I eat every 3 hours and have for the last 5 years. The result is I'm ravenously hungry every 3 hours. But I do think it's a healthier way to lose and maintain weight.
I'm also a plate cleaner.
Robin, this really hit home in your initial post:
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I almost feel as if I'm entitled to eat it all, even though no longer hungry because I've planned for it's within my calories for the day
Not only do I clean my plate at every one of my 5 meals, I practically wring out the blender to get every micron of shake I was doing this today and realized it, but while part of me was saying "give it up, you aren't going to notice not having 1 more teaspoonful", another part was saying " It's MINE! I'm going to get every last drop of that into my cup! It's MINE! I'm allowed to have it!" Kind of weird considering I've been at this for almost 6 years now and been maintaining for over five. I really don't think that it's every going to change for me. I know that I'll be eating "mindfully" for the rest of my life. That's OK-- it works.
I was thinking along the same lines as Manda...Robin, you have made some amazing radical changes in a very short time. Is "cleaning your plate" a habit you may need/want to break in the future - sure it would be great to have the ability to eat to satisfaction and then stop.
But...it is only ONE step of many and you have to do what works. Perfectionism is more dangerous than almost any bad habit.
So lets say a few months from now when you are almost at goal you are finding that it is time to take another step in order to keep things working. Maybe then it will be time to explore the hunger/full/satisified spectrum and learn a new way of eating. But for NOW I wouldnt stress about it unless you are feeling the desire to take another step.
It is always a balance between what is working and what we think we should be doing. I considered giving up something for Lent, because at times it could be a good motivator etc...but I decided that right now at this moment, I am in a pretty delicate balance between feeling deprived and satisfied and I fear that if I mess with it right now by putting something off limits it could backfire on me. Maybe in June I'll be ready to observe "Lent". (Not being Christian, the timing is not that crucial for me )
Not cleaning your plate doesn't equate to wasting food. Simply store it and have it if you get hungry later for a snack, or have it as part of tomorrow's lunch. But eating when we're not hungry is something we need to resist.
I eat before I get hungry all the time - I hate being hungry. Sometimes I get flushed and jittery and I make really really bad food decisions. In my past, diets meant being hungry and going without and being miserable and just waiting for the diet to end. This time, I told myself I didn't have to be hungry and miserable. It works for me, I eat every 2 hours.
Robin, you're doing awesome. Just keep doing EXACTLY what you've been doing all this time.
I also tend to make bad choices when I wait too long to eat. I hate being out when I'm starving because usually there's nothing good (healthy) out there at your finger tips. Today I got so hungry I actually lost my appetite. As we speak I have a big plate of food sitting here and I can't eat it. This is highly unusual as typically I love my food! And I eat all of it without guilt..life is too short and should be enjoyed..but just via substituted healthy low cal options.
Okay, so I've gone from ripping open the 1/2 gallon container of ice cream to make sure I get it all to -- "should I clean my plate" -- I can live with that!!
I agree with ennay -- if this is working for you -- clean your plate!! When you are ready, you'll know. Little changes (you've had to have about 1,000 "little changes" at this point, you've done so awesome!!) are what work, if it's ingrained to clean your plate and you've only put your anticipated portion on it, go ahead -- it was the "clean the kid's plates, empty the leftovers into my mouth, etc." that got us in trouble in the first place.
I don't feel guilty about finishing up my dinner, believe me the whole entire meal isn't more then 400 calories, so maybe we're talking about 50 calories here and there. And of course it's only good and healthy food. But nevertheless I guess it's just one of those things that I've always heard - "to stop eating when satisfied" . And of course I don't usually listen to "they", I listen to me. I have formulated my own plan, yet am always tweaking it. I also figure that somewhere down the line, if and when I get to that dreaded plateau (G-d forbid) that might be a place I could cut back. The more I hear these responses, I guess I am not the only one who feels they can and should finish their entire meal. And that makes me feel better. I think if I were already at goal I wouldn't feel this way, I wouldn't question it at all - but I'm not at goal.
