Living the Lifestyle Friday April26

Jimb376mfp

We meet here to explore, share, celebrate and (sometimes) agonize over how we do (or don't) incorporate weight loss guidelines into our daily lives. "It's a lifestyle, not a diet" is easily and often said, but sometimes not so simply put into practice.


This is a thread for everyone. If you're new to GoaD, or to weight loss, your questions and comments are always welcome. If you're maintaining, or a long-term loser, your thoughts on the topic may be just what someone else needs to hear. If you're reading this, join in the discussion!

Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Thread starters for April are below:

Monday - imastar2 (Derrick)
Tuesday - whathapnd (Emmie)
Wednesday - minimyzeme (Kim)
Thursday - misterhub (Greg)
Friday- jimb376mfp (Jim)

Today's topic: Eating by the Clock.

We all have a scale. We all have clocks and watches that we check several times a day. How does the clock affect you LTL?

I see some posts about intermittent fasting, not eating after a certain time at night, eating three meal times at specified times.

How does the timing of when you eat help or hinder LTL?

Do you think about what time you eat or do you not include the clock as part of your healthy LTL?

imastar2

I eat breakfast at a different time everyday but usually within an hour of getting up. I wat lunch sometime between 12-2. Dinner is usually anywhere from 5-7. That's as close to narrowing it down as I come. Don't usually snack because I'm usually moving doing something.

If I don't eat at those times I usually get to feeling g a little funky nervous and all. Hate it when the tummy starts growling.

Jimb376mfp

My wife has a bizarre eating schedule, She eats dinner at 10:30 PM! Falls asleep and eats breakfast in the early morning. She is at Lifetime and has been on Maintenance for years.

That said, I have gotten away from evening eating after dinner (6:00-7:00). It helps to not crave night time snacks or mindless eating.

One thing I want to get back on a morning breakfast schedule, My routine has fallen into coffee and a banana or a hard boiled egg. I know I need to adjust my body clock to get an early start especially when I go to aqua aerobics at 8:00 or 11:00 class.

My schedule eating has been erratic lately, The daily schedule depends on what I’m doing for the day, Being retired has kept me off a regular schedule. Unplanned “intermittent fasting” (IF) happens to me. I do not buy the fad of IF.
Has anyone tried it?

88olds

How does the timing of when you eat help or hinder LTL?

I think being aware of the clock has helped me a lot.

Do you think about what time you eat or do you not include the clock as part of your healthy LTL?

The clock has worked for me in 2 ways. I’m in the eat to avoid hunger when necessary camp. Since when working everything was driven by my schedule and appointments I was always aware of the clock.

Let’s say it’s 11:30 am. Today there is a meeting scheduled at noon because that was the only time everyone had open. It’s not a lunch meeting. Then I have something at 1:00 that’s going until 2:30. I don’t consider 11:30 lunchtime, but it’s eat now or risk being out of my mind at 2:30.

Then there is the power of the delay strategy. Especially at night. No after dinner snack until 8:00 pm. No second snack for a hour. No 3rd snack, if it’s happening, until right before bed.

When working I used the same thinking for all my snacks. I find it a lot easier to resist if I’m only resisting “for now.” Sometimes I never get around to that snack.

gadgetgirlIL

My meal/snack timing tends to be driven by my activities. I'm an early riser and when I get downstairs I give the kitties their wet food treat (they always have dry food available) then I make my breakfast.

I eat again after my workout at the gym. Then at some point in the morning at work I get hungry and eat something. Lunch timing varies based on my hunger level as well as if we have any meetings. There will be another snack or two at work in the afternoon. I rarely eat a formal dinner as by the time 6 or 7pm rolls around, I'm way more focused on relaxing and heading to bed. I prefer to be in bed by 7:30pm.

My largest meal of the day is breakfast. It is my favorite meal! And I really love when I go on vacation with DH because I eat breakfast, go out for an early morning bike ride in the quiet countryside while he sleep (he is a night owl), and then when I get back, we go to the hotel restaurant for my second breakfast! They make a really good breakfast that we both enjoy.

podkey

I don't eat breakfast when I arise. I get up usually around 5am to 6am, make coffee, and go for a walk. Since WW I have eaten a morning meal around 9 am so not technically breakfast per se. Strangely I usually eat my lunch (not a big meal) around 11 a.m. and on rare occasions combine the two a few times a year. I am not a hungry person by nature in that I don't experience a lot of hunger. By that I mean true hunger. Yes I have hedonic hunger as in I see that pizza. I want that pizza. We eat our dinner starting around 6:45 to 7pm while watching Jeopardy. Watching Jeopardy or conversing with friends helps slow down my eating which is a good thing. I always have the right portion on my plate and don't do seconds for an average dinner.
My eating follows this sort of typical time schedule. I am not sure specific timing makes a big difference for me. I am typically not eating from about 7:15 at night until about 9 am the next morning but I don't call it intermittent fasting even when I eat a bit later in the morning which could be around 14 hours.
My largest meal of the day is always dinner.

misterhub

For breakfast, I eat when I am hungry. Period. No clock and no set time. I generally eat lunch around 1130. Sometimes I eat dinner; sometimes I don't. Depends on if I am hungry or not. If I do, it seldom is after 6pm. I will eat a light snack in the evening sometimes if I don't have dinner.

linmueller

I do the intermittent fasting thing. First meal around noon. Last by 6. Rarely anything in between. It makes it way easier to not eat out of those hours since the decision has been made. And since I'm usually busy in the a.m. and away from home, it's not hard and im rarely hungry. I do need a plan for lunch in place tho, because I am ready to eat!

Scheduled meals is also supposed to help with migraines, so I'm hoping ... so far they are less frequent, but still often enough to be annoying.