Late afternoon cravings help!
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Yes!! I hit that 3pm slump all the time. Maybe add a little more protein to your breakfast? The hummus is more of a fat nutrient than protein.
I like doing overnight oats that I can grab at 3pm. 1/2 cup rolled oats, 1 scoop protein powder, 1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk that I make the night before or that morning and throw in fridge. (I also add a tiny bit of Log Cabin sugar free maple syrup just because I like it and gives a little sweetness!)
I like having oats because it's a good carb and oats are slow digesting so tend to fill me up and hold me over. But logistically, oats are harder to cook up in the daytime or need to be heated up if I'm not near a stove or microwave! So I really love making the overnight oats because I can prep it quickly ahead of time, throw in a fridge at home or office, and have it cold for my 3pm snack. When you let it sit in the fridge, it all kind of melds together so it's almost like a yummy dessert pudding treat.
The overnight oats with protein powder sounds delicious thank you1 -
kommodevaran wrote: »With so little to lose, it can seem like your weight isn't budging, but it is, if you're in a calorie deficit. So, do you stick to our allotment, or do you go over? If you set your calories to 1500, it will be easier, and you'll be fine until dinner, but if you insist on 1300, it definitely means that sweet drinks and sugary treats are out - you need all the nutrition you can get in order to not lose control.
I find I can stick to 1300 a day for about a week then the following week I really struggle and it’s usually 3pm I have a slump. I grab a naughty snack. Then dinner time I go over on my calories. When I do go over it’s about 1600-1800 for the day rather than 1300 (my goal). It’s the last few pounds I’m struggling with.
After having two c-sections I have this lower tummy bulge. I read somewhere - you can’t spot reduce your weight/flab, you just have to lose a lot of weight to get rid of the areas of flab - not sure how true this is. I have been doing some strength training (barbells and free weights etc) but I find I always go back to running.
Maybe I should change to 1500 per day - makes sense. Try that for a month then slowly take down to 1400 if the scales don’t move?0 -
Hi Jaymie, I'm in NZ too
One thing I have found is that reducing my carbs and sugar massively has totally gotten rid of that 3pm slump! I now have high, consistent energy all day and sleep much better too. The keto way of eating is a little too restrictive for me but LCHF is great. Take a look at the What The Fat website, I have bought both books and they are really informative and have great recipes. Also they are created by a NZ professor, dietician and chef Seriously the best way of eating I've ever tried.
Sounds interesting I will have a look at the site!! Sugar is something I really want to cut back on0 -
Some really great ideas to curb this 3pm problem of mine. Thanks everyone 😃.
I will cycle through the different snack ideas as I tend to get bored if I stick to the same things1 -
You are experiencing the the delayed effect of undereating, and it's so normal, but also so avoidable.
You will lose on 1500, but only if you really eat 1500. You need a food scale and honesty and patience. But it's easier to not cheat and be patient when you don't feel cheated. To not feel cheated, you need to eat enough, and feel that you can eat whatever you want. It's when you are or feel restricted, that you feel the need for fast refueling, and start cheating - and undereating, combined with referring to the most desirable foods as "naughty", which gives them power - makes it very difficult to not overeat.
You mentioned mild issues with sleep. Can you take a nap at 3PM?1 -
kommodevaran wrote: »You are experiencing the the delayed effect of undereating, and it's so normal, but also so avoidable.
You will lose on 1500, but only if you really eat 1500. You need a food scale and honesty and patient. But it's easier to not cheat and be patient when you don't feel cheated. To not feel cheated, you need to eat enough, and feel that you can eat whatever you want. It's when you are or feel restricted, that you feel the need for fast refueling, and start cheating - and undereating, combined with referring to the most desirable foods as "naughty", which gives them power - makes it very difficult to not overeat.
You mentioned mild issues with sleep. Can you take a nap at 3PM?
Very sound advice Thank You. Yeh I do feel undernourished on 1300, so the second week my body rebel’s.
Unfortunately I can’t take 3pm naps (work and kids)0 -
Hi Jaymie, I'm in NZ too One thing I have found is that reducing my carbs and sugar massively has totally gotten rid of that 3pm slump! I now have high, consistent energy all day and sleep much better too. The keto way of eating is a little too restrictive for me but LCHF is great. Take a look at the What The Fat website, I have bought both books and they are really informative and have great recipes. Also they are created by a NZ professor, dietician and chef Seriously the best way of eating I've ever tried.
Sounds interesting I will have a look at the site!! Sugar is something I really want to cut back on
is there a medical reason you need to cut back on sugar?3 -
You eat 100g of protein at one meal (lunch)? I have no idea what that could be, but I would drop that to more like 30g and use the extra calories for fruits and veggies that fill you up.
My go-to afternoon snack is a large sweet potato with hummus and some nuts.
Not a good idea, protein keeps you full for longer and 100g is not a lot - that's a standard serving size of chicken, fish or red meat etc for an adult. The sugars in fruit would cause her a quick energy increase then a slump later on, so better to have the protein and green fibrous veggies....
