Do people really eat like this?

[Kuind]

Dh’s family were visiting last week. We took them to a restaurant which had insane portions. I mean no one finished their plate.

But the next day NONE of his family ate. They all said they weren’t hungry and full from the day before. They just had coffee and a biscuit or two.

I mean I certainly didn’t need breakfast and could have got away with not having lunch but I was famished by dinner. So dh and I had toasties.

Do these people genuinely just not feel hunger or is it just a habit?

Seems on the extreme to me but can't see that it really matters.

We eat our main meal at lunch & an evening meal really throws me out!

I’m greedy so would be starving by breakfast.

My OH can go most of the day without eating, winds me up as I go to sleep thinking about food and wake up thinking about food.

Some people are wired different.

Yes, some people do naturally feel unpleasantly full for longer than others after a particularly big meal, just as some people are able to ‘stock up’ by eating a substantial meal and then not eat again for quite a while.

I was on a solo holiday recently during which I spent 9.30 am to 10 pm daily in art museums. It worked for me to eat a protein-heavy hotel breakfast about 8.30 am, then not eat again till 10 pm at night, when I ate something fairly small. That wouldn’t have worked for DH.

Eating disorders are very common - it's not just obviously underweight people who suffer from them. This isn't helped by the 'orthorexia' trend where all kinds of fads are spoken about as though they're normal (they're not!) - long unnecessary fasts, 'detox' diets, juice 'cleanses'. They're all forms of disordered eating.

Provided you have normally-functioning kidneys, liver, and digestive system, eating regularly and omnivorously is healthy and appropriate. If you have kidneys that don't function properly, no diet is going to help you detox, you need dialysis.

Are they older? Your appetite decreases with age , for example my parents wouldn’t eat supper if they’ve had a big lunch, and regularly use the “I’m so full from last night “ line if we’ve had a big family evening meal. TBH each to their own.

You do understand that people experience hunger differently, right? If they didn't, GLP-1 medication wouldn't be so popular. Even when I was on full on Atkins and in keto, I still got hungry every 4-5 hours.

One of my friends, on the other hand, is more like you - she says she never feels hungry unless she's breastfeeding (and she hates that feeling). She eats a very normal diet, likes a biscuit.

This is me and DH. I'm forever asking "are you hungry" "what do you want for dinner?" "do you fancy a snack?" 😭

I'm going to have "she was starving" on my grave as I must say it multiple times every day 😂

That’s an excellent way of putting it 😂

Does your dh say that this is the way they've always eaten and are they healthy? Their eating habits are the equivalent of intermittent fasting, which has become fashionable and is supposed to bring health benefits. I'm also intermittent fasting and can fast for 17 hours, which is said to increase autophagy and lower insulin resistance.

I mean, I would have also thought this was crazy a few years ago, but then I went on a bit of a journey to sort my disordered eating (bingeing) out and i discovered that what I had thought were hunger cues over the years were just habit. I used to eat a massive meal and then just keep eating at my normal frequency and portion size the next day and I'd feel uncomfortable for days, honestly. Whereas now I just wait until I'm hungry again - i can see a scenario where if I had a couple of 'big' food days or one big meal i wouldn't be actually hungry at all the next day - although I'd probably eat something small mid day because otherwise I feel a bit woozy blood sugar wise (completely unscientific there so feel free to correct me).
Also worth noting that a large meal of mostly veggies and protein in an otherwise healthy diet probably doesn't have as much impact on the system as a big carb heavy meal on top of a diet that maybe doesn't include as much water and veg as it should do.

I don't understand why restaurants serve portions like that. They must know how much food is wasted - plates not emptied. It doesn't really line up with how restaurants are struggling to stay open - they could cut costs by serving sensible amounts.

But did no-one take leftovers? I often can't finish a restaurant meal, but I don't eat until I'm stuffed because well, why would you? But I nearly always take the leftovers home to enjoy the next day when I'm hungry and want to eat again.

My parents are like this. Eat like snakes. Especially if at someone else’s expense too

Everyone feels hunger when they haven't eaten unless they are on appetite suppressants/medication/ill. Some people with eating disorders ignore their feelings of hunger but that's something else.

People are all different.

I don't really feel hungry very often.

If I'm busy, I won't even think about food. My partner will often ask if I'm hungry at the weekend and I have to think about it and almost reconnect my brain and my stomach!

I usually reply with "I could eat" because a) I'm fairly confident I could and b) once I smell food cooking, I can go from not hungry in the slightest to ravenous in seconds.

I often don't feel hungry unless I actually think about it.

I don't get this at all, or the thing where people have a large breakfast and then say they don't need lunch because of it, and sometimes even only have a tiny dinner. I get hungry about every three hours regardless of how much I've eaten. I think I'm probably in the minority.

I’m like this, wouldn’t even occur to me to miss a meal simply because I’d had a larger than normal plate the day before.

What I have eaten the previous day has not impact on how hungry I am the next day!

What were they doing? I suppose if they were just sat in a heap then they might not have felt hungry.

This has happened once in my life! I had a huge mixed grill and a cheesecake platter afterwards I actually couldn't eat for nearly 24 hours after I was so full it was gross. It was really good though and I'd probably do it again 😂

My mums like this!!

I did not inherit it from her, unfortunately i am never full for more than an hour or so after a meal, even a large meal. i dont really get the full feeling very often at all.

It's not "starving" FFS. What an exaggeration. 😅 If I've eaten a lot one day, I sometimes don't feel like eating anything the following day. I honestly don't feel hungry at all.

My anecdotal observation is that it's slimmer people that need to eat regularly. I'm pretty chunky and can easily skip a meal or two if it's not convenient to eat. My best mate and my DH are both very slim (DH is just in the healthy range of BMI and has to work to stay there) and they both need to eat regularly.

Me too. Even more ravenous than I usually am when I wake up.

I'd think that most people that have a large lunch wouldn't want anything for dinner. Do you think that perhaps this is why we have an obesity problem in this country, because people just don't know when to stop eating?

If I am going out for a large evening meal often I will not eat during the daytime up to it at all, so that may be close to 24 hours if you take the night before into account as well.

Normally pretty hungry by the time the meal comes around. But that is really the point.

It's weird because that isn't how our bodies work - we don't 'store food' like reptiles. If I had a really big dinner one night, I would maybe just have coffee and a banana for breakfast instead of porridge or toast and then carry on as normal for my other meals. It sounds like either disordered eating or they ate when you weren't there or some people think not having to eat makes them better than other people. Food is fuel!