I've said this a few times recently. I really enjoy my food now. I am eating sooo much less then I used to I can't even begin to tell you. I am also enjoying everything I eat now so much more. I really appreciate every little crumb that goes down my throat. Before I ate without thinking, everything and anything, nothing was off limits, not quality or quantity. I was like the spoiled kid who has too many toys, he's got so much he appreciates NOTHING. And now that there's sooo much less of it, it has taken on a new meaning for me. So like Mel, I am scrapping up the blender, cup of yogurt and on and on and on. I really don't see that changing anytime soon. Who knows? I've got a long way to go still. But I doubt that it will change.
That's funny Shelby, I forgot all about that, I used to practically clean my kids plate as well. That was a big problem for me. But not any more. Thank goodness.
Ennay, your most recent post on this topic was very well put and hit home for me in several spots. Especially the perfectionism part. I'm not sure what's gotten into me lately.
Both of your posts too Mandalinn.
And I kinda 100% agree with Glory- I DO NOT wait til I am passing out from hunger in order to eat. I have a schedule for when I eat, I posted it earlier. I too hate, hate, hate that hungry, jittery, passing out feeling. I eat when I just am barely beginning to get hungry, every 2 -3 hours.
You guys really, really get what I'm saying and see where I'm coming from. Thank you again everyone. You've all given me some "food for thought". It least there's no calories involved.
I eat before I get hungry all the time - I hate being hungry. Sometimes I get flushed and jittery and I make really really bad food decisions. In my past, diets meant being hungry and going without and being miserable and just waiting for the diet to end. This time, I told myself I didn't have to be hungry and miserable. It works for me, I eat every 2 hours.
Then I'll reword it: Eating when we're "full" is something we need to resist. If we're full, there's no good reason to overeat and stuff ourselves. There's absolutely no good reason to unsnap our pants after a meal.
Re: eating in restaurants and dealing with massive portions. I've heard that a great thing to do in this situation is to ask your server for a to-go box right after they bring you your meal. That way you can take half (or third, or whatever) the food off your plate and box it up right away and save yourself the unnecessary calories. I, for one, will eat every single french fry on my plate, no matter how full I am (or how much salt is on them). I can leave half a burger, but not the fries. The solution is to box the food before you become completely seduced by the fat.
I'm interested in the "clean plate club" (or in my family, the, "there are starving kids in China") problem with kids. I've often thought that the imperative to finish one's dinner as a child contributes to an unhealthy relationship with food among adults. I hadn't thought of it in terms of compensating later with unhealthy snacks (I don't have kids), but I still think it's important to teach children to 'listen' to their bodies in the way that we over-weight adults have difficulty doing.
There is "trying to improve because something is broken" and there is "trying to improve because someone tells you that its what you should do". The way I see it, you've done SO MUCH to improve your habits, I know you're eating good, healthy foods because I've seen you talk about your menus, and your losses are going at a good rate. So worrying about whether its "bad" (which is so arbitrary when you get down to this level...) to finish 50 extra calories of food beyond "full" just seems so stressful and pointless to me.
Lately I've been having an angry tirade in my head against the diet industry, and lots of people, who keep trying to tell me (and you!) that your efforts, (even though they are working and your body is thanking you, even though you are feeling better, even though you are fueling yourself on your way to a happier, healthier life) aren't enough because there is so much more you could do. Nobody is perfect, nobody has a perfect diet, and if we ate all the things we were "supposed" to eat and didn't eat all of the things we "shouldn't" and did all of the things we were supposed to do and resisted all temptation, we'd have to live in a hole and we'd probably end up dead anyway from the resulting stress and depression.
Gah, that turned into a rant. Point is, you're doing so well and if it isn't broken, don't fix it, and don't worry about whether you are doing the "right" things...worry about whether they are right for YOU and whether they are helping you to meet your goals.
Thanks Mandalinn, I needed that. Point well taken.
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Originally Posted by almostheaven
Then I'll reword it: Eating when we're "full" is something we need to resist. If we're full, there's no good reason to overeat and stuff ourselves. There's absolutely no good reason to unsnap our pants after a meal.
