Please dont hate me for asking about this but...

CandoATU

CandoATU

New member
Now i know this is a weight loss forum and what im about to ask advice for will sound strange, and a lot of people who are trying to lose weight will probably find this stupid but here it goes.

Ive been on my weight loss journey for quite a while now and im starting to experience something that i havnt before. So far ive lost 12 kg and have been doing in the healthy way. But in the last few weeks something strange has been happening...

Ive found that i dont want to eat, at all. I'll feel myself get hungry and everything but i wont want to eat. The thought and act of eating makes me feel sick in the stomache, and thats with all food. Its getting to the point where im eating less than 500 calories i day. So far I havnt been sick from it other than dizziness in the head and slight head aches.

I want to point out that this is in no way shape or form a decision that ive actively made. I keep actively telling myself that i need to eat and ill go through the whole process of eating by telling myself over 'just one more bite, just one more bite' but im starting to get really frustrated by it. I mean i dont want to be like this, this is not the way to go about weight loss!

I was just wondering if anyone here had experienced something similar. So far i have tried to switch off while im eating, and also bought foods that i know i like, bt everytime with anything it happens.

I dont know anything about anorexia, but is this how it starts? Am I just going through a weird psycological thing where my subconcious is telling me not to eat in order to lose weight?

Any advice would be great, but please dont tell me to just do it and eat, because as ive said this isnt an active decision ive made and if it was that simple then i would have done it by now. But please! Help!
 
I can definitely understand where you are coming from! I think often times, it is about "conditioning" yourself to a new behavioral habit.

It's not customary for you to want to eat these things, even if they are desirable to you, because you haven't been used to eating more than the 500 calories or meals that you have been in the past. You haven't conditioned yourself in the past to do this, and YES, it has created a subconscious scripted association now.

I would say,...start by YES, eating snacks, but don't force yourself to any such amount. Even just the taste of sucking the peice of ham for that snack will slowly start conditioning your mind to reprogram the stomach sensations as well, and through out time giving sensations of hunger. Hunger is recognized by the mind.

:) Not that I know it all at all, just a thought ok! I do know a little though. I just graduated as a Hypnotherapist a few months ago and we deal solely mainly with the subconscious mind in our practice with clients. I just opened my private practice here in Ca a few months ago. That is something that is a problem for quite a few people as well. :) No worries. It can be changed! Start baby steps. Expect less, receive more. You can do it!
 
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I agree with Alta. I think it is a conditioning thing. But also, our metabolism and appetite changes at different times in our life. My family doctor told me this after I expressed some concern over a loss of appetite after my boyfriend and I broke up. We broke up Christmas Eve (I know I know...not goodwill amongst men at all!!) and ever since then, I've lost my appetite. I eat a bowl of oatmeal and fresh fruit in the morning, some veggies for lunch and a Lean Cuisine entree for dinner. I don't want to eat anything else, and I'm not hungry.

Have you tried eating the bare minimum, just to get something in your stomach? I understand the thought of eating makes you sick, but you also wrote that you experience dizziness and headaches. Dizziness and headaches can't make you feel upbeat and at your best though either. If you don't like being dizzy and having headaches (who does?), have you ever considered using that as a motivator to eating something? Like saying to yourself, "I need to eat this now otherwise I'll feel weak." If you have the willpower to eat foods that are good for you, (and I do believe you do), try using cognitive therapy to reverse this behaviour.
 
Awesome advice guys! That was really helpful. :)

I will try out some of your tips and see how I go. Cheers!
 
Another potential tip - try eating some calorie dense foods. I don't mean go out and get a cheeseburger, I mean like, a handful of almonds has a bunch of calories for a very little bit of actual food going in. Peanut butter, the same. If you have a salad, spash a couple tablespoons of olive oil on it. Try a small chunk of cheese, or a glass of milk. Gaterade has some calories that can help you fend off the dizzyness feeling, as well as keep you hydrated.

But be careful, with such calorie dense foods its easy to go to eating too much without realizing it. Don't worry that those foods I recommended are high in fat - right now, with eating so few calories, its more important to worry about simply getting more calories in you, rather than where you're getting them from.
 
It's good that your not trying to ignore this fact, nor are you afraid to talk about it.

The only thing I can add, is that if this were to continue, or even, get worse, I would certainly consult a professional on the issue ! Not to scare you or anything (and it's probably not this anyway, but....) anorexia and other eating disorders can be set into motion, following any kind of abrupt changes in your normal diet (among other things).

