Is anyone else struggling with this???

All day, for the most part, I eat on plan. Here's my sample meals and times below (this was yesterday's):

Breakfast (8:30am): Turkey sausage, yogurt
Snack (10:30am): Celery with hummus
Lunch (noon): Turkey wrap with sauteed peppers, onions, and mushrooms, sugar free pudding
Snack (2:00pm): Sugar free jello
Dinner (8:15pm): Parmesan crusted tilapia, SB baked potato (cauliflower with baked potato toppings), peas

There's a HUGE gap between 2 and 8 on this particular day. I commute for an hour to go home from work and when I get in the door (usually between 5:30 and 7pm, depending on if I go to the gym) I am STARVING! When I get home, usually I go for the nuts. I know that I may be eating too many nuts during this timeframe; yesterday I ate too many pecans when I walked in the door. Granted, I'm not eating sugary snacks or popcorn anymore (my old snack foods), but I feel like I've used up my "snack allotment" -- but maybe I haven't? Please give me your opinion -- especially if you deal with the same issue...

Your 2:00 snack of sugar free jello won't do much to fill you up. So really you are going between 12 and 8 without eating anything nourishing and that is a really long time. When I let myself get that hungry, it's for sure that I am going to overeat. I would suggest you have something more substantial in the afternoon, and then I'd probably have something to snack on in the car on the way home too, particularly if you are going to work out. For your snack, you've got another serving of dairy you could get in there, or some cheese. I try not to eat nuts at home as a snack because it's too easy to overdo. I will package them up in individual servings though and take them with me when I'm out of the house, much safer. So maybe you could have your nuts in the car on the way home, and stay away from them once you get home.
I can't tell from the menu if you are on Ph1 or not, no grains or fruit in there (unless the wrap is a tortilla, not lettuce), but you've got peas. If PH2, you can have some fruit or grain.
In general, I think you are starving when you get home because you need to eat more during the day.

I usually eat 'dinner' late too so I usually make my midafternoon snack something hearty and eat something light for 'dinner'. Is it possible to take your heartier dinner to work and eat that before you leave and then eat something light when you get home?

Hi, when I'm working (first time in years I've been unemployed) I get home about 5 and had the same problem... I HIGHLY suggest making use of the crockpot and eating around 6 or so instead of 8 ... many benefits...

A. your "starving" when getting in the door, eating dinner earlier will help.
B. It's been said when you eat that late at night it stalls weight loss, your body doesn't have time to move the food around, let your stomach settle before resting.

If you can't, how about incorporating an apple as a mid evening snack? Prepackaged, only 100 cals, and if you throw peanut butter on it it helps hunger pains.

Good luck.

I'm on phase 1.5 (adding in phase II foods slowly, and still trying to limit how many of them I eat).

These are really great ideas. I don't usually eat "hearty" at lunch because I'm very anti-microwave and I don't really like warming up foods in the microwave. I'm usually up until 12 or 1 so that's partly why I don't eat dinner until 8, because if I eat at 6 then I'm hungry again at ten. On the days where I go to the gym, i usually don't get home until after seven - so dinnertime won't be until 8, anyway.

The snack idea and crockpot idea were very good. I also should start taking "portions" of nuts home with me in the car to eat, that way I can't overdo it on the nuts.

Is it okay to have "multiple" snacks in the afternoon (i.e. jello at 2pm, nuts at 4pm, celery at 6pm)?

It seems like you're not eating enough protein in the afternoon. Sugar free jello is not enough. Eat a protein snack a little later than 2 if you can, like cheese, or a slice of turkey. Add some V-8 juice, and/or have a glass of V-8 as soon as you walk in the door at night.

I think however you want to split up the food is up to you. There is no reason I can see that you have to have three larger "meals" and three small "snacks". At a certain time of the month, I just split my food into 6 snacks throughout the day so I can eat often and this helps cravings. Since you are not having a snack after dinner, why not have 2 in the afternoon? The idea is to eat regularly (every 2 - 3 hours) throughout the day to keep your blood sugar levels even.
Also, I don't even really consider sugar free jello a "snack". To me it's like drinking a diet soda, I don't really think there is any nutrition in it. It's fine to eat it for a treat, but to me a snack is something like veggies and hummus, cheese, yogurt, something with some protein and fiber to fill you up, and about 100 calories or more to give you some energy. I could be wrong about the jello? Maybe there is some protein? I don't care for it, so I'm not too familiar.

your 2 pm sweet treat is NOT a snack


can you have a protein and veggie snack? (tomato and mozzarella?)

Tomato and mozzarella sounds like a GOOD snack And there is very little nutritive value in SF Jello (a little protein and sodium), which would be why I'm starving when I get home:

(taken from thedailyplate.com)

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 SNACK
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amount per Serving

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Calories 10 Calories from Fat 0


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

% Daily Value *
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 45mg 2%
Total Carbohydrate 0g 0%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Sugars 0g
Protein 1g 2%

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat 0.0% Carbs 0.0%
Protein 40.0%

exactly

i get home and i personally have a cup of coffee and carrots and hummus

I learned this from my ex-father-in-law (who has since passed away). He was the foreman at the Hormel meat packing plant in Austin, MN (where it all started) and specifically in the Jello processing plant. Jello is(was?) ground up pork products and I think it used to be from pig intestines. Now, it might not be any more but that is why we used to drink gelatin drinks back in the 60s and 70s because there was protein in Jello back then and we all wanted lustrous thick hair and long fingernails. Well, I did anyway.

Who knows what they make it out of today? Maybe, recycled styrofoam cups for all I know. Just joking folks, don't write that I said that fo real or I'll get all kinds of PMs on that topic.

I agree with Schmoodle and Nessa. The best way to nail a craving is get some kind of protein in and often.

Ick, I always heard it was horse's hooves.

You mean I am suppose to eat in the am? It's 11:30 and only had my coffee! :P

Yuk about the jello. I don't eat anything if I don't know where it came from or if it isn't a real food. I don't use a microwave either.

This is OT, but an explanation of my avoidance of jello, and microwaves:

I'm trying to incorporate not only Mediterranean eating into my life, but a traditional Mediterranean lifestyle. I know they eat fast food now and use microwaves in the Mediterranean region, but I'm aiming for Mediterranean tradition. In my entire family, there are only 2 overweight people, and one of them is me. My family eats and lives the traditional Med. way. So I decided to "return to my roots," so to speak, and that leaves out jello, microwaves, and other things.

Snacks that you can eat that are a little more substantial:
- Celery w/ peanut butter
- Celery w/ laughing cow cheese wedge
- Peppers or cucumber w/ hummus
- Ceviche
- Shrimp cocktail
- Edamame

These are all things I bring with me to work for my afternoon snack that always help to calm my cravings until dinner.