Those who undereat, how do you do it?

[GhostInTheMachine]

I'm curious as to how one's body handles such a nutrient deficit, or in a less extreme case, a regular caloric deficiency. Do you just drink more water to compensate? Does your body simply not need much fuel? As somebody who's always been overworked, I've always found it strange that other's bodies can just handle it while mine screams at the tiniest lack of food or water.

 

[Lily6759]

Hunger pain slowly becomes something your body (or maybe mind? idk) ignores. I get hunger pains for about half an hour and they barely hurt now and then just disappear.
If I don't eat for a really long time and and do too much physical work, I tend to start feeling faint and end up "throwing up" but since my body has nothing to throw up, nothing comes out except a little stomach acid.
I want to eat more but it's almost like a habit and a mental barrier to not have the energy to cook anything. Normally by the time I eat, I'm too sick to eat a lot and my body tells me I'm full from minimal amounts of food, so then I don't eat again for awhile, and end up having the equivalent of maybe one healthy meal throughout the day.
There are some days where I eat "a lot" (probably just a normal amount of food for most people).
It does effect my mood quite heavily, and my desire to do anything physical also is heavily effected, since I'm used to my body deciding to throw up whenever I try to.

 

[Cirno]

Personally, everytime I'm hungry I eat lettuce, and drink as much water as I can. Lettuce has a lot of volume, so it makes your stomach full,and in the same time- there's literally no calories in it. It keeps me full for HOURS, and I don't feel hunger, while in the same time- it's like I didn't eat anything at all! It's an amazing method. Water also makes you more full. I usually drink as much water as I can, usually until I feel like throwing up. It makes my stomach upset, so I'm not hungry anymore!

In case of not having energy: If I feel really bad a certain day I drink a big ass cup of black coffee. It doesn't have much calories, and also makes my stomach much fuller for the day, so I don't even have to add lettuce most of the times I drink coffee in the morning. Straight black coffee without anything more, it keeps me awake and running all day, because of the caffeine

 

[cemeteryismyhome]

I just endure being hungry. Hunger pains go away if ignored long enough. It's a way of expressing my self-hatred without anyone noticing. I'm tired all the time anyway so that's not a factor for me. To me, eating is disgusting anyway, so none of this really a challenge.

 

[Griever]

I have anorexia

 

[bankai]

I water fasted for 15 days in a row once without eating anything. I did it for the autophagy. I fasted 10 days multiple times. I'm talking about nothing other than water and electrolytes the entire time. Some potassium citrate,salt and magnesium,that's it.

Your body can go very long without food. Apparently the fat reserves on even a really thin person are more than 100,000 calories. Hunger is completely hormonal. It's the hormone ghrelin that causes hunger. So the body will secrete ghrelin when it hasn't gotten food for some time, but when it keeps secreting ghrelin, it will eventually just give up if it's not getting food and you will not feel hungry anymore.

 

[psp3000]

disordered eating habits

 

[bleeding_heart_show]

Multivitamins and water.

Food makes me uncomfortable sometimes.

Fruits and vegetables are alright at least.

 

[vitbar]

I delay eating and end up missing meals. Coffee can stop me feeling hungry too. When I'm not physically active I barely eat, and if distracted don't notice the hunger. The headaches and worsening depression and anxiety are the worst short term side effects.

Thankfully I am better at staying fed than previously. Still not eating well sadly.

 

[nobody_oac]

Years of being poor, homeless, and the oldest of a litter trained my body to deal for long periods of time. Water helps and so does excessive amounts of sleep.

 

[EternalShore]

I hate food, so I don't like eating~ >_< therefore, I will actively avoid and stall on it! plus, drinking lots of milk helps keep me not-hungry too~ :)

 

[GhostInTheMachine]

Loving all the replies! I'm currently trying to get past the hunger pains phase because I'm progressively becoming more disgusted with the act of eating. I like food. The smell, the tastes, the textures. Yet, I've become repulsed with the actual act of consumption, which is a weird place to be in. Also, with money getting tighter, it would be useful to not have to eat so much so I essentially want to force myself to be able to undereat more often than not.

