How long do you go between meals?

July2010 · Post by **July2010** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:17 pm

My first 2 weeks I went 4 hours between meals. Now I am able to go 5-6 and it's getting alot easier too! I just love this plan more and more as time goes on!

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:38 am

The time between meals varies widely (or wildly) for me. I don't always eat breakfast. When I do, it's between 7:30 and 10:00 AM. Lunch is usually between 11:30 and 1:00. Dinner can be as early as 6:00 or as late as 9:00.

I often eat only two meals daily. Lunch will then be between 11:30 and 12:30 and dinner between 6:00 and 7:30.

July2010 · Post by **July2010** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:07 am

Wos do you find that eatting 2 meals a day helps or hurts your weightloss. Sometimes I do that too. Yesterday I had breadfast at 8am, lunch at 3 pm and then I skipped dinner because I wasn't hungry. But before bed it hit me and I drank a little soymilk and went to bed an hour later.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:19 am

July2010 wrote:Wos do you find that eatting 2 meals a day helps or hurts your weightloss. Sometimes I do that too. Yesterday I had breadfast at 8am, lunch at 3 pm and then I skipped dinner because I wasn't hungry. But before bed it hit me and I drank a little soymilk and went to bed an hour later.

I don't find any difference at all.

osoniye · Post by **osoniye** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 8:25 am

Hi July- I usually eat lunch 4 hours after breakfast, and am usually counting the minutes, but try not to eat before that, as I get too hungry before supper if I do. Sometimes I eat supper 4 hours after lunch, but that's really too early, so I try to wait till 5 hours or a little more. I tend to be SUPER hungry by meal times. My usual schedule is 8a-12noon-5:30p. I go to bed early, so early suppers are not a problem, in fact I feel better not rolling around on a lot of food!

ThomsonsPier · Post by **ThomsonsPier** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 11:12 am

I usually eat breakfast just before nine, lunch at about half one and dinner anywhere from six to half eight, dependent upon what I'm doing in the evening.

Time between meals, therefore, ranges from four hours to seven if you don't count time spent asleep.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:39 pm

I don't know what you're eating, but I find that the more real food (vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, dairy, eggs, meat and fat) that I eat, the longer I'm able to go between meals without feeling hungry.

I do use 2% milk, but other than that, I don't use any fat- or calorie-reduced foods. I use real butter and olive oil. I don't use any cold cereals. I don't use purchased salad dressings. No frozen meals, no pre-prepared meals. I cook real food from scratch.

I do eat refined grains -- white bread (homemade), pasta and rice, but with the exception of the bread, they usually don't show up daily -- or sometimes even weekly. I don't consider them to be fake foods. I'm not fond of whole grains, so they don't show up very often. I do have beans nearly daily.

If I eat breakfast, it's usually whole grain toast and fruit. If I happen to feel especially hungry, I'll add an egg. Lunch is usually a vegetable/bean soup, bread and fruit. Sometimes I'll add extra vegetables or a salad. Occasionally lunch will be some kind of leftover, but that's not the norm. Dinner is more variable. It can be meat, potatoes and a vegetable, just meat and vegetables (and one night recently, just vegetables), stir-fry, pasta, casserole or other one-dish meal. There's definitely more variety at dinnertime.

I think real food is more satisfying and keeps hunger at bay better than fake food. I can easily go 5 or more hours between meals without feeling abnormally hungry.

July2010 · Post by **July2010** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 2:33 pm

Some days I notice I'm alot hungrier than others and I struggle to wait the 5 hours, but I just hold out and wait. Other days time goes by and I lose track of time and before I know it, it's mealtime. I'm trying to eat better and eat more fruits and veggies. I eat brown rice, wheat bread and now this fiber bread that I found at Walmart. Trying to lay off all the white stuff which raises your insulin levels fast and would make you hungry sooner. When it's close to mealtime and I'm really hungry, I'll try to do some exercise and that always makes the hunger go away until it's time to eat.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 7:03 pm

July2010 wrote:Trying to lay off all the white stuff which raises your insulin levels fast and would make you hungry sooner.

