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.