Skipping Lunch

(Steaks b4 cakes! 🥩🥂) #1

I’m 100% certain that I won’t lose much more weight…I’m so close to my goal weight that I’ve more or less stayed at 57.5kg (give or take) since Xmas and I’m quite happy with that. I guess you could say I’m in ‘maintenance’ mode now.

I was wondering how many of you have a breakfast, and then skip lunch and have dinner in the evening? Is this a thing? I’m finding I can’t fast until lunchtime (I get soooo hungry and feel like crap), but having breakfast is too much for me…I’m not hungry enough for lunch, plus I’ve noticed some slight weight gain having three meals a day!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #2

Do what works. Everyone’s pattern varies. As long as you’re listening to your body, you should do fine.

(Steaks b4 cakes! 🥩🥂) #3

This is exactly what I was hoping to hear :slight_smile: thank you Paul!

#4

Yeah I would never eat if you’re NOT hungry, but breaking that cycle of three meals a day can be difficult.

(Steaks b4 cakes! 🥩🥂) #5

I’ve fasted for the longest time, but I’ve not enjoyed it lately so I decided to eat in the mornings, only problem with that was my lunches were getting later and later, and I just wasn’t hungry enough for lunch!

#6

Clare, it’s funny, I’ve gone from always eating breakfast, to skipping breakfast and lunch, only eating supper, back to only eating breakfast, sometimes lunch, but usually supper again.

Whew!

One thing that’s consistent, is I’ve been OMAD since starting keto, and I haven’t felt the need to eat more than one meal a day. I may expand that to an eating window of a few hours, but pretty much eat just once a day. The trick is to eat enough in that one meal, but I usually manage. :wink:

(Steaks b4 cakes! 🥩🥂) #7

Haha! Don’t get me wrong, I love the look of the big OMAD sized meals, but I’m not a natural faster! :joy: I’m struggling to survive doing 16 hours let alone going all day!

(John) #8

It’s a thing for me, at least. It is not a specific strategy, it’s just how things work out during a typical work week.

I have time to make breakfast, and time to make dinner, but it’s a hassle to prepare a lunch every day to take with me. I used to do it pretty religiously when I first started, and made sure to keep some keto-friendly snacks (portioned out bags of nuts, canned sardines, individual Baby-bel cheese) in my desk or the work fridge.

However, I can easily go the 10 to 12 hours from breakfast to dinner without needing to eat anything, so I often don’t worry about it. I got to the point where I would skip lunch anyway, even when I brought it, from not being hungry. So it would sit in the fridge at work until the next day, or day after that.

I stopped keeping snacks in my desk because I don’t need them any more. I do keep a few bags of green and herbal teas for when I want a “treat” during the day, and if I really feel like it I will go out to lunch sometimes.

So in a nutshell - it saves time, money, and as long as you are not triggered to snack or eat bad stuff during the day, I say go for it.

(Bob M) #9

On the days I eat, I have “blunch”, which is anywhere between 10am (on the days I exercise) to noon or so, and then eat dinner. Sometimes it might be earlier, 9-9:30 on weekends, if I do HIIT and then go outside and walk around in the cold for 20 minutes or so. And sometimes I’ll eat breakfast after church (eat about 8:45) and then won’t eat again until dinner. I usually order a large breakfast though, omelet plus extra meat.

(Starfox Rose) #10

I like skipping morning breakfast and having breakfast after midday. I’ve always naturally done this and my body seems to live it on the keto diet.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #11

I started with three meals and after fat adapted I stalled so my breakfast and lunch got smaller. I wake up early because I average about 6 hours of sleep so I settled into is a big breakfast protein and fat loaded sometime around 7 am. Usually no lunch and an early dinner about 5 pm. If I get hungry I have a snack lunch, like 1/3 of a normal lunch and eat dinner a little later. But breakfast is a favorite meal for me with espresso and I do well eating big in the morning and smaller later in the day. I think I utilize the energy from my food better that way.

(charlie3) #12

For months, on work days, I skipped breakfast, tough it out and wait until the lunch hour to eat. I stiill skip breakfast but lately, if I’m hungry, I eat my lunch food mid morning instead of having a “snack”. What I think is more important than timing is the absolute number of times I eat per week, meaning no snacks. Instead of 3 meals and two snacks per day I eat twice a day 6 days a week and nothing one day a week. That adds up to eating 12 times a week. I suspect limiting the number of times eating is more productive than timing. I’m not considering OMAD for now.

I’m not working this week so I’ll have breakfast and an early dinner. I sleep through hunger so this pattern encourages me to get to bed earlier which helps with sleep time.

(Steaks b4 cakes! 🥩🥂) #13

This sounds good to me - i have to prep all my food the night before to take to work with me…I figured if I can have a decent sized breakfast at my desk in the morning, it will definitely see me through til dinner. I’m not much of a snacker (sometimes I have hungry days!) But I’m really good with my eating. I figured if I eat in the morning I’ll so better with my workouts on my lunch break…I feel they’ve suffered lately because I’ve just not felt 100% in my fasted state.

(Steaks b4 cakes! 🥩🥂) #14

This is good to know also! I agree with you on the no snacking thing…two decent sized meals are much better than snacks during the day.

(Steaks b4 cakes! 🥩🥂) #15

Very promising! I love espresso too! I’m looking forward to giving this a try for the next week and see how I do. My favourite meal is dinner - I have time to prepare something nice, and I love to have dinner with my family, so skipping lunch means I’ll be even more excited to eat it! :laughing:

(Hyperbole- best thing in the universe!) #16

“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.” ~ Douglas Adams

(charlie3) #17

The fewer times you eat the larger the meals. If you’re also burning a lot of additional calories with activities/exercise the meals can be that much larger. So when I eat it’s a LOT of food, I’m full, as in FULL. My experience is eating and then still being hungry is demoralizing. Eating less often is the best way I’ve found to avoid that.

(Steaks b4 cakes! 🥩🥂) #18

Absolutely!!! Same here! On top of lunchtime exercise, my job is rather physical…if I’m not lugging heavy stuff I’m walking around…topped off with chasing after a toddler when I’m not at work :joy: my life is far from sedentary.

(charlie3) #19

I watched a youtube video about diet in GB in Elizabethan times, which is probably before electric or gas lighting. It was mentioned that meals were consumed during daylight hours. This makes sense because food preparation and even eating would be challenging in reletive darkness. In winter this would constrain eating times to a more narrow window. Also a lot of city people in those days subscribed to supper clubs where all meals would be prepared for them, also sensible without gas or electricity for cooking.

May be we can assume our primordial ancestors also did their feeding during daylight hours. So time restricted eating isn’t just about scarcity. 2 meals insteaad of three and time restricted eating might be more fundamental than simply scarcity or abundance of food.

If hunger comes back after I’ve eaten the last meal of the day the best escape is to sleep, not snack. But because of my work schedual and long commute I’m usually eating then going to bed immediately.