Curiouser and curiouser...alternate title: Appetite Lost
I'm 5'10" and 224 lbs. I started my serious calorie count/weight loss lifestyle back in April at 236 lbs and averaging a loss of a pound a week, eating healthfully and using the treadmill 3-4 days p/week. I've been easily consuming 1500-1800 calories per day, a little more on workout day. All is good, everything's been working properly and overall I'm very satisfied with how things are going so far.
BUT...For the past 4 days, I've been having a heck of a time trying to get my calorie count up to 1500 and today struggled to get it over 1000 and up to even 1200. I know what to do to get it back up there and will add more calorie-dense healthy fats and proteins to my diet to make up for the volume of food I'm not able to force down these days, but am wondering what happened to my appetite? I LOVE food. I'll repeat that: I LOVE FOOD. It's not just fuel to me, it's an adventure in taste, exploration, sensuality, culture, history, etc. I try new recipes all the time and buy stacks of cookbooks and memoirs of people who share my passion. I cannot imagine why my appetite would drop so significantly so suddenly and maybe it's just a temporary thing, but I have questions...
--Does this kind of appetite loss happen to other people on serious weight loss regimens? I don't mean anyone with an ED, just normal healthy dieters?
--If I try just waiting it out for a while, say a week or two, to see if my appetite reappears, will it adversely affect my health, diet, weight loss goals? Everyone talks about going into starvation mode and I never thought it would be something I'd ever have to be concerned about, but I would hate to blow my little success by doing the wrong thing.
I'm a firm believer in listening to your body and its signals (not cravings, but the real stuff) and I'm sort of leaning toward listening to my body now. If it doesn't want the calories I'm trying to fuel in, maybe there's a reason and I should wait it out a while.
This is just weird. I'm going to go find a cookie...
Has it been hot for the last 4 days? I'm not as hungry when it's hot out, even if I'm in the a/c.
Could be hormonal. I go through ravenous and not very hungry phases during my cycle.
Good ideas, but nope I don't think so. Slightly warm and a bit muggy yesterday and today, but not killer hot. On the hormonal front, absolutely voracious for 2,3,4 days a month and the rest of the time, I like to eat and very rarely have unhungry moments, perhaps twice a year for 2 or 3 minutes. I can always eat something, tuck it away somewhere in there, but not now, which is why I'm concerned. Lack of appetite has never been part of my life...
I've had this too, and I think it's just the body adjusting. I'm also a big advocate of listening to my body, which I find is a great way to balance my diet, but appetite-wise, not so much.
My theory: prior to dieting I was used to eating more, my body didn't mind moving to the healthier, less food change at all. So when it does eventually adjust to less food, I 'read' that signal as it not wanting as much. Does that make sense? Basically it may just be your body adjusting to your diet and without the signs that you're eating less than it's used to, it's interpreted as eating too much.
Waiting it out can negatively affect your weight loss, so I'd def. go ahead and add in more nuts, full-fat dairy, or less-lean proteins to keep your calorie intake where it has been.
Well missy minda, I just KNOW you're telling me to eat more because you're so very pro-obesity and want the whole entire world to become big fat fatties!!
Sorry, couldn't resist, please know I was joking. That whole flame-war was plain silly. You ROCK! And great tats BTW. (I said TATS!) ;)
I think I get what you're saying about the body adjusting to the new eating schedule. Sort of. It still doesn't quite make sense to me though, I feel like my body had adjusted very nicely to less food. We were getting along great, I had found struck a balance with eating and working out, I was feeding it nicely and it rewarded me with satiety, no hunger pangs, but also no feeling of fullness. This loss of appetite was very left field and sudden. I'll add in the nuts and all the usual healthy fats, my favorite by far being good Greek olive oil, oh and maybe I'll buy some excellent olives for my salad. Marinated in red wine vinegar, garlic and olive oil, they are little blobs of heaven!
Original Post by surfkitty:
Well missy minda, I just KNOW you're telling me to eat more because you're so very pro-obesity and want the whole entire world to become big fat fatties!!
Lol I recommend just eating sticks of butter!! it will give you the perfect body! : )
I bet you 10 dollars that ^^ will get quoted later as 'proof' of my pro-fat position : )
Honestly, when I realized I wasn't eating enough calories (I'm not a religious counter, me and my body are friends, I go with it), I guess one thing I realized was that it was the portions I was eating before that were unnatural, and that eating less volume really makes me feel lighter, more productive, and more energetic. I also realized that learning that was a big thing, and quite possibly more useful than any low-fat diet. So I use olive oil, I use real salad dressing, I have the occasional dollop of cream cheese, and I use real butter. Suddenly, I have to remind myself that I'm on a diet. Just because everything tastes great, and now that I don't eat as much volume, my food can be a little more indulgent. So fellow food lover, embrace your new appetite and have fun cooking up the deliciousness : )
I'm not taking that bet as I am absolutely sure I would lose. People have far too much time on their hands if they're going through remote posts like that. It's folks' differences that make us spin though, so let 'em have at it and we'll just giggle.
