Lack of Normal Hunger Pains? Slow Metabo?

what's the deal here? for a while i was just eating on a certain time set. you kno..breakfast at 8, lunch at 12:30, snack at 4, so on n so forth. but i was never really hungry..even before i started that i was never truly hungry, just eating when the time came. so i tried eating when i was just hungry, and until i was satisfied...and i ended getting hungry twice in one day, and ate less than 1000 calories. so should i eat when i should (and avoiding that starvation mode thing), or keep eating only when im hungry?

I don't know the answer to your question, but I would love a responce as well... Today I attempted the same thing and only ate about 600cal, and as a recovering anorexic this is not good. I did not perposely try to eat this much, I was just not hungry at all today, and I probably would have only eaten like 300cal today if I wasnt forced to eat supper by my parents. Maybe due to eating so few calories for months, my body just got used to it and is right now is living off the last couple days of increased intake, subconciously realizing that I do not need that many calories right now or something.

If in fact 'normal' people eat by when they are hungry and don't really care about calories, then there could be a lot of people in starvation mode and not even realize it... or maybe subconciously our bodies realize how many calories we need and thusfore we feel "full" once we reach that amount... Then again most people opt for higher calorie foods it seems.

Then again there is the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner times, so most people probably just follow others and eat during these designated times whether they are really hungry or not.

It's weird how something as simple as putting food in your mouth, chewing and swallowing could turn into such a mystery... May I ask how many calories you normally allow yourself to eat? Perhaps eat when you are hungry, just choose higher calorie foods if this concerns you... But anyways I hope that you find the answer to your question.

when i started this i planned about 1500 a day with about 100c. worth of leg room, but if i only eat when im hungry, i have to work to get up to 1300. not hungry at breakfast, but eat anyway. by lunch time, still not really hungry, but eat anyway to avoid that "starvation". by snack, i can hear my stomach digesting or just movin around, but no hunger. eat anyway. if i eat snack early enough, i do start feelin some hunger by dinner time. but on the days I try to eat when I'm hungry (as i read that i should do) i could eat a bowl of oatmeal around 8, and be fine until around 2 or 3. and when i do eat, it doesn't take a lot for me to be satisfied, but again, because of "S.MODE", i keep eating anyway. anyone else have any advice?

I would suggest just eating higher calorie versions of your normal foods... (ie granola instead of your usual cereal, 2%+ milk instead of skim etc... ) Put extra peanut butter on toast or fruit... Or just eat a little more of everything then you would usually eat. (ex: 1.5 cups of cereal instead of 1 cup)

This is something that I am still trying to work on. Choosing low cal foods just seem to come naturally and subconciously to me. Somedays I just tell myself "eat what you want, don't worry about the fat/calories/carbs" and then I find myself in my garden picking a handful of carrots and having that for lunch, because, well, I like carrots.

Right now I need all the calories I can get, but after months of denying hunger, or learning to love that empty feeling in your stomach, it is hard to eat enough, because I can't really tell when I am hungry anymore.

But eating when you are not hungry (even if it is to eat enough) is not very normal behavior. Do you think kids or animals track their meals and calories?

This is what's wrong with "intuitive eating."  Some people are not hungry enough. Some obese people get a constant hunger signal even when full.  So it makes sense to figure out how many calories your body needs to maintain (or what you need to eat to lose) and eat those calories... your body will get used to what you decide to consume. I divide my day in thirds 500 in the morning, 500 in the afternoon, and 500 in the evening.  I'm also doing 3 dairy per day, your body absorbs only so much calcium at a time,  so I eat one in each third.  On days I get behind on cals, sometimes I have to eat when I'm full.  The easy thing to do is have some nuts, about 200 cals per quarter cup.

I'm maintaining, but had to regain some unintended lost pounds this summer. It was weird to be on the other side of this problem for the first time in my life. I had to think backwards from what I usually do.  Ironically, I found myself avoiding vegetables. It made me realize how luchky we are that vegetables are so good for us, but so low in calories. I didn't want to fill up on cucumber because I still had to eat 300 calories.  I ate more nuts, peanut butter and included more olive oil.  These foods are good for us, but so high in calories that we have to eat them in limited quantities.

