How often do you change things (food, number of meals, etc.)?

(Bob M) #1

Got in a discussion with @amwassil about what we eat. My understanding is that he eats basically the same thing every day. I am totally the opposite. I almost never eat the same thing from week to week.

An example. Monday, I ate OMAD. I had leftover chicken skewers from Costco with peanut sauce and sous vide shrimp with shrimp cocktail sauce. I forget what else. This is only the second time ever we’ve had the skewers, and the second time I’ve had (home made) peanut sauce ever. (Used to eat peanut sauce, say 4-5 years ago. Try to avoid PUFAs now, though.)

Yesterday, I ate 2MAD because I exercised in the morning (6-7am) and find it very difficult to make it past 10-11 am without eating. I had ground beef with cold butter. That is the first time I have ever eaten this and the first time I have eaten plain ground beef for lunch, in many months. Last night, I had chicken shawarma with garlic sauce (all homemade). The last time I had that was the last time my wife made it, maybe last year?

And that’s normal. (Drives my kids crazy, by the way. They like “normal”.)

Today, I’m eating OMAD. So, this week, I’ve eaten OMAD, 2MAD, OMAD, and will eat 2MAD tomorrow (Thursday) due to exercising in the morning.

As another example, I ate 7+ eggs over the weekend. I go through phases with eggs, where I eat a ton of them, or none of them. This weekend, I might make chaffle pizzas, so I’ll eat eggs and cheese.

For fat, I got through phases. Sometimes I eat lower fat (say, lean beef with olives), other times more fat (say, beef + olives + sour cream). Sometimes I specifically add foods high in saturated fat (though I have to watch this, as they make me too not hungry).

For dairy, sometimes I eat dairy, sometimes I don’t. This week, the sauces have been made with dairy. I’ll add butter to my ground beef, to see what happens.

Every week, every day is different.

Do you eat the same or different? Do you eat the same numbers of times per day or different? If so, why?

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #2

That’s my cue, I suppose. Without going into meal by meal details, I’ll say I probably eat about 75% the same stuff every day and about 25% something I haven’t eaten for a few days or weeks previously. At least 2-3 times per week I’ll try something new or at least something I haven’t had for a very long time. I drink a liter of keto coffee every morning, first meal. Depending when my work shift begins, that could be any time between about 4:45am (like this morning since I start at 7am) and 9am. Again, depending when my work shift starts, my main meal could be my second meal of the day (around noonish) or third meal of the day later (anywhere from 6-9pm).

Eggs, usually two butter-poached, 5-6 days per week. Lots of cheeses. I’m up to about a dozen varieties that I select 2-3 from daily. 2-3 times per month I’ll try a new cheese and if I like it will add it to my inventory. Whipping cream daily. Canned fish, herring and tuna mostly, 4-5 days per week. Fats daily: coconut oil, MCT, ghee, red palm oil, cacao butter. Other meats, including various sausages, 4-5 times per week. Due to convenience, my meal at work usually consists of a zero-carb pepperoni and zero/lo carb cheese. During the summer avocados 4-5 days per week. During other months olives instead. Bok choy several times per week. I used to eat significant amounts of lard, olive oil and avocado oil, but have cut back and will probably eliminate all based on what I’ve learned about PUFAs and O6/O3 ratios. Same with nuts, macadamia, walnuts and Brazil nuts. Used to eat regularly but not so much now.

I guess I should also say that I generally eat 4x per day, although on days when I have a late shift, I eliminate the fourth eating time. When I do eat late, it’s invariably what I call ‘hot creamy bone broth’. Depending on work shifts and days off, I do a 12 hour IF usually from around 8-9pm to 8-9am. This happens a couple times per week and I don’t really plan it, just go with the flow when it looks feasible.

(FRANK) #3

@ctviggen would love to see the details of your discussion with @amwassil - I have tremendous respect for the both of you.

I have been low to no carb for over two years. My meals/timing are all over the map, trying to find what works best for me. My problem is I enjoy my cocktails too much and that’s what’s shooting me in the foot. Also I have severe insulin resistance, but I will say after all this time I may finally be making some progress on that front.

Food is mainly meats (beef, pork, chicken, fish) and leafy greens. I also eat fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and kimchi. Love eggs.

Meal timing for the most part lately is 2MAD on a 16/8 schedule. Hoping to kick start the weight loss back up. Need to social distance myself from the vodka martinis.

#4

My last 10 years were all over the (mostly LCHF) place.
I like simple. I have habits. My body likes stability. My inner rebel likes chaos and freedom. Circumstances vary.
I eat differently on different parts of the year, at least my January and June are very different… I have a very good fruit garden and a passion towards my fruit, that’s the main reason… :wink: June is when I never even planned to do keto,. If it happens, nice, if not, I can’t help it, cherries are best raw!
Christmas is way, way easier. I want my normal food.

Still, my weeks are pretty similar, they just drastically changed a few times in the last decade.
It’s helpful (though not required) than my SO is similar, he is fine with similar weeks but needs some kind of variety. But eating the same food for 4 days is fine, we don’t do one course for a meal and we can eat different things with it anyway.

Eggs give me some stability. I always eat eggs. Even if I dislike them (it doesn’t happen every year), I still can consume 5 in some dishes. Like sweets, that always works. Or pancakes. Or when I get hungry so it’s fine.

Almost everything else changed during the years (I stopped eating vegetables and oily seeds, I started eating meat… no dairy with a significant amount of lactose then cream every day…). But after the changes I have a new stable woe with the usual variations and off days.

I have variety regarding meat. I usually have only one proper meat so I eat that on my meatier days. And smoked pork and fish on the others.
But I did vegetarian keto first, for a long time. So it’s a big change.

