What is your opinion on skipping meals when you aren't hungry?

TavistockToad wrote: »

Wheelhouse15 wrote: »

ninerbuff wrote: »

DennysWifeMrsMattox wrote: »

Nope... I try and eat often even if I'm not hungry. My body goes into starvation mode and keeps extra fat when I starve it. If I eat when I'm not hungry, I only eat what is good for my body. If I wait until I'm hungry, my brain and body argue about what to eat. I consider my options when I'm hungry. I think more like "what I can eat that makes sense" when I'm not hungry.

Actually "starvation mode" doesn't exist and you don't keep extra fat when you "starve" it. If starving actually was apparent, then starving people shouldn't be skinny and malnourished.
The fitness industry has duped a lot of people into thinking you HAVE to eat several meals a day to "keep your metabolism going" or "burn fat". In physiology....................that's NOT how it works.
If eating more often keeps you from being hungry, then fine. But eating more often means you have to space out your calories per meal and whether you eat them all in several meals or just a couple, as long as you're in a deficit, you'll lose weight.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I always do find it astonishing how many people think that their body just shuts down all fat mobilization just because they are 5 seconds late on some fantasy schedule. Apparently, our ancestors were completely anal about eating and had amazing metabolisms that ran on sunshine and air in case they didn't get that meal in on time. (Ok, if you reduce it down all the way our energy does come from sunshine but...)

its so much easier to think that though than to take personal responsibility for yourself...

Unfortunately, we do have a tendency to play head games rather than accept responsibility for ourselves.

I sometimes skip meals if I'm not hungry. Especially breakfast.

However, sometimes I have trouble feeling hunger after a big weightlifting workout. I'm hungry and I start eating my dinner and then I just stop. I take a break and make myself finish a half an hour later. I don't know what makes that happen but I know I need the food. If I just skip that meal, I'm going to be awake and ravenous at 1am, and probably eating snack food that doesn't meet my macro goals.

Possibly because I don't think about food; its just that's it, rather than planning meals

Hunger is such a weird thing. It's often not that closely related to how much (or how many calories) we actually need and consume. My goal is to try to listen to my body's hunger signals and eat when I want to, but make sure to eat something nutritious and make careful choices about treats. So if I feel very full after eating a lot, I'll often wind up skipping the next meal until I feel hungry. I have noticed that some days I want to eat small amounts frequently and some days I don't eat frequently but will have a larger meal in the evening. I try to plan for both options and have healthy snacks around in case I want them, and be flexible enough to not worry about changes from the plan.