I am hardly ever hungry. I could literally go on on small meal a day everyday as long as i have something to drink with me most of the time. My parents says im skinny and i need to eat more, but i am not going to force myself to eat because i am not “average weight.” I feel fine, a work out/run almost every day, and im only sleepy if ive been awake for about 16 hours or more. The doctor told me to take calcium supplements/vitamins and i should be fine.
My questions are:
Should i force myself to eat more even if im not hungry? Is my condition normal?
Well, fisrt you have to make sure you are getting an adequate of fruits, vegetables, fiber, proteing, fat, etc., which I doubt you can with only one small meal a day.
The Doctor side that i was fine and i didnt need to force myself to eat, but everyone consistent bitching about me needing to gain weight makes me wonder. Maybe they are just jealous because im not fat like the rest of the country :).
I dont really eat one meal a day, usually 2. I hardly ever eat vegetables. Work out is 80% running.
Not eating enough can lead to overtraining if your exercising a lot. This problem is compounded if you’re not sleeping enough.
You mention working out… Do you focus on weight-training? If so, you’ll notice MUCH better gains by eating relatively small meals 5-6 times per day. Sleep is just as important as food.
You mention not being sleepy… Do you have a high caffiene intake? You might be blessed w/ good genetics if you can eat fattening meals once or twice a day, but that doesn’t last forever, and it might pre-dispose you to health problems in the future.
culov, you sound like you’re describing me. I only eat one (maybe two) meals a day – and they are pretty small meals. I don’t take vitamins, but I try to make sure that what I eat has some nutritional content (often that means that my one meal is Total cereal – I love that stuff). I also used to run quite a bit – cross country and track. I’ve never had any nutritional deficiency problems and I’ve never passed out or felt ill due to my skinny-ness.
I think that you should eat when your body tells you it needs the sustinence and you shouldn’t force yourself to eat unless you need the nutrients.
Well i have gone days on 1 meal a day, but its not usual for me to do so. Most of the time I drink milk or iced tea. I dont like soda and i dont drink 8 cups of ice tea a day so i wouldnt think im taking in too much caffiene. I dont usually do much weight training. I dont really exercise a lot, i mean, it doesnt take up the largest chunk of time in my day or anything.
xiaoping: Im just interested, how tall are you and how much do you weigh? Im 6’2 1/2 and weigh about 140.
Culov: If you drink a lot of milk you’re probably getting a lot of calories that way. It just doesn’t feel like you’re taking in food because its liquid!
I’m sort of similar. Although i normally eat 3 meals a day, they’re normally pretty small - toast, fruit and a bowl of cereal might be all i eat all day. But i do have a fair amount of milk each day too.
I don’t think you need to. As long as you don’t have any kind of disorder such as anorexia (and it certainly doesn’t sound as if you do!) then I think your body would tell you if you were missing out.
I’m a similar weight to you (although four inches shorter) and rarely eat three meals a day. I just don’t get hungry. If I do eat a big meal (say if I go out to a restaurant and force myself to eat three courses) then I feel bloated and uncomfortable for hours, and find it difficult to sleep. But I make sure that what I do eat is reasonably healthy, and I feel fine and have plenty of energy.
As others have said, it’s quite possible that you’re getting more calories than you think. Try keeping a diary of everything you eat and drink for a week, and then work out your calorie intake - it might surprise (and reassure) you. And tell your friends and family to butt out
