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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think its impossible to never feel hungry?

33 replies

Feminine · 20/09/2012 10:19

Something in another thread today, made me think about this.

I have a very close relative who claims she never does Confused no pangs ...no desire to eat.

I do catch her shoving things in her mouth directly from the fridge though.

Is this something she just 'tells herself?'

Anyone here have that? I just can't believe it...

I shake if I miss just one meal.

OP posts:
BeauNeidel · 20/09/2012 10:21

I never feel hungry.

Mainly because I'm a greedy bastard and am constantly stuffing things in my face! I'm assuming she is justifying being thin?

FelicitywasSarca · 20/09/2012 10:22

I think it is possible to not be able to recognise the feeling of hunger yes.

My DH is like this. Doesn't stop him eating though! He just doesn't know how to answer the question 'are you hungry?'. He can't name the feeling.

Thumbwitch · 20/09/2012 10:23

It is possible, although I don't know about "never" - zinc deficiency can adversely affect appetite.

Original poster
Feminine · 20/09/2012 10:28

I obviously suspect she is just telling herself this Wink

But,I am quite prepared to be told I am in the wrong, as I've just never met anyone in RL with her claim.

She is very thin.

OP posts:
VeritableSmorgasbord · 20/09/2012 10:31

I don't often feel hunger. I do get shaky sometimes with no food, but that's the first symptom, and it's unpredictable. I can work all day and realise I've forgotten to eat, with no adverse effects.

SirGOLDBoobs · 20/09/2012 10:34

If she claims she's not hungry and then you catch her eating right from the fridge, those are both indicators of an ED.

Original poster
Feminine · 20/09/2012 10:35

Yes sir I think that is the case :(

OP posts:
Jahan · 20/09/2012 10:37

If you snack a lot I think its feasible to never feel hungry.

Ragwort · 20/09/2012 10:41

I'm like Beau Blush - I eat so regularly and so much that I genuinely don't ever feel hungary.

I am now seriously dieting by eating sensibly but I still don't feel 'hunger', I have never 'shaken' with hunger - quite looking forward to finding out what it really feels like Grin.

Lambzig · 20/09/2012 10:49

I am never hungry or thirsty except when pg (although i do eat and like to eat obviously and am not justifying being thin as I am not particularly). It came as a shock to suddenly have those feelings when pg, i thought i was ill.

lottiegarbanzo · 20/09/2012 11:00

Sounds like an eating disorder.

It is possible if you eat too much, too often, so never become hungry, or not enough, so suppress appetite. I feel hungry because I eat at fairly regular times, this triggers habitual production of digestive juices. Hunger is also the feeling of the last lot of digestion being completed, so space opening up for more. So if I eat breakfast I'm hungry for lunch, if I don't then perversely i'm less hungry for lunch.

That's how people who starve themselves do away with hunger. Loss of habit, loss of digestive cues, plus mental distraction or determination.

VeritableSmorgasbord · 20/09/2012 11:08

Well look
Either she has an eating disorder
Or she never feels hungry because she's always grazing from the fridge.
We don't know the woman but
If she has an eating disorder, would she be grazing?

Original poster
Feminine · 20/09/2012 11:23

Really don't know veritable I have asked her for years now "are you sure you are not hungry" its always "no"

When she eats from the fridge, she has to be quick and sneaky.

I think I've answered my own question.

OP posts:
digerd · 20/09/2012 11:26

My mother was a gentic small eater and said she never felt hungry. I, on the otherhand was always hungry and was called greedy as a child, but I have genetically a fast metabolic rate, and unhealthly rapid pulse rate. As an adult, I always needed 2 very large cooked meals a day, but didn't want to snack in between, but when the time came to eat, I had all the signs of red alert alarm bells ringing, weakness, shakiness, feeling faint and sick and not being able to concentrate on anything other than I must eat. And gobbled everything down as quick as I could. Yes, and don't hate me, but I was and still am very slim, the same with my 2 siblings, so is genetic. But I know of a group of women who with permission from Doctor, went on a 2 week fasting, which I would never have survived, but they did. It was not to lose weight, but to cleanse !!!!???

msrisotto · 20/09/2012 11:28

It's quite common in older people.

Empusa · 20/09/2012 11:31

"If she has an eating disorder, would she be grazing?"

The two aren't mutually exclusive :(

KellyElly · 20/09/2012 11:32

I'm starving right now. When I'm hungry I get pains in my tummy. That's when I eat when my tummy starts rumbling every three hours or so.

VeritableSmorgasbord · 20/09/2012 11:33

Oh sorry empusa, I didn't know that.

mcmooncup · 20/09/2012 11:33

I sound like your relative OP. I forget to eat constantly but then when I go in the fridge, I think "oh yes, food. Must eat"

I just started on the MyFitnessPal thing and I am shocked at my level of eating......since last Saturday I am already MINUS 3000 calories just to maintain my weight. I'm surprised I'm not actually dead. But I'm never hungry really. Only force myself to eat cos I know I have to.

E D ALERT

TroublesomeEx · 20/09/2012 11:43

Bit of an aside: Your shaking might be due to your sugar intake.

I've never shaken but I know that, until he declared a war on sugar, my husband became quite unpleasant and 'shaky' if he was late eating/it had been a while since he'd eaten.

Since reducing his sugar intake this has stopped completely.

digerd · 20/09/2012 11:43

Just a word to add about a certain disease of the Thyroid gland that I had in my 20s. My Thyroid was overactive, secreting too much thyroxine into my system, which accelerated my metabolism, apart from other disturbing things. I became ravenously hungry every 30 minutes after eating, my appetite changed from savoury to sweet, and I still kept losing weight. My problem was not diagnosed until the gland swelled up in my neck and my eyes bulged !!!!! Doc said it had been developing for years before it got to that stage

Original poster
Feminine · 20/09/2012 11:51

Thanks folk yes, I do watch my sugar intake as in can make it worse.

Sadly though, I still get it from time to time.

All my family do.

Just not this relative :)

Thinking about it, she has been complaining about her weight recently, she is just 9 stone and totally fed up. (she is 5'7)

OP posts:
DeWe · 20/09/2012 12:08

I don't get hungry unless I eat iyswim. I don't get hungry in the morning until about 10-11am. If I don't eat then, I lose the hunger and it doesn't come back. I get a headache from not eating, but I don't feel hungy. If I'm stressed then I don't even get that, really struggle to eat anything.

Dd2, I think is the same (except she's growing fast so doesn't leave it to chance that she might be hungry) as she's never, even as a tiny baby been bothered by breakfast. I used to give her the first feed of the day at about 1pm if I left it to her.

Dd1 I think is similar. She likes breakfast, and will usually eat that. But if she doesn't like the meal she won't eat, and by the next meal will not want to eat, even if it's her favourite. So I have to make sure that for any meal there's something she will eat, otherwise it's very hard to get her eating anything again.

gallifrey · 20/09/2012 12:27

I am always hungry, but when I was pregnant I totally lost my appetite.

HowBoutNo · 20/09/2012 12:31

When I was little I used to tell mum my tummy was sore and she'd ask me if I was hungry. I'd say, I don't know but she'd feed me and then my sore tummy would magically go away Grin.

Now sadly, I def know when I'm hungry. Or even not hungry, but bored enough to eat those bikkies anyway....yeah def know that feeling :-D