Do you schedule your meals and snacks?

sbatch43

I have learned that eating smaller meals more often equals weight loss. In that I mean good foods, portion control.
I used to have one meal a day and snack (basically grazing) whenever. My meal was a big one, and it was at the end of the day...dinner. Dinner was always late, 7-7:30ish. Then of course after dinner was more "TV snacking".

TV snacking is done, cold turkey. Night time eating has been my problem. I've figured that out and just plain stopped it. Well, OK last night after Lacrosse (7:30) I REALLY wanted.... "something" to eat. Wanted.... i realized before I even went looking that I ddin't NEED it. I WANTED it. So.... I didn't even look. I was even going to have the willpower not to need a glass of water to curb the want. I got ready for bed, got the kids settled in their rooms. 8:30. I did it. An hour went by and I don't WANT anymore. Damnit... I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking I did it but now I'm thinking about what I did and it turns back to WANTING.

I get up, telling myself don't do this... don't do this....

Open the fridge (forgot the hideous picture of me I put up on it) first thing I see if a bunch of celery stalks.... OK if I'm going to do this, those will work. I break off 5, getting the Teddy Natural peanut butter out cuz let's face it. Sometimes naked celery just aint gonna cut it. I'm filling those stalks up with heeping spoonfuls of this creamy peanut butter. Don't do it... don't do it.... God that looks good, I take a bite with just a tad of PB. INSTANTLY the WANT is gone. INSTANTLY. I come to my senses and scrape all but about 2 Tbsp of PB off.. Then I decide, you know what. I don't NEED these. I put 3 back in the fridge for lunch today. So I have 2 stalks and some PB and a glass of water.

Back to the main topic of this....

My trainer wants me eating 5 times a day.
Breakfast -
1/2 Protein
1 whole grain
1 fruit or veg
(I eat this at 6:00-6:30) -- so far for the last week it has been 1 egg on whole wheat english muffin and a banana, I like it.

Snack-
1/2 Protein
1 fruit or veg
(I eat this about 9AM) -- I've been cheating on the protein for breakfast with a whole egg so I count it as a wash here and just have a smoothie my wife makes for me with her Vitamix. Typically a Mason jar full of both fruit and veggie, lots of Kale.

Lunch-
1 Protein
1 whole grain
1 fruit or veg
(I eat this about 12 noon) Menu varies but I stay on track for what it calls for (thank you wifey for providing lunches!!!!)

Snack-
1/2 Protien
1 fruit or veg
(2:30-3:00) -- this gets hard cuz I am done with work @ 3 so I either eat it there or wait till I'm home. But this is where the problem is!!! Sometimes I eat it there and then I feel like I need more once I get home. Is it because I have one more left for the day? I just don't know. Like right now...

What do you do when you are hungry NOW and the next calorie intake isn't for another 40 minutes? I know.... water. But what if you just don't want water right now? Do you eat sooner and deal with the gap on the next round??

Dinner-
1/2 Protein
1/2 whole grain
2 Veg
(I am now eating this almost religiously @ 5PM.) Both my son and I are home, I get home about 3:20, he's off the bus between then and 3:40. We do homework, talk about the day and then we make dinner for us. Mom gets home anywhere between 6-7... all depends on what she feels like that day so there is never much point in trying to make a meal for us all. Besides, she's always on the next fad thing. I love her but she needs to find something that will last and work and whatever she is doing right now she says is the one that works so we don't go down that road. I just give that info for why my son and I eat when we do. It works for him too...helps him from wetting the bed if he has all his stuff WAY before bedtime (8:00) <---- so this is why we eat @ 5, used to be 7-7:30 then they went to bed almost right after dinner!!!

Hey look.... 40 minutes went by!
Time to make dinner.

yensidtoon

I don't schedule my meals and snacks. I eat breakfast in my car, usually some sort of nut 1 oz, and some graham crackers. I usually get up between 5 and 6 am. I usually have a 2 oz tuna fish sandwich, one hard boiled egg, and more nuts, again, 1 oz. I eat this anywhere between 10 and 1, depending on when I get hungry. Dinner is a smoothie and 1 oz of cheese or 1 oz of nuts. I will grab a snack around 10 and have my lunch nuts then if I am kind of hungry, and then more between lunch and dinner. I try not to snack after dinner because it is then exercise time and bed time. I go to bed between 9 and 10 each night.