Macros? They vary a lot as my calorie intake vary a lot. I ate maybe 2400 kcal yesterday (2 small and zillion tiny meals), about 1100 the day before that (kind of OMAD with some inevitable fruits)… My normal is in-between with TMAD (or OMAD and a few bites), it was a very extreme situation but it happens sometimes. My strongest recorded keto day had 2900 kcal I guess. Much added fat does that to me.

I don’t care about my fat macro, only my calories to some extent, not like I can control that :D. But my fat intake varies the most. I had pleasant, occasionally perfect (I mean, I couldn’t do it every day) keto days with 50 and 250g fat, both are fine (50 was extreme, obviously on a lower-calorie day, I LOVE fat, much more than what my numbers show). My protein is in a smaller range, almost always between 70 and 160g (usually 100-130) so it’s always good and usually a bit high but that’s no problem.
My carb intake on keto was around 40g in the first many months (my total carbs were significantly higher) as it was impossible for me to go lower, now it’s 5-12g on my best days (when I avoid plants quite successfully and am careful with lactose) but if I add plants, I leave keto immediately. Oh well. I will learn, it’s very new still.

Number of meals? 0 is very rare. OMAD happens sometimes but I can’t do that every day, I tried, not for me. TMAD is very frequent, I usually eat too much though, that’s why I tried OMAD. TMAD will be perfect for maintenance, I imagine. Or gaining muscles. I never was good with small meals (I blame the carbs…) but I have those now. Below 1000 kcal.
3 or more proper meals is overeating and wrong but tiny meals in my small eating window are fine. They are always fruits or coffee with cream.

Timing… I don’t eat before noon, period (except if I wake up before 6am, I need food to feel alive. but I am very seriously against food in any other case). On weekdays, I almost never eat before 3-4pm and sometimes I am a bit hungry then, usually not. A few hours later I have my second and hopefully last meal.

In my better days I drink coffee only between noon and bedtime. Now I drink coffee all the time. It’s often my main water source in the first several hours after waking up (I try to bring back tea but I still prefer coffee as I prefer drinking little at that time and I drink tea in bigger amounts). Once I managed 1.5 liter coffee during the day, I drink it super weak…
For some strange reason, my thirst arrives late and I drink a lot of water then. Exercise changes that, I am thirsty even if it’s early. And it’s early as I can exercise well only in my well-fasted state.

Basically I eat whatever, whenever, however I fancy but I have my habits, facts and I vaguely follow my own rules for my current woe - unless temptations happen as I don’t resist them… But I train myself to avoid them… So it’s complicated. So my eating habits are somewhat stable, somewhat not…

I love to experiment to learn about myself and find my best woe. Not like I could stick to that all the time but unusual days are fine.

(Katie the Quiche Scoffing Stick Ninja ) #5

I have the same dinner every night, either a rib eye/eye fillet or rump, usually 350grams, with a side salad. It has my dinner macros sorted and I eat whatever lunch I feel like that day. Sometimes I will eat less lunch so I can sneak in a carb treat, which I now eat BEFORE my dinner. Seems to prevent me wanting more.

(Troy) #6

80-20 rule for my WOE😄 w food
Eat the same things
LOTS of black coffee
Just works out that way
I do not change it up really
Why?
Lazy and imho fun
No stress

Mostly TMAD
No breakfast EVER
Ends up usually 18-20 hour IF

Simple yet effective
Works for me👍

#7

I am closer to Bob than Michael but land in between.

I have a regular timed black coffee in the morning. It does two things: Immediate hunger suppression, and I get a cognitive boost.

Regularly 2MAD. But like Bob, occasionally OMAD, if I’m not hungry.

The very late morning break of fast is usually 3 egg and seaweed omelette based with variations in fats and protein. Sometimes bacon, sometimes sardines, sometimes salmon etc. Sometimes olive oil, sometimes butter, sometimes salmon fat, sometimes duck fat.

The second meal, usually around 5pm, is where things vary and it depends what is in the chest freezer, or may have been previously prepared and stored. I build meals. I enjoy the creative combination of low and zero carb ingredients. Tonight was steak and a beef sausage with full fat yoghurt.

#8

I’m TMAD with a couple cups of black coffee in the morning. Pre-CV had a HIIT session before my first meal. First meal might be a typical breakfast food of eggs and protein, maybe some homemade yogurt with homemade SF jam to go along with that, or it’s something I want to create from a recipe I saw earlier. I usually shoot for half my daily allowances for macros in my first meal. Mid afternoon break might be another cuppa, except with cream. Dinner is always something different. I love, love, love to cook and bake so it’s a rarity to make the same thing twice, but I do appreciate leftovers. Being retired really helps out having the time to spend preparing and trying different recipes.

#9

Most days, I am OMAD. Depending on my energy “output”, I’ve done TMAD. I also throw in some EFs from time to time. 24 hr, 48, 72 and an occasional 7 day. Learning to eat intuitively, that is ONLY when I am hungry, versus how I used to eat “at mealtimes”, took some unlearning. Now, if I eat when I am not truly hungry, even on a carnivore diet, I don’t feel good. It’s almost 9 am, I’ve been up for 3 hours, and not the least bit hungry. Just sipping my coffee out on the deck.

As far as the meals go, its all carnivore, except for the usually black coffee and some of the fats I cook with when tallow runs low. Grass fed beef is my number 1 food. Beyond that, eggs, chicken, turkey, an occasional hunk of salmon or trout, and a bit of cheese. Mostly, I use butter or tallow. Sometimes I supplement with coconut oil or red palm oil (I love the flavor!), olive oil, or avocado oil…in that order.

Once in a great while, I might throw a little veg in for variety, but its rare.