So when I was trying to lose, I got into the habit of eating breakfast, then a snack, then lunch, then about two smaller snacks, then supper. Six to seven times a day I was eating, and with working out, lost weight.
Now I find myself eating just "because." I'm not hungry...Take this morning, for example. I ate my normal low-fat nutrigrain waffles with fat free cream cheese, and had my coffee. Then I wasn't even hungry later, but still ate my light yogurt. Now, I'm still not hungry, but I'm watching the clock waiting for lunch. And I can guarantee you that an hour after lunch, not hungry, I'll eat a snack, then the other mid-way through the afternoon, still not hungry.
It's almost like my snacking has become mindless eating. It's a habit and I feel tied to eating...like my every move during the day revolves around my snacks and food and cooking.
I noticed this over the past couple of weekends, when we were busy packing, moving and cleaning up an old house we moved out of. I got up and ate breakfast, then lunch, then dinner with MAYBE one snack (or even none) in the afternoon. I was BUSY, though, so I didn't think about the food and didn't crave it at all.
Then back at work Monday, I'm watching the clock and thinking of snack time obsessively.
Has anyone STOPPED the habit of smaller meals during the day AFTER losing, and just gone back to three meals a day, with maybe A single snack? How'd that work for you?
It depends on how big the meals are... and whether they "make up" for the snacks that way. That is, a 500 calorie meal is equivalent to a 300 calorie meal with a 200 calorie snack a couple hours later.
Do not get the idea, however, that you can eat a 300 calorie meal and then skip the 200 calorie snack. Maybe now and then, but not as a regular habit. This is dangerous territory.
Hunger is way too subjective for most people to go by if they have had food issues, and it's especially tricky after weight loss.
If you feel like you are getting too tied to habit, then mix it up. Have a single snack 2 hours after lunch, instead of 1 snack an hour later and another snack later than that. Make the single snack the same size as you would normally make the 2 snacks. Or vary the times at which you eat, or try some larger meals and no snack in between.
I tend to do the same thing Mindi, during the work week I eat my snack at the same time every day whether I really want it or not. I find myself reaching for an afternoon snack even if I ate a larger lunch. I tell myself it keeps me from getting hungry later in the day and overdoing it, but I don't know. On the weekends I eat larger meals and often find myself not having snacks as much. I did find this weekend that I had a light headache almost all day Saturday, and I wonder if it came from not spreading out the calories like I'm used to doing? Don't know. I'm thinking of mixing it up a little this week myself to see what happens.
Hunger is way too subjective for most people to go by if they have had food issues, and it's especially tricky after weight loss.
How right you are Jay! I can always eat, whether or not I'm hungry, and when I do go without my planned meals/snacks, I get ravenous and tend to eat whatever there is.... Not good.
Mindi - mixing it up is a good suggestion. Just make sure you're eating enough calories. Also, perhaps the reason that you're focused on food during the work day has to do with how you feel about work rather than food. Are you bored? DOing repetitive tasks? Might make the upcoming food into a diversion rather than a snack.
If I eat three meals, they are three big meals. If I eat 6-8 meals, they are small ones. I actually tend to eat 3 meals a day on the weekend and 6-8 on weekdays. I think the problem is that at work I am stuck at my desk all day, and it makes me want to eat every couple hours. So I plan to eat every couple hours but have small meals. On the weekend I am out doing stuff all day so I don't really have time to eat that many times, but it's okay because I don't want to eat when I'm actually doing things.
Same for me. During the week I eat every few hours, often times whether I'm hungry or not. And it's definitely because I'm stuck at my desk, which is only a couple of rooms away from the refrigerator (I work from home). Amazing how loud the refrigerator calls when I'm having trouble focusing on a task.
Lately I've been trying to pay a little more attention to this and to not eat if I'm not hungry. But the other issue is that I know how much food I need to eat and I also know that if I skip a snack because I'm not hungry, it could come back to haunt me later. For example, on Tuesdays I usually head over to the gym to work out at around 5 PM, so my afternoon snack window closes at 4 PM. If I don't eat at 4 PM because I'm not hungry, then sometimes I am hungry at 5 PM but can't eat because it's time to work out. It's not so much fun to work out when you're hungry.
And then sometimes, even though I'm not hungry, I'll just obsess about eating until I eat something. It keeps me from focusing on my work. In those instances, so long as my calories are on plan, I'll sometimes just eat my snack and not worry about it. This is one of the things I like about calorie counting. So long as I stick to my plan, I don't have to spend a lot of time agonizing about whether I'm hungry or not or going to be hungry later if I don't eat. I'm eating less than 1400 calories per day; if I eat something because it satisfies me in some way other than fulfilling hunger but I stay under my calories, who cares? I am never going to be the sort of person that eats for sustenance only.
On the weekends, I tend to eat fewer snacks. Sometimes I just have three meals and an evening snack. I tend to start eating much later in the day (usually around noon), I eat a bigger breakfast, and I'm usually out and about or doing projects around the house, so I can delay lunch until sometimes 5 PM. Then there's no need to eat a snack before dinner. But dinners are often a little bigger on the weekends, generally because I know that I'm not eating as much during the day, so it's an opportunity to eat meals that I wouldn't be able to fit into my calorie plan during the week.
I find habits tend to drift over time. I try to do a reality check once in a while to make sure what I'm doing is still working for me, but if it's working, I go with it. I'm done with people tell me how I "should" eat. I do what works for me.
Eating by habit, not hunger?
