It Doesn't Feel Right..

I haven't posted here in a while!  haha..

But I'm kind of having a problem and I'd like some other views. 

I exercise...a lot.  I don't really have a choice because of my PE class, but I'm having a lot of trouble eating enough.  I eat when I'm hungry, and I eat healthy foods, but I always seem to find myself stuffing food in my face at the end of the night just to get up to a halfway decent amount.  Like, I seriously stuff about 1000 cals every night and it still doesn't put me at maintenance.

It just feels so unnatural having to do this...shouldn't I be able to just listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry? 

It's not even that I eat a lot of low-cal foods...I have the whole wheat pasta and oatmeal and rice and peanut butter but I just don't get hungry.

Should I keep making myself eat so much even though I don't get hungry?  I hate the feelings I get when I have to do that, but there just isn't enough time in the day! 

I don't want to slow my metabolism (if it could be slowed more..) and I'd like to be able to maintain on a normal amount without gaining.

Thanks for any help =)

Having such a lack of appetite is a side effect of a lot of things. You should be asking your doctor, really. Not being able to eat 1000 calories is NOT normal.

No I can eat 1000 cals, its just getting to maintenance I have trouble with...

I normally feel fine on 1300-1400 but I should be up well over 2000 (I'm a teen, VERY muscular which kinda sucks, and do about 1-2 hours of working out every day with the occasional day off)

And I was wondering, since I had been eating so little, will I gain weight from eating more even if I continue exercising?

If so, will it come back off?

Start earlier, make better food choices and eat more frequently.  If you're only taking in 3 or 400 cals all day and then eating a lot in the evening you're not getting an even intake of energy.  Irregular eating patterns and skipping meals (especially breakfast) are one way of putting on weight.

Start with a better breakfast, a healthy mid-morning snack, a decent lunch, a mid-afternoon snack.... Space things out a little better.   It may feel a little artificial at first and you may not always feel hungry.   But as you eat more and make your mealtimes more regular, your appetite will improve and your body will come to expect to eat.  It will become a good habit.  Choose more energy-dense, low bulk foods like nuts, oils and dried fruit to make up the numbers.  Just a handful of nuts and raisins can add a useful 100 cals.  A few teaspoons of olive oil on your salad adds another 100.

There is enough time in the day.  You may need to prepare things in advance, get up earlier in the morning or make other adjustments but if you give food more priority then you can do it.  You may temporarily gain a little weight if you've been on very low calories but don't weigh yourself for a week or two to give your metabolism chance to get back to normal and for things to settle down.

let me get this right... you are suppossed to eat 2000/day to be at your maintenence considering you are pretty physically active/fit-- but you are only getting in around 1000 during the day. So... each evening you are finding that you need to eat in 1000 calories to get to the 2000.  Is that what you are saying? 

If that is the case... do eat more often and start early with a big but nutritious breakfast.  Eat 5x/day for 400 calories each time.  If you are at school that can be hard... so make your meals on school days something like 600 breakfast, 600 lunch; 200 afterschool snack and 600 dinner.

As long as you are staying active-- you shouldn't be gaining weight -- except if you are still growing.   Keep in mind your height/weight ratios -- like when you get your recommended calories on here-- may be changing.

Hope this helps.... Ciosa

Yes it's normal. Keep eating.

The only time I'm ever really hungry is when I wake up in the morning; the rest of the day I just force something down every 2-3 hours.

Thank you for your replies!

Ciosa - Yes, that is basically what I've been doing.  I get so busy during the day that by time I eat dinner I've only had about 550 cals...and dinner is 350, so I'm around 900 total.  I end up eating until I'm around 1900 or so, but I know my maintenance is more than that (or that's what I've been told by calculators)

It might have helped more to give my stats, and if any of you have advice/ideas on how many cals I SHOULD be getting, please let me know! I'm 17, 5'4", 120 lbs (a tape measure test said 98 lbs lean muscle) and I do anywhere between 45 minutes-1.5 hours of cardio kickboxing on some days, and 1.75 hours of weights on other days.

It's a lot, I know, but I have to or I won't graduate this year =\

Dm84 - I always look forward to reading your replies because you seem to know what you're doing!  Any advice or anything you can give me would be greatly appreciated! =)  Doesn't it just feel unnatural having to eat when you're not hungry though?  I keep thinking if my body isn't telling me I need it, then if I have it, it won't get used and I'll gain weight (if that makes sense!)

It's unnatural, but so is exercising with the intensity you and I do :)

If you're going to push yourself with the exercise, you have to push yourself with the food too. The two are related.

Good point!  Didn't think of it that way =)

Do you have any idea, at all, at how many cals I should be stuffing in my face?  I know it's not the same for everyone but I don't even know where to start really..

I doubt anything less than 2000 is safe... Beyond that. it's hard for me to say, because I'm not a woman 

But you would say at least 2000?  Sorry..I just get to feeling kinda guilty eating that much until I hear it's ok from people with experience..haha

I haven't eaten that much in ages =P

Yeah, at least 2000.

To put it in perspective, for a while I was eating less than 1,500... Now it takes 3,000 to maintain!

Oh wow!  I guess I'll just start at 2000, and then increase and keep an eye on the scale?  How did you find out how much you need to maintain?

Trial and error.

I'm actually trying to gain weight, so that's how I discovered I could eat more to maintain than I previously thought.

Ahh ok...well thanks for your help =)

OK, this is going to sound weird, but you may want to give it a try. Eat sugar.  Not alot, just the equivalent of one or two teaspoons worth for your morning meal.  It may help break the ketosis your body is in after the nights fast.  If you don't break that fast, the ketosis persists and supresses the appetite.

One glass of orange juice could help.  That way you could eat a couple hundred more calories per meal.

 fats &more milk. big time.  in your morning oatmeal i suggest you add flaxseed (i tried the b-fast you told me about with some cinammon &flaxseed---YUMMO!) &try adding olive ild &beans to your salad (i just had that) then have an extra 2 cups of milk. that oughtta do it. =)

Original Post by deflepfan16:

Oh wow!  I guess I'll just start at 2000, and then increase and keep an eye on the scale?  How did you find out how much you need to maintain?

 i honestly think you'd be good at 2,300. like dm84 said, trial &error. but, like, i already know im right.

Its so easy to add calorie dense foods. (I usually have the opposite problem :)

Add a couple of tbspns of olive oil to your protein or veggies and there is about 200 cals with no extra food.

A few nuts on the go.

Olives with anything really

Whats your day like food wise?

You can make each meal more calorie dense without actually eating more...PM me if you want some help with that

I'm hungry all the time!!!!

Luckily I'm able to eat about 2400 calories (with an hour of exercise a day) and maintain my weight.

I'm 45 years old so you could need more than me!  I'm 54kg whatever that is in pounds.