Everyday Systems

Curious how everyone spaces their meal times. Trying to figure out how not to get so hungry between lunch & dinner. Thanks!

My school breaks for lunch at 12:25 p.m. The next class starts at 1:21 p.m. I usually try to have dinner around 6:30 p.m., so that's about 5 hours. I have a hard time filling up the time, or I would try to eat later. I allow myself a decaf latte or mocha sometime after 4 p.m., if I feel like it's very hard-going. I don't drink much alcohol, but if I did, I would consider having a drink anytime between 4 p.m. and dinner to be acceptable, if my obligations allowed. I myself feel the calories from alcohol as filling; others find it just makes them want to eat more. That would be counterproductive.

This may be a stopgap measure. People who do things to tide them over between lunch and dinner often find that as time goes on, they don't need it. Some just grit their teeth and tough it out, finding that after a week, it's either not an issue or they start enjoying the hunger!

It may not apply, but having enough dense food at lunch makes a difference. Almost every time I got very hungry long before dinner, I would realize I had forgotten to include some kind of fat in my lunch: cheese, nuts, some avocado, olives. I also am not a vegetarian, so I have a dense protein, too. It seems most people really need either a decent amount of a good fat AND an animal protein for real satiety, or they will need quite a bit more carbohydrate to compensate.

Lastly, if you haven't been at it for long,

I eat breakfast at 6:45 AM, lunch at 12:15 PM, and supper at 6:00 PM. Today I shockingly did not eat supper until 7:00 PM, and I was fine!! So strange. I am in my third week of No S, and it's amazing how flexible I am with meal times now, versus when I first started. I don't feel like I am going to cause anyone harm when I don't eat "on time."

I eat breakfast around 7 or 7:30 (I wake at 5:30 and walk the dog, meditate, shower etc before breakfast), I have lunch sometime between 12:30 and 1:30 depending whether I'm at work or at home that day, then dinner sometime between 7 and 8:30.

My ideal schedule is to eat breakfast and lunch a little later, and not have such a long wait until dinner, but with a part time job and a toddler that's not always possible. I fall back on a decaf coffee or even a small glass of milk if I'm feeling really starved.

I'm pregnant at the moment, so my hunger levels have changed. Before I was pregnant I used to routinely go around 6 hours between meals with no particular issues (that's after 2 years on No S). At the start I found things much harder, and fell back on the drinks option more often.

On days in the office (which is about half the time) I eat at 7:30, 1:00 and 6. I don't have much choice about that, and I like to eat supper as early as possible. On days when I have more control of my schedule, work at home, etc., I eat at around 8:30 am, 12 noon and 4pm or so. I know that's not for everyone, but I have kind of a small window when I'm really hungry. I often feel hungry again before bedtime, but if I brush my teeth when that hits, I am usually OK. I really do not like eating a late supper and going to bed on a lot of food, so this works for me. I usually go for an evening walk.

I delay breakfast til 10, lunch at 2pm, dinner at 6pm--

I try to have a similar distance between meals, of about 5 and 1/2 hours. I find that any more than 6 hours starts to feel like a stretch (and the same in the evening, if I'm still awak 6 hours after my evening meal. The timing is similar to Osoniye's, but my evening meal timing often depends on when I get back from work. I do tend to feel hungry then, but I start cooking as soon as I get in, which helps to stop me snacking.

a) When getting up around 7 am my schedule is apprx. 10 am, 3 pm and 7 pm
b) on days I sleep in I usually eat 12 am-1 pm and 7:30 pm (2 meals).
The afternoon meals, if any, are snack-size, so that I'm good and hungry for dinner.

Twice a week I usually fast 16 hours between dinner and the next morning's breakfast; easiest way for me to sneak in a little fast.

This is my eating schedule right now but may change if my lifestyle changes; trying to stay flexible and still keep a regular schedule.

I LOVE to eat the NoS way; combining its principles with principles from the book "The Diet Alternative" by Diane Hampton.
________
hh