Going to try 2 meals only a day


(Denise) #1

Maybe stomach upset coming from yogurt…and honestly, I’ve noticed this before. I want to try and go from my breakfast, which I can hold off on that until as late as 11 a.m. as I don’t feel hungry after a good “meat only” dinner finished by 5 pm daily. Well, sometimes fish, chicken, shrimp kind of rare for that, but mostly cuts of meat.

I only eat up to maybe 7 oz of meats, Salmon is usually 5 oz at most, same with chic thighs, my fave. If I understand skipping lunch means I need to eat more meat for dinner, and add some more meats to breakfast as well to make sure I eat enough.

I just don’t like the way I feel after my lunch I’ve never changed since I started Keto over 3 years ago. I also don’t feel satiated, it’s been more like a treat than a meal, but I guess I feel so good after eating mostly protein meals, I don’t want the lunch thing anymore.

I know I can do bacon or the best sausage I can find, and eggs. I’ve been eating cheese added to my breakfast, but feel as if I don’t even want that. I guess I’m starting to feel the same about dairy as I did about sugars and starches. I realize I’m eating just meat for dinner and I don’t get hungry at all, like I said, until around 10 or 11 in the a.m.

Anyone else find eat 3 meals didn’t suit you? I actually used to get paranoid if I felt I was going to miss a meal, I still don’t like the idea, but I just realize I shouldn’t be eating if I’m not hungry. Unless I’m some kind of “sick” with a lost of appetite which I don’t think is the deal.

Just rambling, maybe someone will chime in that’s had similar experience, Denise :slight_smile: PS Fueling is my biggest interest now, not a “foody” at all.


(Chuck) #2

Well I have only eaten 2 meals a day since I was a teenager. My normal is eating between 10am and 6pm, but I have a lot of days I don’t eat until noon. Some days my first meal is a breakfast other days a lunch but most days my first meal is a smoothie that I created. 4 ounces of whole milk, 6 ounces almond milk, a cup of fresh baby spinach, a half avocado, whey protein, mixed berries.


(Denise) #3

My main concern is to get enough to eat, but I think I have to just eat til satiated, like @PaulL has always talked about, and also listen to my body and how it feels energy-wise. I don’t think most people on Keto pay attention to calories, not that I know of anyway. I do still believe though in the Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) compared to how much food I take in.

I’ll go ahead and talk more about this because if I’m not eating enough to maintain my lifestyle/workout, activities, anything other than sitting at my PC and sleeping in other words, then I will be very tired, and even lose muscle-mass. Fuel is what I’m talking about, fuel enough to run my “engines” and go the distance :wink:

So I guess it really depends on what I am doing, that will decide how much I eat from one day to the next. At 71, I don’t think I need as much food if I’m sitting around, more if I’m not :slight_smile: That’s probably how everyone here is doing it, and maybe it doesn’t mean I have to count calories.

Old habits die hard, and I did count calories for a time before keto, but I never lost a pound because I was not working out, only 2 mile walks maybe 3 times a week.


(Chuck) #4

Yes, I eat to feel comfortable and never stuffed, I also, don’t eat processed carbs or fast food and I don’t drink soft drink or use artificial sweeteners.


(Geoffrey) #5

Before I became carnivore I ate by the clock so it was three meals a day. Since then it’s rare if I eat twice a day. I don’t start getting hungry until around noon and even then it’s a keto hunger so it’s easy to ignore. Nothing like those carb hunger’s used to be.
When I do eat it’s often around 1-2 pm and then I eat plenty of fat and protein to fill me up. In the beginning it was real easy for me to under eat so I started tracking what I ate so I could get an idea how much I needed to eat.


(Denise) #6

I’m going to do the same thing geophery. I’ve been thinking about it and you hit the nail on the head that’s exactly what I need to do just to make sure from the get-go I’m eating at least as many calories as I’ve been eating which is about 1,300 I think maybe maybe less maybe 1200 but anyway I can figure that out and have a journal of how much. Just one question for you and you can answer anytime you’re not busy but what do you eat for that afternoon meal if you eat I guess I’m asking for suggestions for meals that have a lot of meat and fat like you described I think that’s what I should eat for both meals is meat just like I would for dinner possibly and some fats any suggestions are welcome and if I don’t if you write and I don’t get back to you tonight I will tomorrow thanks so much Denise


(KM) #7

Breakfast is liquid but 300-400 calories. Some days I want lunch, some I don’t. Dinner can be amazing. I will make a 12-16 oz steak. Big damn thing! I’m not ravenous but definitely looking forward to eating. I sit down to eat and I will just keep wanting another bite till it’s gone. At which point I’m not stuffed, but I’m satisfied.

