Well, not once, I came across a curious bit of info here on the forum: sometimes increasing calorie intake by 100-200 can jump start weight loss. I've been thinking about that a lot, because sometimes I worry I'm not eating enough to actually lose.
I eat between 900-1250 calories per day, although sometimes I try to bump it to 1500-1600 to keep things moving (so you can see where the worry that I might not be eating enough comes from ). At the same time I'm terrified of eating too much...

This week I noticed that I'm just plain NOT hungry, and getting those 900 calories in is a struggle.

Recently I've been trying to "listen to my body" as much as possible, and feed it when it asks for food, not when it's "time to eat dinner."

Also, as of Monday, I went back to my old "no food after 7 pm" rule, which I had unwisely abandoned in the past 1-2 years and ate about 1050 calories. Then on Tuesday I woke up starving at 4 am and it took a really solid breakfast to satisfy the hunger, almost twice as big as I normally eat: 2 eggs scrambled with mashroom, toast, 2 glasses of milk, large orange, a few strawberries and 2 glasses of water (and after that I felt just satisfied, not full or stuffed or anything). I had my normal lunch (8 pieces of sushi, 10 baby carrots) and a coffee. When dinner time rolled around I was not hungry at all and had to force myself to eat a small bowl of greens and some cherries (didn't want to wake up starving at 4 am again ). Daily total - 1300.
And then strange things started happening...

Wednesday morning, I'm not hungry at all, don't feel like breakfast (which I never skip). Made myself eat a bit of cottage cheese, maybe half a cup. Lunch time, I don't want anything. In the afternoon I had a large bowl of mixed greens with some shredded carrot and some low-calorie dressing, which was good. But that's really not enough for the whole day... so with the help of cherries (yes, I am an addict and loving it! ), I managed to consume about 700 calories - and I was stuffed.

Today, same thing. I had cottage cheese, 1 toast and a few strawberries for breakfast, maybe 15 cherries for lunch, an iced latte while I was running errands, and about 3 cups of cherries not too long ago. I feel I can't eat anything else today. I'm at 600 calories. My boyfriend is making chicken breast with veggies for dinner, and I was planning to have half a cucumber as well, but I'm JUST NOT HUNGRY!!!

Any advice or suggestions? Just please don't tell me to eat less cherries - I'm eating as many as I can while the season last (not much longer).

I don't like to force myself to eat when I'm not hungry because I hate feeling full. So, when I lose my appetite I add in a few things that add more calories but aren't necessrily heavy on my stomach. Peanut butter, nuts (I eat almonds), and cheese are good. I usually buy low or no fat dairy products so sometimes I'll switch to the full fat versions for a week or so.

Eating too few calories slows down your metabolism. Women should never fall below 1200 (which if you look at it is the bare minimum your body needs in nutrition if you follow a few simple rules 6-10 oz of protein; 2 dairy products; 3-4 servings of complex carbs; 2 tsp of healthy fats; 5 servings of fruits and veggies minimum --- this basic nutrition). When you continuously eat so little your body's metabolism slows down so it can just survive.

If you are active your body needs even more fuel...especially in the losing mode.

If you are only getting in 900 calories a day that is about 300 calories just 3 times a day....not a lot.

Do a search for basal metabolic rates and you'll have a shocking eye opener.

You are maybe not hungry because you're not eating enough! It is a symptom of a slowed metabolism, as Kelly says, the body is worried you're gonna starve it and just slows down and you lose your appetite.

Except there's always the possibility that there's some other reason you aren't hungry ... would it be a good idea to talk to your doctor and have a physical?

But likely you just need to continue to force yourself to eat ... it's also pretty normal to get REALLY hungry (e.g., your big breakfast) when you've been in that starvation mode for awhile and then start to eat more ... that's where the binge/purge/starve thing gets started ... believe me, I've been there. You need to eat enough cals on a regular basis to stay healthy.

I love cherries, too. They are very healthy, IMO, low glycemic and some varieties are said to have a natural painkiller that is stronger than ibuprofin ... I haven't noticed that myself, but anyhow, just keep eatin' 'em!

Good luck.

BTW your body does not know if it is 7 am or 7 pm or 3 am or 3 pm it is an overall intake over a 24 hour period.

It’s a Spanish tradition: Have your last meal late at night, about 9:00 P.M., not long before you head to bed.

Eating right before bedtime? Isn’t that an invitation to obesity?

Evidently not. There’s now scientific evidence that you don’t gain more weight if you eat late at night. Several studies confirm that when you at has no connection with weight, and survey by the Department of Agriculture has demonstrated that evening eating in particular has no more effect on your weight than morning eating.

It’s the total number of calories consumed daily and expended in activity that makes – or breaks – weight gain. Apparently, the time of day when you consume those calories or burn them is really not an issue. The calories in your bedtime snack will be burned when they are needed. Even sleep burns about 50 calories an hour.

Dr. Howard M. Shapiro

I went back to my "no food after 7 pm rule" because it works for me - I hate going to bed with my stomach full, eating late makes it even harder for me to fall asleep (than it already is). And the big breakfast I had wasn't bingeing, I was just hungry - the most likely reason was that I ate really little the day before.

Eating 1500 calories or more just doesn't work for me - I gain weight even if I'm active. Don't know why, that's how my body works. Having grown up in a nutritionally screwed up household, I can tell you that my nutrition is a hundred times better right now than it was in my childhood.


I like jawsmom suggestion, I'm going to try that.

Kelly, I think you make a good point re popular notions about food eaten at night being somehow more fattening than food at other times. For a lot of people, food spaced more evenly around the clock is a healthier option and results overall in better blood sugar and weight maintenance. Thanks for posting the info on the study. I lost more than 100 pounds eating more than six meals a day ... including often a snack after midnight (if I'd worked late) as the first meal of the day.

