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    Poll for Keto'ers and LCHFers

    Posts: 2,904 Member
    edited November 2024 in Social Groups
    How many times a day do you eat?

    I know I've seen a number of people on here mention not being hungry as often on keto/LCHF and some only eating once or twice a day. I'm 4.5 months in to keto and I still eat 3 meals plus 1-2 snacks a day and I also wake up starving every morning. Overall the hunger is not uncontrollable at all and I don't have many cravings, but just curious what's common for other LCHFers and if I'm an odd one. ;) I have had mild hypoglycemia for a while so it might just be a really ingrained habit to eat frequently.

    This post brought to you by having to fast for blood work this morning. I didn't get to eat or drink anything but water til I'd been up for 4 hrs and it was painful!! (Though I would have been fine if I could have at least had coffee with HWC or a BPC!) Headache, stomach growling, etc.

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    Replies

    • Posts: 2,421 Member
      On average - 3 meals a day, plus one or two snacks.
    • Posts: 906 Member
      Generally 3 meals a day...I'll snack if I need to, but it's not all that often. Sometimes I don't do breakfast either, so that drops me to 2 meals. I am less hungry for sure, and don't have many cravings at all. In fact, it's SO hard to even decide what sounds good to eat. Weird.
    • Posts: 4,227 Member
      Twice a day. Sometimes 3. Sometimes 1. Rarely 4 or more.
    • Posts: 618 Member
      It depends. If I exercise, I always eat breakfast first. Otherwise I might have coffee with butter and/or coconut oil. Sometimes I eat a lunch-lunch (usually if I have a lighter breakfast). Sometimes I just have a cheese stick. I log as snack or lunch because I'm not always a strict meal person.

      I eat dinner nightly. I don't usually eat after dinner unless my dinner lacks fat. Then I might have a fat bomb if I am worried about not enough dinner fat. Making sure I have fat before bed helps me sleep, I find.

      Mondays are weird because I have grad school in the evening so I might have a lil' sumptin' otw to class and something more substantial at home at 9:30 or vice versa.

      I listen to my body. I half-plan, I like to know what my dinner will entail so I don't eat a huge lunch if my husband is cooking something epic.

      So to summarize: I like breakfast a lot. I always have fat before bed. I have done "fasting" in dieting before (and through an ED) and I do not want to embrace a hungry feeling. I want to eat. That's why I keto.

      Feel free to view my newbie/still imperfect diary. ^^
    • Posts: 278 Member
      Coffee and yogurt in the morning and then dinner only.
      The less frequently I eat, the less "snacky" I get....
    • Posts: 5,600 Member
      2.5 times a day, generally. ;)

      The ".5" is generally something coffee or tea-like, with a fair amount of cream (or half and half, if I'm at a coffee place, since I don't feel like dealing with the "no...not whipped cream...actual cream...you know, the 'not-milk' half of 'half and half'..." crap), or butter and/or coconut oil if I'm feeling spunky. That generally adds a fair bit of calories, but isn't really a "meal."

      I've been foregoing the coffee more often than not, lately, though, so it does generally end up more around 2 meals. Sometimes, it'll be as low as 1, depending on when I eat (which is usually after my son goes to school at 1pm, and sometimes I get sidetracked and don't eat until 2 or 3), and how big that afternoon meal is.
    • Posts: 237 Member
      3 meals and usually no snacks
      Before LCHF, I used to eat 3 meals and 2-3 snacks
    • Posts: 8,159 Member
      2-3
    • Posts: 1,518 Member
      2-3. I very rarely snack.

      I actually need to try to get back to IF because I find that I eat breakfast late which causes me to eat lunch late which causes me to not be hungry come dinner time, which isn't necessarily bad, but I do like to enjoy dinner with my family. So, ask me this question again in a few weeks and my answer will likely be a solid 2 :)
    • Posts: 56 Member
      2 or less. I have been doing IF for about 5 years now and don't feel hungry at all until noonish anymore.

      If I work out before I go to the office, I have my BCAA's, but I don't count that as a meal since it doesn't truly break the fast. I also have 2 cups of coffee with 1/2 a truvia packet in each every morning.
    • Posts: 547 Member
      Mostly 3 meals. I have at least two snacks a day with my meals. A square of 85-90% chocolate or homemade hflc cheesecake.

      Usually have bpc in the morning with my breakfast. If I have a large breakfast (2 eggs & 2 slices of bacon or more) I adjust my coffee to be more coffeeish meaning less fatty. If my breakfast is lighter, I adjust my fat content to be heavier. If I don't balance the fat I will either be too bloated or get cravings for food, not bad food just food in general.
    • Posts: 224 Member
      Two meals (brunch, dinner) with a mid-afternoon snack on weekends. Weekdays are different - about 5 times (BPC, light breakfast mid-morning, lunch, dinner and then usually something before bed). Lately I've added exercise and on weight training days I seem to be much hungrier - I don't eat more often, but find myself grabbing more calories before bed.
    • Posts: 123 Member
      typically twice.
      although i might log foods under snacks, they might be included in one of my meals.
      if i stick to very low carb, i am usually not hungry at all, even when i know i should eat.
    • Posts: 11,502 Member
      3-5 - I'm not just trying to watch carbs, but I'm also trying to stay within a calorie goal... it is difficult to eat 5 times and stay within goal, much less more than 5.

