[Trendle]

I find that one of the hardest times for me to stick to my diet is while I'm at work. I've been managing to keep my three main meals a day pretty healthy, but it seems like around 10:30-11 in the morning I just lose all my energy and the first thing I tend to turn to is soda and junk food to keep me going. I've been trying to get up and move around a little, but witht the job I have I can't always get up when i need to. I was just wondering if any one had any suggestions on how to stay energized during the day, without the caffiene and potato chips?

[Serafyn]

May I ask what you eat for breakfast? I ask because when I still worked outside of the home, I would find that if I ate cereal--even oatmeal--without any protein, I'd feel light-headed and hungry around the same time you are wanting to reach for snack food. Sometimes I felt that way no matter what I ate! At one point, when I decided to lose some weight and eventually lost 20 lbs over the course of a couple of months, I started bringing some healthy "pick-me-up" foods in from home, because we, too, had junk food available through the vending machines in our "cafe". Sometimes I'd bring some peanut butter and apples. Yes, peanut butter is a calorie and fat dense food, but it's got the good fats and it's high protein. A little bit with some nice crunchy apples can go a LONG way toward curbing that hunger until lunch time. I also brough hummus and baby carrots from time to time, as well as an ounce of cheese and some grapes and maybe a whole wheat cracker or two. Just some ideas for you! Good luck finding a way to steer clear of those less healthy choices!

[funniegrrl]

There's no reason you "should" go from breakfast to lunch, or lunch to dinner, without any food. In fact, it's better for your metabolism and blood sugar levels to eat every 3 to 4 hours. You'll also be less likely to overeat at meals, and you'll definitely have more energy. By eating this frequently, you'll also start to re-learn the more subtle signals that your body sends to say "feed me" other than ravenous hunger. I am much more in tune with my body and fuel needs since eating this way, and much less likely to let myself get too hungry, or even fatigued from lack of food.

I eat 5 times per day. The trick is that those extra snacks are a planned part of my day, included in my planned calorie intake, and I am prepared with the appropriate foods at work. Caffeine, sugar, and other junk will only leave you LESS energized, so it's important to have complex carbs, protein, etc. My snacks tend to be something like fruit and protein (cottage cheese, yogurt, etc.), or I will have vegetables and protein sometimes.

[kykaree]

I agree with the above two posts, before the healthy eating thing, I used to have chocolate and coffee mid morning and often mid afternoon as well. I have a very sedentary job, working in a call centre. I too eat a good breakfast, always oatmeal with berries (occasionally baked beans with wholewheat toast). I have fruit mid morning, and sometimes a flavoured yoghurt. I make sure I get plenty of protein at lunch, and have a snack planned for afternoon, sometimes wholewheat crackers and low fat cream cheese - occasionally more fruit. I find its working for me so far. I just put the snacks into my planned calories for the day. I follow a low GI plan, so make sure that my chosen snacks are also low GI to prevent a crash in blood sugars an hour afterwards.