Since I ate breakfast at 6:45am I was ready for a big snack (or possibly lunch) at 10am when I got home from work. I heated up leftovers – spaghetti on the bottom and egg scramble with broccoli slaw on the top.
I wanted to call this a snack, but kinda feel like it’s more of a meal. I think I’m going the way of some and doing “Meal 1, 2, 3…” instead of “Breakfast, Lunch, Snack…” these days!
A little later the watermelon in the fridge was calling my name. That’s the bad part about working from home – constant access to a full kitchen of good stuff!
“Lunch” (or should I say Meal 3?) came around noon – a big salad with veggies, turkey, peanut dressing and peanuts.
I think adding peanuts to this salad took it to another amazing level. Went a little crazy with the green onions, but I’m not looking to make any friends today (or at least that’s why I tell myself I don’t have any).
I got a bunch of these Caltrate calcium chews at Blogher, but they’re all vanilla flavored. Really wish it was chocolate, because I eat them as a treat not for the calcium-ness.
SAME SITCH (situation) here!! I just graduated college and started teaching in Atlanta. But anyways, to your point about meal 1 2 3 etc, NOW, I have to wake up everyday at 5:06 a.m. just so I can get a quick 3 mile run in and leave for work by 6:15. So, I eat my scramble egg sandwich at 6 am and then lunch with my first graders is at 10:25, and then I eat dinner at 4:45. At first, I thought this meal schedule BLOWs because I felt like I was eating like a grandma, but NOW I realize this situation means we get to have ANOTHER meal!! WOOP WOOP. More meals = more happiness my friend. 🙂
Therefore, there are some pro’s to waking up at 5:06 a.m. everyday! (Probably the only one)
I had such a similar salad today for lunch only mine was with ahi tuna. Still delicious. I forgot how much I loved Asian inspired salads.
I have a couple questions re: weight loss/intuitive eating in regards to your intake so far today. I am absolutely *not* criticizing (lord knows I’m in the same boat), but I genuinely want to get your thoughts.
(BTW, if you don’t want to have this in the comments, feel free to delete it and e-mail!)
Were you genuinely hungry for a full meal at 10? And then again at 12? Your breakfast looked small today (I don’t know what portion of oats/protein you use or whatever else you add in) and especially if you did that hard run this morning and didn’t eat anything else. But, assuming your breakfast was satisfying to you and calorically appropriate, it seems like you should be able to last longer than 2-3 hours between meals. Do you eat when your stomach growls? When you feel peckish? Genuinely hungry? Do you ever “wait it out”? I ask these questions just because I try to think about them for myself. I eat breakfast at 6:45-7:00am every day (pre workout) and then start work at 10 after the gym. So I often feel like I could have a snack at 10, but I think it’s a mental thing most of the time, and I find that if I’m busy (and hydrated), then I can eat lunch at 12 and be fine, which is 5 hours and totally reasonable. Then if I eat lunch at 12, I get home at 3 (I work weird research assistant hours) and ALWAYS feel like I am ready for another meal. But I think something I’ve realized is that when I come home, it’s a mental thing, sort of “after school snack”, regardless of time. Is it possible that’s how you felt at 10? And it seems like that meal should have held you for at least 4 hours (obviously this is an assumption! but, it had carbs, fat and protein and seems like a nice portion – but, that could be the angle of the picture and it might have been tiny!) but were you really hungry again at 12?
Sorry for the rambling and the questions. I am working on figuring all this out too and I love that you are very open/honest about the emotional side of things on the blog. Numbers/weight/calorie talk doesn’t bother me, so I like to know how other people think about it when they’re trying to lose weight (like you, I’m working on 10 vanity lbs) and how they react to hunger, etc.
Yeah, I was legit hungry for a full meal at 10am. Breakfast was super small for me and had no healthy fats in it. I feel like if I don’t get a good breakfast I’m hungry all day – that was definitely today.
I don’t think I ever “wait it out” on my hunger – way too impulsive to do that.
I might not have been that hungry at 12pm, but I wanted to eat so I did. I didn’t binge it was a big healthy salad and I’m not mad at me for it 🙂
You could start a new trend, let’s not eat snacks or meals but Sneals or Meacks, or Snaals, or…okay I think you get my point! 😉
OR just tell people you have to eat every 3 hours from low blood sugar!
AND nuts make everything better! (I would be surprised if you didn’t block me at this point! I have such bad jokes!)
I love the idea of not naming meals like that….then I will feel free to eat cereal for dinner!!!
Peanuts + peanut dressing sound amazing! I eat pretty early in the morning too so by 10 I’m always ready to EAT!
I eat the same way. I don’t really have a set ‘breakfast – lunch- dinner’ mentality. I just make a meal I want to eat when I want to eat it. If I have what most people would consider dinner for breakfast? So be it.
I know you are a fellow Costco lover, have you ever tried their Kirkland brand Cashew Clusters with almonds and pumpkin seeds?? They are so so yummy and really good crushed up on salads! Plus all the crumbs at the bottom of the bag are great in yogurt, etc. 🙂
Your spaghetti/broccoli slaw combo sounds a little weird but I’m totally intrigued!! I might have to try that. What sauce did you put on top?
I had a layer of spaghetti on the bottom and the top has ketchup and hot sauce.
wow that salad looks delicious!
Oh my gosh peanuts to a salad…awesome idea! I usually do almonds but that would be a nice change! I do about 5 meals a day because I wake up around 5 am! I’m almost always starving by 9!! Nothing wrong with listening to your body, right? 🙂
i should start naming my meals like that too. i’ve been eating smaller meals, meaning my snacks look as big as my meals when i go to write them down.
your garbage bowl salads always look so god damn good. I am hungry!!
Some healthy diet books recommend eating 5-6 small meals throughout the day instead of 3 main meals and 2 snacks, so you might be on the right track with meal 1, 2, 3 🙂
Seriously, why do ALL calcium supplements taste so good? I have these L’il Critters Calcium Gummy Bears and I eat, like, 10 of them each day. I think we probably have the strongest bones this side of the Mississippi!