Forgetting to eat

For the last couple of years I've been on 'Ozempic ' injections for my diabetes. Side effects include feeling queasy and loss of appetite resulting in significant weight loss. I'm now at the stage of not wanting to lose any more weight - never thought I'd ever say that - so have reduced the dose. I'm gradually regaining my appetite and able to eat some of the foods I had completely 'gone off' but I'm still struggling to eat totally normally. Some days I just don't feel like eating. I have something early with my medication then 'forget to have lunch' Suddenly it is mid afternoon and I realise I need to eat something. I try when I do eat to make sure I have enough protein and still try to have my five a day of fruit and veg. I eat more fruit as I went off a lot of veg, but that isn't ideal as a diabetic! If I have a queasy day I can end up only fancying crisps and chocolate! I totally sympathise. When you do eat try to concentrate on 'nutritionally dense' food even if you only fancy an unhealthy snack. It's not easy but keeping healthy snacks to hand will help. Hope things get better soon.

I have noticed a definite decrease in my appetite as I get older. I always used to eat a lot but now can barely manage a sandwich for my evening meal.

pascal30

You could also try kefir drinks.. very nutritious.. I like the vanilla organic ones..

I too like the vanilla and also the mango flavour one I also like kefir yogurt.

Redblueandgreen I have a banana and yogurt for lunch most days. I have lots of other fruits and I also have some peanuts every day. I’m fit and healthy and am not too fussed about food but my stomach will let me know if I’m hungry. I’m a picker and when on my own can’t be bothered to cook just for myself. I’ve never forgotten to eat.
Best wishes and please look after yourself. Have you had your bloods checked recently, might be a good idea if you haven’t.

I rarely if ever forget to eat. The best I can do is realise it’s 2 pm and I still havnt had lunch. Hence my problem with weight gain, even though I am careful and only eat what is healthy.

I also forget to eat, quite regularly!

As I do long and exhausting day and night shifts I could be having breakfast at 1pm or 12:30am etc. anywhere in between so I'll have yoghurt/fruit or Weetabix/fruit ... or dinner, depending on the time then nothing else, just liquids.

Maybe it's the menopause doing it, but I don't mind as I prefer liquids to solids anyway!

Redblueandgreen hope you feel better soon. Would encourage walking, it really lifts the spirits and many towns and villages run free walking for health groups which often end at a place to have a communal bite to eat. .

Good luck getting through your shitty time, redblueandgreen.

I lost weight that I didn't need to lose while DD was dying (terminally ill for 15 months) but the idea of "forgetting to eat" is not something I've ever experienced.

The effects of stress are weird.

I considered myself middle aged until I hit 70. Then I had to accept being older. Now almost 77 I know myself to be old.
Yet I walk for miles on hilly terrain and while I still can, I will.
I know people years younger than me who woukdnt dream of going on a long walk and think I am amazing. 🤩 well maybe not not amazing, but mad perhaps . 🤔
I love it.

Allira

Middle age is generally considered to be 40 - 60

What are you when you're 91?
On borrowed time perhaps.

90+ is very old.

Redblueandgreen

Going through a really sh***y time at the moment. Have just realised for the first time in my life I’m forgetting to eat. All my life I’ve loved food but I’m getting to the end of the day and realising I’ve just had my breakfast and nothing else. I’m early 60s, healthy, still working and fit and exercise a lot. Love my busy job and I think I’m good at it but lonely in my personal life although I make the effort to make contact with friends, family and social activities. Have had a lot of stress recently, no bereavement but some significant changes in my life. No history of dementia in the family - I don’t think it’s that. . Any thoughts from anyone? (Really appreciating the distractions and grounding that GN offers.).

I'm the opposite, I'm always hungry and can't wait for my next meal.

I think depression has something to do with it.

