Not hungry, but love exercise

It's hard to know where to place this topic in the forums, sorry.

My problem is this- I've really taken to exercise. I used to do it maybe half an hour a day, now I do two to three (I'm on school holidays at the moment, so I'm at home for two weeks) plus walking around for a few hours. At one point I knew how to maintain, but I lost that instinct when I started starving myself, and I lost the feeling of hunger. I was still able to do exercise, but I know with so much exercise I should up calories, but I really don't want to, and I really don't want to ease up. It's the only thing that makes me happy. To break a plateau lately I started eating a LOT more, like 1700 a day, which I plan to keep up for a week. This is the most I'm able to take at the moment, plus my metabolism has got to be crap by now so it's enough, AND I'm small, so I think the normal rules hardly apply. I had to keep stopping to eat and it was really annoying and I felt disgusted by the amount even though I have an extremely clean diet. I have no ability to feel hungry so if I don't pay attention when I'm adding everything up I'll find I'm only halfway to my calorie goal by the end of the day. There's unlikely to be a quick fix (not suggestions on spacing food out or whatnot) but I fantasise of some sort of pill I could take for this week that had all my calories in. :) In a few years- if not already- I'm sure that'll exist, but until then... Does anyone else have this problem?

I would fill in those gaps with calorie dense foods non-filling food, not bulky greans and fruit. Which should be obvious. I know you wont have a hard time finding those types of food. Calorie dense and non-bulky. lol

Peanut butter, for example. Nuts.

CANDY?!

Haha, i would eat candy if i could afford it in my eating plan, but hey, thats just me.

Not really a fan of 'candy'. :)

Cjkl, looking at your other posts, it's pretty clear that your eating habits are disordered.  You have a suspicion that your propensity to overexercise and undereat is a problem; you're right!  You need to see a doctor immediately.  It would also be helpful to look for a therapist who specializes in eating disorders.  Disordered eating habits can get out of hand very quickly, so don't delay!

Hi Cjkl,

I hope to share my experience to help you find a little more balance in your exercise and eating.  I've also experienced what pleasure there is in pushing limits with eating less food and/or exercising hard.  I've been thin and fit all my life too and being healthy is important to my happiness.  I've drastically upped my workouts for the past two years and here's what I've found.  If I don't keep pace with getting the nutrition my body needs, I eventually start (not at first, but eventually) to have intense food cravings: I started eating way more sugar to get the instant energy my body needed.  I've also noticed when I don't eat enough, my body can't heal itself quickly (I have joint pains and soreness), I end up getting sick way more often, and eventually, I feel tired and don't enjoy the workouts as much (and I normally enjoy them lots!!  I love love love to be active!!)

I also understand that sometimes it's hard to feel your hunger when you're so active; when you can push your body with sheer mental toughness.  It's hard for me to listen to soft feelings like hunger too sometimes, but I've learned that it's that much more important to listen to what my body is telling me, even if it's different than the signals that most other people feel. 

I am thankful heartily and often for the gift of movement and the miracle of even having a body at all.   It sounds like you feel this way too, yes?

Very insightful comments- I will bear them in mind since I can tell you know what you're talking about. I know I should try to give my body what it needs, and do that by listening to it. Thanks.