Almostheaven, as you've read, I do kinda continue to eat when I'm full every now and then and I gotta tell you it HAS been working for me. I also think those few extra calories are sustaining me for the entire evening and keeping me from snacking all night long. So for me, I think that's a pretty good reason. To each his own. The more I do this, the more I see there is no ONE RIGHT WAY TO DO THINGS. There is no ONE formula. And that's perfectly okay.
Wow. I haven't read through all the responses. But this sounds just like me! I've figured out about how many calories I need each day to maintain my weight and I will continue to eat until I've completed my total LOL even if I'm not hungry any more. Sometimes I don't feel my best after (never disgustingly stuffed, just not the optimal "neutral" feeling I've come to appreciate) Why do I do this? WHY? I feel like while I've changed a lot of bad habits, this is maybe still some vestige of a bad habit left over that I still need to work on. I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I just need to work on it.
edited to add:
It's not even about the calories, because like I said, it's within the amount that I've figured out I can consume without putting on weight. It's more about a mindset, and how I want to change my mindset so I can live mindfully for the rest of my life.
I do the same thing as many of you. Eat to my calorie allotment, even when I'm not hungry. To tag onto what lipidful said, the problem for me is that I feel the food still has control over me on some level. But I console myself with the thought that I have a lot more control than I used to, and that I'm living within the calorie allotment I set myself, which is so much more control than I used to have. I suppose it's a compromise of sorts.
I've built up bad habits over a life and have only been doing this a year and a half. I've made lots of changes and hope to keep making improvements. But just as the weight won't come off overnight, the mind won't change overnight...
Mandalinn -- I hadn't read your post before posting mine, but I feel very much in line with what you said!
I have heard forever about how eating 5 or 6 "smaller" meals per day is better than 3 stuff-me meals. I always thought "that's gotta be some kind of crazy meal plan that a 105 pound skinny-minnie came up with..."
Well, it's exactly what I've been doing recently (& eating the SouthBeachDiet suggested foods). I have found that I don't eat nearly as much, because if I wait until I'm really hungry, I am sure to go overboard & end up feeling like a deer on a taxidermist wall. I literally HATE that "oh-so-stuffed" feeling.
So mostly, I have a decent brekkie, a 10am snackage, Noonish lunch, a 3pm snackage, & a 6:30ish dinner - sometimes I feel like having the 8pm snackage, but mostly I don't - so mostly I am eating 5 times a day.
I am not sure yet whether or not this is helping or hindering my weight loss, BUT I FEEL BETTER, & isn't that part of the program?
my mother was the top recruiter for "The Clean Plate Club"....(there are starving children in several countries yaknow)...I wised up around age 15 when hip-hugger bell bottoms became more attractive then whipped cream and I wanted to be a size 2. (never happened).
I constantly have to tell myself that it is OK to throw food away, better in the trash then on my buttisimo....but my mother's clean plate motto is still there, I had a very chubby dog (who ate the leftovers) and one of my cats methodically finishes the others food portions.
I have a skinny BF who finishes my restaurant dinners...we now order lightly and share plates, so there is no over-stuffed feeling and extras hiding in the fridge....(my one exception is lobster)
I pretty much always eat my calorie allotment for the day because it's actually pretty low and my exercise level is pretty high, so I think it's important that I eat enough calories. If I don't eat what I planned for the day, I'm going to be low.
Like a lot of others here, I eat every few hours: 3 meals and 3 or 4 snacks. Most of the time, I'm hungry when meal/snack time rolls around and it's pretty rare that I'm full before I finish it. But if I'm not hungry or I'm full before I finish, I usually eat it anyway because I want to make sure I'm getting enough calories. If I were getting to the point of being overstuffed, I wouldn't eat any more, but otherwise I eat what I planned to eat for the day. It is important not to be low on calories, especially if you exercise a lot.
I was doing this today and realized it, but while part of me was saying "give it up, you aren't going to notice not having 1 more teaspoonful", another part was saying " It's MINE! I'm going to get every last drop of that into my cup! It's MINE! I'm allowed to have it!" Kind of weird considering I've been at this for almost 6 years now and been maintaining for over five. I really don't think that it's every going to change for me. I know that I'll be eating "mindfully" for the rest of my life. That's OK-- it works.
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