So I just moved into a dorm, and my desire to eat has evaporated. And it's not that I'm trying to diet or reduce my calories to 0 or anything, I literally have no appetite. And it's nothing depression-related, I'm really happy and everything is going great.
Or should I just wait it out until my appetite comes back? I'm going to boil myself some tea so my stomach isn't totally empty.
You need to eat, whether you have an appetite or not. Your body still needs the calories and the energy to function, as well as all of the nutrients that food provides. Try eating stuff that isn't going to weigh you down or make you feel heavy. Salads, fruit, stuff like that.
Last edited by FreeSpirit; 08-26-2008 at 01:56 PM.
Look, whether you "feel hungry" or not, you need to eat. Don't "wait it out"--that's not a good plan. Try to eat at set times every day. You don't have to finish everything you plan to eat--for breakfast, say--but you should at least try. Otherwise you might be setting yourself up for a binge and might get into a bad cycle of starving/binging.
The idea is to even out your food intake so you can both monitor it better and have some control over it.
If it stays this way over a period of multiple days (more than 2-3 days, really), you'll want to see a doctor. Besides the obvious nutritional and metabolic concerns, you start worrying about dehydration and other bad medical things that can come from not eating or drinking.
For a day, if you truly have no appetite, not eating won't kill you. But I'd make myself eat something the next day even if I still didn't want to eat. And then I'd make a doctors appt to see what was going on!
I've had times when I couldn't eat much, either because of morning sickness or depression. However, I was hungry at the same time! It was frustrating to want to eat but not be able to. Also, I found that being extremely hungry can make me feel sick, which of course makes me not want to eat!
I would either try to eat anything you feel like (Ice cream for breakfast? Why not!) and hope that gets your appetite going again, or just force yourself to eat something to keep your stomach full. I lived on pretzel sticks during my first pregnancy when I had morning sickness.
I can't help but notice that you started another thread about binging. I'd be concerned that you're setting yourself up. Don't give yourself a reason to lose control. Have a healthy meal with protein and fiber as soon as possible!
Haha, so I guess you're not much into the notion of Intuitive Eating? I was just suggesting it as a temporary way of stimulating the appetite.
Alas, Amy... I'm not a good candidate for "intuitive eating." If I started on ice cream for breakfast, I'd still be going strong with it days later....
I go through periods now and again of losing my appetite completely and I notice that sometimes it happens to my housemates too. Sometimes it's stress/time of the month and such, so I really wouldn't worry about it.
Try and get your calories in by eating some soup and munching on little cubes of veggies and fruit through the day, though, because not eating for a few days can make you tired and sick.
i have days when im not hungry....
but like the others have said i fix my food items at certain times of the day....
and eat them whether i am hungry or not....
during the day i could take/leave my food....
im always hungry in the evenings as this is when i work out!....
I'm sure you're just anxious moving into the dorm and all, even if you are happy--which is totally normal, it's a big adjustment!
Also, you might feel like you don't want to eat because of the choices of dorm food, which are usually not so healthy. Do you have a mini fridge in your dorm? If you do, stock it with veggies and other healthy snacks--it might help.
Not wanting to eat?
I think it's just that you're happy. Sometimes that can take away the hungry feeling.