I know the feeling. I usually never get really "hungry" like I used to. When I was in highschool I dropped an enormous amount of weight in very little time (190 to 155 in two months) because of some excruciating orthodontic work (Note: I'm 6'1" so 155 is a little underweight for me) and I simply could not and did not want to eat. In any case, my "hunger"signals have never been the same since. There are days where I am constantly "mentally" hungry (meaning I had a need to snack all the time) and there are days, like yesterday, where I go all day without eating hardly anything (I ate a bowl of cereal in the morning, fried apples around lunch and a serving of steak in the late afternoon. I only ate the steak when I started feeling light-headed and sick (i'm slightly hypoglycimic). The days where I hardly eat anything are days when i'm really busy. I was out at a fair all day yesterday and didn't even think about eating.

On normal days I eat 6-7 times a day and I average about 300 cal per "meal". I feel better doing this than anything else. It keeps my blood sugar steady through out the day and allows me to keep track of how much I'm eating. I have set times to eat and already know what I am going to eat and I eat wether i am hungry or not.

Hope this helps.

i see what you guys are saying, but this is how its always been. like today i tried payin close attention to any hunger signals, but so far, none's come. i had a bigger breakfast than i really needed, but only because i ride my bike to school and knew i needed the energy. this was at 6:50. at lunch i brought a LaTortilla (burrito) size with just two slices of turkey and one cheese, a kashi cherry dark choc. bar, and a Luna bar just incase. This was at 12:45. still wasn't hungry. ate the wrap, was full with that, but ate the kashi bar anyway cuz again i ride my bike home and knew i needed the energy. when i get home, i had a snack again with my little sister, a luna bar, not because i was hungry, but because i didn't wanted to eat a small enough amount that i was atleast hungry by dinner, but still avoiding the notorious Starvation Mode. this is how its always been, but i just notice it since ive started eating healthier (when i was younger, i'd wake up and have hostess cupcakes and pink lemonaid for breakfast).

and last night for dinner, (wasn't hungry then either) i had a lean cuisine. was full at the end, but because i was so under, i had a can of soup and was stuffed at the end.

anybody have some insight? should i eat when im hungry? or eat every 3-4 hours?

I remember when I was eating 600-800 calories a day.. I was almost NEVER hungry. I thought, 'wow, this is great.. so little food and I'm not even hungry!' and yes, I do believe it had to do with slowed metabolism. In the beginning of the summer I bumped it to like 1300 a day and found that soon I was hungry every few hours. I started restricting a bit again though [ick..] and haven't been as hungry lately. If it weren't for my desire to munch+oral fixation--if I just listened to my 'hunger cues'--I'd probably not be getting as much as I am now.

Do you know the TV-advisor Dr. Bob Arnot. In his book he says don't wait until you're hungry to eat... that's like waiting until your car is bone dry before refilling the tank.  I'm maintaining, and rarely eat because I am hungry... because my whole diet is engineered to avoid hunger.  Most days I eat 1500 calories.  The only time I am ever hungry is when I am away from home, and have not had a chance to eat for several hours.  For the most part, I avoid hunger by eating low-calorie high fiber foods, and other foods that keep me feeling full. I eat because I know I need 1500 per day, some days a little more.  Under 1500 and I will lose weight. So that's what I eat, even if I am not hungry.

Based upon what I have learned and what I have experienced, eating smaller, more frequent meals (5 - 6 times per day) helps boost your metabolism.  The boosting of the metabolism may help you "feel" hungry, but the more frequent meals will help keep you from overeating. 

I read that if your body gets to the point of being very hungry, it may have already started the process of retaining body fat because that is it's fuel when you don't get enough calories. 

It took me over a month of these smaller, more frequent meals to finally boost my metabolism to the point where I actually feel like I am eating to satisfy my body's need versus just eating on a schedule. 

I keep healthy snacks at work and I also keep almonds in my car, just in case I start to feel the need to eat.  I do count how many I eat and log it on my food log. 

I try not to undereat more than a few times a month.  By the same logic, I try not to overeat more than a few times a month.

Yesterday, I only ate around 1000 calories which is way to few given the amount of exercise I got (~1100).  So today I didn't feel at all guilty about eating a brownie for breakfast that a coworker brought and I'll aim for a 500 calorie deficit rather than the 1000 I would normally hope to get for today.  Given the amount of junk food I ate this weekend, that's probably why my body really wasn't that hungry.

The key is to do it occasionally(less than 1/week) and only when your body is just not hungry.

I have this same problem.  I would eat when I was hungry.  But I was never hungry and when I sat down and started documenting how many calories I was eating I was only eating 600-800 calories a day.  So I am trying to start eating 1200 a day but it's really hard.  I feel soo full.  I do have hypothroidism and am on medication for it, but still, I'm not hungry.  Should I just try to keep eating until I reach the 1200 calories?