When eating at night, because of the lack of physical exercise, the fats are well absoerbed by your body, instead of being burned (at least some of them).

That's what I always believed, NoChick, and did well by not eating after 7pm. However, recent studies have shown that it's a myth and they body really doesn't treat late night calories any differently. The post by Kelly_S above is about that. It's a fascinating thought because we've all been told for so long that eating at night hurts our weight loss efforts, or makes us gain weight.

I think the real problem is that the calories we eat at night are usually EXTRA calories. We do a good job getting enough calories during the day, so nibbling at night adds extra calories that disrupt our calories in vs calories out ratio. Also, the types of foods we eat at night may tend to be more fattening. Few people reach for carrot sticks while watching Leno, lol.

Sushi Penguin, what has always worked best for me is to pick a time for my last meal, and also pick a food cut off time. I'm used to having my dinner at 5pm, and I do best with 1600 calories per day, with a 200 calorie grace either way. At 7pm, I add up my daily calories, and if I have not had enough calories, then I'll have a snack to make up for the difference, and stop for the night. This really helps me keep my calories under control.

I also think you should really consider increasing your calories, even if you are not hungry. I worry that you may be setting yourself up for a bigger problem later on. Once you reach goal, are you going to be able to continue living on such small amounts of food, and still get nutritionally balanced meals to keep you healthy and strong? 900 calories is way too low of a goal and 600 is scary as well as unhealthy. You could really be damaging your metabolism and this will make it easier for you to regain the weight, and probably more. Plus, remember that food provides more than calories. You need all of the nutrition that 1200 calories worth of food (or more) provides.

Thank you very much for your post, Suzanne.
I think your routine is great.

The goals I set for myself right now aren't new in my life. In fact, that's how things used to be. No eating after 7 pm or so was my rule for a long time, I just felt better this way and I want to get back to it. I did allow flexibility, which is what I'm planning to introduce as soon as I feel this is a routine habit again. If I'm really hungry, I will have a snack (yoghurt, vegetables), but the key is to make sure I get enough food during the day not to get hungry late in the evening or be starving in the morning.

I agree that it's usually the night time snacking and munching that is the problem, not eating late. My rule aims both eating late (as I said above, hate going to be with my tummy full!), but also at eliminating snacking. This way, I also make sure I eat my food (and that I make time to have it, instead of postponing).

While I understand your concerns about my nutrition and metabolism. But let me stress that my goals are not some ideals I decided to adopt, but that I am working on going back to the way things used to be for me. I don't have a lifelong history of being overweight and/or poor eating habits. Until I was 15 or so, I looked somewhat heavy but was on the end range of healthy weight - I believe this was caused by the situation at home. My parents always stuffed food into me, it was about amount, never about nutrition (they both knew nothing about it, and my mother believed counting calories to be ridiculous, it was ok to have 5 large tomatoes as a snack, but not to have a large salad as a meal "because that's grass, not food" and so on).

Once I started taking care of things myself, I lost pounds, my body toned and slimmed - and stayed this way. I didn't snack, didn't eat in the evenings, had next to no sweets/treats, no fastfood at all, ate lots of fruit and vegetables, had light and frequent meals, and generally ate what people have always described as "little." I know the symptoms of extremely slow metabolism caused by starvation - and I can assure you I've never had any. I wish I could sell/export my own energy, I'd make lots of money!

The changes that ocurred in the past year and a half were mostly due to the change in my life situation (long-distance relationship and thus a lot of time spent in front of the computer and less moving around, then moving in with my boyfriend who has a sweet tooth but is blessed with being able to eat all he wants and staying thin). That's how I gained the extra weight I'm working on losing now, and I'm first to say it's my own doing. True, I did have a severe bout of depression when I ate ate and ate, but at other times I lacked self-control and consciously made poor food choices.

Right now I'm just working to restoring things to how they were: the way which worked for me. For many of us losing weight means a change in lifestyle, one that has to be continued for the rest of our lives to assure success. For me, however, it's about getting back to my healthy lifestyle.

Btw, the numbers I quoted are as per FitDay, and the more I use FitDay, the more suspicious I am of the accuracy. Often, the values are way off on the items I can verify by reading the labels, but there are many which I can't verify.

I agree that night time snacking and munching is the problem. I always do that and I always thought that if I don't eat a whole meal and just take a snack, everything will be ok. Well, I guess I am wrong ...

Regarding the diet, do you know any online service that could give me some directions or make a complete plan for me ? Thanks.

Thanks for this recent update on late-night eating... I had always suspected as much. I have always found that sticking to low-fat/low-cal snacks at night never hurt my weight loss progress. (I usually stick to pickles, carrots, or smartpop popcorn...)

I know it sounds stupid but how many meals should we take every day to control our weight and still have a healthy body ? I know you'd say it depends on what your are eating in a day but still ... I am curious about the number of meals. Thanks.

3 meals and 2 snacks are the usual guideline. You definitely want to get at least 3 meals, and never ever skip breakfast. Some people prefer to have about 6 mini-meals. Just make sure that you count your calories as you go along, so you don't eat too much. Eating more frequent, though smaller, meals can help you stay satisfied all day long, so you are less likely to feel hungry or deprived and go off plan. There's a new diet book out called the 3 Hour Diet that has you eating something every three hours, all day long. It was written by Jorge Cruise and we have a new forum for the plan in our Diet Central section of the forum.

Thanks Suzanne 3FC ... I will try to eat something every three hours but what about the content of the meals. Is there a plan that we should follow ? Is there a good diet plan service that you recommend ?