Spacing of meals - what do you do?
 

I have a question if there is a certain time we should be eating.

On weekdays I get up at 5:15 am (of course that's different on weekends) and when I leave at 6:15 I notice that I am a little hungry. However I wait to have breafast around 9 am. Is that too long?

Here's my typical work day:
5:15 am - wakeup
9:00 ish - breakfast (IP product)
12:15 - lunch (IP product, salad + 2 cups of veggies)
5:30-6:30 pm - snack (IP product)
7:30 pm - dinner (5-6 oz meat + 2 cups of veggies)
10:15-10:30pm - bed

I just wonder if I should be spacing things differently.

You should eat when you are hungry. You should never let yourself be starving or your belly growling. If you are hungry earlier than 9 then eat earlier. If you are hungry in between meals, either break up your snack into 2 separate (like 1/2 bar) or try pickles.

I was once told my a nutritionist that you should eat within 30 minutes of getting up to get your body started otherwise its in "sleeping" mode until you eat.

If you find that you're hungry before 9, can't you make a breakfast shake that you drink on your way to work?

In the end, we all have to do what works for us but I believe I have read that we are supposed to eat breakfast within 2 hours of waking up (from a nutritional / energy standpoint, not an IP standpoint) - to provide our bodies with the fuel it needs for daily activities, to ensure it doesn't start starvation mode, etc. If you are not totally hungry yet, perhaps split your IP into a 7:00 and 9:30 snack? Then you are also not going quite as long between breakfast and lunch?

Wow you all get up so early in the morning, I thought 7am was early.

8am IP, possibly 1c. veggies
11-12 IP and salad
3pm IP snack, possibly 1c. veggies
6pm Dinner and veggies
9pm IP snack

So I eat something every 3 hours. I have it all prepared for the amount of time I have to eat a meal/snack. Sometimes I eat 1c. veggies for 2 of those meals/snack. Usually Lunch salad had 2c. veggies. Depending how hungry I am and how much time I have is why the veggies may be split up through the day, my coach says it shouldn't matter as long as I get the 4c. in. I pre make all my drinks/shakes and bring them w/me in a small lunch size cooler w/ice packs.
The other thing is at the clinic I go to we have 4IP packets a day and our own dinner, everyone still looses weight. I know its weird how the clinics vary on protocol.

Hope this helps.

My typical day:

5:45 or 6:00 a.m.-get up

6 or 6:30 a.m.-walk for 30 minutes with hubby

7 or 7:30 a.m.-eat IP meal (usually a shake)

11:30 or 12:00 p.m.-eat 4-5 oz lean protein + 2 c veggies, 1 tsp. oil, sea salt

3 or 3:30-eat IP restricted meal (usually bar/chips)

6 or 6:30-eat 4-5 oz lean protein, 2 c veggies, 2 tsp. oil, sea salt

7:30 or 8:00 p.m.-IP meal (shake)

9-10:00 p.m.-go to bed

My coach suggested this strategy, which is kind of a hybrid of phases 1 & 2, because I was really hungry in phase 1. It seems to do the trick, because I'm not hungry in between meals/snacks now and I have consistently lost lbs. & inches every week.

Hope this helps!

Karen

I think it's too long to wait. Your body needs nutrition...

I get up at 5:15 also and here is my schedule:

5:15 Shower and get ready
6:30 Drop kids off at daycare
7:00 Clock in and mix 1/2 a cup coffee with 1/2 a shake and take vitamins (when that's gone I do it again with the other half)
12:00 2 cups of veggies and a shake
5:30-6:30 Meat (was doing 4oz but the last night I did 6 and tonight I had 5, trying to up it) and 2 cups of veggies
8-9 Bar

In between I drink lots of water. Never under 100oz. Most days I'm right at 140oz.

If I get hungry and water doesn't satisfy it I will have a pickle spear at 11:00 or so.