If I don't eat my tummy just growls at me haha

gestational diabetes- thats tough to beat.

Hi there!
I used to live in Italy, and discovered that the eating habits there are really interesting. They have coffee and a sweet roll for breakfast, a small sandwich for lunch (panini), and then wait until 9pm to have their main meal of the day. This meal is normally made up of primas (a small pasta dish - i.e.2 or 3 raviolis), secondi (a meat dish) with contorni (vegetables), and a dolce (dessert). The contorni is usually SOAKED in olive oil, as are their salads (typical dressing is olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar). They eat this each and every night, often at a restaurant, and dinner will usually end no earlier than 11 pm (I KNOW this to be so as I lived directly above a restaurant while I was there!!!). And, their obesity rates are really, really low and they have (along with the Japanese), the longest lifespan in the world.
I also used to live in Germany, where their saying is "eat like a prince at breakfast, a king at lunch, and a pauper at dinner", so normally, their meals consisted of bread/cheese/cold cuts for breakfast, a HUGE mid-day family meal (where lots of things close between 1pm and 4pm so everyone can get home for lunch and then back to work), and a light supper of soup/bread/meats. There was very little olive oil, and they were heavy on the starch (spatzle/noodles/knudel/bread/potatoes/cream soups etc.). Their obesity rates are lower than Great Britain but higher than those in Italy.
I ALSO have spent time in Great Britain, where the emphasis in daily living is on pre-packaged, processed foods. There are even entire STORES devoted only to these type of foods (i.e. Marks and Spensers Food Halls). I couldn't believe it, but lots of these stores are located in the train station, so commuters can pick up a frozen meal to take home for dinner that night. Take-out and delivery is easy, convenient, and rampant. They have the highest obesity rates in Europe, and rival those of the USA at this point.
SO, I should get to the point, right?
Try out what works for you. The time of day may be less important that you think. Perhaps your dr wants to move you out of your current eating habits and shake things up a bit. BUT, as our kind moderator says, the time of day is less important than the total calories taken in and the total calories expended.
Personally, I would give it a try and monitor what happens. Don't place any result-based expectations on this, though, just view it as an experiment.
Good luck!

freiamaya - wow thats for all that! I am definatly just doing this as an experiment!!

I am pretty sure I have blood sugar issues as well, although I am not diabetic (get tested every year, just in case)...

Often when I'm hungry, I don't just get rumbly tummy, but feel lightheaded/can't think/headache/and falling over tired... frankly, I can become a real b**** too. I used to have to take a nap every day when I got home from work -- just 15-30 min. I always thought that I was tired and that was my body's "rhythm". Now, I think I was hungry! Now that I've changed my eating, and eating healthy snacks in the afternoon, I find that feeling to be gone... and if it is there, just a piece of cheese or other snack often perks me right up.

Honestly, even before the weight loss really took off, it was my late afternoon energy I loved the most about this new lifestyle!

hmmm... I am always tried but usually AFTER I eat. Well usually I am just always tired haha. At one point I thought I was anemic cuz my iron was too low to donate blood... I never did get that checked. Could that effect weight loss?

Low iron doesn't really affect weight loss, in my experience. I am usually anemic for a while after having a child-and cannot give blood for a few months.

For me, these are the only guidelines I have about eating at a particular time of day.

1. a healthy breakfast with grain and nuts maybe even yogurt (nothing oily or otherwise upsetting to my stomach... no refined carbs)

2. about 5 healthy meals a day.. I used to say 3 meals and a snack or two but then started paying attention. Some of my snacks were bigger than a meal and some of my meals seemed to be little more than a snack... so I just call them meals.... breakfast at 6, midmoring something, lunch at 12ish, afternoon on my way home snack or just arrived at home first dinner (keeps me from losing it), dinner (sometimes 6 pm.. sometimes 8, sometimes later)...

3. not to eat anything later in the evening that will keep me from sleeping well... alcohol in moderation and never too close to bed time

I think what time you eat doesn't usually matter as long as you are able to enjoy yourself, stay in control, and get the necessary nutrients and energy. I would say basically the same applies to the time of day you exercise except that I usually avoid strenuous exercise 2 hours before bedtime and can't get it together until I've been up for at least half and hour.