What do the rest of you do when your calories for the day are too low but you're not hungry? I feel like I ate plenty today but I haven't even reached 1000 calories. That's even with having a snack of potato chips and putting butter in my mashed potatoes. I know that 900 some calories is too low (and today was a gym day so my calorie deficit is higher than usual to boot), but I'm just not hungry. Do I force myself to eat something or what?

Averages matter, not absolute daily intake. Chances are you'll be hungrier tomorrow. Eat then.

That honestly has NEVER happened to me, lol! I wish! I know that I would never force myself to eat if I wasn't hungry and didn't want to though. I wouldn't worry unless it was an everyday consistent thing.

I JUST went though this about 10 minutes ago!! I was only at 1300 for the day and I know that I have to have at least 1600 or I really do stall in my loss. I had a bagelthin, and then a yogurt and finally remembered I had some oreos so had a couple of those and am now at 1800. I would have been satisfied with the 1300 but I know I needed more and I don't like to go below 1800 very often. I had already been below the last 2 days and didnt want it to become a habit.

I agree with voodoo. Never eat if you don't feel the hunger. We aren't machines, so some days we are hungry and some days we aren't. Yes, mostl likely you will be hungrier tomorrow, so allow a HEALTHY additional calories when you are feeling hungry.

Fungramma, that's me too. Monday and tuesday were pretty low as well.

"Don't eat if you're not hungry" works as long as you have a semi-"normal" relationship with food and aren't prone to wanting to starve yourself, I think.

See, I don't get this. I don't see how someone can stall by occasionally eating less. And then I really don't understand eating empty calories to get up to a calorie number. Bagel thins - empty calories, oreos - empty calories, and unless that was a plain yogurt, that also had a lot of sugar, but at least yogurt has some merit.

A body doesn't need straight out sugar. It needs nutrients. So I am struggling here on how this is helping you with weight loss by throwing sugar at the body?

Now, if you wre just really craving oreos and had a couple to deal with the craving, I can somewhat understand that, but just to add calories for the day is counter intuitive and I would never suggest to someone else to do something similar.

Ah, this is where I am beginning to struggle with mentally - am I really not hungry or is my mind going to bad places and I'm just not wanting to eat food! And how do you know the difference?

Wow. I thought this was a support board, not a 'criticize other's eating habits' board. Guess I'm in the wrong place.

This is a tough area and I've definitely gone the "I'm going to not eat until I suddenly feel nauseous and faint" route before. If you suspect you're venturing into that dark area it might be good to set a "minimum" marker? How is your energy during workouts? I know I've not been eating enough of the right stuff if I don't have the energy to do my cardio DVD (I only own one).

So far so good with having enough energy for working out and with every day stuff. But maybe I would feel more energetic yet. It's such a fine line. And I am finding myself asking myself more - am I hungry or am I not? And not knowing is strange!

I agree with the averages over time. Sometimes you just are not hungry and some days you won't understand why your so hungry. But that being said it's hard for a lot of people to listen to their body and eat accordingly. If you can do that then great. I am all for trusting in your body and feeding and nourishing yourself properly.

Therefore what I do is if I'm not hungry and still under calories. I leave it because I know il make it up over the week.

I'm not trying to be rude or anything....but are you *sure* you're only at 900 calories for the day?

1 tablespoon of butter is 100 calories in and of itself. Granted, you easily could have used less but I'm just curious if you're really weighing and measuring all of your food accurately. 900 calories is just really low to A) include chips AND butter and b) still have you feeling full.

That being said, at this point in the day, I'd be checking to see how nutritionally sound my day was and trying to round out the categories I was lacking in. But if you're not hungry and you feel confident in your measuring techniques, not eating any more should be fine.

This.

Obviously you don't need to tell us, but give some thought to whether it's a lack of hunger or the beginning of something more disordered.

(Me? It'd be either massive stress, which would be obvious, or not-good food issues.)