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When do you eat?



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2 months into this and I am still fighting the clock.

I haven't figured out how to eat when I am hungry....verses when the clock tells me to.

I am still thinking I "have" to eat lunch at 1200 but I just had Breakfast at 8ish.

So....what's your daily routine???

When do you eat?

How do you retrain your brain?

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I'm two months out, too--and if I ate when hungry,I'd find myself eating ..well, all the time! (I'm only just beginning to approach restriction.)

I eat at scheduled times. Eating when hungry has never worked for me in the past, so I'm tackling it in a new way. (That is not to say that, if I'm starving between meals, I won't grab a Babybel...) I find that, when I factor in getting all my Fluid and exercise, the mealtimes sort of fall into place.

I am tighter in the morning now, so I have a warm drink soon after getting up. Then I take Vitamins, meds, etc. After an hour and a half or two (during which I drink my first liter of Water for the day), I have breakfast. Since I'm not supposed to drink for 90 minutes after eating, I do my exercise after breakfast. When I get home, I drink another half-liter of water before lunch---by then, it's at least 12:00.

Lather, rinse, repeat---after 90 minutes, I work on the second half of my second liter for the day, then start dinner.

If I'm hungry later in the evening, I have a warm Protein Drink (especially if my Protein grams are on the low side for the day).

It's kind of regimented, but it seems to be doing the trick.

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Good pointers BestyB - I've been wondering how I'm going to eat post-surgery. As it stands now, I'm never hungry when I first get up - so coffee's it for me until about 10am. Since my husband and I don't have kids we tend to eat later - so lunch my be at 2:30pm and dinner around 8pm or later. I already food log - am working on designing a new doc to track my new nutritional needs - so I'll have to create a more structured plan for myself.

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I eat on roughly the following schedule:

Meal 1: 5 am Whey Protein in eggs or oatmeal

Meal 2: 9 am Yogurt with Whey protein

Meal 3: 12 noon 8oz chicken or Salmon

Meal 4: 4 pm Turkey Chill

Gym

Meal 5: 8 pm 8oz Chicken or Salmon

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It depends on work and such, but I think what Betsy said is a really good way to do it.

If you follow the clock, your body will start being hungry at those times. Follow those times on days off work too. This helps me so I'm not hungry at strange times during my work days when I can't stop to eat.

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coffee @ 5 a.m.

Bf around 9-10 a.m.

lunch Noon

Pre-workout snack 4:30

dinner - 7:30 - 8 pm

Snack - 9-10 p.m

This is my M-F schedule - I work so I have to eat at noon and gotta say most days I am hungry by then..

Weekends are a whole nother subject - then I eat when hungry - gotta say most weekend I don't do bf or lunch - especially if I am busy doing something maybe a late afternoon snack/lunch - but I ALWAYS eat dinner.

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coffee 6:30am

B-fast: 7:30am -always egg and bacon, all Protein in the morning keeps me fuller longer

Lunch: I try to hold out as long a I can - 1:30-2 if I can make it. If I eat too early then I'm ravenous before dinner. I keep a Protein Shake at work for emergencies. Snacking mid afternoon gets me in trouble.

Dinner: 6:30-7ish

Post-dinner: If I feel the need, and can afford it :smile2:.....either a handful of dark chocolate covered almonds or a homemade protein smoothie.< /p>

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I like schedules :smile2: So I try to stick to one M-F and have a little freedom on the weekends. Unlike some of the other bandsters, I don't stick to 3 square meals. I add 1-2 high Protein or veggie Snacks in if I need to.

Breakfast: 9:00am -protein shake made w. fresh fruit to add fullness.

Lunch: 12:30pm or 1pm - 1/2 cup some sort of protein, tuna, salmon, or veggie burger over a little greens

Protein snack: 4:30pm or 5pm - Though, I'm 9-5, overtime until 7pm or so is becoming the norm. So I must have a low-cal snack. low-fat cheese stick, cottage cheese, or hummus

Dinner: 7pm - 8pm or so - 1/2 cup protein of course: grilled chicken, veggie patty, fish, etc.

Dessert (2x a week) 1/2 cup greek yogurt w/ flaxseeds

Best,

Lauren

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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