Do you eat planned meals even though you may not be hungry?

Kalex1975 · January 2018

I plan all my meals/foods up to 2 weeks in advance. I am a bit obsessed with my macros and usually am within a couple grams of my goals each day. It doesn't happen that frequently but sometimes I am no longer hungry but may have some foods remaining that I had previously planned to eat.

What do you think is the best approach...

Eat the food even though you are not hungry to meet your macro/calorie goal for the day that you had planned.
Skip the planned food and not worry about your macro balance - go for a larger calorie deficit for the day.

Would appreciate your feedback, thanks in advance!

AliceDark · January 2018

First, I'm assuming that you're trying to lose or maintain, NOT to gain. If you're gaining, this advice may not apply.

Second, I'm assuming that you're not failing to meet the minimum calorie intake for your gender. If you're having trouble achieving a minimum calorie intake to meet basic nutritional goals, this advice does not apply.

It sounds like your intake is so planned and regimented that you're not listening to your hunger signals. I don't think that training yourself to ignore your hunger signals is healthy. Eating when you're not hungry just to complete a math equation doesn't sound like a healthy approach to food.

I would focus on monitoring my hunger levels during the day, so you don't get to a place at night where you have significant food left over and are not hungry for it. It depends on how often this is happening, though. There's no problem with leaving a few calories on the table once in awhile as long as you're meeting your basic nutritional needs; if this is happening a lot or if it's causing you to risk being way under on your calories, that's a different story.

Katiebear_81 · January 2018

I usually eat the food any way, provided it's not going to make me feel ill. If it's really just too much, then I'll try to eat some of it, or skip the food.

How often is this happening? What kind of a calorie deficit are you running?

sgt1372 · January 2018

I don't plan any meal more than 2 meals in advance in a particular day (for example, lunch and dinner after breakfast in the morning) and don't eat any meal if I'm not hungry.

I will also often use MFP to choose what to eat for a subsequent meal "on the fly" based on what I've eaten previously that day in order to meet my specific calorie, nutritional and macro goals.

Flexibility is the key.

cwolfman13 · January 2018

I'm personally not that regimented and only have a vague idea of what my macro ratios are...I don't think they're important enough to obsess about. I pretty much eat 3 meals per day and when they roll around, I'm pretty much ready to eat. Sometimes I have an afternoon snack...sometimes I don't...just depends on whether or not I'm feeling a bit peckish or not.

I haven't logged in ages...I just eat "normally." This means that sometimes I'm over and sometimes I'm under calories I'm sure...but I've gotten along just fine for the past 5ish years now.

Need2Exerc1se · January 2018

I would for sure do #2 because I don't care about macros.

BUT, if I was obsessed with macros I'd do #1 because what is the use of being obsessed about something if I'm wishy washy about it?

Kalex1975 · January 2018

AliceDark wrote: »

First, I'm assuming that you're trying to lose or maintain, NOT to gain. If you're gaining, this advice may not apply.

Second, I'm assuming that you're not failing to meet the minimum calorie intake for your gender. If you're having trouble achieving a minimum calorie intake to meet basic nutritional goals, this advice does not apply.

It sounds like your intake is so planned and regimented that you're not listening to your hunger signals. I don't think that training yourself to ignore your hunger signals is healthy. Eating when you're not hungry just to complete a math equation doesn't sound like a healthy approach to food.

I would focus on monitoring my hunger levels during the day, so you don't get to a place at night where you have significant food left over and are not hungry for it. It depends on how often this is happening, though. There's no problem with leaving a few calories on the table once in awhile as long as you're meeting your basic nutritional needs; if this is happening a lot or if it's causing you to risk being way under on your calories, that's a different story.

Thanks Alice, your assumptions are correct (sorry, should have been more clear)... it doesn't happen very frequently - it seems like I am always hungry.

Your advice is appreciated - I definitely need to be pay more attention to my hunger levels.

Kalex1975 · January 2018

Katiebear_81 wrote: »

I usually eat the food any way, provided it's not going to make me feel ill. If it's really just too much, then I'll try to eat some of it, or skip the food.

How often is this happening? What kind of a calorie deficit are you running?

It happens maybe once every 2 weeks or so... so, not often at all? I think my obsession with my macros (especially protein) is probably not the best approach and I should pay more attention to my hunger cues.