There's also a factor of being repulsed by my current weight, so I have more than one reason for this.

 

[Namelesa]

When I was anorexic I manged to just lose a lot of weight in such a short time purely from my feelings of gender dysphoria at the time and the amount of determination I had to lose more and more weight. Only foods that were chocolaty tempted me into eating due to taste so I asked my mum to stop buying stuff like that so I was more easily able to starve myself.

Tho please don't take any advice in this thread to its most extreme, I don't want you suffer with eating disordered thinking and being underweight :<

 

[RoseGirl]

I don't feel that hungry most of the time, and i don't really have great access to food. Especially since I've stopped working and going out. oh my antidepressents also stop me from feeling hungry.

 

[GhostInTheMachine]

I was considering find substances that outright turn off your hunger response, but that may be a bit extreme.

 

[WhiskeySolstice]

I'm curious as to how one's body handles such a nutrient deficit, or in a less extreme case, a regular caloric deficiency. Do you just drink more water to compensate? Does your body simply not need much fuel? As somebody who's always been overworked, I've always found it strange that other's bodies can just handle it while mine screams at the tiniest lack of food or water.

I kinda just forget to do it ngl? If I'm invested in something or I'm not paying mind to it I can sometimes forget I was supposed to eat or drink until suddenly I'm hit with a headache that I can't explain- and then I remember.

 

[limpimitation]

I do it as a pain outlet and persu the aching feeling, it does go away eventually and I do sleep too much. When I start eating again it's always a few days of binging until I'm sick. It's a terrible cycle

 

[Rynalia]

Body just gets used to being neglected after a while.

I joke about it, but some days I really actually do just have pills and espresso and call it a day.

 

[-nobodyknows-]

I sometimes have trouble keeping food down after eating, especially in the morning. I'm not entirely sure why; I didn't always have this problem. My anxiety seems like a likely culprit though.

 

[noname223]

I am very self-disciplined and I probably internalized self-hatred. I am pretty often hungry but I am so obsessed about my weight. I drink a lot. And when I say a lot I mean it. I drink tea, water and Sprite zero. I am eating very healthy too. I have some sins though. I think I got used to it. Other people told me they could never practice eating like I do. I think it is at least worth it. I know a lot of obese people who try diets and shit and it simply does not work for them. I am pretty think and I take that if I have to sacrifice some (short-term) life quality in exchange.

 

[lionetta12]

I'm curious as to how one's body handles such a nutrient deficit, or in a less extreme case, a regular caloric deficiency. Do you just drink more water to compensate? Does your body simply not need much fuel? As somebody who's always been overworked, I've always found it strange that other's bodies can just handle it while mine screams at the tiniest lack of food or water.

After 3-5 days, your body starts getting used to it and the hunger cramps and the desire to eat slowly goes away. You could also drink a lot of water and chew gum all the time to trick the stomach.

Depends what kind of work you do, how much you walk in a day, how often you plan on working out during a severe calorie deficiency. You don't need many calories to sit around most of the day.

The most important for me is to consume multivitamin and multimineral pills during a heavy calorie deficiency and to eat balanced meals like fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, fiber, etc. I will cut out unhealthy stuff.

 

[GhostInTheMachine]

Thank you all for your replies so far! My life circumstances have now changed in that I'm going to have to be surviving on very little for an indeterminate amount of time. So far my current strategy will be mostly tricking my system with more fluid intake, and just barely eating enough solid food to keep me from being unable to operate. I am no longer in a position where I can pick what I want to eat, so I'm basically surviving from here on.

