Why aren't I hungry?

July 5, 2017 11:01 PM

I just went five days without eating anything more than a breakfast of coffee and granola each day and once two slices of pizza.

I wasn't hungry or run-down or more tired than usual. I worked on a seriously brain-intensive project for the first four days and went on a 100-mile motorcycle ride on the fifth day which led to me being hungry enough to eat half of an 8" pizza and nothing else.

It wasn't until day 6 (July 4) that my hands started shaking and I really felt hungry. I took myself to my local and had a cheeseburger and fries.

Through all of this I've been drinking my normal amount of beer; 6-8 units a day, but I haven't gotten particularly drunk which is very unusual.

I started Adderall about a month ago. I see that one of the side effects is loss of appetite but I would think that not eating would make me feel hungry or run-down which I just haven't felt.

I'm seeing my doctor later this month but it's day 7 now and I still haven't eaten anything today but granola and coffee with no lack of energy.

posted by bendy to Health & Fitness (19 answers total)

Do you mean 8 beers a day? If I drank 8 beers a day and had a granola bar I'd likely not be hungry either.
posted by saradarlin at 11:06 PM on July 5, 2017

Loss of appetite = not hungry.

Consider eating your normal amount of food anyway.
posted by aniola at 11:06 PM on July 5, 2017

After a couple of days of not really eating, many people find that their bodies stop sending the same hunger signals. It doesn't mean you don't need food - it just means your body has decided food isn't available and there's no point bugging you about it.

I have found this true for myself in situations where very little food is available (a couple of badly planned camping trips, fieldwork in remote regions, etc). But it's also something I've heard from anorexic friends who have deliberately restricted their eating.
posted by lollusc at 11:18 PM on July 5, 2017

Adderall absolutely does this to me, right down to the "oh hey my hands are shaking because I haven't eaten recently" bit.

I find it helpful to eat on a schedule.
posted by Xany at 11:30 PM on July 5, 2017

(saradarlin: 3 pints of 4% beer are 6.9 units of alcohol.)
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:39 PM on July 5, 2017

Adderall

Yeah, that and stimulants in general - paradoxic loss of appetite. Some forms of clinical depression also exhibit similar symptoms.

I've a similar issue with, probably, different base causes, but if I can make myself do a full set of exercises (even just 3x 2.5 to 4 high intensity minutes) every other morning, I eat a lot "better."

The problem is making myself stick to that.
posted by porpoise at 11:48 PM on July 5, 2017

also agreeing that adderall did this to me, especially in the first couple months. even if you feel fine now, the lack of calories will catch up with you mentally & physically. I'm already quite thin so it was enough of a problem that I had to be very deliberate about choosing (healthy) high-calorie, high-fat foods. still do, in fact. a side effect I didn't expect is that very little sounds good, even when I do feel hungry.
posted by changeling at 11:49 PM on July 5, 2017

Bodies are remarkable things. Back in my teenage days I lived off ~500 calories a day (less if I could get away with it) for 7 months without being hungry, doing 8 hours of exercise at least, per week, doing great in school (didn't lose any weight either :( FFS). And that was without stimulants of any kind (I don't even drink coke or coffee). There's a reason people abuse stimulants like aderall for weight loss!

6-8 units is about 3-4 pints of beer? Per day? That's 600-800 calories right there, a granola bar could be anything from like 100-400+ calories , so lets call it 200. Pizza also varies massively but even if its a lightly topped, thin crust 8" pizza, its still coming in at over 100 calories per slice. So you're getting at least 900 calories a day, could be much more 1200-1500 would not be out of the question for what you've described. So while it probably doesn't seem like much food (much of it isn't food!), you're not consuming a desperately inadequate amount of calories (there are people who under medical supervision and with adequate fat stores have survived over a year without any food at all). The fact that the majority of your daily calories comes from beer and then pizza is something you should probably address but I don't think there's anything out of the ordinary going on here. I would cut out the daily beer (if you can, you might have to start by scaling back) then eat regular, healthy meals even if you're not hungry
posted by missmagenta at 12:00 AM on July 6, 2017

I had precisely the same experience on adderall, I didn't feel run down or tired or hungry either, it was just like everything food-based in my brain was totally switched off. I had no interest in eating, although I *could* eat if someone sat me down in front of food. I just didn't care, and seemed to operate as if eating normally, despite eating very little.

Probably the adderall's doing.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 12:24 AM on July 6, 2017

Yep, it's the adderall. The thing is, it's surely affecting your ability to think/operate at highest capacity, your healthy functioning of your body, etc., even though you're feeling normal and maybe even feeling great. With this medication it's important to give yourself reminders to eat regularly, because that's really not good to do on a long-term basis. It'll probably subside as you start tolerating the medication better, but do keep this in mind until then.
posted by naju at 1:19 AM on July 6, 2017

When I was on Adderall, I ate much less. I didn't feel hungry and I didn't feel tired, and food was just less interesting to me. Sometimes I had to remind myself to eat. Even so, I lost thirty pounds. I've since stopped it for unrelated reasons, and my appetite (and body weight) shot right back up to where it was before.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:25 AM on July 6, 2017

At the risk of being repetitive, you kind of have you make yourself eat when you are on Adderall. Set reminders on your phone. Usually once I *start* eating, the appetite kicks in.

I wonder if your dosage might be too high? It seems to me that even if you are on extended release you should at least get hungry in the evenings when the med starts to wear off. Couldn't hurt to call your doc.
posted by bunderful at 4:51 AM on July 6, 2017

If you're drinking that much please don't stop eating. Or at least take heavy duty vitamins. Someone I know has irreversible brain damage due to vitamin efficiency because he quit eating, but kept drinking alcohol. It's scary shit.
posted by something something at 4:51 AM on July 6, 2017

In addition to what everyone else said above- my psych told me to be careful with drinking on Adderall because apparently it makes you feel less drunk, so that piece also fits.

When I first started on Adderall I kept finding that I was pissed off for 'no reason' in late afternoon, and then realizing that even though I didn't FEEL like it, I must be hangry. Not gonna lie, I find the appetite suppressant effect to be kind of a nice thing, but you really do still need to eat a bit more food than this, even if you don't feel like you do.
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:28 AM on July 6, 2017

If you are drinking consistently everyday, plus the adderall medication, plus the decreased appetite please call your doctor for a reevaluation if this is appropriate for you.

You may be better served by sobriety from alcohol , a different stimulant or some other recommendation.
posted by AlexiaSky at 6:30 AM on July 6, 2017

Yup, the lede was kind of buried there, just to add to the chorus that Adderall will TOTALLY do this.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 6:36 AM on July 6, 2017

That's absolutely the Adderall. Eat some food already!
posted by bile and syntax at 8:12 AM on July 6, 2017

Thanks for the answers everyone! I was surprised this week to see these effects of the Adderall since they hadn't appeared until a few weeks after I started the medication. Starting next week I'm going to be walking about a mile home from a class every day so fingers crossed that will get my appetite going again.

It has been kind of fun to not worry about food at all for a few days, but I realize that it's not sustainable and I need to change this.
posted by bendy at 12:40 PM on July 6, 2017

In the same situation, I've had luck with making sure to *drink* some calories, FWIW. I hate actually eating when I'm not hungry but I don't mind a fancy green juice or something, and I definitely feel better having had one. Odwalla/Naked-type juices are high-calorie and not-super-healthy on their own but they're great for that situation. I've had some luck with soylent and other meal replacement shakes as well.
posted by R a c h e l at 1:43 PM on July 6, 2017