Kalex1975 · January 2018

sgt1372 wrote: »

I don't plan any meal more than 2 meals in advance in a particular day (for example, lunch and dinner after breakfast in the morning) and don't eat any meal if I'm not hungry.

I will also often use MFP to choose what to eat for a subsequent meal "on the fly" based on what I've eaten previously that day in order to meet my specific calorie, nutritional and macro goals.

Flexibility is the key.

I appreciate your approach but it doesn't work very well for me. I'm a planner and if I don't plan ahead I can easily go off the rails. It also helps with grocery shopping and saving money by buying only what I need for the week. I hope to some day learn how to be more flexible, perhaps by not eating those planned foods is a good start.

maybe1pe · January 2018

I plan all of my meals a week or 2 ahead of time and make a serious effort to at least meet my Protein requirement, usually go over that and eat less carbs, because that's what works for my hunger levels.

That being said sometimes I get to a day and it's lunch time and I'm just not hungry so I skip it. I might add an extra after dinner snack if I want it. Some cottage cheese or greek yogurt because it has decent protein. and then at least I'm still mostly on track with my protein.

And even though I plan ahead sometimes I don't want that food like tomorrow I had lunch and dinner planned but I've been craving a nice big burger, so I changed my lunch plan and am going to go get one. NBD.

Kalex1975 · January 2018

Need2Exerc1se wrote: »

I would for sure do #2 because I don't care about macros.

BUT, if I was obsessed with macros I'd do #1 because what is the use of being obsessed about something if I'm wishy washy about it?

Thanks, this made me laugh! I think I'll continue to plan ahead and feed that obsession but when I do have those rare days when I no longer am hungry I'll try to be better at listening to my body.

fitoverfortymom · January 2018

TBH, I've never not been hungry for a planned meal.

fr33sia12 · January 2018

I plan ahead too and work better with routines and restrictions, so don't mind that at all. If I'm not hungry for a planned meal (it's usually a snack rather than a big meal) I won't eat it and be happy with a bigger deficit, or I may even be hungrier later on so eat it then and at least I know it fits into my plan.

Lounmoun · January 2018

I plan meals but I am still flexible.If I really wasn't hungry I'd not eat just to hit my protein goal that day. Not being hungry doesn't happen much.
I generally prelog my food for the day in the morning. I eat more food later in the day.

callsitlikeiseeit · January 2018

im never not hungry. i love food, love to cook, especially love to bake (anyone want some home made italian bread fresh out of the oven? i have some lol)

i dont always eat all of what i planned/logged. in fact, more often than not, i DONT. i eat until im satisfied.

i had planned on eating breakfast this morning, then wasnt hungry. so i skipped it. all it did was make room for me to have some of that bread i just made

deannalfisher · January 2018

I think it depends - there have been days when I have done this (either not hungry or gotten busy at work and neglected to eat) and I've paid for it the next day (especially if I do a hard workout in the am) - so I try to eat as close to my calories/macros as possible each day - whether I'm hungry or not (I have personal issues with hunger signals)

apullum · January 2018

I don't eat preplanned meals if I'm not hungry. I cut back from how much I had planned to eat if I don't want that much. Sometimes I just don't feel like eating what I had planned, so I switch it out for something in a similar calorie range. It's a lot easier to do this after you've been tracking for a while and you have a good sense of the calorie count for a dozen or so meals you usually prepare. You know what's a 300 calorie meal, a 450 calorie meal, etc. and you can swap out meals in the same category.

If you're not going under your minimum calories (1200 for women, 1500 for men), then just take the greater deficit for the day. You can always use it to eat more a few days later if you want.

Debra_LMB · January 2018

The end of the week's totals for calories, is where it will make a difference overall on weigh-in day. You know it takes a 3500 calorie deficit for each pound lost during a given week - that's roughly 500 calories a day. What I like to do is save up the uneaten macros & calories for a day when I am more hungry - during that same week, of course. I don't like eating just to make my calorie goal for the day (1200); I have to eat extra just to make it to 1000. I know if I don't eat a pre-planned day, I am likely to prowl around the kitchen until I find something to eat. That's a dangerous habit to develop. I am like you in that I try and at least make my protein goals. I am hypoglycemic, so eating too many carbs or sugar will cause my blood sugar to tank, so making them up in that area is not an option. I say don't eat if you are not hungry, and save those extras for another day perhaps. Hope this makes sense.

Debra_LMB · January 2018

This is worthy of a bump

Do you eat planned meals even though you may not be hungry?

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