 

[Dejected 55]

You wouldn't know it to look at me, at my current weight... but I have days when I barely eat anything. When I get depressed I lose my appetite. If I get super involved and focused on something... like maybe I decide to write down a bunch of things I am feeling... a whole afternoon or evening can evaporate and before I know it I have gone all day without eating and then it is too late because it is time for bed and I can't eat too close to bedtime.

 

[xhelx]

I just forget to eat most of the time, but I rarely go more than 2 days without eating anything. Nicotine is really good at suppressing hunger

 

[greebo6]

Personally , depression always reduces my appetite a lot.
I suppose there's also an element of the depression cycle which causes general self neglect.
But generally speaking , and again in my own experience , you can get used to almost anything and as such your body can get used to craving and needing less food. Eventually the hunger pains turn to a dull ache that you again kind of just get used to.
(However despite getting used to these things it can still be unpleasant at times and there can be a point reached where you develop , unnoticed by self , a noticeable and problematic vitamin deficiency which would alarm a doctor.)

 

[kotonearisato]

I'm curious as to how one's body handles such a nutrient deficit, or in a less extreme case, a regular caloric deficiency. Do you just drink more water to compensate? Does your body simply not need much fuel? As somebody who's always been overworked, I've always found it strange that other's bodies can just handle it while mine screams at the tiniest lack of food or water.

Years of anorexia destroyed my body's hunger cues so I literally just forget a lot of the time. Back when I was actively trying to suppress them, I drank a lot of water and chewed gum near constantly. But even now that I'm far more recovered in terms of eating disorders, I just don't think about food often anymore I guess? This post actually reminded me to go get a snack because the only thing I've eaten today was breakfast and a small bag of cheez-its and it's 1am now lmao. If I'm really not doing well mentally, I'm usually not moving around much - in those circumstances I end up going a couple of days with just water. I don't notice it until someone shoves food in my face.

I also really like green tea, which seems to have a hunger curbing effect on me. Or maybe it's the caffeine, who knows. Either way when I drink a cup or two there is a 100% chance I'll forget a meal.

My life circumstances have now changed in that I'm going to have to be surviving on very little for an indeterminate amount of time.

Unsolicited advice on eating with limited resources, feel free to ignore:

Spoiler

If you're dropping straight from a normal diet though, it's gonna be rough. If you're in a place where you have the ability to cook, meal prep is an absolute must. There's a lot of good meals that are wicked cheap and easy that you can prep for a full week. Pasta is a big one. Less effort throughout the week = more energy to deal with being in a deficit. Also if you're in a place where the app Too Good To Go exists, check that out - bags of food for like $5. Some places even give out stuff like entire pizzas and full meals. It's awesome when you're on a super tight budget.

 

[Cirno]

Nicotine is really good at suppressing hunger

Yeah, I think so too. Smoking really gets my hunger to evaporate sometimes

 

[badkarma4618]

after some time of denying the body its fuel the food noise kinda dies down and the pain turns into euphoria not quite joy but almost like a feeling of bright, clinical clarity.
the body adapts by shutting rooms one by one. often menstruation goes first, warmth second and then sleep becomes thin as a ghosts sigh.
so i guess the body doesn't need less it just learns how to ask less loudly and eventually that silence becomes encouragement to see how far you can take it

source: my eating disorder

 

[malia]

I usually drink coffee in the morning, for lunch I just eat one two bites of something and then eat something normal for a dinner. I don't know if this is considered undereating, but my food intake is really small and very much not healthy. Surprisingly, I don't lose any weight.

 

[attheend13]

I'm curious as to how one's body handles such a nutrient deficit, or in a less extreme case, a regular caloric deficiency. Do you just drink more water to compensate? Does your body simply not need much fuel? As somebody who's always been overworked, I've always found it strange that other's bodies can just handle it while mine screams at the tiniest lack of food or water.

It's the feeling of total control over yourself. It feels good or what passes as good. It's not that you're not hungry it's that the feeling of hunger and mastering it feels so powerful it is a bigger high than the food is.