lack of hunger

Question
I eat about 3500-4000 calories a day... but I have to go 48 hours without food before I start to feel hungry. I tried eating one meal every two days and I lost 11 pounds in 4 days... I'm also 90 pounds above my ideal weight. I'm extremely sedentary... Why is it that I never feel hungry? When I was younger I felt like I was starving if I went just 3 hours without food. I'm 24 years old now... and NEVER hungry.

Answer
Hello, Sheow,

You bring up an excellent point. First, remember to run this info past your own doctor before trying it out, and understand that this does not count as medical advice from me to you. It's meant to be a springboard for discussion with your own doctor.

Please understand that as you continue to lose weight, and if you continue to eat less and exercise more, you are likely to get back in touch with your feelings of hunger. It's not unusual for a person to not feel hungry early on when they are losing weight, especially if they are substantially overweight to begin with. Just hang in there. Your stomach is probably stretched out and (in a way) "numb," and you probably already have a lot of nutrients stored in your liver and muscles in the form of "glycogen" or starch. Your body will need to use that up before your brain signals that you're hungry. Eventually, as you continue to lose weight, you should feel hungry much sooner and more frequently.

It's much more important to remember to drink fluids even though you're not eating much. You can easily become dehydrated if you don't.

Note that some people experience hunger as a headache or slight dizziness. Be on the lookout for those symptoms within several hours after your last meal. If, when you feel the slight headache or dizziness, you eat a little something and that symptom goes away, that symptom might be your hunger equivalent.

If most of the day goes by and you still don't feel hungry, go ahead and eat a little something so your metabolism doesn't shut down. But don't eat a 4000 calorie meal at 10pm just because you didn't eat all day. I'm talking about eating about a quarter of your previous intake for your evening meal. And not even at 10pm. Eat a quarter or half of your previous intake at about 6pm or 7pm.

Then, after that, eat small meals (again, about 1/4 or 1/2 of your usual) each time that you feel hunger or a hunger equivalent (headache, dizziness, etc).

If your doctor is okay with this plan, try it and let me know how it goes.

Dr. Hancock

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