this happens to me quite a lot actually, and I'm not sure why. I will be hungry/really hungry and I KNOW it but I have no appetite. For example, today I woke up around 2, was pretty hungry so I went to Chipotle to grab a burrito (and I love Chipotle too) but I couldn't even finish the burrito. Most of the time I can easily eat one within 2 minutes if not two but today I left at least 1/4 of the burrito and couldn't eat anymore.

Is it due to dramatically changing your sleeping schedule, being sick (except most of time I'm not sick) or what?

And if you are hungry but have no appetite what can you do?

I'm really skinny and have the same problem. I can be really starving so I get 12 wings from Buffalo Wild Wings and finish like 7 of them and then I'm full. Lately I've still been able to take in about 3500 calories a day mainly by drinking a ton of liquids. I have 2 protein shakes a day which are about 800 calories each and another 40 oz. of juices like OJ and grape juice which is about 450 more calories, so that's 2k calories taken care of right there.

Another thing that helps is eating salted peanuts and peanut butter randomly whenever I feel like it. It's really easy to eat one serving of salted peanuts which is close to another 200 calories. A weird thing with the sleep schedule is that recently I switched to a polyphasic schedule which means I'm sleeping about half as much and been sleep deprived a little bit, and I'm actually a bit more hungry than I used to be.

I'm not sure if you're talking about eating enough to add weight and bulk up, that's what I'm doing and the above things have helped me out b/c generally I don't have a huge appetite. If you're talking about just being able to eat large servings like a normal person, then I don't know b/c I've never been able to do that, and I guess some people are just different like that.

you're most likely going too long between meals or just not eating enough in general

My story is completely anecdotal, but I think it applies to a lot of people.

I used to be in a similar boat as you. I really wanted to bulk up and had no problem hitting the gym, but I just couldn't get enough solid food down to put on weight. I tried to push through it for about a year by always gorging myself when I ate, but I had only a little gain in my overall appetite and stomach capacity. Eventually I found I could only get the calories in by eating 6 small meals every day, but never eating until I felt full. I've been eating this way for the past two years and now when I get the opportunity to eat a ton, the capacity is there. People assume that just because a standard meal for me is 500 calories I won't be able to go to town on an all you can eat buffet, but they are mistaken.

The mechanism in our bodies that tells us when we're full has little to do with our actual stomach capacity. You really just need to play around with meal size, frequency, and amount of fluids consumed to find what lets you eat the most.

Same exact problem. It has always been hard for me to gain weight. My solution has been to eat as much solid food as I can at each meal and then top it off with an 800 calorie protein/carb shake. Another shake at night gets me through most the night. In case it is not enough and I wake up hungry I have RTDs by the bed. With this approach I was able to gain 10 pounds in 8 weeks. This also allows me to work out and build/KEEP muscle mass like never before.

Also consider your stress factor. On weekends when the work pressure subsides and I am more rested, and less rushed, I have more appetite and can put away a plate of food without it being a chore.

Good luck!

This has also happened to me most of the time recently. I feel hungry but when I start to eat I can barely touch my food. This started when I had changed my sleeping schedule due to work, so I believe this is one possible reason. Also, I oftentimes have a long time interval from my previous meal to the next so it's another possible reason to consider.