How does one "forget/not want to" eat?

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  • lois1231
    lois1231 Posts: 331 Member
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    It is a mystery to me. The only time I would forget to eat was if I was severely depressed other than that I would overeat. I have a brother like this who forgets to eat all the time. He is as thin as a rail. When he eats though especially stuff he likes he can really put away the food.
  • betty_veronica4
    betty_veronica4 Posts: 196 Member
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    It doesn't happen often for me, but it does. My M.O. is that when I am stressed and not busy, I want to eat all the time. When I am stressed and busy, the day gets away from me and I look up at the clock and realize I have missed lunch - or the stress quashes my hunger. Sadly, I am in that mode right now because it is my annual crunch time with work and I am working 12-14 hour days. BUT, on a normal day, no. No. I have regular meal times and my stomach lets me know if I am overdue.
  • ExRelaySprinter
    ExRelaySprinter Posts: 874 Member
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    I was just saying this to my sister the other day.
    I really don't know how some people "forget to eat"!
    If a few hours go past and i haven't eaten anything, i either get hangry or start to become shaky.
    I've always had a big appetite and eaten regularly - i've been like that since i was a Kid (and i was a slim Kid ;) ).
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    bribucks wrote: »
    vd29vjgbgce5.jpeg

    I still don't 'forget' to eat when I'm depressed. I just don't feel like eating. But yeah, I suppose that someone who isn't obsessed with food the way I am and is depressed might actually not think about food at all all day.

    How would one define "obsessed with food"? I mean given how much I love cooking and baking, enjoy going to farmers markets, and can be fascinated with grocery stores in other countries (only momentarily - that gets old fast after the second or third shopping trip) you could perhaps say that I'm obsessed with food. That said what's actually going on is that we're all different people. The way you experience depression is not the way I experience depression, is not the way your neighbor experiences depression.

    I can easily forget to eat when I'm especially depressed despite how interested I am in food in general. I can also be more or less unwilling to eat when I'm especially depressed (because eating requires that I get out of bed). I say "especially" because I have depression 24/7, it waxes and wanes in it's severity though.
  • zilkah
    zilkah Posts: 207 Member
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    My husband is one of those "forget to eat" types . He gets very engrossed in his work . To him his relationship with food is different, he sees it strictly as fuel and nothing more. He has told me multiple times he wishes humans could recharge without eating because it's such a hassle lol (he's one of those computer engineering types can't ya tell? ) . I get joy out of eating and cooking, I love it. I have found that what helps me not needlessly eat is to cook for others . I bake a lot and try new recipes each week and give them to others . The mere process of prepping food is extremely soothing to me . The only time I forget to eat is when I am extremely stressed or busy with something as well . I've switched my habit to "drink a glass of flavored water" whenever I feel the urge and though it's not as satisfying it is helping me
  • littlebrittlifts
    littlebrittlifts Posts: 225 Member
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    bribucks wrote: »
    vd29vjgbgce5.jpeg

    I busted out laughing
  • fb47
    fb47 Posts: 1,058 Member
    edited February 2018
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    RecognitionT wrote: »
    Only once in my life have I not felt the constant urge to eat at least once every 2-3 hours, and that's when I was in the hospital practically dying and crying my eyes out, and my stomach couldn't fit any food in it even if I wanted to.

    For the most part, I eat like clockwork. And ever since I counted every calorie that entered my mouth, it's been significantly more difficult staying under my limit than just "watching out for bad foods."

    Then I read stories of people that forget to eat or can't be bothered preparing a meal, so they just skip it, and for the most part it doesn't even disturb them.

    Since I started using MFP, not a day has passed since my eating was dictated by the clock, every couple of hours without fail.

    Seriously, if I could just "forget to eat" between breakfast and suppertime and then stuff my face with all my day's calories at once, I'd totally do that, but I get too hungry too often to ever pull it off :/

    Tips, tricks? Most of my day is spent at home studying, nothing physically strenuous beyond walking around the house cooking, cleaning, and ~20 minutes of jumping rope.