Mmmmmm butter...............
Don't get me wrong, I never stopped using sugar, real butter, olive oil, etc, plus regular cool whip on anything I can think of, which has made my diet utterly delightful - who woulda thunk?! And yes, portion control was my greatest downfall, Love me my big bags of Wise chips. And because my husband prefers butter, I was putting butter AND olive oil all over our veggies, tons of it, and because I like bowl-eating, I'd fill big salad bowls full of food and just munch away in front of the TV during dinner, complete mindless chomping. I think of that now and can't believe how much I could pack away, geez. These days I AM a religious counter however and do count every last chip, but now I eat 16 instead of the entire bag. This is a "diet"? Fun and yahoo! Thing is, I measure out a cup of rice, much less than in the past, and still I can only eat about half. I'm glad about it, at the same time, eating under 1000 calories is very bad, yet I feel okay physically. If it continues, I suppose I'll have to make a trip to the doctor. "Cooking up deliciousness" is my new favorite phrase! 
I was thinking more about my own drop in appetite, which may not have been as sudden or extreme as yours. I only count about once a week, and that number just kept dropping when all I was doing was only eating when I was hungry and eating healthy things. Cutting out sugar drastically reduced my appetite, but that was early on.
Otherwise, I had to scale back the protein a bit. When I started dieting I was eating tons of proteins and healthy fats just because they reduced my appetite and kept me from being swayed by unhealthy temptation. Now if I eat an ounce of nuts at 4pm, it will be 8pm before I realize I never ate dinner. I also cut out most breads and grains. Not because I have anything against them, but because they're so filling for me, and I like veggies better : )
At this point, I'm actually having to drink some of my calories. V8 in the morning (its still low-cal, but I love it). Chocolate milk in the evening (with low sugar nesquik). And occasionally some fruit juices in between.
I need 1800 calories a day, so yes, it is often a struggle to even fit them all in without relying on cookies and cakes (my weaknesses). Fruits help some, since they are not all that filling, IMO, but some days I have that 'am I too healthy?' feeling because its so difficult to get them all in even with my healthy fats and such.
If it did drop suddenly, and it doesn't come back soon, I would probably make an appt. with the doc. At this point though, I would still try and force them just to keep your metabolism from lowering (though I find I can even notice this in my workouts.)
And about flaming, I post my favorite responses in my journal and got a comment about whether I like getting flamed. And no, but it does amuse me : ) People say some truly ridiculous things : )
One of the things I discovered about myself on this lifestyle journey is that my "appetite" was completely out of sync with my "hunger". Now that my portions are more appropriate I do actually experience hunger, and when I feed that hunger with "appetizing" foods I am satisfied with far few calories than I could have ever imagined. Yesterday I was at a conference all day that included a box lunch. I had the "vegie" option because I knew I was attending a banquet in the evening and I figured it would be healthier and maybe even lower calorie. It consisted of a vegie wrap (no cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini in a red wrap), an apple, a cookie, and a bag of Kettle chips (only 150 calories? oh, of course there are 2 servings in that small bag). I ate the wrap, then the apple, and I wasn't even tempted by the chips or the cookie (and 6 months ago it would have been torture to skip salt and pepper Kettle chips). Hunger satisfied, appetite satisfied.
So, although I haven't experienced surf kitty's complete drop in appetite, my appetite has certainly changed. I think I made some good habits for once in my life!
I was reading an interesting book lately called "The Rules of Normal Eating". In it, I was reminded that only true HUNGER can be satiated by FOOD. If you eat, and you're still "hungry", then you're looking for something else. It was kind of a revelation for me to understand that difference. I think a lot of the time my "appetite" is not for food, but that's what I turn to in the complete lack of knowledge of what I really want.
hum...The same thing happened to me just a few days ago so I may have an idea but it's a little bit gross:
When was the last time you went to the bathroom? 
Once I didn't feel bloated, my hunger came back.
when I stop being hungry is when I need to eat most, because my metabolism has shut down. I exercise and eat to get hungry again.
Are you stressed? I know some people have the averse reaction, but I lose my appetite when I'm stressed. I've been trying to force myself to eat all weekend because I've been under some extreme stress lately...
vanilla, I did momentarily think it might've been a potty issue, but all is coming up, erm, roses in that department
crazyd, maybe that's the case, didn't think the metabolism shutting down would apply to me. I figured all that kind of thing would happen once I was a lot skinnier, don't know what my logic was based on there. Probably nothing. I'll try stepping it all up.
Hey amy, no more stressed than usual, though I've been doing a bit more running around the past couple of days. New clients, so I've had to do some extra stuff to get them set up. Also, I'm very much an emotional eater...happy, sad, bored, stressed or relaxed, I'll eat! Hope things calm down for you soon!
Thanks to everyone who's responded, these have all been good and interesting suggestions!! Lots of food for thought (insert groan here)
