making up for missed meals...?

nosnos · Post by **nosnos** » Tue May 31, 2011 8:18 pm

This morning I missed breakfast... hmph?! I love breakfast and have it everyday it's nearly always a smoothie (BIG smoothie) or porridge with nuts and sometimes fruit... Anyway today I didn't have the time for it, I had a piece of fruit as I went out the door and then went to work. I had lunch and dinner as normal, although I was ravenous all day (quite a physical one today which didn't help) and an hour after dinner I had a bowl of porridge with nuts, is this ok as it was 3 meals or does it break the rules as the third wasn't planned to be at 7 in the evening?
I feel ok with it and it makes sense to me to not be ravenous as it makes me feel like I'm dieting! What's do you guys think?
X nosnos

Thalia · Post by **Thalia** » Tue May 31, 2011 9:12 pm

I would count "a piece of fruit on the way out the door" as breakfast. It's not a very BIG breakfast, but a small meal is still a meal. When you're ravenous, it's a good idea to have a hearty lunch or dinner, not to add an extra meal after dinner.

Breaking the rules is not the end of the world -- just mark it and move on. One day will make no difference in the long term, as long as you keep working on establishing good habits!

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Tue May 31, 2011 9:25 pm

I agree with Thalia. Sorry.

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 3:23 am

I don't think punishing one's self for not having time for a decent breakfast makes sense. Once in a while, life gets hectic, and meals get skipped. But does that mean that the eater should be punished for having a hectic life? I'm not so sure.

As long as one is being reasonable, and not undermining their own good habits, I think life should accept that a good plan needs to include a bit of flexibility.

NoSRocks · Post by **NoSRocks** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 3:32 am

I agree with what Who Me? said.

Teapot · Post by **Teapot** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 4:38 am

I also agree. A piece of fruit was a better grab than a donut and it sounds like if you were too hungry this way it won't happen often. I myself have stay at home hours and sometimes I eat lunch at noon, dinner at seven and a late meal. It is still three meals, no seconds, no snacks and getting too strict beyond that may well backfire. I also take late night walks and go to bed late so my meals are spaced accordingly.

nosnos · Post by **nosnos** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 6:26 am

I think it's an interesting one. I'm not keeping a habit cal as I mainly use the net on my phone (hurry up with that app reinhard- and make sure it works with blackberrys!). I am keeping a food diary and writing sucess or fail and I am inclined to call it a success maybe I would feel more black and white if I had to choose a colour. Ultimatly I felt a bit silly (and deprived) sitting there ravenous. Just for the sake of calling a piece of fruit breakfast! Also the fruit could easily have fitted on any of my plates. I could have virtual plated and had the rest of my 'breakfast' at my mid morning break but I decided to see how I went the rest of the day and made my decision before dinner that if I was still hungry in an hour that I could have breakfast. Turns out I was.
So it's either a success, or a fail I am happy to live with

Also before it would have been a one stop ride to bingeville! Now I feel like the rules are there to help me each day not some big self imposed all or nothing challenge. I love the car crash analogy, I'ts odd cos I understood it before but never really was able to see it in the moment! Now the urge to binge never really hits I just think why on earth would I want to eat all that food?! No! Ridiculous. I can have this and stop, there is more not too far away.. And that is why no S is amazing

X nosnos

bjalda · Post by **bjalda** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:13 am

Who Me? wrote:I don't think punishing one's self for not having time for a decent breakfast makes sense.

I have to say that I wouldn't consider "marking a day red" as punishment. That's why I'd call this day a failure (and try to not let that happen again). But if you find it very discouraging, just mark it as a success and try to figure out what you'll do in future situations like that (what would then consitute a success/failure?)

nosnos · Post by **nosnos** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:27 am

Hey who me, thanks for the input. The 'punishment' would have been not having the meal and going hungry- not marking it a red day.
However I see your point

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 10:02 am

bjalda wrote:
Who Me? wrote:I don't think punishing one's self for not having time for a decent breakfast makes sense.
I have to say that I wouldn't consider "marking a day red" as punishment. That's why I'd call this day a failure (and try to not let that happen again). But if you find it very discouraging, just mark it as a success and try to figure out what you'll do in future situations like that (what would then consitute a success/failure?)

I agree with this, too. Marking a day a failure isn't punishment. It's a way to track successful days or days that are failures. If failures of this sort become the norm, then it's time to look at doing something different. But if they're only every now and then, they're just the occasional bad day.

I've said this repeatedly: you're going to have good days, you're going to have bad days, and you're going to have days that are awful. This was just a bad day. You're not striving for perfection, you're striving to have more good days than bad or awful days.

Who Me? · Post by **Who Me?** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 12:49 pm

By "punishment" I meant not eating. I think that would be insane and unhealthy.

SkyKitty · Post by **SkyKitty** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 1:31 pm

I know my way of looking at this isn't strictly vanilla but I'm going to share anyway.

I would call your lunch, dinner and porridge your 3 meals and the piece of fruit is just that, a piece of fruit.

No-one ever got fat because they ate too much fruit, I think Reinhard used beets in the book to make a similar point.

You could call it a snack, therefore the day would be a fail, you could call it breakfast, therefore the porridge is a snack and the day is a fail. As has already been said, a fail isn't the end of the world, mark it and move on (as a wise person once said) but to me eating fruit wouldn't constitute a failure, but that's just me.

If it had been a cereal bar, or somkething else maybe, but fruit has so many health benefits I think maybe it's more sensible to say Yes to the fruit than No.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 1:49 pm

I think the critical question is not "what do you call it this time."

It's "What will you do if this happens again"

Figuring out optimal strategies for YOUR life is what gives No-S its power.

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 1:59 pm

i think what you did was fine.
good luck on NoS.

Sienna · Post by **Sienna** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:41 pm

KCCC wrote:I think the critical question is not "what do you call it this time."

It's "What will you do if this happens again"

Figuring out optimal strategies for YOUR life is what gives No-S it's power.

I agree with this. All in all, 3 plates and an extra piece of fruit in a day isn't so bad. So maybe it's not a fail.

But, is it a Habit that *you* want to get into? Is 3 meals plus a piece of fruit always okay? Only okay if the fruit is the first thing you eat? Only okay if the fruit would have fit on a plate/you leave a place on the plate for it? How about a piece of cheese instead of fruit? Would that be okay? Or a muffin?

Where do you draw the line? I have mine, and for me its 3 plates/meals. If something doesn't go on a plate (bowl of soup, bowl of applesauce, yogurt, etc), I leave a place on the plate for it. If I skip breakfast in the morning, I will sometimes (if I'm hungry) allow myself an extra meal in the evening. But if I have an apple or piece of cheese on my way out the door - then that's breakfast and I don't get another meal.

This works for *me*. I need to be relatively strict on this particular point because while an extra apple a day might not hurt, for me it's a slippery slope. An apple could easily become a bagel and peanutbutter or anything else that I could eat fairly easily without a plate. There are other aspects of NoS that I'm a little looser about, because I know that for me they aren't slippery slope regions.

If for you 3 plates + a piece of fruit works, and won't cause you stress or to slip down the slope, then by all means make that *your* line and use it to form *your* habits. One of the fabulous things about NoS is that its so simple it is easy to tweak to be just right for the individual.

nosnos · Post by **nosnos** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 3:12 pm

Sorry Who Me, I didn't notice it was a quote. I see what you mean and agree