Forgetting to Eat.

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Does anyone else do this? I'm 18, and I just forget that I need to eat to the point that the only thing that reminds me to eat is stomach cramps. I rarely eat more than one meal a day, and I usually eat that meal because my partner is having dinner, which reminds me to have dinner.

Does anyone else have this?

I had this exact problem when I was growing up. Sometimes I didn't recognize the feeling of being hungry. I was a very skinny child. After I turned 18 and had more say over what I was allowed to eat and how much I was allowed to eat it kind of went away. I learned to appreciate food more.

I forget to eat all the time when I get too preoccupied with something. When I do remember, I procrastinate and forget. I still eat more than once a day of course. I usually eat one thing and that is it than a meal because to me what I am having is a meal. My husband has to make me some food when he can do it.

I am always forgetting to eat, and I am never feeling hungry until I am fainting from hunger. iMother reminds me to eat and tells me what to eat.

I've had this problem now and then, more when I was younger. I didn't used to eat until dinner time, for many years. I finally realized sometime in my 40s that I had a lot more resilience - physically and emotionally - if I had breakfast every day. I still didn't eat much lunch for a long time - usually just read a book during lunch at work, or ate something really light, like some cherry tomatoes (I've loved them all my life).

My also AS spouse still forgets to eat. He doesn't eat breakfast unless I remind him. Otherwise he'll go all day, working like crazy, and suddenly be so ravenous and cranky that it seems almost as if he'll rip boards off the house and eat them. There's no way to cook fast enough to feed him at that point, which used to lead to him eating fast food or convenience food. So I now try to keep healthy snacks in the house to give him when he gets to that point, to tide him over until we can cook a healthy meal. He just doesn't think about eating until it's the point of desperation.

I also still forget to defrost something for dinner. I don't tend to think about what to have for dinner until late in the day.

I had the same problem when I was your age, up until recently to be honest. I fought this problem by just arranging my meals to a fixed time of the day.

Funny. I'm the exact opposite and it's also because of autism.

(I say "also" because some people struggle to remember eating regularly because of their autism that leads them to fail to notice hunger or leads them to misread the signals of hunger though there are, of course, other reason unrelated to autism/related to others disorders).

I can't function when I get seriously hungry/thirsty. The sensation of being thirsty or hungry is extremely overwhelming. If I were to compare it to something equally distracting and overwhelming, it would be extremely loud noise or another sensory stressor going on non-stop and there's no escaping it.

I can't possibly miss hunger or thirst because it only takes so long until I can't focus, I get cranky, I get hypoglycaemic easily, I feel as if I've little energy left and talking at all (probably because I need to focus hard and have a certain amount of energy in order to talk) becomes a huge strain.

Based on my experience, compared to me non-autistic people tend to have a greater tolerance for the sensation (notice it later too) and tend to be less sensitive to the effects of hunger/thirst.

So yeah, I'm ridiculously sensitive towards most of my body's signals/sensations as part of my autism, not hyposensitive except for the sensation of pain and... whatever other sensation that I can't remember right now.

Also, when it comes to actually having food, I have no idea what I want. :/

No, I automatically know when it's time to eat. It's a natural thing that comes to me. In fact all I mostly think about is my next meal.

I eat just so regularly that I won't forget to eat. Drinking however I do forget, just because I am busy.

Hah! When I was kind there was NO food! So I win!

(Give him his prize, Johnny).

Usually when I'm deep in a programming project that takes like a week, I will eat once every 2 days lol I'll lose 5 or so pounds. Otherwise I love to eat and will eat just to eat!! My favorite is speghetti and french dressing or pizza and ketchup!! !! !! !! Eggs and balsalmic vinegar are great too!

I often forget to eat. It's not 'til I'm faint with hunger that I start looking for food and by then I'm so desperate I make unhealthy choices.

I forget sometimes, that is why it is easier to always have the same thing. I used to be really hungry all the time, and I would take it really personally if I was spending time with someone who didn't remember to have us eat, because I thought that if they really cared about me they would remember to provide food. Looking back at that, I realize that was kind of an unhealthy way to think about life because I (and I was an adult at the time, I guess, technically) am perfectly capable of deciding when to eat, and I shouldn't blame it on someone else. I do forget though, especially when I am eating a good balance of nutrients and eating healthier, because then I don't have that crash you get from eating some sugary junk or fast food and then you're hungry again after a couple hours.