I was reading a magazine article and it talked about not only planning what you eat but when. Eating something every 4 hours to keep hunger at bay and any sugar imbalances from happening. Does it work? I know I always eat at 5:45 or 6 AM and then have a snack at 9:30 with lunch at 12:30 but it is because of my work that I have to schedule it that way. The afternoon I have a tough time and the weekends all is shot to heck. I thought maybe if I get a better time frame going it help with cravings and make food not such a big priority.
It worked very well for me at the beginning of my journey. I got into a very solid routine and my body started depending on it, which wasn't a bad thing. I ate every 2.5 -3 hours small meals of about 200 calories. I was never hungry doing this.
Weekends were always rough for me, but in the opposite way. I tend to eat too little on the weekends. Best case scenario though, it works best if you can keep the same schedule. I tend to sleep in on weekends, so instead of eating every 2.5 to 3 hours I'd eat every 2 to 2.5 hours.
I would eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, snack, all of equal caloric value.
I eat on a schedule. It works for me but I think that this is one of those items that can vary from person to person. Everyone has to find what works for them. We are all experiments of one.
I eat on schedule... I eat breakfast on my way to work each morning. Then I start heating up lunch at about 11:30 so I have time to eat slowly and it has time to settle before I go to the gym at 2pm. Then I eat a snack after I get back from the gym. Then I eat a snack about 4 or so, so that I am not going home startving. I eat dinner as soon as I get around to it. Then an evening snack at about 8 or 9.
My schedule helps me so that I don't eat a meal or snack too early. I need to space things out to keep my hunger at bay.
I'm on the scheduled eating, too, every three hours.
Breakfast within an hour of waking up, three hours later a 100cal snack, three hours later lunch, three hours later another 100cal snack, three hours later dinner, and then with dinner I can have any sort of properly portioned treat (I usually opt for froyo lol).
Eating mostly fruit in the morning and vegetables for lunch and dinner keep me feeling full, too, so it really helps make the three hours last. And of course key to it is planning at least a day ahead, making sure you'll have your food ready when the three hours hit, wherever you are. :>
I absolutely eat on a schedule, even on the weekends. Sometimes it means reconfiguring lunch/snack times, but it goes like this:
Between 8:30 and 9:30 -- eat breakfast
11:30 snack (or, if I'm doing my weekly lunch playdate with friends, I eat lunch around 12)
1:30 lunch
4:00 snack
6:00/6:30 dinner
I eat every 2-3 hours, but like some others here I usually miss some "feedings" on weekends. That actually works out ok because then I have extra food at the meals I do eat which are often with other people on the weekends. Weekdays all my feedings are by myself (I can't even call then meals as most are @200 cals).
I think it might be a good way to go. I am 100% sure(took me 46 years) that I am a stress eater so my cabinets are pretty clean. That said I am eating less junk. I do have cravings and sometimes give in for now but I think I am actually weaning myself off junk. I better than I was one month ago. So there is progress.
I *try* to eat on some semblance of a schedule, but it's odd. I don't start eating usually until 1-ish in the afternoon, then again at 4, then at 7 then at 10. Or something close to that anyhow. I'm not hungry in the morning, so I save my food until later. I do drink coffee as soon as I get up, though. I work at home more or less, so I can keepkinda close to any schedule I want.
It makes no sense, but I found that eating earlier in the day, which I have to force myself to do, seems to start a chain reaction where I want to eat constantly. I'm better off to just wait until I am hungry and then eat. I wouldn't recommend *my* way to anyonw else particularly, but it is what works for me.
I think the key is to never expect to be completely full and to never allow myself to get super hungry.
I get up at 8:30-9:00AM and eat 10-20 minutes after I've been up, then I don't eat again until noon (or 1 if I got up at 9), then I eat dinner at around 5-6PM, and then I eat a snack at 10PM. I drink a big glass of water during every meal, too, so that fills me up.
I think scheduled eating is a sign of a healthy relationship with food. Trying to "hold out" and not eat until you can't stand it is a sign that you look at food as "bad" and eating as "failure", and that isn't a good place to have your head in.
My major feedings are very set, but I am more flexible about some of my snacks. But I do eat every 2 hours or so.
As everyone notes, it does really help hunger to eat ~200 cal every 2 hours...it also helps your body to not store extra calories as fat! An extreme example is that if you ate all your daily calories in one setting your body could not process all for fuel and the carby matter would def go straight to fat (it gets stored easiest).
If this is too hard to manage, as it is for me on an everyday basis...try just regulating your protein intake on a schedule. THIS has helped me the most with the least effort. If I ever feel starved or have cravings I absolutely force force force myself to eat 4oz of lean protein 20m prior to anything else I am allowed to eat (I do eat some veggies with the protein. But if I didnt pay attention to protein and just ate cereal or something when I felt hungry, it sets me up for being quickly unsatisfied and eating more carbs.
Not only on a plan but on a time schedule??
