This board is sleepy during the summer. I thought I'd kick start some ideas here.
First, let's talk about hunger cycles:
I need a snack - everyday - around 3:30-4PM. I'm a grouch around that time, I need a boost or two things will happen: 1) I'll start yelling at random people for things like the paper clips being in the wrong place or 2) I'll binge - whether it be an unhealthy dinner (some quick to satisfy the hunger as opposed to planned) or I'll have a hundred unhealthy snacks.
I need a walk after dinner. Around the block with the dogs. Nothing to hard or high in intensity. Something that breaks the "sitting down and eating" phase with the "rest of the night" phase. This is a mental thing for me.
Next, let's talk snacks or mini-meals:
My definition is something around 200 calories that satisfies me.
Here are some of my favs:
* Popcorn. There are some die hards that are out there that will say airpopped is the only way to go. I go with microwaved with as much crap in the name as I want. Right now my favorite is Big Cheez by Jollytime. Nope, I can't eat the whole bag but my dogs love it and I can eat half a bag for 220 calories (and I never get through half a bag). Plus it satisfies that whole hand to mouth activity.
*Bumblee Tuna Fish Sensations. Okay, these are like 250 calories a piece but you could skip the crackers for 160 calories. They're flavored tunas (like lemon pepper and thai spicy chili). Yummy.
I have breakfast around 10 or 11 and then get hungry for a snack around 12 or 1. Then lunch is around 3 and dinner is inbetween 6 to 8 then another snack at midnight.
For snacks I like
Yogurt
Bananas
Apples
Low fat ice cream
pretzels
Kashi
It IS sleepy around here, Jessica. It sucks for me, because I'm not back at work till the day after Labor Day, so I depend on this place for stimulation and entertainment! Sad, but true.
I do the 5 meal-a-day thing, so I'm eating something every 2 1/2 - 3 hours. My mid-afternoon snacky is almost always a Light n' Lively nonfat yogurt (peach and blueberry are my favorites! ) and a protein powder drink. Verrry satisfying! Sometimes I add some frozen (thawed) blueberries, if I've got the calories to spare. (Without the berries, I'm at 200 -- adding a half a cup adds 65 calories.)
I don't want the board to be slow so I'll add in my bit too!
Jessica, I'm with you on the popcorn!!!
I pop it in a pot with one teaspoon (or pat) of non-hydrogenated margarine.
Using one half cup of unpopped kernels (according to fitday) I get a great big bowl of popcorn for 294 calories! It really helps with my chip problem
Also, I love fat free yogurt and any kind of fruit.
As a kid I used to eat frozen blueberries...like little popscicles..yum.
I've been eating about every 3 hours, too, but I still get really hungry (actually I think it's "head" hunger ) right about 3:00 pm. I love my smoothies with yogurt or milk and frozen fruit. I bought 10 lbs. of blueberries the other day and froze a lot so I could put them in my smoothies.
To motivate me to get up and walk the dog at night, we've been exploring off-leash places around town. My DH and I get our walk in, and our little dog gets to run around and mark all the trees, shrubs, weeds, pieces of trash, etc., etc. I kind of got out of walking the dog because I got bored just walking around the 'hood.
I have 3 meals (brekkie around 7:30, lunch around 1pm and dinner at 6ish) and 3 snacks a day. The snacks usually consist of a fruit (right now watermelon is a fave), an Astro fat free sugar free yogurt (to help me get more calcium) and either tomato slices w/ light cottage cheese (to get in my last veggie serving of the day and a bit more calcium) or a carb/protein/fat combo such as Weight Watchers 60% whole wheat bread with 1tbsp. of yummy peanut butter.
At first I was always looking for substitute sweets (i.e. fat free fudgsicles) or low calorie and low fat carbs (pretzels instead of potato chips), but I found those things usually got the sweet and/or salty cravings flowing and I was left unsatisfied with my meagre allowable portions.
I love dog-walking (especially late at night when I can peek into the lit homes from the sidewalks and get decorating ideas). I'm lucky to live across the street from a trail system, so our morning and early evening walks are never boring ~ we run into all sorts of animals (there was a wee lost raccoon clinging to a tree the other night) and Heidi loves to chase squirrels and chipmunks (glad I have a 26ft leash!) I also love the leash frees so she can run all she wants, but its not as good for me because I end up sitting on a bench gossiping with the other "dog mommies".
I'm a recent convert to breakfast (see breakfast question thread) but I have to have my snacks. Around 10:30 in the am and 3:00 in the afternoon I turn into super B**tch if I've forgotten to bring something to work with me.
