this morning I had oatmeal for breakfast, now it's lunch time, and I am still stuffed. I managed to squeeze in a little lentil soup, and a serving of cheese, but I think that will be my limit.
I am on a 1200 calorie a day goal, so I know I need to get all my calories in, but is it ok if I split them a little more? Maybe take calories I didn't eat at lunch, and put them towards supper and/or snacks?
Cause as it stands my lunch is only like 170 cals.
I agree, eat when you feel like eating. Some days oatmeal will fill you until 2pm, other days you could be starving at 11. Snacks are good too. I know for me, eating later leads to nighttime hunger so I try and stack my meals backwards. Breakfast being the biggest meal of the day...they say this helps the metabolism too.
I can't (at this point) make breakfast the biggest meal...heck, until a week ago I couldn't bring myself to eat breakfast at all. And that started when I was like 15!! I am just pleased as punch that I can now eat in the mornings! LOL
Eat something with more calories at breakfast than oatmeal if that's the case. Eggs or an egg muffin with cheese. I know it's hard but eating breakfast is so important.
I have been, for the last 2 mornings, eating a poached egg on toast and 1/2 cup of cheerios for breakfast. Mornings are a bit hectic while I get the kids off to school, but have been thinking about maybe making a breakfast wrap with eggs, veggies and a little cheese. I was just worried about the calories.
Wraps are great to make ahead and quicker in the morning if you've gotten them ready the night before.
Don't worry about caloric distribution. I think if you put 10 of us in the same room, we'd all distribute our calories differently. Some would add snacks at various points in the day, some would stop by 5:00, while others would eat a breakfast burrito before lying down for bed.
Eventually you'll learn what works for you. For me I prefer not to eat much after 6:00 but some nights that doesn't work around here. When I'm working, breakfast is huge. When I'm stuck at home, I eat enough in the morning to get by. It varies.
You'll be fine and I know you'll be successful. Good luck and ask as many questions as you feel you need.
I was actually told that in order to speed weight loss, you should be eating something small (even if it IS only 100 calories) every 2-3 hours. The reason being is that is speeds up your metabolism and your body begins to realize that it doesn't need to "store" fat - that it will be fed every few hours. So while you can save your calories for a larger meal, you should still be planning to eat something (however small) every 2-3 hours.
I have ALWAYS been a night time snacker, my husband is too. I am trying to not change this because when I have tried, THAT is when I start feeling deprived!
My night time snack is usually around 8:30pm or 9. Usually I have something like some Smart Pop popcorn (the 100 cal mini bag) and something else. What else though, typically depends on what strikes my fancy. It could be a banana, a 1/2a grapefruit, or if I am feeling "bad" I may have a 100 cal pack of Thinsations. I am working on changing my snacking habits though to healthier more nutrient rich foods.
If you go to be that late, a 9pm snack is no big deal. I go to bed most nights by 10 if not earlier. I would avoid bananas at night...those are bad for your digestion and can cause "issues" for lack of a better term. Keeps the bananas to mornings for better digestive health.
How much sleep are you getting? If you are going to bed at 1am and having breakfast at 7:30am, I am thinking about 5 hours??? Is that correct.
You may want to change that. I would suggest you do some research on long term sleep deprivation. Most of the Dr.'s out there suggest a MIN of 6 to 8 hours. In fact at the 5 hour mark or less it may INCREASE your chance of high blood pressure and heart attack.
I can't change it right now, I actually get less sleep a lot of nights. Sometimes I sleep from 2:30am or 3am until 7am. I often have a nap in the day though.
Right now our furnace isn't working, and we can't afford to fix it, so we're running on electric heaters. I refuse to leave them running unattended at night (and we get some SERIOUSLY cold temps here), so I stay up until between 1-3am (depending on how cold the temps are supposed to be), and my husband gets up at 5am to start the heaters back up. We only have 1 we can leave running 24/7 as it's on a fire proof hearth (we plan on putting a wood stove in).
BUT, trust me..I like feeling energized, rather than sluggish, and as soon as I can start going to bed earlier I will. Stupid furnaces :P This is why I am switching to wood heat :P
Another newbie question...