Oh, boy...I could write an essay about this! I do think this is an issue for some people, but certainly not for everyone. I suspect it has a lot to do with how much "white stuff" is consumed and what it consumed with it. There are many people whose diet is made up largely of the white stuff. And unlike the Asians who eat tons of white rice, they don't eat much in the way of vegetables, other grains and legumes.

The food industry and the media sure are pushing it.

July2010 · Post by **July2010** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 8:35 pm

I guess if you just eat a little it's not too bad, but it's obvious white rice and white bread isn't really good for you because they process it and take all the nutrition out of it and then add vitamins back in. It's not in it's natural form. You body will break down the white stuff faster than the brown. Which will spike your insulin levels. Like if you eat an apple with the peel, your body works harder to digest it than if you just drank a cup of juice. The apple would hold you up longer than the juice would for the same amount of calories.

loop · Post by **loop** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 10:32 pm

I used to need to eat every 4 or 5 hours. Now I can go 6 -8 hours fairly easily -- I will definitely feel hungry, but not shaky and cranky like I used to be. I've nearly left for work without eating breakfast several times recently. I can go for a swim before eating breakfast, whereas I used to have to eat something first, in order to last through my workout.

Also, I used to never eat a sweet breakfast, as I would be starving an hour later. But while I still do detect a difference in how long a sweet breakfast and a savory breakfast lasts, it's no longer a problem for me to have something like pancakes and syrup for breakfast (on a weekend of course :)

I first noticed this when I was following weight watchers, so I guess it was the reduced portion size/caloric intake that helped me deal with carbs better. Doing NoS increased the amount of time I could last considerably, even though I eat at least the same if not more calories than I did on weight watchers. So, having longer breaks of not eating may be playing a part too. I know there has been some buzz about leptin and how leaving several hours between meals will help regulate your hunger and blood sugar levels, and that definitely seems to be true for me.

July2010 · Post by **July2010** » Mon Aug 02, 2010 11:07 pm

Loop, yeah I'm reading a book called "Mastering Leptin" right now and it's very interesting!

talk at ya · Post by **talk at ya** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:23 am

Between my work schedule, plus the fact that I don't really control when I eat meals b/c I don't cook, it's pretty much different for me every time. I eat breakfast between 830 and 11, lunch between 1 and 330, and dinner between 7 and 11. But I think that the most I ever go is about 7.5 hours, and I'm usually very hungry after waiting that long.

Tiggycat · Post by **Tiggycat** » Sun Aug 22, 2010 3:25 pm

talk at ya, I really envy people who can go with the flow like you. Both my husband and I get shaky and cranky if our meal schedule is delayed by more than a few minutes day-to-day - neither of us is diabetic, and I tried low carb once and felt sick as a dog the whole time so I think my problem is low blood sugar.

Anyway, breakfast for me is about 7:15 on weekdays (right before I have to leave for work) and a bit later on weekends.

Lunch is 12:00 on weekdays (my assigned lunch time) and we generally stick to that on weekends as well.

Supper is around 5:30 (we are lucky with our need to keep to a strict schedule that my husband is a college professor and gets home in time to have dinner ready as soon as I arrive home) - we go out to eat one night a week and we are always alone in the restaurant because 'normal' people don't eat that early (great service though!).

I never eat between meals (we aren't allowed to eat at our desks and don't get coffee breaks) but my big problem is after supper - I want to keep eating until I 'run out of time' (bedtime) as never feel 'full'. So I'm hoping the non-negotiable 'no snacks' rule on this plan will help me fight that urge.

Post by **reinhard** » Thu Aug 26, 2010 1:01 pm

Currently, on N-days my schedule is pretty regular (thanks to the kids):

Breakfast 7
Lunch 12:30 (most flexible because the kids aren't around)
Dinner 5:45

Reinhard

Strawberry Roan · Post by **Strawberry Roan** » Thu Aug 26, 2010 7:00 pm

I don't eat breakfast, never have. I tried to when I first joined NO S last year - ate something simple like yogurt with fresh fruit or a bagel.

No can do, once I start eating I want to continue eating non-stop.

So, I just eat my first meal at mid- day, my second meal about 7pm or so.

Working out well.