I bought the 3 hour diet book because I was already working on a similar calorie based diet, only I was skipping meals and unsure of how much of what to eat. I thought I would use it as a guideline.

Cruise's theory makes sense and like a change in lifestyle I could adopt BUT

my day doesn't start at seven am, it's starts around nine. At that rate I'm eating dinner by myself at nine o'clock at night!!!

Is it okay to swap meals but eat at the same times?

Any suggestions (besides getting up earlier. I have to be up to late at night to get up any earlier)

I was really excited about the diet but now I'm afraid it may not work for me :/

Well - let's see...

You should not eat for three hours before bed - so eating dinner at 9pm means no bed until midnight or later... does that fit for you?

Otherwise, if you get up between 8-9 am and eat breakfast at 9am, you would snack at 12 noon, lunch at 3pm, snack at six pm and then your dinner at 9pm...

does this work at all?

May I ask why you must eat dinner at 9pm?

Basically - What time you eat is not important except that your should eat within one hour of rising, and then every three hours thereafter... and refrain from eating within three hours of your bed time...

Does this help?

Here is my suggestion:

Instead of a snack at noon, simply have lunch. If you can't have your morning snack then perhaps, you could increase your breakfast by another 100 calories which is the snack size for me. Depending on your weight, yours may be a 200 calories snack. Just stick with the extra 100 calories for breakfast and see what happens that week!

Are you losing your 2 pounds? Then this plan is working for you! The eating every 3 hours rule is to ensure you give your body constant fuel so you can continue to burn calories all day. There are different ways to mold the plan to your lifestyle. You just have to find what works for you! But it should not make your life difficult or miserable! Just find the right balance! Good luck and let us know how you are doing!

I would NOT recommend adding 100 calories in leiu of a snack. The whole point is to eat every three hours - there are physical bio-chemical reasons for that. Don't monkey with it.

You could swap your lunch and your snack around a bit - that is not a big deal... but you need to eat every three hours.According to Jorge's book the reasons are:

1) It turns off your starvation protection
2) It increases your basal metabolic rate
3) It increases your energy levels
4) It supresses your appetite
5) It lowers your cholesterol
6) It reduces Cortisol

Without the three hour rule - you are just calorie counting. Not that there is anything wrong with that in and of itself - but there is a very real reason why so many of us who have otherwise struggled with losing weight have been successful with this plan and that is when you eat every three hours, your body works WITH you and not against you.

I would NOT recommend adding 100 calories in leiu of a snack. The whole point is to eat every three hours - there are physical bio-chemical reasons for that. Don't monkey with it.

You could swap your lunch and your snack around a bit - that is not a big deal... but you need to eat every three hours.According to Jorge's book the reasons are:

1) It turns off your starvation protection
2) It increases your basal metabolic rate
3) It increases your energy levels
4) It supresses your appetite
5) It lowers your cholesterol
6) It reduces Cortisol

Without the three hour rule - you are just calorie counting. Not that there is anything wrong with that in and of itself - but there is a very real reason why so many of us who have otherwise struggled with losing weight have been successful with this plan and that is when you eat every three hours, your body works WITH you and not against you.

you could switch your afternoon snack and dinner so you would eat dinner at 6pm instead of 9pm if that is better for you so you don't have to eat alone!

My apologies! It was meant more as a suggestion to try then a recommendation. Bad choice of words!

I've always tought that the worst thing that could happen if it doesn't work is trying something else the following week.

I remember when I first began the program, eating every 3 hours for me was a bit of a problem. So I had asked the question to Jorge. I was on their online site at the time.

And you are right Daisy, they do not recommend increasing dinner or lunch. I had forgotten about it. I had asked about not eating the carbs from lunch so I could eat more carbs at supper, and the answer was no. It was important to keep a balance of carbs, proteins, fat and veggies in one plate.

It is important to eat every 3 hours. Make sure you do that and all should go well. But I would like to caution you with one thing. If you do not eat enough, you may end up with energy problems. Speaking from personal experience, when I added exercise and did not add more food for snacks, I started getting serious energy problems.

So here is a bit advice to you: Listen to your body!

Try to put that number of calories in your morning snack somewhere else like your other snack, or later at night (3 hours before bedtime). It took me 2 months before I was able to resolve my energy problems. And still today, I have to eat a bit more on exercise days to prevent a relapse.

Good luck in your weight loss. I'm sure you'll make the program work to your advantage. And we're all here for the extra support!

If you have breakfast no later than 9:30, then morning snack and lunch together at 12:30 or have your morning snack with your breakfast, then afternoon snack at 3:30, then your dinner would be 6:30 instead of 9:30.

You can combine snacks and meals together. Jorge says it's perfectly OK. I find I'm better off combining my morning snack with a meal because I usually get the munchies around 3:00 in the afternoon.

Here is what I did:

Breakfast - 9 a.m.

Noon - Lunch

3p.m. snack

6p.m. dinner and treat

9p.m. snack

This was what JC suggested on the 3 hr. diet web site when I was a member.

Just change it like that for whatever time you have breakfast that day.

Phyllis

I am totally losing my mind - When I read the initial post I THOUGHT she said she HAD to eat at 9pm...

Definitely - I would swap out the 6pm snack for the 9 pm dinner - I do this when I go to the movies...

Thank you for all the helpful advice.

It's nice to not feel like I have to follow it concrete. I'd rather eat dinner with my family at six, which is what I tried today. I'm having my snack as I type this so that I can fall into bed at my usual time.

Thank you ladies this site is full of INCREDIBLE support!

I regularly switch my evening snack with dinner so I am not eating a big meal at 8-9 pm.

I really appreciate reading all the advice different members have received from Jorge. His book doesn't talk about this kind of stuff. It would be nice to have a sticky on advice Jorge has given to people while they were on their sites. For example, the one I had was to not combine 2 carbs in one sitting and removing the 1 carb from lunch. It would be really helpful. The other one I just read here about combining a snack and breakfast together. Personally, it's what I do on weekends sometimes, but it's nice to have a confirmed okay from Jorge to do it. Do you think this would be possible? I think it may very well be helpful to all of us.

Up at the top there is a sticky that is for daily thoughts,inspriations, advice and info to share with others so feel free to post your thoughts and advice you have been given there!

Good stuff! Thank you for letting me know. Still new to all this. This wonderful support group is helping me recommit to the lifestyle successfully.