Fourth Meal? On extra-looong days, WDYT?

[FarmerHal]

I'm cross posting from another thread but here is my issue:

On Thursday late afternoon, dh has ultimate frisbee practice and the kids want to go "watch daddy" which means they play around in the dirt and grass and go running gleefully around the field= a LOT of work for me LOL. But I go. Now, mid afternoon, about 3pm, I know I'm already getting really hungry for supper (we eat about 5:30-6). So when we get hom from frisbee I'm FAMISHED. And I've been having red days because I inevitably dive into the kids' snacks because I'm sooo hungry. (And I KNow, hunger is just a feeling) but I get the headache to go along with it.

I think I might have some juice or some sort of drink during this time on Thursdays to help get me through to dinner, which ends up being close to 8pm (noon to 8 is a looong time!) Or maybe on Thursday only I'll add a 4th meal about 4 pm, something like an apple with cheese slices or something.
I end up having a LOT of anxiety about this every Thursday, and sometimes it's all I can think of! I do think perhaps knowing I could have that 4 pm light meal would definitely take the edge off and keep my Thursdays from being red. What do you think?

[Nichole]

Hmm, well considering you just exercised a lot and you're suffering/famished, I don't think a little snack or juice would hurt. Sometimes I have to remind myself that the reason for No Snacks is because people tend to REALLY overdo it, resulting in too many calories. If you can keep control and only have, say, 3 crackers or a cup of juice, I say go for it.

[kccc]

Maybe two "mini-meals" on Thursdays.

As an alternative, can you pack a picnic meal to all eat on Thursdays? That would take some advance planning, but might be kind of fun. (We occasionally do that in the summer at the pool.)

Or, have something pre-cooked to eat the MINUTE you get home - walk in the house and dinner is on the table in 2 minutes (not long enough to dive into snacks). Crock pot would work well for that, or just pre-cooked and heat-up food.

I'm brainstorming... pick what works for you. Good luck. You've identified the problem, and that's the first step toward a solution!

[billyymc12508]

On the days I swim in the morning - in the water at 6 am - I eat four meals. The first two are very small, and I eat them around 5:30 then 7:30. Then lunch around 12/12:30, and dinner around 6-7.

No-S is working for me, even with this mod.

[reinhard]

Tiffani,

I think adding an extra planned, discrete mini meal Thursday is worth trying. It doesn't sound like forgoing it is working, either in terms of your stress levels or compliance. Give it a try. Make it official. See what happens. As long as you limit it to one discrete "event" I'm pretty confident you'll be fine. It's probably more important to make this feel formal and separate and meal-like than to obsess over precisely what and how much you're allowed to eat -- so sit down, eat from a plate, be open and unashamed about it. That way it's less likely to spill over into permasnacking, which is the real danger.

The other option is a proactive, planned caloric drink, like milk or juice. Not sure if you'd think that would cut it, but worth a shot maybe.

One way or another, I'm sure you'll get past this.

Reinhard

[Nichole]

Or, have something pre-cooked to eat the MINUTE you get home - walk in the house and dinner is on the table in 2 minutes (not long enough to dive into snacks). Crock pot would work well for that, or just pre-cooked and heat-up food.

I love this idea!

[FarmerHal]

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

KCCC, I will put pork chops in the crock pot today, so they'll be ready to go when we get home.

In the meantime, officially on Thursdays, I'll have a 4pm mini-meal of fruit or salad or soemthing like that (or whatever) just half or less of what a normal meal is.

I think this will help a lot