I have been noticing for the past 2-3 days that I am not getting hungry like I use to. I use to get hungry right on course every 2-3 hours and now it goes for 3-5 hours. I have been forcing myself to eat but I am now wondering if I shouldn't be eating and only eating when hungry.

I have read that you have to eat to loose so what do you do? I work out for about 1 hour or more a day and I average 1600-2100 calories a day which consist of veggies, fruit, fish, chicken and I do eat brown rice, wheat bread or cereal once a week.

Please help I am so frustrated and confused.

That is a tough one. I would think eating every 3-5 hours is sufficient, but I wouldn't make it more than that or else your metabolism might slow down.

Are you still losing eating every 3-5?

There are 2 theories of thought on this one.
The first being that if you eat scheduled meals & snacks then you won't get too hungry and eat too much when you do feel hungry.
The second is you should listen to your body and only eat when you are hungry, learn to feel hunger, learn to feed hunger, not emotion, boredom, etc.
I think you have to figure out which of these work best for you.
If you can wait until you feel hungry and then eat appropriate foods and amounts then that is best.
If you wait until hungry and it makes you more likely to eat bad food choices or too much food, then you should try to be more scheduled in your eating. Even a modified blending of these two could be done, wait until you are a bit hungry and then have a snack, wait until hunger pops up again to have a full meal.
I don't have the answers and I go back and forth between these 2 things as well.
Karla

I think as long as you're getting in a realistic calorie level and ideally spreading the calories out over several meals, rather than eating a megameal, it probably doesn't matter all that much.

I'm trying to learn mindful eating (recognizing and responding to hunger cues, and really paying attention to what and why I'm eating), but I've never had reliable hunger cues, and can't depend upon them. I can feel hungry when I know I shouldn't be (say fifteen minutes after eating), or not feel noticeable hunger until six hours after waking in the morning, or occasionally even all day.

I'm in the same boat since starting to work out every morning (about an hour each say like you). It's lovely that I find myself not craving food - I actually forgot what feeling hungry really felt like! lol

I'm eating when I feel hungry, because I don't binge when I get the hunger pains (instead it makes me eat less b/c eating too much at once then makes me feel ill). So when I feel hungry I'll have a lite meal (300 cals or so) or a snack (like a piece of low fat cheese, fruit, etc) depending on how hungry I'm feeling. I don't stick to a meal schedule, but try to make sure I'm at a bare minimum of 1600 or so calories so I don't put my metabolism into starvation mode.

i remember going through a period of low appetite last summer. Haven't had that problem since...
But I am rarely hungry in the morning. However, I make myself eat some breakfast rather than waiting until I'm hungry and I also make sure I eat the morning snack, hungry or not. I do this because I've found the more I eat earlier in the day (esp protein), the better off I am during my danger times - late afternoon and bedtime. If I'm not hungry I will skip the afternoon snack and after dinner treat though.
It's been a while since I was counting my calories, but when I was keeping track, I was usually between 1500 - 1800 calories for the day.
I think you will have to listen to your body and see what works for you as Karla said.

I just re-read your post and saw that you were eating a grain "once a week". So you are really close to being Ph1, and I think that will definitely affect the appetite. Why are you avoiding all grains? And how much fruit are you eating? I'm just thinking you might not be getting enough healthy carbs to support your workout schedule. How is your energy level?

Thanks you guys for all the advice.

I want to give an example so you can more understand what I am talking about - this morning at 6am I ate breakfast which was 1/4 cup egg beaters, 4oz sirloin patty, 1tsp carb ketcup & 1/2 cup of coffee made with 1/2 & 1/2 well I am use to getting hungry for my snack around 9:30 and today I did not so at around 10:15 I ate a small banana and then lunch time rolled around and I wasn't feeling hungry so at 12:30 I ate 1/2 of my grilled chicken breast salad and I feel miserably stuffed.

I am not loosing weight have been stuck at this weight for 3-4 weeks which is why I started counting calories & increasing my exercise.

Someone please help me I am soooo frustrated.

