Appetite declining as get older?

[Kikipost]

I look at what I used to eat as a child and in my twenties and indeed even a few years ago and is so much more than I eat now at 37.

I am underweight and need to put on weight. I am trying and sometimes have great days, where I have breakfast lunch dinner and snacks. The next day though I’m bloody stuffed and it’s a struggle.

Even on my good days it’s so much smaller than what I used to eat.

My activity output is very high (run 4/5x a week. Yoga 3x - week. Walk everywhere. Single mum two young children). So it can’t be that I’m not building up an appetite. It’s just a genuine feeling that I’m full much earlier than in previous years and that I simply don’t need as much.

Is this common as one approaches middle age? Do others feel the same?

Hi op I'm 41 and feel the opposite, I'm constantly hungry but I think that's because I don't eat so much early on and then get to the stage where I've got the shakes.

how long have you felt like this for?

Not normal I'd say. It's more something you'd feel in old age. Get it checked out.

It’s been building I reckon.
Always underweight but then I got food poisoning and my weight went very low and I haven’t weight restored yet. Trying. And I suppose that is when I focussed more on my appetite and realised how much less I needed / wanted than two years previously. Some days not but most days yes

Not remotely normal if I'm anything to go by. See your GP as soon as you can.

You have got into a habit of eating very little and your body now only expects that ( or you have an underlying illness)
See your doctor and if all ok eat regularly and often. Start with small high calories meals and snacks.fortify your food with butter, cream, whole milk etc.you are using up a lot of calories each day; look after yourself.

Something similar happened to a friend of mine who was small built and an OK weight for her height when I first knew her, then she was hospitalised with amoebic dysentery on a dig in Peru (archaeologist), lost loads of weight and came home really very thin. She didn't recover the weight for years, rarely felt hungry or thought about eating when on her own.

Thank you all

I am well on my GP’s radar. Multiple blood tests etc. I won’t bore with detail but the food poisoning and weight loss resulted in hormone issues.
Anyway point is, there’s nothing sinister about the reduction in appetite. I’m just curious, as it’s making weight gain harder than it should be.

Interesting that no other seems to experience so leads me to believe that it just be consequence of eating less and then simply getting used to less. Interesting. I’ll battle on!

You need fewer calories in old age - which in this context starts roughly at the menopause. Appetite may or may not decline in line with that.

Your description of your issues does not sound age related.