I wouldn't worry too much about it but you might find it better for you if you take a supplement to help you keep healthy. The other thing you could do is set an alarm to ensure you have something during the day, even something small like a banana. Even when not going through bad times, I forget to eat if I am focussed on something but I usually find that I make up for it in the evening which is not so good.
I've concentrated on the problem you asked about above but just wanted to say that I'm sorry that you have gone through bad times and I hope life gets better for you. With any luck those changes will turn your life around so that it gets even better in the future.

I've found eating a problem at times. Eating alone feels like a chore. My DD has been a help: we speak on the phone and she keeps me company while the food goes down without my thinking about it.

Allira when you're 90 you're ancient!

Put a noisy reminder on your phone and every time it pings, it will remind you to eat.

Stress could be the reason, it's a silent ailment. Once things settle down you may find your appetite returns. X

This could be a short lived loss of appetite. I remember that my appetite completely disappeared at a time if stress. Kind DD did her best to tempt me with various treats and I did regain my appetite after a while.
I hope this is just a temporary thing for the OP. Otherwise, lots of good suggestions made by the other Grans. Good luck!

HelterSkelter1, you are being so sensible. I hope you feel better soon and recover your appetite.

Could I make one comment. Do not read or do anything else when eating. Concentrate on eating and think about what you are eating and on the different flavours and textures of the food you are eating. One way of improving your appetite is to actively concentrate on the pleasures of the food you are eating.

Re reading OPs post I see she is more forgetting to eat than no appetite.
So I think planning and asembling her meals and then setting a reminder on her phone could help.
Are you working from home OP or out to work. If out to work then take your lunch break if you tend to work through and take a picnic lunch box or eat out for lunch if possible.If working at home then set reminders. Set reminders at work as well.

Its very easy to forget...or not prioritise if you are busy and have no dependents to cater for.

I am verging on underweight and DH health worries have taken away my appetite. So I am reading this thread with interest.
DH has fortified milk as a calorie booster. This is 4 tbsps of Marvel whisked into a pint of full fat milk. I like latte coffee so for a while I am drinking a fortified pint as my morning coffees. 600 calories which is a good boost.
Then I am taking onboard what has been said above of planning meals and assembling them early in the day or making and freezing small portions to be microwaved.
Home made sandwiches with some side salad and a hard boiled egg are good for one of the meals. Weetabix good and easy for breakfast. And then a 3rd meal of something homemade and prefrozen if possible from the microwave. This is what I am trying to do.
Also take time to sit down at the table and listen to the radio. Or read.

I find a sandwich quick and easy during a flare up ( I gave gastroparesis)

You could also try kefir drinks.. very nutritious.. I like the vanilla organic ones..

If your friend hasn't been eating much long term, she will find eating more difficult, but what she needs to do is gradually build up the amount she eats - as they did with concentration camp survivors after the war - until they were safe to eat normally.

Can she have some of those enriched protein drinks. This is what my uncle was given after he was admitted to hospital suffering from malnutrition. Plus just eating food rich in calories, cream cakes, sweets, biscuits.

Personally, I think they look absolutely revolting and I suspect are milk based, which would count them out for me, but many people eat/drink them quite happily

My lovely friend is being seen for malnutrition. She’s 73 and has always struggled to maintain her weight, let alone increase it. She’d gone down to 6st10lbs and is 5’5. Her GP says she must make an effort to eat, but she says she’s up to 7st and sick of ‘stuffing herself’. Well each get a round of sandwiches at M&S and she takes half home for tomorrow’s lunch.
She’s had lots of tests to rule out anything serious and it seems it’s simply forgetting or not bothering to eat. She’s a worry!

I have always enjoyed my food, which is not the same as over eating or becoming obese. I do neither, but even as a child I had a discrimnating palate and liked good quality meals well prepared, which I got at home, and reacted in disgust, for example, faced with school dinners. poor quality ingredients badly cooked and presented.

Spending part of my childhood out of this country, I enjoyed trying new foods and new cuisines and I still do.

Thank you for taking time and effort to reply, all are helpful and thoughtful.