

    :huh:

    It's a rather long winded way of explaining it I will admit, but what the trainer said is most definitely true. :smile:

    so explain how people starve if they gain weight eating too little...?

    You starve because the body is not consuming enough to function. The body gains weight because unlike a regular day of say 2000 calories, where the body absorbs the nutrients it needs and gets rid of the rest; instead the body is not consuming enough and therefore whatever you put in is stored as fat in an attempt to keep your body functioning correctly, hence weight gain.

    The best example I can think of is if you're ill for 48 hours and don't eat, you lose weight. But then when you feel better and eat again, even if its less than you normally would, you gain that weight straight back. This follows the same process I'm on about of the body going into an 'emergency mode' if you will.

    Holy moly. No. Not even close.

    Please post a reputable scientific source to back this up.

    Your example is a poor one. When someone gets ill and don't eat, they shed.......water weight, mostly. When they start eating again, they replenish their glycogen stores. It's not stupid starvation mode or survival mode. Science debunked that drivel ages ago.

    Okay I admit my example isn't the best and yes the 'starvation mode' thing has been debunked as I'm just reading, however the body does massively slow your metabolism
  • cbtebb
    cbtebb Posts: 34 Member
    http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/why-undereating-wont-actually-help-you-lose-weight/

    This is the best link I could find to sort of support what I'm trying to say, and it led me back to MFP, so I'd like to think it's fairly reliable.

    My knowledge in terms of the science is fairly outdated as I've learnt, so I apologise for that. However, that article is worth a read.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.

    :huh:

    It's a rather long winded way of explaining it I will admit, but what the trainer said is most definitely true. :smile:

    so explain how people starve if they gain weight eating too little...?

    You starve because the body is not consuming enough to function. The body gains weight because unlike a regular day of say 2000 calories, where the body absorbs the nutrients it needs and gets rid of the rest; instead the body is not consuming enough and therefore whatever you put in is stored as fat in an attempt to keep your body functioning correctly, hence weight gain.

    The best example I can think of is if you're ill for 48 hours and don't eat, you lose weight. But then when you feel better and eat again, even if its less than you normally would, you gain that weight straight back. This follows the same process I'm on about of the body going into an 'emergency mode' if you will.

    Holy moly. No. Not even close.

    Please post a reputable scientific source to back this up.

    Your example is a poor one. When someone gets ill and don't eat, they shed.......water weight, mostly. When they start eating again, they replenish their glycogen stores. It's not stupid starvation mode or survival mode. Science debunked that drivel ages ago.

    Okay I admit my example isn't the best and yes the 'starvation mode' thing has been debunked as I'm just reading, however the body does massively slow your metabolism

    Not even close.
  • avadahm
    avadahm Posts: 111 Member
    . You just have to start with doing it. You're going to feel full all of the time and yeah, that's not necessarily fun to feel like you're force feeding yourself.

    Your body does need nutrition when you work out (not just calories) so begin by incorporating nutrition dense foods. Even if you start eating lighter foods to get your stomach used to food at that time of day (morning was my challenge when I began eating more) eventually you'll naturally be hungry at that time. You can add heavier calorie foods from there if you prefer. I start with light because I feel less crappy after eating it when not hungry. Work on getting calories close to your goals on MFP and see if it gets easier in a couple of weeks.
  • cbtebb
    cbtebb Posts: 34 Member
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.

    :huh:

    It's a rather long winded way of explaining it I will admit, but what the trainer said is most definitely true. :smile:

    so explain how people starve if they gain weight eating too little...?

    You starve because the body is not consuming enough to function. The body gains weight because unlike a regular day of say 2000 calories, where the body absorbs the nutrients it needs and gets rid of the rest; instead the body is not consuming enough and therefore whatever you put in is stored as fat in an attempt to keep your body functioning correctly, hence weight gain.

    The best example I can think of is if you're ill for 48 hours and don't eat, you lose weight. But then when you feel better and eat again, even if its less than you normally would, you gain that weight straight back. This follows the same process I'm on about of the body going into an 'emergency mode' if you will.

    Holy moly. No. Not even close.

    Please post a reputable scientific source to back this up.

    Your example is a poor one. When someone gets ill and don't eat, they shed.......water weight, mostly. When they start eating again, they replenish their glycogen stores. It's not stupid starvation mode or survival mode. Science debunked that drivel ages ago.

    Okay I admit my example isn't the best and yes the 'starvation mode' thing has been debunked as I'm just reading, however the body does massively slow your metabolism

    Not even close.

    I'm trying to help fellow members as much as everyone else, yes my information might be wrong as I'm now learning, but rather than just telling me that could you be more helpful and explain what is correct?

    Much obliged.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    Adaptive thermogenesis is a thing. Down regulation of the metabolism as it were. It happens to everyone eating at a deficit but its effects for most aren't dramatic and certainly not enough to see someone stop losing weight altogether or suddenly start gaining their calorie consumption remaining the same. It would just result in slightly slower losses.

    And unless one eats too little for prolonged periods of time, say an anorexic, then upregulating the metabolism back to normal levels and hormones etc along with it, takes just a week or two of eating at maintenance.

    So no, not starvation mode, the body cannot store fat in an absence of excess energy (calories).
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.

