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My oversized appetite really made my friend mad
I am a 21 year girl at college. I have the unusual problem of have an abnormally large appetite. I have always had a fast metabolism but I am also a competitive swimmer and tennis player. I sometime eat 7000+ calories in a day, but 6000 is more typical. Occasionally this puts me in awkward situations. Last Saturday my good friend and former roommate invited me to play soccer in her intramural league semifinals and then stay at her place. She picked me up right after swim practice an then we went to play three hours of soccer. By the time we finally had dinner at her place it was 5:00. I ate at least 2X what she did but as an old friend she didn't say anything. All I had to eat all day besides dinner was breakfast and a small sandwich for lunch. With 4 hours of swimming and 3 hours of soccer my stomach was hungry again by 9:00. She made me a large chicken salad and was surprised to see me eat it all with a couple apples and bananas. Some days my stomach really does seem abnormal and by 11:00 I was getting hungry again. I ate the last two apples while my friend said "Do you EVER stop eating? Where do you put it all?". When we were going to bed at 12:30AM I had to tell her "this is embarrassing but I really need a snack." She was annoyed and asked if it could wait until tomorrow. I said I was really pretty hungry. She watched me eat a couple of drumsticks and some other leftovers and was saying "How can you be hungry? Do you clean out every kitchen you see?" She made me scrambled eggs and warmed a couple of lean cuisine dinners. She was saying like "fine, eat eat eat, you're always eating. just eat everything, eat some more. Oh that's right it's your metabolism, OK well then just eat eat eat. still hungry? there's cereal in the cupboard don't forget that..." She was really annoyed and I was very embarrassed. She apologized the next day and I gave her some money for food. She didn't say much, was very business like, and dropped my at the BART station to go home (that was the original plan). I didn't feel like anything was resolved and I haven't talked to her since. (4 days ago) I don't know how to handle it. I don't want her to be mad at me. Should I pretend nothing happened? - that's what my instinct is. It is rare that my appetite really causes me trouble beyond mild embarrassment and this is the first time for anything like this.
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You have done all you can do. You gave her money for the food, and she has apologised. You don't need to be embarrassed about how much you need to eat. As you said, you play a lot of sport. Michael Phelps consumes 12,000 calories a day! So you have nothing to be embarrassed about.
Your friend may have issues with food, and she could be projecting those feelings onto you. Maybe she is constantly on diet, has a slow metabolism and therefore has to eat a tiny amount just so she doesn't put on weight. This would very likely make her annoyed with you, watching you eat so much without worrying about it. But this is her problem, not yours.
She must know how much you eat because she used to room with you! So put this down to her having a bad day, and don't mention it again. Act as normal, maybe take her out to lunch as a thank you for having you over. But don't mention how much you eat unless she does first. This type of thing should not get in the way of a good friendship - if it does, it might be time to re-examine that friendship.
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