ME! I have a hard time eating, always have. It's always been a struggle for me to eat 3 times a day, let alone 6! My first time on ph1 I had to set my alarm and made sure I ate at certain times during the day. I never had to force myself to eat, meaning I would feel ill at the thought of eating but sometimes I did have to just suck it up and eat what I planned for that meal or snack. It's been hard and I think my weight loss is affected by it. I am also not sure that people without this problem (including my own doc) understand it.
I had it some, but it passed. I was tracking calories at the time, and I set a lower limit as well as an upper limit because I found some days I just wasn't eating enough. My lower was 1300, and if it looked like I wasn't going to be close, I'd add a snack or something. It's really important to eat enough.
I have gone out to eat twice since I began Phase 1. I eat what is on plan and in fact I scoped out these two restaurants to see if I could follow this food plan and when I was certain that I could those are going to be my choices from now on.
Anyway, yesterday I made myself eat breakfast because of being on this food plan. Usually, when we go out to eat for dinner after church I have just enough milk to take my herbal supplements and that is it. I figure I am paying for that food and I want to eat it. And, no, leftovers from a restaurant just don't taste that good IMO.
I did somewhat force myself to eat last night to get that supper meal in because I had eaten "until full"(as Dr. A urges) at dinner and I wasn't yet hungry. I think a person could remedy this by purposely eating less for a couple of meals until hunger reoccurs.
Phase 1 is only two weeks. I have 12 1/2 years of working recovery from OA and I have the saying "3 meals with life in between" echoing in the canyon between my ears. Eating snacks goes against my mindset but since this diet is set up this way I just have a "little" something.
My suggestion for the person who just doesn't feel hungry eat the smallest amount of food you can tolerate while on the plan. No one says you have to eat 15 nuts. Eat 5 if that is all you think you can "stand". I do think that if you are swinging between either not wanting to eat vs wanting to binge, it might be because that is the way you ate before and as they say, "old habits die hard".
This is a trick I used to do when my natural hunger appestat would get mixed up by constant binging. This is what I did so I am not suggesting that you do ---just passing this along. I literally did not eat another bite until I was truly hungry. Sometimes, it would take almost 24 hours before I would feel hungry. Then, I was careful after that to eat something when I would feel twinges but not that knawing hunger you can get. Once that was established I had little or not problems identifying true physical hunger. The main goal of this is to quit eating from your head (like it is noon and I should eat now) to when your body tells you to eat. I suspect that you either have an eating disorder or you had one.
I would think that by the time you started adding some carbs in your hunger would return. IF it were me and I was having this problem, I would "purposely" have a carb (maybe 1/2 of a normal serving) that does trigger your appetite. Another idea is ease up on the water. That might be filling you up too much. Another thought that I had is you are accustomed to high flavor foods and the initial "blandness" may seem so dull. I think that is why so many foods have those additives like HFCS and MSG---those are flavor enhancers and they are added for a reason---the manufacturers want you to eat more. If you eat more you will buy more, etc.
Again, I just think this is all the process of getting accustomed to different tastes in foods. Try adding some spicer seasonings to certain foods that are bland. That should also get your saliva juices flowing and back eating the foods you need to lose the weight.
One last thought: have you been diagnosed with depression or are you experiencing an unusual amount of stress or grieving. Those are both appetite killers and inducers. If that is the case, maybe speaking to a person in the mental health field might help you as well.
Last edited by pamatga; 01-07-2008 at 02:37 PM.
Reason: more words
I don't have an eating disorder unless you count being addicted to carbs as one. And as far as depression, I am on meds for anxiety, but I have been for years. I was just commenting to my husband that I'm actually happier than I have been in some time so I highly doubt I'm depressed.
It's not that I don't WANT to eat, I just don't have an appetite. I've been a carb eater for my whole life and it's gotten me to the point that I need to lose weight. I could probably force food down if I needed to.
For example, today I've had two pieces of breakfast cheesecake (in the recipes section), coffee (black) and a swig of V8. I was going to stop and pick up a salad on my way into work, but I had no hunger whatsoever. I'm only here for a few hours so I'm going to make sure I eat some chicken stir fry with lots of veggies tonight.
I was just thinking maybe my body is trying to get used to eating less carbs. Before the diet I would easily eat 75% carbs in a day. Now dropping that down, I thought there was some diet related explanation. I have never had problems eating before. Ever.
Mellie, I think it's quite normal to have a loss of appetite in Ph1. I had it and I know I've heard other chicks mention it. You are doing well, I think it will resolve as your body adjusts if you stick with it. If you really don't want to eat a meal, then just try to eat a snack instead. You don't want your body to go into starvation mode. Of course, you are the best judge, and if you think it's something more than this going on, then you would want to see a doctor.
I just started Phase I and I not only wasn't hungry, I was slightly nauseous this morning. After a few hours, I finally was able to eat 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. I feel better now. It also seemed like I was in the bathroom all day yesterday and in fact weigh 3# less today. I hope the nausea doesn't reoccur though.
Murphymitch - I had the same thing happen yesterday! I couldn't believe it when I read your post. My birthday was on Sunday, so I had a BIG dinner: steaks, hashbrown casserole, cake, etc. I got sooooooo sick last night, and I weighed 3 pounds less this morning! I was so excited that I was money ahead at this point! I think it was the buttery casserole.
Today, I had no appetite most of the day, and I finally ate some olives at 2:30. I NEVER NEVER lose my appetite, so I was very thankful for the feeling. I drank water, diet dr pepper, and crystal light.
I started Phase I today, and I did pretty good. I won't do a 'food confession' yet b/c I didn't obey the rules 100% today. I'll get 100% on board tomorrow. I'll also get to exercise class if my stomach settles down tomorrow.
Hey chicks, I do not eat snack if I am not hungry. I always eat my three meals. More than not I end up not eating my morning snack. I can't imagine eating when I am not hungry.
I also had a loss of appetite on P1. I think it's common. Personally, I've never eaten so much in my life. It was hard for me to adjust to eating so many meals in one day. I usually skip my morning snack. I'm just not hungry between breakfast and lunch. After getting the girls together in the morning I usually don't get to eat until 8-9am. It just doesn't make sense to me to add in a snack when I'm not hungry.
Phase I Loss of Appetite and Desire to Eat
This is just a thought but....