Anyway, I find myself evolving. Long ago I was pretty sure all the pyramid food groups were very necessary. Then I got over it with grains, but for a long time I was anxious about not eating other plants, about being a bad girl and not eating my vegetables, basically. Then I was uneasy about skipping a meal. I think I’ve finally come to a place where I am comfortable eating what and when I feel like.


(Geoffrey) #8

Only because I love you will I allow you to get away with that. Has our relationship gotten to the point of having pet names for each other? :laughing::kissing_heart:

Seriously though, if you’ve followed any of my food listings on the carnivore monthly food threads you’ll see that I eat a wide variety. I love to cook and I eat very well.
So the day before yesterday, for my first meal, I ate three egg and cheese tacos. These consisted of three Egglife wraps brushed with butter and toasted in the skillet. Five eggs, scrambled, cooked in tallow, with about four tablespoons of small ribeye fat bits fried to a crackling. About a half ounce of sharp cheddar on each one.
Normally that would have been enough for me for the rest of the day but I worked hard all day rebuilding one of my trailers installing a new floor and doing a bunch of welding and grinding on it. At the end of the day I had worked up an appetite so I had a large bowl of venison stew. The stew was just chunks if deer meat that I had slow cooked in my crockpot with some beef bone broth, salt and half a stick of butter.
Yesterday we attended a free lunch seminar at a Mexican food restaurant. Choices for a carnivore are limited so I was prepared to fast but since we were allowed to order anything we wanted on the menu my wife and I split the large fajita plate. We had strips of steak, chicken and shrimp. The meat and water was fine and satisfying for me while the wife indulged in the guacamole and grilled onions and peppers as well. I know there’s a good chance the meat was grilled using seed oils but I’m not going to let perfection be the enemy of good and every once in awhile isn’t going to hurt me…I don’t think.
That was not enough food to last me though so later that evening I had polished off the rest of my venison stew and soaked up the remaining broth with plain pork rinds.
Today I go and cut ribeyes for my sister in law’s restaurant 99 miles away. After I’m done with my meat cutting and sharpening all of their kitchen knives I’ll be eating one of those ribeyes. Then I’ve got to blast home for a cardiologist appointment and then I’ve got to shoot over to Ft. Worth to a get together with my old work crew that I managed when I was working. It’ll be good to see them again. It’ll be at a restaurant so I’ll find something on the menu that I can eat. Probably a steak.
So yeah, I eat a variety but it’s always centered around fat, protein, salt and water.
I’m fortunate in that most of the protein I eat at home is something I’ve raised or hunted or caught when fishing. Beef, lamb, venison, chickens, eggs, freshwater fish as well as saltwater and occasionally a goat or wild hog.
I cook in a variety of was also. I fry in my cast iron mostly. I cook over a wood fire several times a month and my favorite is smoking meats on my offset smoker.
I also make my own tallow and my own yogurt.
Gonna be tough to follow what I eat but with some imagination one can manage.
Sorry for the long rambling.


#9

I am sorry I couldn’t do it shorter.

I have much experience with TMAD as I have 2 natural mealtimes, it’s not something my woe or time could change. I usually want food around 2-3pm and around 6pm.
I consider myself a natural intermittent faster, I am among the ones who did IF way before they learned it is a thing. I have very serious overeating tendencies but I am usually nicely satiated until 2pm and don’t get hungry until around 3pm (“not satiated but not hungry yet” is a pretty nice state when well-fasted, it never triggers eating. not being satiated late at night usually do). Even on my 5MAD days, I almost never eat before 3pm, it’s just my natural way.

I never ever thought I ever should eat when I am satiated and don’t even have any appetite… I eat plenty later and as a human, eating even once a day should be just right as long as I can do it, enjoy it and get enough nutrients in the process. But if I lower my carbs, OMAD isn’t viable so it’s time for TMAD. I find it nice, I can eat lunch and dinner together with my SO (not always, he tends to have either super early lunches - weekend - or 1-2 hours between lunch and dinner, that’s not always enough for me), I have enough meals to enjoy them fully but not too much to complicate my life…
It isn’t for people who can’t eat big enough meals, obviously.
I can eat my 20 oz meat in 2 meals just fine, usually not at once though, that’s another reason for me to have 2 meals.
I currently am in a phase of 2MAD with a 3 hour eating window, it seems to work well for now (as long as I fight hard to minimize my fat intake. not easy for me).

