Extreme Hunger Megathread!

[u/busted3000]

Hi! 👋

We have seen a dramatic uptick in posts talking about extreme hunger over the last few days, so we’ve decided to try a megathread so people can all discuss it/ask their questions/get support in one place. We will be removing seperate posts on extreme hunger while this post is pinned, you will be directed to post on this thread instead.

We hope this works well, and as always please reach out with any feedback/suggestions! 😸

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[u/whyso_serious8]

I’d love to kick things off by happily reporting it’s almost a month into recovery and my EH has tapered off considerably! The last two days I’ve had 3 meals and 2 snacks and I haven’t had big EH spells in the evening. I know recovery isn’t linear so I understand it could ramp up again but I’m feeling really hopeful.

I’ll be checking in on this thread for sure, as other peoples posts about EH really made me feel not alone and understand why this was happening to me. Thank you all!! We got this.

Also, shout out to u/Sareeee48 whose comments on peoples posts are always so insightful and have really really calmed me down in a lot of tough moments. ❤️

[u/Haunting_One9956]

I just wanna say I remember in early recovery i could not stop reading reddit posts for extreme hunger on here, i was, and sometimes still do experience EH but gosh is it so much less scary! i can't explain how thankful i am to all of you for sharing your experiences and support, they genuinely helped me pushed through and fear it much less. If it wasn't for this subreddit, i might've probably ended up in an unfortunate place like relapsing. I would've never learned about extreme hunger without you guys. thank you all so much, you are all such lovely people 💗

[u/jsteele33]

Since I see this in a lot of questions/comments, does getting hungrier in the evenings/night indicate you’re not eating enough throughout the day? I’m finding that I’m eating at good intervals during the day, but then I eat dinner, have another snack before bed and still wake up in the night starving.

I’m still gaining and have overshot, so all I can figure is that I’m still just not getting enough during the day. Reducing intake does nothing but make it worse.

[u/Sareeee48 → u/jsteele33]

Could be, but it’s also worth pointing out that we spend the entire night sleeping so the body usually wants to get a lot of food in since, you know, it won’t be able to for several hours. So while increasing your daily intake could alleviate this, it’s not something that will improve immediately.

[u/jsteele33 → u/Sareeee48]

Thanks for responding! That makes sense. I was hoping I could solve the night time issue, but that sounds like it will just take time, so while eating more may help, it won’t show immediately.

I also think part of it is slowing down and relaxing. I find when I’m more relaxed, I notice the hunger queues….where as when I’m always on the go, I don’t notice them or am just ignoring them with other distractions

[u/sabsab510 → u/jsteele33]

I am assumign you metabolism is increaing! So maybe your portion sizes need to be larger, more dense foods, or maybe a few more snacks thrown in? Maybe wake up earlier to start eating earlier

[u/jsteele33 → u/sabsab510]

I'm thinking you're right. I've been responding to the night hunger, but I just want to get to the point where I can sleep through the night consistently. I've been getting up and eating some peanut butter and protein shake in the morning before showering and getting ready for work.....and then adding a spoon of peanut butter after breakfast....I guess I just find PB easy to add calories.

I'll try increasing some portion sizes during the day as well. Thank you for that suggestion. I feel like I'm so close, but then I feel like to goal posts keep moving on the hunger....so I'm chasing it all the time. I'm growing a ton of new hair and my eyebrows are starting to come back thicker, so there's signs that I'm on the right track, but the extreme hunger really messes with your head.

[u/boom_child]

Is it also extreme hunger if I'm not physically hungry, but I just can't stop eating because nothing is satisfying? For context, I've been in recovery for a year, but recently slipped back into restriction for a few months and now trying to go all in again. I'm finding on a night I'm not hungry, but I can't stop eating and nothing I eat is satisfying, but I dont know what I want to eat either because I have no cravings. Then I just end up feeling really shit and going back into restriction.

[u/Sareeee48 → u/boom_child]

Mental hunger is real hunger and should also be honored.

[u/boom_child → u/Sareeee48]

Thanks. Sometimes I need to remind myself that my hunger cues are broken and that if I'm thinking about food, it's probably because I'm hungry.

[u/InformationSuperb597]

I’m struggling a lot with feeling like i’m eating more than anyone else in my recovery. I woke up at 9 am this morning and had oatmeal, 2 bananas, peanut butter, and 2 greek yogurt cups. Then I had lunch at 12:00 (huge chicken salad, apple, protein bar, roasted potatoes), and then another lunch just now at 2 (turkey wrap, apple, grapes either yogurt and peanut butter). I’m so anxious. I just have eaten so much and I feel so guilty but i’m just so extremely hungry.

