just like jack's dietician wants him to do, mine also put me on the 'eat every 4 hour' schedule. the reason: to stop the snacking, to make sure i stabilize both my blood sugar AND my insulin resistance, to make sure i get enough nutrition, and of course, to lose weight. if i can't eat a meal, i get to eat a snack, and then eat a meal after 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

so my day looks like this: 1/2 protein shake at 6:30 am. snack [wasa cracker with some sliced turkey and cheese and tomato] at 8:00 before hiking, breakfast at 10, lunch around 2, snack [a salad with not more than 10 grams of protein and 1/2 serving of carb in the form of carrots and chickpeas] around 6, 'dinner' around 10. that's... 6 times a day...

and i'm losing.

some nutritionists/docs/etc think that insulin resistance - which is worsened by all the processed food we have available - is fueling the obesity epidemic. i have no idea if they're right, but, as i said, lots of folks around here do very well on the recommended eating plan for insulin resistance, and i'm seeing a tendency for them to do better than those who don't... especially among people who have very very long days...

and the link with wls??? there's also a body of literature that supports the idea that those of us who get heavy enough to qualify for the surgery actually have SEVERE insulin resistance.

oh. and one more REALLY KEY POINT about insulin resistance and weight loss: AEROBIC EXERCISE IS ESSENTIAL. because it allows your body to use up the insulin. the insulin levels drop and you don't store fatl

and that, in a nutshell, is why i think jack lost SO MUCH WEIGHT on his own plan... he reduced the frequency of his meals and upped his exercise dramatically. but as with everything, our bodies get used to a routine and refuse to budge... so now he's tweaking and off and running again [sorry for the pun!!!!]

after a certain point, there really isn't much difference between folks who've had wls and those who are doing it the old fashioned way..

I think that's true of most people because most people don't plan out what they're eating ahead of time. They just sit down at the dinner table and eat. I know pretty much what I'll be eating all day by the time I leave for work.

Yes, you are correct -- at least half of the people I work with graze all day on the snacks that seem to constantly be in the backroom. I don't watch TV but if I did I know it would be very difficult to resist snacking after dinner.

Hmmm, I eat many small "meals" throughout the day, though it seems to be in response to actually getting hungrier at shorter intervals. When i first started eating healthier and exercising i was only eating my three meals a day and was losing nicely, but as i lost more and gained fitness, and especially once the strength training kicked in my hunger increased 10 fold. I dont deny it, i feed it. But only small amounts.

A day in the life of my stomach!

7am: Yoghurt & Fruit (usually an apple/pear and some strawberries or melon)
10am: Rice crackers and a little cheese
12:30/1pm: Salad roll
4pm: Yoghurt and/or piece of fruit
6:30/7pm: Big salad with cheese/Avocado & Chicken
And possibly one last piece of fruit or maybe 15gms choc around 8:30

Then bedtime at about 11pm!

Thats basically it while i was losing, now i am on maintainence i guess i should up the calorie intake a bit, but i am in the process of finding a balance at the moment.

In addition to helping with blood sugar levels, eating every 3 to 4 hours is also supposed to help with metabolism. The theory is that if your body goes for more than 4 hours without food, the metabolism ratchets down. By keeping a steady supply of (healthy, reasonable amounts) food coming, the body is reassured and metabolism operates at optimal levels. This is also why eating breakfast is important ... remember, the word is "break fast" -- you've been fasting all night, and eating will rev the engines.

Personally, I find that 4 to 5 meals works best for me, for all the reasons previously mentioned. When I started my program I DEFININTELY ate by the clock ... it went something like this:

7:00 milk, starch, fruit
10:00 fruit
12:00 meat, starch, fat, veg, fruit
3:00 yogurt
6:00 meat, starch, fat, veg, fruit
8:00 starch, milk

I now eat breakfast a little later and usually don't have a morning snack, and have that food elsewhere in my day. One thing I discovered after a while is that my definitions of "full" and "hungry" changed. I now recognize "hungry" as a much more subtle signal -- it doesn't mean famished. My body needs food a LONG time before I feel stomach-grumbling. By the same token, I've learned what it feels to be adequately fed and satisfied; I used to not stop eating until I was stuffed and logy. Eating the frequent small meals did that for me, because I started feeling those subtle differences that a LITTLE food could make. If you think of absolute hunger as a 1 and stuffed to the gills as a 10, I used to think of 1 or 2 as "hungry" and "full" as 9 or 10. Now, I feel "hungry" at 4, "satisfied" at 6 and "full" at 7.

So ... I ate by the clock by rote because that's what I was told to do, but now I eat by that same clock because I've learned to hear the signals in my body and it WANTS to eat by that clock.

Jack, most of the world may say they eat 3 meals a day, but I see a lot of activity around the snack machines all day long...I think they don't count that since it isn't eaten sitting down at the table. My nutritionist also has me on 5 small meals a day to keep my blood sugar stable.