My SO needs way more energy and he wakes up hungry, 2MAD would be a hungry suffering for him - but he would slim down quickly, needing 3 meals again. Each to their own, only you can figure out if it’s for you, good luck!

I noticed that whenever I change my average number of meals (as I can’t do 1 or 2 or 3 meals each and every day, it’s not how I work), I need to change my food choices a bit to get the right sized meal with the right satiation. I always eat similar food items but the ratio must change. The ratio of more and less satiating items, especially. TMAD is kind of my default so it’s more like for 1 or 3 meals. If I suddenly have less meals, I can afford fattier, less satiating items as a bigger meal satiates me better anyway and I need the extra calories per meal, I don’t want to get satiated with too little. In my case, it’s almost only a concern on carni OMAD though but if I jump a plate of leaner pork and little else, I may eat too little for my first meal in the end. It happened yesterday, I successfully had a pretty lean small meal, it was very satiating and not as tempting as something fattier, I didn’t want more for lunch but I got hungry in no time again.
So the change may not work so well with the usual attitude and style, some changes may be needed. You eat super little meat, not like it is necessarily a problem, you can eat other nice protein sources.

That isn’t enough for everyone, some people undereat then, even when underweight. Okay, that must be some serious problem with their body feedback but not being able to eat big meals is normal. We are different. I met people who said they simply unable to eat more than 300 kcal at once (quite extreme, isn’t it? it must be horrible) while I tend to need a big meal when hungry. I had it over 1200 kcal before keto, now it’s usually smaller. And sometimes it’s way bigger with 150g protein, oh that is a nice OMAD meal…
On some days I have tiny meals though and it can’t be helped. We need to eat as much and as many times as we need to get our nutrients, just eating to satiaty may not be right. If I eat to satiaty whenever I get hungry, I typically overeat, the same for my SO. I have better chances as my food items actually matter. If I choose them “wrong” (though it feels sooo right, fatty dairy, mmm), I eat A TON without getting satiated. If I eat leanish pork, I get satiated with very little (and get hungry again as I wrote before). Many people on this forum wrote about keto items they overeat, they are just triggering and not satiating.
It’s good to just eat to satiation (you don’t want to stay hungry or get too stuffed if possible) but it matters WHAT exactly you choose. Usually, there are interesting exceptions among people.

You don 't need to count calories, it MAY be useful in the very beginning to avoid undereating if you are prone to it. I just get hungry if I undereat (so I don’t undereat, in the end) but I can easily MASSIVELY overeat if I just get satiated too so I tracked and figured out what items I should focus on.
You totally should ensure you eat enough somehow. Tracking or not.

I lost some fat without exercise but I was younger and my energy need still was decent… Now I strongly suspect I need extra exercise and more muscles to have any chance at fat-loss. I can’t eat little (2000 kcal is little enough if you ask me, I can’t even stay that low for long. but with very good food choices and going against my own desires a little, I can go a bit lower!). You seem to be better at it but possibly your energy need is lower too. But working out and other exercise have so many benefits, I don’t do it primarily for fat-loss :slight_smile:

I hear that from so many people, it’s a bit strange to me as I never was like that. I ate vegs because I couldn’t not to, they are so SUPER delicious and tempting! Except the green leaves, I ignored most of those all my life. I needed the miracle of losing almost all interest in them to finally eat healthy. Vegs aren’t healthy to me due to their huge carb content (otherwise all are fine, I am not sensitive). It’s so very nice to get rid of them. They are often very very expensive and time consuming too. Meat is just superior :smiley:
(A tiny juicy thing is still welcomed now and then.)

My pyramid never had much to do with ANY common ones including keto and carnivore… I am just different but I get my nutrients as far as I know so it’s fine.

My thought exactly when we visit my SO’s Mom who always make chicken in sunflower oil… I ate a tonne of that stuff in my life, don’t want much more but the teeny-tiny occasional amount won’t hurt me much, my body should handle those tiny negative things I inevitably get from my food. And the way, way higher negative things I get from elsewhere, hopefully… I look at the whole picture and denying the food would surely bring somewhat more serious consequences than the tiny oil.
Perfection is unattainable anyway. We should draw the lines somewhere, usually, without causing extra stress and anxiety that ruins the positive result.

I render my lard from 70/30 pork :slight_smile: Nice lard, tastes like scratchings a bit.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #10

One study I read of people on an ad libitum diet, observed that daily intake and expenditure did not usually match very well. However, over any given seven- or eight-day period, the match was, as they put it, “astonishingly precise.” So go with what your body is telling you.