      If you are trying to assess appetite, I could eat all day just like I would if I were eating carbs. But that is part of why I got so fat, so I can't give in to that anymore.
    • Posts: 1,027 Member
      I eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and one proper snack in the evening - something like a babybel and some proscuitto.

      But lots of other things get dumped into my snack bucket during the day - I'll usually have a bowl of miso soup w/ tamari at some point if I need sodium, I have a couple of cups of tea with 1 tbsp milk each and I'll nibble on some 90% & 99% cacao with a cup of tea after dinner. But I've always been a grazer, so I build it into my plan.
    • Posts: 50 Member
      I typically eat several meals a day. I usually eat 2 eggs at 6:30am, 3 sausage links around 8:30am, Lunch at 11am, sometimes a snack around 2:30pm if needed, and dinner at 4pm. It really depends on what I have planned meal wise that day, and the amount of calories needed to support my workouts that day.
    • Posts: 7,140 Member
      2 meals. Snacks, almost never, and even then it has nothing to do with hunger.
    • Posts: 3,426 Member
      3 meals a day plus snacks. I've always had a healthy appetite :) Luckily now, it's more under control!
    • Posts: 4,436 Member
      When I work I have one meal in the evening, though I do sip on coffee with hwc (or butter) most of the day. When I am off I will have brunch around 11, and then supper. I'm with @su Sunny_Bunny_ here, snacks only come when needed for fuel, never out of hunger! It still boggles my mind, but it's wonderful!!
    • Posts: 447 Member
      Monday - Friday, 2 meals a day and every now and then a snack. Saturday I save all my calories and carbs for one meal usually since we go out to eat at whatever steak house sounds good. Sunday I graze all day and don't really have a set meal.
    • Posts: 1,802 Member
      2 meals and one snack. On weekdays I don't eat breakfast, just coffee with hwc. I eat lunch and dinner and I have chocolate and cashew butter before bed each night.

      Weekends I always eat breakfast but often skip lunch or dinner. Same snack.
    • Posts: 2,904 Member
      I eat 1350-1450 cals/day and manage to stay within cals even eating 5 times a day. That means some of those meals/snacks are 150-250 cals though and none of them are huge. (e.g. the afternoon snack might be 1 oz of almonds or a piece of cheese, or an 89-calorie pumpkin shake. Sometimes evening snack is just a pickle and a piece of cheese; sometimes it's 400 calories if I have the calories left and am hungry.
    • Posts: 5,506 Member
      I figured out that I felt like I needed 3 meals a day because I have been on that schedule for over 50 years. It's time for breakfast or time for lunch. I'm working my way around that. Sometimes I'm not even sure I know what hunger feels like.

      I'm paying more attention to how I feel and hopefully discounting my years of training to learn to eat when I'm actually hungry. It's not easy to change habits learned as a child.
    • Posts: 2,904 Member
      @Fvaisey that's very true! I'm working on that myself.
    • Posts: 546 Member
      Usually 2 meals. Sometimes a snack in the evening if I stay up very late. If I want to eat more than that it's an alarm bell to check for sneaky carbs (especially my kryptonite, fruit).

      ::flowerforyou::
    • Posts: 604 Member
      KetoGirl83 wrote: »
      Usually 2 meals. Sometimes a snack in the evening if I stay up very late. If I want to eat more than that it's an alarm bell to check for sneaky carbs (especially my kryptonite, fruit).

      ::flowerforyou::

      This is pretty much exactly me. Twice a day. Usually breakfast and dinner. Sometimes I skip breakfast and have lunch instead. That's usually because I have to eat out either with clients or my family. My pref is breakfast and then dinner. I usually have a small snack in the evening mainly out of boredom.
    • Posts: 83 Member
      I still eat several times per day. I've been in keto for 7 weeks.
    • Posts: 1,164 Member
      I've recently started one meals day to try to control my calories. So I have one c.1300 cal meal in the evenings. I do get hungry inbetween but I have done various types of IF, and this is no worse that way. My problem is I can overeat 3 times a day so I am trying to limit it to once a day. This is a recent thing so not sure if it will deliver the weight loss I still want, but I think it should. I do enjoy my hearty meal in the evening!
    • Posts: 1,992 Member
      2 meals and a snack. sometimes 3 meals but more often 2.
    • Posts: 298 Member
      3 meals and usually 1 snack, sometimes less sometimes more. I don't eat huge meals though. I don't like that super full feeling.
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