If you were starting to develop something like that, it would obviously be WAY better to get a handle on it early, rather than to let your self become deathly ill first !

Your strongest tool for maintaining weight and fitness is your mind !

Peace,
Fish
 
Thanks for all the great advice guys. Ive tried out a few different things, expecially eating more calorie dense foods has helped. I back to the 1000 to 1200 calories mark again. Still not eating much, but definatley consuming more calories.

I have been feeling better for it too. Im having less head aches and dizziness, and when it happens its not nearly as bad as it has been. Im thinking it will be a passing thing, i just need to not think about it too much or else it will back fire on me.
 
I get like that sometimes where I just dont feel like eating and sometimes I am hungry but nothing is appealing to me. It is kind of difficult to describe.

A couple of tricks I use is to consume liquids instead of eating. A banana milkshake or something. When I dont feel like eating I find it much easier to stomach drinks. There are also some meal drinks that you can get like ensure which pack a lot of calories and vitamins etc but in a small drink.

This might raise hell but you asked for advice so here is another thing I find that works... weed... it is often used in patients to increase appetite and it DOES work. I am not saying start getting stoned to help you eat but if you already toke up a little maybe have a meal prepared and then take a hit and you will be more likely to eat and enjoy your food :)

One final thing that works for me is long duration exercise like hiking. If I put in a days hiking and come home I am generally starving! My body craves food. Its one of the few times I actually feel like I need to eat, like my body is telling me "give me food".
 
Is it possible to shift one's focus to other mind engrossing activity other than the weight loss objective so that the appetite is not affected? I mean some activity that may let you forget your meals but not loose your appetite.
 
What your describing is actually a form of hunger. When we get really hungry, there are parts of our body that don't work the way we'd expect them to. Low blood sugar for example can give us symptoms of nausia to the point of not wanting to eat anything and feeling put off food. Other nutrient deficiencies can lead to other symtoms- there are many. It sounds like your in a cycle- the less you eat, the less your body will feel like it can tollerate.

Its not how anoreixa starts- not the mental health version anyway. Its deeper then that- its about the way you feel about yourself, the way you feel about your life, the way you feel about how things are going to be and in response to how the past has been. Its an easy trap to fall into if your feeling desperate but basicly its a mixture of emotional unease which the sufferer tries, either conciously or otherwise, to deal with through food, calories and or weight. (Not always all of those).

It sounds to me like your problems are more malnourishment and even a bug of some sort.

Try protein shakes or bars if you get really stuck or things like ensure, they can help you out when your in a sticky situation trying to obtain enough calories. Try not to get too dependant on them- real food offers much more then they can but its OK to fall back on them once in a while.
 
I think you should discuss this with your doctor. It is dangerous to eat as little as you are, there have been reports of people dying from heart problems when on a very low calorie diet.



A woman who died after eating 530 calories a day for 11 weeks.

If this sort of thing doesn't scare you into eating more, you should consider talking to a doctor about it.
 
biggestloser105 said:
I think you should discuss this with your doctor. It is dangerous to eat as little as you are, there have been reports of people dying from heart problems when on a very low calorie diet.



A woman who died after eating 530 calories a day for 11 weeks.

If this sort of thing doesn't scare you into eating more, you should consider talking to a doctor about it.
Click to expand...

My question to people about this is: Then how are people ok after lapband surgery, where you are conditioned to eat far less calories? I don't see how your caloric needs for your body can change, when the only thing changing is the size of your stomach.

And sorry, this has very little to do with the opening post.
 
shygemini said:
My question to people about this is: Then how are people ok after lapband surgery, where you are conditioned to eat far less calories? I don't see how your caloric needs for your body can change, when the only thing changing is the size of your stomach.

And sorry, this has very little to do with the opening post.
Click to expand...

Well it's not a guarantee that you'll die on a 500 calorie diet, people survive famines and the like, but the fact that it happens should give someone pause. That kind of thing is obviously unhealthy and increases the risk of various negative events including death.

Lapband surgery is also risky, and people have suffered serious complications including death as a result of various weight loss surgeries, though not necessarily because they have to eat less.

Generally when severely obese people go on very low calorie diets, they do this under medical care with regular blood tests to check that everything is okay in their bodies.

When someone just eats a very low calorie diet on their own, without being properly monitored and given proper supplements depending on blood test results they are taking a risk with their health. Even if you don't die, when you're eating that little you're not getting the protein you need for cell replacement and other functions. Your body is going to start taking protein from muscles, including organs and the heart. That can lead to problems especially if you're already in a weakened state.
 
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