Just NOT hungry?????

I am posting this here even though I am not a WLS graduate. I did lose 140 pounds between June of 2005 and July of 2006 and have kept it off -- with a 7 pound gain in weight - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr -- for almost 7 months now. I figure by this point we all experience the same eating issues, regardless of how we lost the weight. Now to the point of my post. I find a lot of the time that I am just not hungry. There are, of course, some times where I can't seem to stop eating as well. But, what I am most concerned about is the various concepts that I've learned. The "eat 5 times a day", or the idea that "breakfast is the most important meal", and of course "don't put your body into starvation mode." I think over the course of the last 20 months I have pretty much followed all the rules of "dieting". I keep in mind all of the aspects of what makes for a successful lifestyle change, incorporating good foods and exercising regularly, etc. I guess the question here is, "why can't we just eat when we are hungry?" I find that I am not always interested in breakfast, although I eat it regularly. I don't get hungry for lunch at "lunch time" and by the time dinner comes I'm not always famished enough to dig in. But I eat at these times because it is what I've learned. I munch on a cheese stick at 10 a.m., a mere 4 hours after my breakfast, and then have lunch at 1. Then there is the afternoon'ish snack that I should be having but never do, since I leave work at 3. I get home after the gym and I am not always interested in dinner but at the risk of putting my body into "starvation" mode, I eat dinner. Then I try for the "5th time to eat" which occurs sometimes far too late. I used to follow the rule that I had to be feeling hunger in order to eat, but I have had to break that rule in order to get food in. Over the course of the day I consume 125 ounces of water, mostly diluted sugar free lemonade. I don't snack other then the "planned" snacks yet I am constantly feeling a sense of fullness. The weight gain came over the holidays in the form of christmas cookies, which I am slowly taking off again. Has anyone encountered this and what have you done to untrain the ideas that made us successful, and replaced them with more "normal" (I know bad word) behaviors. Can't we just eat when we are hungry and not when we're not? Thanks in advance, Donna

Hi Donna. I know what you mean. I have never been a breakfast eater b/c I'm simply not hungry at that time of day. Well, after wls, it was even harder for me to eat first thing, but after doing some research and getting great advice from friends like Tooter, I now see the benefits of eating breakfast daily, even if I'm not hungry. Breakfast for me is usually a NSA CIB drink at 7am and then usually around 10am I will have some cottage cheese as a snack. I have found that fueling my body on a consistant schedule throughout the day helped me to lose weight quickly and is currently help me to maintain my weightloss. I do not ever feel like I am forcing myself to eat when I'm already full, but I am not always starving when I sit down to eat and that's a good thing b/c then I don't tend to overeat b/c I'm so famished that I cram as much food into me at one time as I can. Hope this helps! Tracy B 328/150 5'9"

Hi Tracy, I agree entirely that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And it is a wonderful feeling to sit down and not want to eat the table along with the food!!! I just hate to eat when I am not hungry. Sometimes I can go all day and not even feel the hunger pangs. This is not every day, mind you, but sometimes I just want to not think about food at all, whether it is to eat it or not to eat it. Make sense? I think perhaps for me it might be an issue of eating half of what I have in front of me when I am not feeling especially hungry. This way I get the fuel, without feeling overstuffed. Thank you! Donna

Donna, The reason for eating many mini-meals is to keep your blood sugars more level over the span of a day. Eating that often make not make you *that* hungry by the next time you are set to eat but that isn't a bad thing. Basically what you are doing is keeping the body evenly fueled during the day and keeping your metabolism busy at all times. Kind of like stoking the fire. While it is burning, you fcontinue to add logs before it goes down to just embers and then you have to try to get it going again. I've heard that eating first thing in the morning gets your metabolism which is sluggish after hours of no fuel going. When you do not eat for long periods of time, you are probably more apt to get overhungry and end up bingeing or overeating. I've found that eating every 3-4 hours seems to work really, really well for me. Kathy

Kathy, It makes a whole lot of sense, and I totally buy into the theories associated with eating a short intervals in small portions. The problem is that sometimes I'm just not hungry. It's very difficult to eat when you're not hungry!!!! But something you said made me look at it a different way. The part about keeping my body evenly fueled throughout the day. That is very valid and a sound point, definitely. This goes a long way into helping me realize that if I graze on crappy stuff then it makes me full and sluggish, therefore making it more difficult for me to eat the high protein good stuff. Definite behavior modification at play here! Thank you for your reponse. Donna

are you at a healthy weight? Are you having regain other than the christmas cookies? (I did a few too many myself and went up 5 pounds I am now working on taking off by going back to my plan too - so no critisism here) If you are at an ok weight for you and maintaining, why would you want to change what is obviously working? For me letting myself get really hungry is an invitation to disaster - I will over eat and eat the wrong things. working hard to develop habits like eating breakfast, 6 meals a day, not getting too hungry etc made me successful and will keep me stable.

Yup this far out I dont really think about eating most of the time and am not that good (of course) as when I first had the surgery , but if I wait too long in between eating I then and only then feel something akin to hunger, usually though family tells me "you have not eaten today".  But this has been so life changing and I spend so little time thinking or planning food for comfort etc.  I feel guilty and will eat .  But really people cannot believe I do not feel hungry..so definitely I know what you mean.