Me and my weird schedule.

[TigerCrane]

I keep a later schedule than most folks, which results in a weird meal schedule. My normal routine is:

Bagel and cream cheese first thing in the morning.

Real meal around 11:00 or 1:00

Light pre-workout meal at 4:00

After workout meal at 10:00 PM.

So on No-S, I have a problem. I can't give out the pre workout meal. I take martial arts at night, and I can't go to class on an empty stomach. That bagel is either an extra meal, or a snack.

I'd hate to give up the bagel, because then I'll be empty until brunch and get no work done.

I'd like to modify the diet to allow the morning bagel, which only adds 300 calories. What do you think?

[pangelsue]

Maybe try to make the meal before and after workout just one plate? Otherwise, Reinhard says in his intro that he never said how many meals were allowed. So have a small snack before that workout and meal after or meal before and small snack after. It is your life and your journey. Personalize it to work with your lifestyle. Lightening won't strike if you tweak it and stick to it. As long as it works.

[hexagon]

Ditto on what Pangelsue said. I have worked really long hours sometimes and had to have a mini-meal (e.g. an apple and a small amount of nuts) in between lunch and dinner, otherwise I'd come home dizzy with hunger. I lost weight (I might have reported some struggling recently, but it's got *nothing* to do with the mini-meals).

[reinhard]

You can do more than three meals if it's necessary -- but it does introduce new risks. I would consider revising your schedule, if it's within your power, so that you only need three. If it's not within your power, or you really think you can manage the increased risk of an additional "input opportunity" and the trade off is worth it, go for it, you have my blessing. As long as the extra meal is planned and regular, it fits within the no-s framework.

A tangentially relevant story: My mom is overweight. She's convinced she constantly needs to eat to take her medications (they need to be taken with food). If she just timed her medication intake with meals a little better she wouldn't have to eat so frequently.

Reinhard

[florafloraflora]

When I first started No-S I had a hard time working around my evening yoga classes (2x/week): if I ate dinner beforehand I felt nasty in class, and if I waited until afterward I'd feel lightheaded, on the verge of starvation. But now that I'm used to this, I just wait to eat afterward and it works fine. If I'm really starving I'll have a glass of milk or some milky tea to keep me going, but lately I'm finding I don't even need that.

Reinhard, about the medication with food, I've found that a glass of milk works fine as a buffer for pills. I can't tell you to tell your mother what to do , but would that work for her?

[kccc]

As Reinhard says, personalize, but be aware of adding "extra input."

Question: Does your total intake add up to equal only 3 plates-worth of food?

When I exercise at lunch, I do what I think of as a "divided meal." I pack exactly what I would for lunch on a non-exercise day, but allow myself to eat a bit of it before yoga. Usually a piece of fruit or a mini-yogurt cup (4 oz) - just enough to get by. So, it's spread out a little more... but the food intake is unchanged.

Take an honest look. Maybe you do need something when you first get up... but not something as substantial as a bagel. Or maybe that's really breakfast, and you need to look at other meals.

You could count the bagel as a real meal (breakfast), eat lunch as late as possible, and divide-plate dinner to include food pre and post workout in smaller quantities. Whatever works - but be consistent.

Good luck.

[ThomsonsPier]

I have roughly the same schedule. I eat before martial arts class.

If you really can't stand to go without a small meal either before or after (I thought I wouldn't be able to, then I tried for a couple of weeks and my body adapted), try eating the carbohydrate portion of your meal before class and the protein afterwards, thus giving you energy when you need to move and protein when you need to rebuild muscle.

I don't know how long or active your class is, so I can't really say much more than that.