Added sugars are too quickly ingested and no real digestion takes place. The energy release is too fast, so you spike then slump. The sugars already present in fruit don't cause this because you're chewing and digesting the whole fruit, so energy is released more slowly and evenly. A piece of fruit like a peach, two small satsumas or a plum, or veg like carrot sticks or cucumbers in the afternoon, with 20-30g cheese, and a cup of tea or a glass of no added sugar squash, might help.2 -
TavistockToad wrote: »Hi Jaymie, I'm in NZ too One thing I have found is that reducing my carbs and sugar massively has totally gotten rid of that 3pm slump! I now have high, consistent energy all day and sleep much better too. The keto way of eating is a little too restrictive for me but LCHF is great. Take a look at the What The Fat website, I have bought both books and they are really informative and have great recipes. Also they are created by a NZ professor, dietician and chef Seriously the best way of eating I've ever tried.
Sounds interesting I will have a look at the site!! Sugar is something I really want to cut back on
is there a medical reason you need to cut back on sugar?
No medical reason, I don’t mind the odd cake or slice now and then, but not everyday. Sugars can give me a crash not nice1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »Hi Jaymie, I'm in NZ too One thing I have found is that reducing my carbs and sugar massively has totally gotten rid of that 3pm slump! I now have high, consistent energy all day and sleep much better too. The keto way of eating is a little too restrictive for me but LCHF is great. Take a look at the What The Fat website, I have bought both books and they are really informative and have great recipes. Also they are created by a NZ professor, dietician and chef Seriously the best way of eating I've ever tried.
Sounds interesting I will have a look at the site!! Sugar is something I really want to cut back on
is there a medical reason you need to cut back on sugar?
No medical reason, I don’t mind the odd cake or slice now and then, but not everyday. Sugars can give me a crash not nice
i don't understand why people call cake 'sugar' when its really not just sugar...
but if you don't want to eat it every day, then don't.2 -
I don't have a 3 pm slump because I have a very satisfying lunch at 2 pm (my biggest meal of the day). Have you tried experimenting with timing your meals? Having lunch be your largest meal may not be an option for you, but pushing your meals forward an hour or two may be.
Would you say it's more of a habit than a physical sensation? Sometimes it is. Your mind basically knows "it's 3 pm, time to start the craving process as usual". Are you doing anything in particular around that time? Is doing something else around that time an option? Usually, a short session of moderate intensity exercise when I have unpleasant feelings about food does me lots of good because it kind of dulls the appetite for me.
ETA: as a general rule, mild hunger is easier to handle than cravings. If you move your "hungry" time (time you're not eating) to the time you crave random things the least, you may be able to wait out hunger and have a more substantial meal closer to your trigger time.
For example, I have breakfast whenever I get hungry after waking up. This can be anywhere between 8 am and 12 pm (or later in some cases). If I happen have my breakfast at 8, that leaves about 6 hours between breakfast and lunch and I can usually easily wait it out if I get a little bit hungry before lunch.2 -
TavistockToad wrote: »is there a medical reason you need to cut back on sugar?
Instead of vilifying sugar, and vaguely wish to cut back on it, which only makes you crave sugary things even more, you need to have a solid plan that makes you not crave sugary things like mad. Your problem is that you head for the pantry or the café, and there is no stopping you when you've decided.No medical reason, I don’t mind the odd cake or slice now and then, but not everyday. Sugars can give me a crash not nice1 -
honestly, i plan for a mid-afternoon snack on work days (I don't always need it on weekends which is a bonus as I add those cals to dinner). I pre-log/pre-plan my meals.2
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Check out the keto diet...bread/carbs/sugar cause cravings ...I was a sugar-holic! Candy cookies bread cake just sweets period and I was always craving... Started keto.. No craving not even hungry at all most of the time .. If you want more info on it check out Dr Eric Berg on YouTube lots of videos on the subject2
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amusedmonkey wrote: »I don't have a 3 pm slump because I have a very satisfying lunch at 2 pm (my biggest meal of the day). Have you tried experimenting with timing your meals? Having lunch be your largest meal may not be an option for you, but pushing your meals forward an hour or two may be.
Would you say it's more of a habit than a physical sensation? Sometimes it is. Your mind basically knows "it's 3 pm, time to start the craving process as usual". Are you doing anything in particular around that time? Is doing something else around that time an option? Usually, a short session of moderate intensity exercise when I have unpleasant feelings about food does me lots of good because it kind of dulls the appetite for me.
ETA: as a general rule, mild hunger is easier to handle than cravings. If you move your "hungry" time (time you're not eating) to the time you crave random things the least, you may be able to wait out hunger and have a more substantial meal closer to your trigger time.
For example, I have breakfast whenever I get hungry after waking up. This can be anywhere between 8 am and 12 pm (or later in some cases). If I happen have my breakfast at 8, that leaves about 6 hours between breakfast and lunch and I can usually easily wait it out if I get a little bit hungry before lunch.
I think it is a habit - when Im at work 3pm is when I get a chance to sit down and write up reports, if Im not at work 3pm is when I pick the kids and they have their afternoon tea. I like the idea of shifting my eating time, as I am only mildly hungry at lunch time, I could push Lunch till 2pm.0
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