It’s four in the afternoon. Outside, the thermometer is blazing at more than 35 degrees. You arrive home dragging the fatigue of the entire long day. You’re not hungry, or so you think. You feel a craving, as if you need to recharge, but you also don’t have the energy to cook. Right at that moment, even if you’re not fully aware, the bad decisions begin.
With this lack of vital energy, you open the pantry, grab a bag of potato chips, a cold soda and flop onto the sofa. Without realizing it, you’ve finished the bag of chips and you go for a second soda, while browsing Instagram and TikTok. You fall asleep. Then you wake up, brush your teeth and go to bed, where you have trouble falling asleep.
In a short time, the scale goes up and you ask yourself… how is that possible, if you hardly eat?
Can you gain weight by not eating?
Here comes the first mistake. What you perceive as not eating is not that. Eating is not only sitting at a table with a cloth and plates. The bag of potatoes, the soda or that loaf of bread you’ve gobbled almost without noticing add calories to the total of your day’s diet. Or, perhaps, you decide not to eat, but you arrive at dinner with ravenous hunger. And the feeling that, since you’ve skipped a meal, you can allow yourself to eat more. “Many people come home after many hours of work without apparent hunger, but with a accumulated energy need, explains Laura Salud, pharmacist, nutritionist and CEO of Salmo Labs.
The expert points out that “the heat can temporarily decrease the appetite during the day, but that does not mean the body does not need energy». On the contrary, when we reach the end of the day with physical and mental fatigue, it is easier to reach for very tasty foods, rich in sugar, fat or salt, because they provide a quick reward.
Actually, you are hungry
That ‘I’m not hungry’ you tell yourself, and that you feel — or think you feel — is misleading. During the day, especially with high temperatures, the body can reduce hunger signals. But that does not eliminate the energy need. It simply postpones it. And when the afternoon comes, the body seeks a quick and effortless compensation.
To that physiological phenomenon adds the impact of mental exhaustion. «When we are tired, our ability to make conscious decisions decreases, says Salud. The brain looks for easy solutions, «and ultra-processed foods perfectly fulfill that function».
How you decide what you eat
The problem is not only what we eat, but how we decide. Psychology comes into play here. Ariadna Vilalta, psychologist expert in cyberpsychology and author of the essay ‘Una vida siempre en línea’, explains that «fatigue reduces the capacity for self-control«. When we get home, «the brain seeks a quick reward of sugar, fat, the couch and immediate rest».
That impulse is not casual, but a mechanism of compensation for the stress accumulated during the day. «It’s a quiet stress, that exhausts us and makes us feel that we have to reward ourselves», adds Vilalta.
The danger of improvising
When you reach that state of tiredness and stress, improvising becomes the norm. «And doing it with fatigue, heat and little energy usually leads us to quick, sweet or very tasty options», warns Vilalta.
We then enter a dangerous loop: I’m not hungry, I don’t cook; I don’t cook, I snack; I snack, I’m not satiated; and later I eat again. A pattern that, repeated for weeks, can translate into weight gain, poorer nutritional quality and a sense of loss of control.
Plan your meals
After understanding what’s going on, it’s time to act to end that loop. From a nutritional standpoint, the key is planning. In other words, the famous batch cooking. It’s about «dedicating a moment of the week to prepare basic foods that greatly facilitate later decisions», Salud notes. Having healthy options visible and accessible makes a difference when your mental energy is scarce after an endless day.
In summer, moreover, it’s not about forcing yourself to eat hot or elaborate dishes. «Complete salads with legumes, eggs, fish or chicken work very well. Or gazpachos paired with a source of protein, yogurt with fruit and nuts, or wraps with fresh ingredients», proposes the nutritionist.
Anticipating is a matter of lists
The intensive workday doesn’t have to cause weight gain if, when we get home, we have appealing and nutritious solutions that aren’t a festival of calories, sugars and low-quality fats. «You shouldn’t decide when you are exhausted. You have to leave decisions made beforehand, summarizes Vilalta. This implies planning ahead. For example, pre-cut fruit in the fridge, healthy options at hand and the least recommended snacks out of reach and out of sight.
The expert notes that the so-called ‘implementation intentions’ also work. Or in other words, small rules that reduce improvisation, such as arriving home, drinking water and resting ten minutes before eating anything. That small margin can break the autopilot of opening the pantry without thinking.
Another key factor Vilalta points out is what happens during the day. Reaching the end of the day in total exhaustion increases the likelihood of bad decisions. Therefore, introducing brief pauses, staying hydrated, moving a little and having a balanced meal at midday can make a real difference.