We need protein, especially as we age and start losing our ability to assimilate amino acids. We also need fat to fuel our bodies, especially when we exercise. We don’t need carbohydrate, but we do need protein and fat. So listen to your body. One of the flaws underlying modern medicine is the notion that we can out-think two million years of evolution.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #11

:+1::+1::+1::+1::+1:


(Denise) #12

Ok, I don’t like calling you a “geezer” so Geophrey was next, but if you’d rather, there’s one more up on your username area, and it says “Regular”. Would you like me to call you Regular instead?? :rofl::woozy_face::grin:

I like the sound of the Egglife Wraps, a lot!! But wondering how many carbs are in those? I’m a T2 so I have to be careful. I got my labs back and will start a thread there on those numbers. I also will take a look at your thread on your Carnivore monthly updates. There’s no way I could eat the way you and your wife do because I just don’t have the resources, but you can sure send me up a load of those Texas eatins, via Cargo Plane:laughing:

All your foods sound awesome, and I would like to find someone up here in my area I could buy some from. We got to have that a lot as we had hunters in my family back then. By the way, I checked on the wraps and looks like I can eat them, zero carbs :wink: Yeehaw!!

Wow, expensive, but check this out. This geezer has a recipe for home-made!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e722ce7oJ4s&pp=ygUhaG93IHRvIG1ha2UgZWdnbGlmZSB3cmFwcyBhdCBob21l


(Denise) #13

Thanks for this Paul, I do think tracking my foods for a couple weeks is smart, just to see if I can do closer to carnivore. I think I can, and I also am curious to know if I could really feel much better eating more carnivore, maybe full-blown if I can grab up some of @Geezy56 recipes :wink:

Any other’s I can find as well. I am glad I don’t crave the carbs I was craving earlier on. I think I’ll be able to replace my lunch “treat” easily since it leaves me with a sickie feeling in my tummy :nauseated_face: I mean it’s not horrible, but it slows me down, that’s for sure :wink:


(Denise) #14

Our Safeway has a 6-ct bunch of EggLife Wraps @Geezy56 , I’m going down there now, heck with DIY baking them at 4.99! Worth it for my lunch with meat and eggs :wink:


(Geoffrey) #15

If you eat them cold or just warmed up in the microwave you may not care to much for the texture as it’s a little spongy.
What I do with them is I brush both sides with melted butter a toast them in the skillet on both sides.
IMG_9729


(David Cooke) #16

It has become fashionable to state that breakfast is NOT the most important meal of the day. I disagree, and ‘holding off’ until 10 or 11am seems like a crazy idea to me. Get up, drink something, go and kill an animal to eat and eat it seems perfectly logical to me. In my case, it’s drink a coffee, go for a run, come back and eat breakfast… For farmers, whether in the tropics where I now live, or in Europe, my observation is that this is a general rule.
Anyway, two meals a day: this was only possible for me after I had been Keto for about three months, been on that regime for 4 years now. Once a week, if my weight is creeping up, I’ll do a 24 hour fast, still making sure to run (5 times a week) before breakfasts. The problem I have sometimes is that after a hearty breakfast I can’t eat again after 4 - 6 hours, so instead of being on a 18/6 regime I find my seld on a 13/11 regime.


(Denise) #17

sounds deli’ish to me but first we have to get some into Safeway, they say they’re on the way but who knows when in this town. Also, on amazon, and Walmart sites, they are 27 dollars for 12 :disappointed_relieved: So much for saving money eating Keto, or Carnivore.

Safeway was having a meat sale but mainly Top Sirloin, which I don’t favor that at all. I bought one recently and it has a different taste and texture than my Tri tip I love :frowning: I bought some pack of it though because it’s “meat” and I need more of that in my diet. Much more I’m thinking. I like the taste of round steak better than top sirloin.


(KM) #18

I should try that. The texture reminded me of injera, which I didn’t hate but hubs did. Toasted in butter sounds much better!


(Denise) #19

Sounds mo’ betta to me too @kib1 :grin:


(Denise) #20

I did just 2 meals yesterday, and it was easy because I was not hungry between breakfast and dinner. I admit I got a little bored and found myself eating a cup up peanuts in the shells. I realized it was out of boredom but I went ahead.

I start my day so late because I’m hooked on my PC time. I’m up at 5’ish and get my decaf and sit here until it’s time for breakfast. I’ve been eating breakfast before my workouts but I think I’ll switch that around, and do my workouts earlier, like 8. Anyway, I need to make some changes for sure :wink: