I just stood in my kitchen for like 15 minutes staring at all my food. I'm trying to figure out what to eat for dinner, but I just don't want to eat ANYTHING! And this is bad, I have to eat - but I feel like if I eat anything, it's going to make me gain weight. I know it wont, and I still have 600 calories left to eat. My anxiety is through the roof today about food...

any suggestions? blah.

has anyone ever felt this way? just not wanting to eat out of fear?

I get that feeling pretty often. Like I REFUSE to eat after 6PM.. it's just stuck in my head that if I eat after that time I will gain weight..even if it's totally not true. If for some reason I can't make dinner by 6, I don't eat it.. which doesn't happen all that often but it's like something takes over my body.

Our bodies need food. With the right amount of food, our bodies are able to perform at their optimum. If thinking about gaining weight has you paralyzed, then think about how your body will feel when it has the right amount of calories to function. It will feel good. It will do so many things for you!

Choose some healthier options for your dinner... with a nice piece of fruit as dessert. Some vegetables with a little olive oil. Some grilled chicken.

Your body does not gain weight simply from eating the food it needs, it gains weight when we eat too much. Make this meal "just right" in the calorie department. It will help you out in the long-run.

garstar -- was it you who just said in the weekly chat thread that you have history with anorexia? This could be just a little tiny bit of that behavior coming back...the being scared about food. I have some experience with that as well (as well as being a binger...I don't know if you have that issue or not...but moving on...), and I totally know how you feel.

My best suggestion is to not let yourself get too hungry. When I feel the way you seem to be, it's usually when I'm really ravenous, and I want to eat EVERYTHING, so my defense is to trick myself into thinking I want nothing. Sometimes it "works", but it's really a bad thing. Maybe eat just a little of something that you KNOW is good for you...for me it would be some yogurt or a string cheese or soy milk or something, that'll take the edge off the hunger and then allow you to think a little more clearly about what your body needs for FUEL. Because that's what our food is, our fuel. I find that keeping track of my food intake (I use DailyPlate) has REALLY helped me with this kidn of thing ,because I'm seeing food more as a science of FUEL than a vice or anything like that.

I hope that made some sense....PM me if you need more help!

Thanks you guys. After I posted I did homework for an hour, calmed down - and had some dinner. I just had a smart ones mac and cheese. I'll have some fruit or something else later.

artnsmarts -- that's why I was so afraid, becasue it was how I used to feel when I was anorexic,and it scared me. But I'm proud that I didn't let it get to me. I dealt with my feelings, cooled off - and ate dinner. And now I'm going to the gym, so today has been successful!

THANKS I love it here... so helpful

I just dont get that... your body doesn't stop functioning after 6PM. So what nutrients does it feed off between 6PM and 8AM the next day?

Im just curious.

I don't stop eating just because it's after 8... o 9... or 10... but that very well may be why I am overweight. LOL.

Though, I have lost two pounds this past week and a half, I still eat past 8pm, and in fact, I eat when I get hungry even if its 12 at night. I just make sure I don't eat over a certain amount of calories.

sorry, just thinking out loud :-)

I try not to eat after 6 or 7. With MY body it does better if I don't eat late. I've noticed this week that I ate some carrots and fat free turkey, not much but I wasn't hungry for breakfast in the morning and I had to force myself to eat it, which kinda through me off my normal schedule. I also lose more if I don't eat after 7. That's just me though, I guess everyone is different.

Doctors say you can eat as late as you want as long as you stop 2 hours before you lay down to sleep. Actually, Dr. Oz said that, and I think he's one of the most honest ones out there. Your food has had time to break down in those couple hours so you're not just laying there with a blob of undigested stuff being stored as fat.

I usually find that I loose control of my eating after dinner and in the late evening hours. I was thinking as I was reading that being fearful of eating is just as overwhelming as overeating. It's still an unnatural "obsession" (for lack of a better word) with food. Where does this come from? I know I struggle with it everyday.

Garstar - I think it's wonderful that you did something to calm your anxieties, and then ate dinner. It's like you put food in it's nutritional place. It seems as if this separated it from your anxiety. Does this make any sense, or am I way off?

Yeah I try to stay either upstairs or out of the house after 8, just bypass the kitchen all together and not have to deal with it. The DVD player on the TV broke last night too, so that'll keep me out of the living room.

I think that's exactly what I did - I knew I had to eat to fuel my body.

A lot of people find they have to put a time limit on their snacking. Often because of what they tend to eat at night. And their way of dealing with the temptation is to cut it off completely. Nip it in the bud. There's no temptation, because there is no snacking after a certain time.

It certainly isn't for everyone. But, you'll find many different methods to this madness that is weightloss around the boards. Whatever works for the individual.