Lack of appetite on a diet

Ilyana

Apologies if this has been posted before!

I'm in the process of losing weight, mostly by cutting my carb intake down to one portion a day and trying to eat more healthily generally. It's working so far, although I still have quite a way to go.

However I find that my appetite is actually much smaller than I thought it was. I can go for hours without eating and not feel hungry. This seems great but sometimes I get weak and realise I need to eat, even if I don't want to.

Also, if this happens, I tend to verge on binge eating, as I feel I can 'compensate' for the calories I haven't eaten already that day. And if I'm in a hurry and realise I'm feeling weak (e.g. at college), I just grab some chocolate to keep me going.

Can anyone suggest a way for me to regulate my appetite? My eating habits are quite irregular, but I do prefer to eat little and often, rather than three large meals a day.

Alopex

EmilyO wrote: »

Apologies if this has been posted before!

I'm in the process of losing weight, mostly by cutting my carb intake down to one portion a day and trying to eat more healthily generally. It's working so far, although I still have quite a way to go.

However I find that my appetite is actually much smaller than I thought it was. I can go for hours without eating and not feel hungry. This seems great but sometimes I get weak and realise I need to eat, even if I don't want to.

Also, if this happens, I tend to verge on binge eating, as I feel I can 'compensate' for the calories I haven't eaten already that day. And if I'm in a hurry and realise I'm feeling weak (e.g. at college), I just grab some chocolate to keep me going.

Can anyone suggest a way for me to regulate my appetite? My eating habits are quite irregular, but I do prefer to eat little and often, rather than three large meals a day.

If you don't feel hungry don't eat. Its drilled into us that we must eat regularly but if you don't need to then don't. Humans are well equipped to go days without food due to our evolutionary history.

Whats probably happening is due to not eating carbs you don't have insulin hitting your bloodstream and pulling glucose out of it - which leads to hunger.

I know it feels odd but just deal with it - I honestly think its mostly a psychological thing.

When you feel weak and need to snack for something shops often have better options than chocolate. Usually go for hazelnuts or a pint of whole milk myself.

Ilyana

Thanks for explaining it, that bit about the insulin makes sense!

I just wanted to make sure this was normal

EileenG

Absolutely normal. Lack of hunger is your body's way of telling you that you don't need to eat yet.

That stuff about eating every three hours is far more relevant to bodybuilders on a bulking diet who physically can't shovel in enough food if they only eat three times a day. There is no evidence that eating frequently does anything except teach you to override your body's hunger signals.

What I would do is learn to listen to your body, eat only when you are hungry, and then sit at the table and eat a proper meal with whole foods, not chocolate or fast food of any sort.

I find eggs or cottage cheese are a great test of whether you are really hungry or just craving chocolate etc. If you are hungry, then eggs really hit the spot. If it's cravings, then eggs aren't worth the bother of scrambling them.

Ilyana

Thanks for the replies!

I am eating a lot of eggs lately, to replace the carbs at breakfast especially. From tomorrow I'm going to cut out carbs completely, if the appetite shrinks a bit more it won't hurt

And no more chocolate either!

EileenG

Cut out the chocolate, but not the veggies. Pile your plate high with leafy greens.