Meal Frequency and Times

newbies
(Robbie Ettehad) #1

Continuing the discussion from Brand Spanking New & Confused:
I have just started and have been using recipes I found for Keto that give the Fat, Protein, and Carb grams for each. Most days are spread fairly equally into breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I find that I am having to force myself to eat dinner as I am just not that hungry (probably because I am eating lunch later and later.). Should I continue to eat dinner or skip? Or have something, but more like a snack than a meal? Any problem with eating late? (Iā€™ve always heard that to lose weight you should not eat within 4 hours of bedtime.)

(Allie) #2

Eat when hungry only. No hunger, no food.

I prefer not to eat late but other people have no problem with it. See what works for you.

(Carolyn aka stokies) #3

I still struggle with this too and I am 9 months into this lifestyle (for the second timeā€¦ ) There are days I feel like I am choking down food, but other times I wake up hungry. I really am striving towards eating intuitively, which means learning to recognize my bodyā€™s signals once again to decipher full, fed, feast, or desires to fast. Lots of F words lolā€¦ but in my opinion, listening ot your bodyā€™s needs surpasses any ā€˜rulesā€™ per se, as long as in line with keeping ketoā€¦

Thanks for postingā€¦

#4

Ha ha, exactly the same thing is happening with me. I have no interest in food at breakfast time, barely at lunch time, by about 4 or 5pm I get hungry. One or two meals a day is starting to sound interesting.

Iā€™ve been on annual leave and at home so I could do ā€œwhateverā€ - but when I go back to work I reckon Iā€™ll train myself to have breakfast (eat whether I feel like it or not) and then play it by ear at lunch time and dinner. I might just have a coffee at lunch time.

Yeah, I have read plenty of times it is not a good idea to have a big dinner too near bedtime. The body will most likely think about storing it all, or more of it. I donā€™t know but I wonā€™t be eating late.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #5

Iā€™d love to be able to eat when Iā€™m hungry but I have a job so for me I have breakfast, lunch or no lunch depending on how I feel and then have dinner around 4:30. On rare occasions I fancy a treat and have some low carb sweet literally right before bed but itā€™s not often.

People say to change it up so I hope inserting or deleting food here and there based on appetite keeps working.

(John) #6

Same issue here. I canā€™t just eat whenever I want to. So I usually end up eating a good breakfast, skipping lunch, and having a good dinner. Not because I am all that hungry at 7 AM, but because if I wait until 10 AM, Iā€™m at work and canā€™t stop and fry up some eggs. Because Iā€™m at work, thereā€™s no kitchen, and no eggs.

(Allie) #7

If I canā€™t or donā€™t want to eat before work then I just take in cold foods that I can eat at my desk. Thankfully my work doesnā€™t mind anyone doing this.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #8

I sometimes take cold bacon and cold 2 egg omelette.

(mole person) #9

If youā€™ve just started and already feeling lowered hunger signals then you are very lucky, some people donā€™t get that for weeks or even months. One of the BEST things you can do to spur rapid weight loss is to increase the temporal distance between your meals. Thatā€™s why so very many people here do a form of intermittent fasting. Keto makes them less hungry, which in turn allows them to space out their eating further, which in turn spurs more rapid lipolysis.

So absolutely, if you arenā€™t hungry, feel free to skip a meal. All those extra hours with your insulin lowered is more time that you body is eating through your own fat.

If you can avoid it then donā€™t snack at all. Itā€™s much better to have larger meals spaced further apart than a similar amount of food more distributed over the same time frame. The latter just leads to a higher overall insulin and less fat loss.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #10

Hard boiled eggs? Easy to take along.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #11

So my strategy starting out was that when I wake up I am usually very hungry. I eat a fully loaded protein and fats breakfast. Bacon or sausage, 2-3 eggs, some veggies or avocado and maybe cheese too. I would eat a lite lunch and a normal dinner. Then sometimes I would skip lunch and eat dinner early. Eventually I sometimes skipped dinner after a late lunch and would have an 8 pm snack. Lately I find that I can wait for breakfast and eat dinner and Iā€™m golden. Just listen to your body. But for me eating big early on and lighter as the day goes on works best for me. That way I get a powerhouse start and have good sustained energy throughout the day. I havenā€™t gotten to the point of fasting yet, but who knows :sunglasses:

(John) #12

Yes, but no need these days. When I was first starting and was still worried about not getting hungry, I would make sure to have keto foods at work - hard boiled eggs, nuts, canned fish, cheese. Now I donā€™t keep any food at work because I have no need of it.

(Robbie Ettehad) #13

Thanks. I donā€™t want to eat late either.

(Robbie Ettehad) #14

Thanks. Thatā€™s what Iā€™d like to get to----eating more earlier in the day and then lighter as the day goes on. Donā€™t know if I can ever get to fasting, but will just focus on eating the Keto way
for now.

(Robbie Ettehad) #15

Thank you for explaining. Makes sense.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #16

Just to clarify, I didnā€™t mean to sound like itā€™s a bad idea to eat when youā€™re hungry. I work in a print shop. Itā€™s dirty and Iā€™m dirty most of the time. Itā€™s understood you donā€™t carry food around and only eat when itā€™s lunch time. We also get paid for lunch so itā€™s expected to be short and efficient.

(Todd Batitis) #17

Why would you have to train yourself to eat breakfast? I mean, if you donā€™t do it now why would being back at work change that? I work 6a-2p most days and often 4a-2p and am doing 20:4 intermittent fasting. I open my eating window at 2pm, typically start eating around 2:30-3pm and quit around 6pm or so. I am not hungry at work and am not starving when I get home and it lets my wife and I eat together even if we do eat a bit differently, with her simply doing LCHP rather than keto.

I would also add that it isnā€™t about calorie restriction either. As long as I eat keto I have no problem getting as much as 2800 calories in that 3-4 hour window depending on what I am eating. Things like Pork Belly make that pretty easy and I can easily make a 1200 calorie omelette. :slight_smile:

#18

Good question.

Things are changing for me, so itā€™s all a moving target now and I was just trying to cover all my options. I didnā€™t want to be at work and starving where my only options for food are fast-food or fast-food. I do carry an avocado, canned salmon and almonds so Iā€™m not totally at their mercy.

But your pattern sounds interesting. Maybe thatā€™ll work for me too. I donā€™t know just playing it by ear.

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #19

String cheese, can of vienna sausages, baggie of bacon, nutsā€¦?

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #20

At my desk have canned salmon, pecans, almonds and walnuts, canned sardines and occasionally smoked fish. In the community fridge I have those 5g butter tubs (the little tiny ones) and 1 oz cream cheese. These are in bags that hide what they are and then in jars. This so the fridge rats donā€™t steal my food.