    I feel like most of the eating I do isn't so much because I'm hungry... but bored.

    That's like asking why some people are disciplined with their diets and some aren't. We are all wired differently, but we all have something in common, if were doing something wrong, we can always correct it.
  • wendys_journey
    wendys_journey Posts: 3 Member
    edited February 2018
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    I had this problem in my teens. I worked full time, went to school full time, had a boyfriend, smoked cigarettes and drank red bull. When I did eat, it would be a bag of Doritos from the vending machine. Other than that, I had no time to eat. When break time or lunch time came around, I was far to concerned about smoking as many cigarettes as I could fit in before the bell rang, or I had to clock in. I was thin and super unhealthy.

    I legit wanted to invent the quick burning cigarette like in the movie "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion"...not even kidding.
  • WillingtoLose1001984
    WillingtoLose1001984 Posts: 240 Member
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    witcherkar wrote: »
    For me, the reason i got to the highest weight i was, 350 pounds, was because i had untreated binge eating disorder. I would binge all the time. In junior high and highschool, i thought i was fat and people would judge me if i ate so i didnt eat in front of people. By the time i got home, i was starving and would eat basically a huge meal of snacks, then two plate fulls of dinner, lots of dessert, and when everyone went to bed i would sneak food and hide it in my room and eat it. I also drank almost 3/4 a gallon of milk a day, sodas and energy drinks out the wazoo.
    But i also knew i was fat and would try dieting, but they would always be crash diets and i eventually ended up in a cycle of i either restrict to the max of under 1000 calories a day or i binge over 10000 calories a day. Im now in therapy and see a psychiatrist. I take a medicine that controls my binges. I can say no to food now and i dont think about it 24/7 like i used to. Apperently with binge eating disorder, you either lack a certain chemical in the brain or have super low levels of it. Which the medicine replaces and balances. Also if im doing something, im the type of person that i cannot stop in the middle and finish it later. I have to finish it now. So i forget to eat meals because im so focused on what im doing. I read all 4 twilight books in 4 days. I didnt sleep. I didnt eat. I didnt shower. I took the book to the bathroom with me. Lol. So basically i ended up fat because of an eating disorder and i forget meals because my medication tells me i dont have to think about food plus everytime i diet i go in a cycle of restriction and bingeing (which im getting help for) plus if im focused on a task food is the last thing on my mind. Keeping busy always helps. I hope this post helps you!

    Hmm, I got to 330 but I just had big meals a few times a week and I would make cake and eat a lot of that during the week. I ate pretty frequently though, like 4 times a day. It has a lot to do with a medication I was on. For some reason it nade me out our a lot and not want to move. I still like to eat every few hours though. It is easier to do that if I exercise.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    edited February 2018
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    It's rare, but sometimes I get so involved with a project that I will forget to eat. A few weeks ago I was working on a big landscaping project at home...started after breakfast and the next thing I knew I looked up at the sky and it was getting dusk...went inside and yup...it was 5:30 PM.

    Day to day, not at all...I usually eat like clock work...8:30 AM breakfast...12:30 lunch...afternoon snack or two...8:30 PM dinner.
  • bribucks
    bribucks Posts: 431 Member
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    bribucks wrote: »
    vd29vjgbgce5.jpeg

    Please excuse my poor attempt at dark humor.

    For a real answer, when I am depressed & anxious, I don’t “forget” to eat but I simply can’t bring myself to do it.

    When I am really busy, I sometimes DO forget to eat, at least within a time window. Sometimes I’ll be so caught up on something at work that 2:30 will roll around before I realize I hadn’t eaten lunch yet.