I posted almost the exact same question a few weeks ago - nice to know I'm not the only one

I think the most important thing is to make sure you are getting enough calories to fuel you for the day. For me, it's working out well to spread things out so I have a little something every few hours - not like a full meal of course - maybe a little fruit or a hard boiled egg. At first I never felt hungry at all and was really worried that I was eating too much but, lo and behold after sticking with the plan for a little while I am actually starting to get these little signals that my tummy is expecting it's little something

It sort of makes sense to me that, if we're eating properly, we should be able to avoid ever feeling that hungry. By the same token, by spreading things out, we should never feel over stuffed either - just constantly content. I like that feeling

Well, first of all don't panic. 3 - 4 weeks is frustrating, but I have been stuck that long and others here too, even doing everything right. You have to hang in there and know that you will get through this and start losing again. The only other option is to give up and you ARE NOT GOING TO DO THAT! Have you noticed any other changes - measurements, the way clothes are fitting? Things may be happening that are not being reflected on the scale, especially with upping your exercise.

Can you type up a couple of sample full days so we can see? I notice from what you put that your breakfast is all protein. Lunch is protein and veggie. I don't see grains, beans, dairy.
From what I can see, here's a couple of suggestions. Don't know if they will work for you, but you will pick and choose. I avoid bananas. Very rarely I'll eat half of one, but I think they are dangerous for me. Can you sip some V8 for breakfast or morning snack? Maybe replace some of the meat with beans or dairy? Maybe you are getting too much meat? 4 oz sirloin plus a chicken breast (6 oz?), then if you eat meat again for dinner, that will be a lot. Meat is great for protein but relatively high calorie and higher fat. I eat it every day, but probably not more than 6 - 8 oz daily total. Veggies, veggies, veggies - are you getting your 4.5 cups?

Don't worry, we will work this out!

Since I started phase 1, I haven't been very hungry at all. Especially today. I had to force myself to eat some yogurt this morning and it's lunchtime now. DS is starving and I don't feel like eating anything. I guess I'll have some of the chicken breasts and cabbage slaw that we had last night for dinner....but I don't really want to.

Has anybody else heard the thought that when you actually have hunger pains, you are beyond hungry?

There are times when I am just too busy to stop and eat the snack or just not hungry enough for one. What I do is drink a 6 oz glass of V8 or tomato juice. I pretty much force myself because I am thinking this is what keeps me from overdoing at mealtimes.

For some reason, though, I get to wanting those cashews and almonds just about bedtime. And if I start, I can't stop without going into withdrawals.

As far as my grains I eat rice once a week, cereal once a week and bread maybe twice a week - I have just started doing this a week or so ago as I had hit this stall in my weight loss. As far as fruit I eat all kinds and usually once or twice a day and for the past 2 weeks I haven't eaten anything after dinner except once.

My energy is out the roof I even have a hard time falling asleep at night sometimes and I am usually a 10pm on the dot girl.

I can look at myself and see changes and some of the clothes fit differently and no I am not quitting as I made the decision to do this for life.

My main concern is what if I don't eat and don't get enough calories what will happen?

If you undereat consistently, your body will compensate by lowering your metabolism....probably not what you want to happen.

My weight very often stays the same on the scale for 3 weeks, this time it is stalled again since sometime the last week of March. But, then it whooshes down. Last time the whoosh was more than I expected---6 pounds. But it had stalled before that 6 pound loss for 3-4 weeks. It is frustrating when you know you are in the losing calorie range, exercising faithfully and eating healthy. BUT...just continue forward. The scale will eventually follow. I am feeling the same frustrations, but I have been in one of those weeks where I can't get enough to eat. TOM really sucks. I find my whooshes happen the week after TOM leaves. Keeping my fingers crossed for you and me both to have a scale victory soon.

Thanks Skinny My TOM ended almost 2 weeks ago so I know it's not that. I'm gonna stick to what I have been doing for another week or two and see how it goes I just worry about the eating part with this new feeling am I getting enough or what to do