Everyday Systems

Hi all!

Do you guys plan mealtimes (eg the example of 7am, 1pm and 7pm)? Or do eat your three meals when you're hungry?

I'm experimenting, but I think for me - at least at the beginning - I need to schedule my mealtimes, as I'm a habitual snacker and I'll end up eating my three meals too close together. I want to develop a good appetite for my meals, not be used to filling up as soon as I'm hungry. It's a little tricky, though, as during the week I usually go straight from work to the gym for a few hours, so those days I either need to eat a really early or a really late dinner. I also am not generally hungry for breakfast until around 9am.

What about you all?

My meals are generally at about the same time every day. If I eat breakfast it's between 7 and 8; lunch is between 12 and 1; dinner is usually about 8.

I would plan to eat after the gym.

I eat around the same time every day: 6, 12, and 4/5 on weekdays, and 7, 2, 7 on weekends.

I eat at the same time on N Days: 7:30am, 12:30pm, 6pm

I have mealtime windows on weekdays, about a 90-minute window for breakfast, lunch at same time because of work schedule, about a 2-hour window for dinner.

I know of no slim cultures who have their members eat just when hungry. They don't leave it up to chance.

That's an excellent point oolala - I think leaving it up to chance makes it much more likely for me to make a silly last minute decision. My meals tend to be better when I plan them ahead of time, and that includes timing as well!

For the next two weeks I'm off training, but I usually train from around 6pm - 10 or 10:30pm (I train martial arts, if I take multiple classes - which I usually do - then I have long training days!). I think I'd prefer to try to stagger my meals farther apart, eating breakfast if I have the appetite at 7:30 or so, then lunch at 1, then dinner at 7 if possible. But on gym days, I've found that eating before I go to the gym is better for me, as I have the energy to get through my workouts, especially if I eat a carb-heavy dinner, and I'm usually not hungry afterwards (thirsty, though, that's another story!). Otherwise I end up starving halfway through class and can't focus!

Thanks for all the input and ideas

I'm not very good at working out when I'm hungry - but also I'm constrained by work, etc. So I have set mealtimes during the week, and am a bit more flexible at weekends (although I don't like to change it too much). It ends up being approximately 5 1/2 hours between each meal.

I actually quite like having routimes. I go to bed at the same time almost every night and get up at the same time every morning (even at weekends). I think I'm turning into my grandmother (which isn't such a bad thing )!

In my experience not having mealtimes works best for people who used to always have mealtimes and therefore a trained hunger. So for example my friend doesn't have set mealtime but as she grew up with 3 times a day mealtimes and never was on a diet in her life she naturally gravitates there anyways.

For people like me who grew up with/trained themselves to have disordered eating:

As Reinhard says: it's way easier to answer "Is it mealtime" than to answer "Am I truly hungry" At lease for me!