Everyday Systems

This is something I've been thinking about recently. My meals are...way different now that I don't snack. I obviously eat more at one time now, I eat at least a main and 2-3 sides for EACH meal. Sometimes having a sandwhich and several pieces of fruit with a salad and something fun like dark chocolate. It looks like more than I've EVER ate but I'm solidly maintaining. Plus the nutrients, I make a lot of effort to eat protein, vegtables/fruits and a whole carb every single meal. I find it satied me a lot, I'd use to just eat some grapes and then wonder why I was still hungry .

I also find that I mix together things I'd never when dieting, Cereal with toast for example.

Gradually, over the past 6 years - I eat more fat and veggies. I eat fewer refined carbs. Surprisingly, protein has remained stable (I actually had this confirmed with various kidney function testing). I eat 1g protein/kg body weight. Most people probably would never have these values precisely measured like I have, so I think this is pretty cool info to have.

When I first started No S, my meals didn’t actually change that much because I had already made a lot of changes to my meals over the years. (My big problem was compulsive overeating of mostly sweets from midday on.) However, over my years on the plan, my meal content has changed because my focus on health has grown. I don’t feel I can afford to eat some of the food I more regularly included even though I lost weight and maintained on them. I’m not sure such motivation can be rushed.

For me, my meal composition didn't change. My big change is with timing. I eat breakfast around 10, lunch at 12, and dinner at 5 most days. When I stick to this, and have basically healthy meals, snacks are easier to avoid. When breakfast is too early, no matter what I do for lunch, I get a mid afternoon slump and I'm craving something to eat. It'd be great if someone knowledgeable about blood sugar, meals, metabolism, etc., could chime in.

Cue @automatedeating

Jx

I'm only a few months in, but knowing that I"m doing 3 discrete meals only has probably improved my meal composition a little. I want to see veggies/fruit with every meal and I tend to spend a little more time thinking about my whole meal and making it a little more special. I have not (so far) slipped into thinking that this is a license to get chick fillet or Chinese take out for every meal, which I think would be a risk for some people. I've always been good about cooking from scratch (I love to cook) so that has not been a change for me.

Each meal does tend to be pretty large, but I've done a little bit of totaling up calories on a few days just to see, and this method still has me cutting calories significantly b/c my snacking was contributing SO MUCH to my total daily intake.

I know this thread isn't about this, but you must be enjoying your meals so much more without the snacking.