    :huh:

    It's a rather long winded way of explaining it I will admit, but what the trainer said is most definitely true. :smile:

    so explain how people starve if they gain weight eating too little...?

    You starve because the body is not consuming enough to function. The body gains weight because unlike a regular day of say 2000 calories, where the body absorbs the nutrients it needs and gets rid of the rest; instead the body is not consuming enough and therefore whatever you put in is stored as fat in an attempt to keep your body functioning correctly, hence weight gain.

    The best example I can think of is if you're ill for 48 hours and don't eat, you lose weight. But then when you feel better and eat again, even if its less than you normally would, you gain that weight straight back. This follows the same process I'm on about of the body going into an 'emergency mode' if you will.

    Holy moly. No. Not even close.

    Please post a reputable scientific source to back this up.

    Your example is a poor one. When someone gets ill and don't eat, they shed.......water weight, mostly. When they start eating again, they replenish their glycogen stores. It's not stupid starvation mode or survival mode. Science debunked that drivel ages ago.

    Okay I admit my example isn't the best and yes the 'starvation mode' thing has been debunked as I'm just reading, however the body does massively slow your metabolism

    Not in 48 hours it doesn't...
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    RodaRose wrote: »
    jommy220 wrote: »
    So I've started crossfit and my trainer told me to eat more. My issue is that I don't ever hardly eat. Maybe 1 meal a day. That's only because I honestly am never hungry. BUT, being told that not eating can make you gain weight bothers me. Any advice on training my body to eat more??

    What the trainer said is not true. Not eating does not cause weight gain. People gain weight by eating too much.

    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain. This is why the first thing trainer's ask if you don't lose weight is about diet, not necessarily to see if you're eating too much, but to also see if you're not eating enough. In fact if you're training intensely most days the boundary of 'too much' is very high as any food you eat is being burnt as fuel for your workouts. I eat in the region of 2600-2700 calories a day, sometimes higher, and train everyday also.. If it wasn't for eating at least that amount of calories everyday I would certainly lose a lot of weight to begin with, but then gain a lot more in the long run.

    Eating less calories each day only works if you aren't accompanying it with exercise (if you don't have time, medical conditions, etc) in which case your calorific deficit comes with not consuming the same amount as before. But when training you should be making your daily intake for your gender and age (2000-2500 for most) to correctly fuel the body, and then your calorific deficit comes with the exercise.

    :huh:

    It's a rather long winded way of explaining it I will admit, but what the trainer said is most definitely true. :smile:

    so explain how people starve if they gain weight eating too little...?

    You starve because the body is not consuming enough to function. The body gains weight because unlike a regular day of say 2000 calories, where the body absorbs the nutrients it needs and gets rid of the rest; instead the body is not consuming enough and therefore whatever you put in is stored as fat in an attempt to keep your body functioning correctly, hence weight gain.

    The best example I can think of is if you're ill for 48 hours and don't eat, you lose weight. But then when you feel better and eat again, even if its less than you normally would, you gain that weight straight back. This follows the same process I'm on about of the body going into an 'emergency mode' if you will.

    Holy moly. No. Not even close.

    Please post a reputable scientific source to back this up.

    Your example is a poor one. When someone gets ill and don't eat, they shed.......water weight, mostly. When they start eating again, they replenish their glycogen stores. It's not stupid starvation mode or survival mode. Science debunked that drivel ages ago.

    Okay I admit my example isn't the best and yes the 'starvation mode' thing has been debunked as I'm just reading, however the body does massively slow your metabolism

    Not even close.

    I'm trying to help fellow members as much as everyone else, yes my information might be wrong as I'm now learning, but rather than just telling me that could you be more helpful and explain what is correct?

    Much obliged.

    Metabolic adaptation (which is what you are trying to describe) occurs over a much longer period of time, and to way less of a degree than your "massively" would suggest.

    If you truly want to help people, take some time to get your knowledge base up first. We need all the help we can get. :)
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
    So, OP, based on your post I'm guessing that you're looking to lose weight, or at least maintain since the thought of potentially gaining weight has you worried.

    One question: how did you get to be in a position where you want to lose/maintain if you aren't eating? It isn't meant to be rude or anything, but I am curious. If you only ate one meal a day, that would be an incredibly high-calorie meal in order to exceed the amount of calories you need in a day.

    I get that sometimes right after a hard workout you don't want to eat, I don't want to either - so I usually drink chocolate milk then - but overall, if you are looking to lose weight, even a bit, you have to eat at some kind of regular interval . . .. weight doesn't just come out of no where.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited May 2017
    TigerTebb wrote: »
    It is most definitely true, if you don't eat enough then the body goes into an emergency mode so to speak. Because it cannot guarantee when the next meal will be, it will store all the nutrients as fat from what you eat to ensure it has enough energy stored to make it to the next meal. Hence not eating enough can cause weight gain.

    Right. Because there are tons of fat anorexics and lots of obese people running around in third-world countries where malnutrition and food scarcity is a fact of everyday life. Right?


    Since you did express a desire to learn more about it in a subsequent post, here's an evidence-based research review which discusses the phenomenon of metabolic damage in detail - exactly what it is and what it does/doesn't do: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/another-look-at-metabolic-damage.html/
  • bigbuffbarry
    bigbuffbarry Posts: 38 Member
    Protein shakes and fruit/veg juices throughout the day if you dont want to eat more than one meal.