    On the reverse, there are days where I am so bored that I can think of nothing other than stuffing food in my face!
  • mrslcoop
    mrslcoop Posts: 317 Member
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    Different people have different personalities. I'm the kind of person that when I get wrapped up in something I will forget to eat. I lost 10 lbs in grad school because I was so busy. I used to have a high stress job so fitting it in wasn't easy and I'd get home in time to go to bed and get 5 hours sleep so I didn't make it up that night. Now I have invisalign and it's too much work to snack.
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
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    I don’t think I’ve ever forgotten to eat.
  • Running_and_Coffee
    Running_and_Coffee Posts: 811 Member
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    This is the only reason why I am doing keto--it appears to turn off the part of my brain that eats out of boredom. I mainly work from home, and while I've always been a very calorie-conscious person, I found myself justifying an extra apple here, a few bites of leftover kid sandwich there, because it didn't add up to much and I exercise a lot. I would even chew tons of gum because sitting in front of a laptop all day made me want to chew something! Switching to keto, I don't get cravings and sometimes forget to eat and am reminded that I am hungry by literally hearing my stomach growl.

    But until this...no, I ate like clockwork.

    The "naturally thin" people I know often forget to eat. But I am not one of them.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    ceiswyn wrote: »
    Meelisv wrote: »
    I don't have an answer for you, but I have always wondered the same thing. What also baffles me, is that the same people who say that they forget to eat or simply aren't hungry or say that they struggle to eat 1000 kcal per day, have somehow found their way here, because they need to or want to lose weight. People don't get to a point where they want to lose weight by barely eating 1000 calories per day. Still it's a story that repeats itself over and over again.

    I used to eat over 3000 calories a day and be constantly hungry. Then I completely changed my attitude to food and found myself struggling to get to 1000 calories some days. It seems that a drastic change in eating habits messes with your hunger and satiety signals. This shouldn’t be as difficult for people to comprehend as apparently it is.

    Yes, whenever someone starts a thread indicating their hunger cues are off, the first thing that comes to my mind is that they went from calorie dense, hyper-palatable food to high protein/fiber/volume.

    But we are clearly in the minority.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,328 Member
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    Personally, I think it's great to eat every couple hours, keeps your blood sugar more level. I'm a person who doesn't LOVE food, my husband does tho. I used to eat twice a day before mfp, then I started eating several small meals a day but kept going back to only wanting 2 meals/day, so I found my "normal" I eat brunch, have a small snack halfway to dinner & snack in evening. it's hard for me to snack, we're all different. Find whats best for you & don't force yourself to be something you're not, but modify some things that are better for you. My question ( if it hasn't already been answered) is are you eating enough? Asking because you said you were hungry. I cook in the late mornings for the day. I always worked PM shift so I'm able to do that. I can't imagine cooking in the evening when I'm already sleepy & tired
  • SeptemberFeyre
    SeptemberFeyre Posts: 178 Member
    edited April 2018
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    I think the people are either super busy, don't have low blood sugar issues, eating low-carb, or are smoking. That's just a guess. The most I can usually go between meals is five hours. If I'm exercising regularly it's less than that, and I feel super hungry.
    Edited to add some medical conditions can cause one not to be hungry like thyroid trouble or depression, ect.
  • RenaTX
    RenaTX Posts: 345 Member
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    My husband is the type that forgets to eat or gets too busy to eat. He doesn't like to eat any breakfast, and says it gives him heartburn if he eats too early. Then he ends up getting too busy for lunch but will eat a large meal for dinner.

    I can't do it. I can usually skip breakfast but then I want lunch. I tend to eat more in the afternoons too for some reason. Like right now. I want my afternoon snack but I'm forcing myself to hold off a hour to eat it or I may want something more later. Plus I'm not exactly hungry, I just want to eat.
  • quebot
    quebot Posts: 99 Member
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    I don't love eating. I think I gained weight in the past making lazy food choices (high calorie foods). I'd eyeball portions, and that was it. I would just say "oh it's time to eat, what can I cram in my mouth to get this out of the way?" I'm so busy and eating is just another thing on my to do list. Now that I'm making better food choices and quit drinking my calories, it can take a lot of effort to eat enough food. I've never had a huge appetite and I have always been satisfied with 1 to 2 meals a day and a small snack. Everyone's different. You don't have to love food to get fat. Not paying any attention will do it.

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