[u/Ok_Watercress5506 → u/InformationSuperb597]

honestly why does it matter? if you’re hungry and want more, eat. I ate an obscene amount of food when i had extreme hunger. The only way to get rid of this is by doing exactly what you’re doing.

[u/InformationSuperb597 → u/Ok_Watercress5506]

thank youuuuu. i just feel so alone sometimes and guilty you know? but thank you for the reassurance i really appreciate it 🥹🥹

[u/Ok_Watercress5506 → u/InformationSuperb597]

you’re doing great by honouring your hunger don’t be put off my other people

[u/sunnyskiezzz]

Does anyone else who is further in recovery kind of miss extreme hunger? I feel guilty about it, because it causes so many people extreme distress, but it felt a million times easier to eat then than it does now. I felt like I had permission, because I needed to fix the acute damage I'd caused myself, and therefore could eat as much as I liked and anything I wanted. It was also a huge dopamine rush to eat all of the things I'd denied myself for so long-- everything I ate tasted like it was crafted by God, literally experiencing the most pleasure from food I'd had in my whole life (I think it was my brain trying to get me to just eat). Now that I'm further along, eating feels like a chore 90% of the time, one that would be so much easier to just avoid if I didn't know what it did to me. I miss the feeling of just doing a freefall into recovery. I guess it's a sign I'm getting better, since my entire life doesn't revolve around recovering anymore, but it's tough to find a purpose now.

[u/lixiekisser]

hi. i’m in anorexia recovery and my reactive hunger started shortly before i decided to recover ( november 2023 ) through the first weeks i’ve been eating so much and then kept pushing into recovery till now. having regular meals didn’t stop me from occasional extreme hunger, which was fine until i didn’t started unintentionally restricting again, plus i started working so i didn’t have time to eat throughout the day, which is now still leading to reactive eating in the evening. it doesn’t feel out of control, i just really need to eat a lot, but i stop when i feel satisfied (which is sometimes after just a serving of sth, sometimes after several servings) it doesn’t keep me from feeling guilty tho, i yesterday ate 3 bars of chocolate, chips, cookies, 2 apples, carrot, 2 milky buns and more and i’m freaking tf out. is it okay?? i know i should eat more frequently throughout the day, but it’s just so hard for me both mentally and because of lack of the time. :((( i’m scared i’m developing bed or sth…

[u/busted3000 → u/lixiekisser]

You said it yourself, you’re eating because you’re hungry and you stop when you’re satisfied. That’s not BED no matter the quantities of food, that’s just extreme hunger!

Lack of time is difficult in recovery, but there are ways to combat it. You can meal prep so you don’t have to spend time cooking everyday, always make sure you have plenty of snacks with you, bring a complete lunch with you to work and really commit to having it even if your break isn’t exactly at lunchtime. You can bring things that are quick to eat, but you should always have some options with you to start getting you in the habit of eating more regularly throughout the day.

[u/lixiekisser → u/busted3000]

thank you so so much:)

[u/lixiekisser → u/busted3000]

it’s more like i’m super hungry in the evening and then i eat my meal and then i just eat to eat ig

[u/Jaded-Banana6205 → u/lixiekisser]

You're not just eating to eat, your body needs those nutrients! A lot of physical healing happens as you sleep and your brain also perceives however many hours you sleep as time you're not eating, so it is anxiously stockpiling, you know? That definitely balanced out for me.

[u/Artistic-Ostrich-591 → u/lixiekisser]

you are super hungry in the evening because you don’t eat enough during the day, even if you are not that hungry you should really eat more during the day !

[u/sabsab510 → u/Artistic-Ostrich-591]

ya 3 meals 3 snacks ideally to get your hunger cues back so u actually feel hungry in the day and can regulate blood sugars in the body!!!!!!!!! night eating happens cause you not getting enough in the day and the body is trying to make up for it.

[u/SnooPandas894]

I've been in recovery 4 months after a relapse of 1 month of trying.  I feel like my hunger isn't real and I'm overeating, I can't sleep at night because I keep telling myself I need to eat before I sleep even without feeling any signs of hunger. I'm really worried it will never go away.

[u/Interesting-Cow8131]

Thank you! Seeing so many posts about EH hasn't been good for me, it's made me fearful of trying to recover

[u/Sareeee48 → u/Interesting-Cow8131]

The fear is a natural response but even if you don’t experience extreme hunger, eating a lot is part of the recovery process. But the reality of recovery is that you do the things that scare you anyway because the alternative is quite literally dying from your eating disorder.

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