Is hunger the same as appetite?

[CarrotPencil]

I am never hungry. I’m a size 18ish, have always been big, it’s an identity problem/childhood issue for me. Weight loss injections are an appetite suppressant. My question is, does appetite=hunger, is that what people mean? Or do the injections suppress the desire to eat even if not hungry?

I would say that hunger is the body's physical response to a lack of food and the resultant impetus to eat. Appetite seems to me to more about the psychological response to hunger, what you feel as a result of hunger, or sometimes what you feel even if not hungry. Like if you smell something delicious and it triggers your appetite even though you are objectively not hungry.

GLP-1 weight loss injections are a bit more complicated in how they work as an appetite suppressant. The way they act is that they slow down digestion, signal to your brain that you are full and they regulate your insulin levels.

Many people find that this impacts on their desire to eat, their appetite. I always used to eat when I was not hungry, pretty constantly snacking. Since taking Mounjaro I have no desire to snack or graze. I eat a smaller sized meal at regular meal times and in between I just don't care about eating. Doesn't enter my mind, not interested in snacks. Right now I have loads of Christmas food in the house, previously I would have been trying to justify why opening it now and snacking on it was acceptable, doing it anyway and then feeling pissed off with myself that I'd eaten it. That would trigger the loss of control feeling and turn into a cycle of snacking -> upset -> more snacking. Instead of that, I just don't care that it's in the house. I'm not tempted by it at all.

Yikes op, that’s a complex question.

i mean this politely but you’re never hungry because you never allow yourself to get hungry, does that make sense. If you ate a lot less, you’d feel hunger.

appetite and hunger are very different things.

appetite is your desire to eat.
hunger is a physical need, rather than a psychological one.

the injections suppress both. As it delays emptying your system, then it delays hunger, but it also suppresses your appetite by telling your brain you’re full.

For me, I was rarely hungry because I would eat/snack all of the time. The food noise in my head had me constantly seeking out something to eat.
Now the food noise is gone, I eat two meals a day, with an occasional piece of fruit for a snack once in a day.
It's strange to describe, how food is no longer the centre of all thoughts.
I still get hungry at meal times, and I enjoy my food still, but have a much smaller meal and feel full for much much longer.

I agree with pp that say it’s a complex question and very much appetite = psychological and hunger = physiological.

I also agree that many people who are always snacking or grazing don’t feel hunger because they never get to the point where the body is sending out hunger signals.

That being said, if you are ND, then you could be experiencing some difficulty with interoception, which is the ability to sense and interpret the body’s interna
physical and emotion state - such as hunger.

I quite often will have no appetite yet my stomach will be rumbling and I’ll be shaky from low blood sugar. I also didn’t really have an off button before MJ. I would eat until my plate was clear even when not really feeling it, because it was there and knew I needed to eat (and due to a childhood where not eating every scrap on your plate was a crime!)

Thanks for the explanations!!

@Dietingfool and @Snozzlemaid no you’re right, sometimes I’m terrible for grazing. BUT genuinely, I don’t eat masses. If I graze I won’t have a meal because I will be full (errr except for yesterday’s example below. That was a bad one! Rare that I eat 3 meals a day)

This is an example of what happens fairly regularly:
on Saturday I was out all day, I went out for dinner Friday night so wasn’t hungry for breakfast.
Grabbed a banana and a packet of crisps from shop for lunch because I thought I should have something to avoid getting very hungry while working. (Don’t know why I was worried about that as never get hungry!)
Had half a portion of chips from chip shop around 7pm then worked until 10pm, home to bed.

Shouldn’t have had the chips as wasn’t hungry but again, hadn’t eaten much during the day so was trying to avoid hunger as had a busy late evening ahead. I walked the high st cafes for something healthier but I’d just missed them as closing time!!

So all day I ate a banana, a packet of crisps and some chips. Pretty bad, absolutely!!! But definitely not masses of food. And didn’t feel hungry for any of it.

If I’m home I’m more of a grazer.

Yesterday:
Breakfast (always porridge with blueberries)
Stressed as forgot kids packed lunches so ran to Tesco then scoffed 2 cheese strings while throwing their lunchboxes together - bingo here’s the issue 😂 you’d think NOT eating would be one less thing to do and therefore make the whole situation less stressful
Lunch - mushroom omelette, banana
Dairy Milk bar ❌
Stole some of the kids leftover broccoli
Dinner - Deliveroo Nando’s but I halve it and will have half for lunch today.

Again not hungry for any of it! Greedy pig basically!