In the morning I usually have sliced veggies (carrots, celery, cucumber, peppers etc.) The afternoon is usually fruit or yogurt or 3 or 4 celery sticks wrapped in low fat deli slices yummmmy.
I'll eat dinner usually around 6:30 after I've finished exercising for the day and I usually don't want anything else until the next morning.
BTW - Jillegal, I can't seem to find the wonderful Kashi that everyone's raving about. I see you're from Canada also, can you tell me what stores carry it? I'm in the Toronto area so I know it's out there somewhere!
I eat 6 times a day, about every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Breakfast at 6:15, snack at 9:30, lunch at 12-12:30, snack at 3:30, dinner at 6:30, snack at 9:30. This seems to work really well for me because it never allows me to get overly hungry. Now, if something happens to mess up my schedule and my snack or meal gets delayed.... well, lets just say it's not pretty!
My new favorite snack of choice has been 1/2-1 c. sliced frozen strawberries (partially thawed), 1/2 small frozen banana (about 2 oz.), 1/2 container (3 oz.) of Blue Bunny Carb Freedom Vanilla Creme yogurt mixed with 2 tbsp. of Kashi Go Lean Crunch. It's sooooo good, YUM!
My dd and I have started taking hour long walks after dinner. She loves to explore one of our local college campuses a few blocks from the house. She usually rides her scooter (think skateboard with a handle) and I try desperately to keep up! JK, she's pretty good about waiting for old mom to catch up! It's such a nice time and we get to talk about anything and everything. I'm just so thankful that I'm able to do things like this with her now. Before I wouldn't have even considered such a thing, how sad.
newfiedarling - I do most of my shopping at The Great Canadian Superstore and its in the health food aisles there (that's where it is at Loblaws, too). At No Frills, Longos and Fortinos its with the regular cereal and I've even found it at the local Rabba mini-mart. However, I've never seen it at Ultramart or Dominion. If your local store doesn't carry it, tell the manager you'll boycott the store unless he orders some in.
I'm going to the States at the end of the month and will be cramming as much American Kashi Go Lean into my trunk to bring home as will fit (the Canadian stuff is made by Kelloggs and has 50 calories more per serving for some reason.)
Don't be sad about the past, Beverly ~ that's done and gone ~ just be happy for now and the future. You're doing yourself (and your daughter) a great justice and that's worth more than a , its deserves a !
I usually have three meals (around 09:00, 14:00, and 19:00) plus a couple of snacks of fruit, frozen LF yogurt (ice lolly), and/or nuts in between. I'm pretty flexible though, so if I feel hungry within an hour of eating lunch, I'll have a snack, but I'll also look at what I ate at the last meal to see if I can suss out why it didn't satisfy me. It seems to work for me most of the time and I rarely get ravenously hungry.
I'm another big fan of popcorn for a snack, espcially in the evenings. Usually my cravings lean toward the salty rather than the sweet. (Unless it's like the day before my period, then hooboy. Do not stand between me and a Special Dark bar.) Microwave popcorn works really well for satisfying the crunchy-salty thing.
During the day I eat every couple hours -- I never really think in terms of breakfast/lunch/dinner, although I do eat at least three times a day. Mostly, though, I eat a little something when I'm hungry and that keeps me pretty much in check. I like some cottage cheese with fruit sometime after lunch, or a laughing cow or slice of swiss with a handful or so of grapes. Cheese makes the world a happier place to be, after all.
My "snack" time is after the kids are in bed. I'm just so happy to sit quietly and be able to eat something without being interrupted a million times - this was my major downfall, I would overeat BIG TIME! Now, the thing that helps me is sunflower seeds - they take forever to eat and they really satisfy that whole "hand to mouth" thing. So, I have about 2 oz of sunflower seeds everynight now.
Hunger Cycles and Snacks
Sad, but true. 
) and a protein powder drink. Verrry satisfying! Sometimes I add some frozen (thawed) blueberries, if I've got the calories to spare. (Without the berries, I'm at 200 -- adding a half a cup adds 65 calories.)
) right about 3:00 pm. I love my smoothies with yogurt or milk and frozen fruit. I bought 10 lbs. of blueberries the other day and froze a lot so I could put them in my smoothies. 
I'm lucky to live across the street from a trail system, so our morning and early evening walks are never boring ~ we run into all sorts of animals (there was a wee lost raccoon clinging to a tree the other night) and Heidi loves to chase squirrels and chipmunks (glad I have a 26ft leash!) I also love the leash frees so she can run all she wants, but its not as good for me because I end up sitting on a bench gossiping with the other "dog mommies". 
, its deserves a 
