Okay, this is a really strange problem, or at least it seems that way to me... For ages, I've been in the habit of eating 1 meal a day, when my partner gets home from work. It didn't occur to me until fairly recently that this was part of the reason my weight has been so steady and heavy, even as I ate very little. My body was running in "conservation mode" - conserving energy, and storing the energy from what I did eat. I've been trying to eat several small meals throughout the day, and healthy snacks. I did all right for the first couple of weeks, and even got past having nausea from that rise in blood-sugar in the morning. But lately, I have just had ZERO appetite, all the time. I've found myself avoiding food like I'd avoid household chores. I keep on telling myself, "I really should eat - I'll do it right after I finish <insert random task here>". It's not even really conscious, but everytime I catch myself in it I find some way to justify it, until I find at the end of the day that I've eaten next to nothing. It's all I can do lately to force-feed myself a piece of fruit in the morning, and maybe some salad or something later... Any advice, anyone? I really want my body to function normally, and I just don't see how that can happen while I don't eat. I've tried everything I can think of to stimulate appetite. Increasing my smoke didn't make any difference, and cutting it out just made things that much worse. I'm at a loss here. I never thought I'd have this type of problem, but there it is...
I eat like a horse after I run or hike or swim, especially if it's cold outside. Do you notice a difference after long and strenuous exercise? I wish I had your problem! Unfortunatley I have the opposite one.
humblebee, I had no hunger signals for years. I married and my sweetie loves food. I like food, but he LOVES it (and is about as big around as a broom) He started asking me to sit with him and drink some juice, at least. that led to fruits and veggies, and now I eat reasonable meals on a reasonable basis. I can still get distracted, but now, eventually, I get the growlies.
I went through a spell of this for maybe half of a year, and I felt absolutely terrible. You might have to get into a rhythm of eating normally in order to start feeling hungry more often. So even if it's in small amounts, try eating more often and see what happens. I wish you the best, dude.
Thanks for the responses, guys... Exercise doesn't seem to make a difference for me, except that I usually make a *point* of not eating right after that, because it tends to make me nauseous, and I quite enjoy the sensation of being able to feel all my muscles contracting and recovering from a good exercise, and eating interferes with that. I know that the answer is really in habit, and getting myself used to eating several small meals a day. I try to do this, and probably about a third of my days are successful on that front. But yesterday is a perfect example: I woke up around 6 AM, saw my fella off to work, sat down at the computer for a while, and did some sewing. Every time I sat down I said to myself "damn, I should be eating... next time I get up I'll grab an orange or something..." But by the next time I got up I was distracted by something else until I sat down and did it all over again. By the time Ian got home (~5:30) all I'd eaten was a handful of sunflower seeds. He was hungry for dinner, so I made some salad and whole wheat pasta w/marinara, and ate that around 7. We went to bed around 10. This is what most of my days are like lately. I've been keeping lots of healthy food cooked and handy throughout the day - a bunch of good munchy-veggies like carrots, celery, and radish, cut in the fridge all the time, lots of fruit always in the kitchen, brown rice steamed up and ready to eat, seeds and nuts, etc. - but I never seem to get around to it. Like I said, though, I did manage to get myself used to it for a couple of weeks (when eating was all I was thinking about, anyway) and these days I'm eating properly for about a third of my days. My metabolism seems to have started back up, and not shut down yet, because I'm losing weight, slowly but surely. This is funny to me - I remember being 12 years old and "homeschooled" when both my parents worked. I sat around munching on sweets and fatty foods all day long... that's basically what got me to where I am now. Now I'm again home alone all day, most days, and I have the opposite problem! I guess all I can do is continue to eat as healthy and balanced a diet as I can, and keep reminding myself every day to eat throughout.
