Hello peeps 🙂 Hope you all had a good day! It’s Wednesday night, which means the weekend is peeking around the corner. Hang in there! (That speech was more for me than for you.)
I don’t think my frozen meal, salad and apple lunch was enough food because I was hungry an hour later. I managed to postpone my snack until 3pm (between class and lab), but left class super hungry three hours later.
I rushed home and dug into Ben’s powdered donuts -which I bought him, so I take full responsibility for that indiscretion. And I made a quick dinner so I could get some real food fast – sweet potato and leftover roasted chickpeas and sprouts. 
After dinner I recreated my amazing “It’s Green, but it tastes like Chocolate Peanut Butter” Smoothie. Even Ben loves this one.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie
1/4c peanut flour
packet instant hot cocoa
ice
cup almond milk (add more if it’s too thick)
spinach
1/3tsp xanthan gum
Then, prepare to be amazed.
Intuitive Eating stuff – After going over some old notes from sessions with my RD, I think I’ve gotten away from the thing that was preventing overnight eating/binging (a very destructive habit I’ve had for a very long time). I recently mentioned you should
“eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper”.
That is similar to something Evelyn suggested to me a while back. She said I need to either a.) eat bigger breakfasts and lunches or b.) have a big afternoon snack (like a small meal).
I was doing that for a while and everything was going smoothly, but I think I lost track of that effort and my breakfast and lunches are leaving me for want. And trust me, that want gets satisfied when I get home at 6:45pm to an empty house and a full kitchen.
Anyways, I’m going to make sure to eat a breakfast and lunch a little higher in calories and see if that gets me back to a good place with night time eating. I was doing well for long enough that I think this plan works with me. I really don’t have the time for mini-meals, so that is not an option. My schedule really only gives me time for 3 main meals and one snack.
*Side note – I’ve received several requests to blog about Intuitive Eating more. I hadn’t addressed it for a while because I was doing very well with it and felt good 🙂
I was observing what was working and what wasn’t without writing about it. But since I’m having a hard time and have been asked to address it, here it is.
If this part of RER bothers you, feel free to ignore it. I totally understand 🙂 I know it can be boring or “weird” if you don’t “get it” or don’t have similar issues.
*Updated to add: deleted rant right here.
I LOVE powdered doughnuts! I buy them frequently for the kiddos (sunday school) at 7 eleven because I always forget to make a snack and have to stop and get something. I really need to be better about making snacks for them, because I know I’d prefer MY kids (someday) didn’t eat powdered doughnuts
I definitely learned (the hard bingeing way) that I have to bulk up my earlier meals!!
dangit. i wanted the rant.
love the idea of bulking up earlier meals. i have done that, too, and it works well for me 🙂
Thanks for the great advice. I really like this quote: “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.” It’s something I think I could really benefit from. I absolutely love breakfast, but definitely don’t eat enough of it on a busy weekday. Definitely going to make more of an effort here.
~Allison
Fit&Fab Living
I have similar issues and really get a lot out of your IE-related posts. Thanks for sharing your coping strategies and for blogging about your bad days as well as your good ones.
Front-loading my calories seems to work for me, too, but it’s a real effort for me to do that.
I liked the card/drawing/cartoon. I like those and I like the Natalie Dee ones, too.
Finally, I also am sorry I missed the rant!!
OK, enough of my ramblings. Ciao!
Marie
What Evelyn said totally makes sense to me as I recently tried something similar and it worked really well. I bring an over-stuffed lunch box to work each day and ignore it until noon when I eat a mid-sized salad and a granola bar. Then, at just about one hour intervals, I would pull it out and grab an extra snack: yogurt, carrot sticks, an apple, etc. I felt like I was eating constantly and never getting full, which just made me feel like a glutton. I finally had the thought to beef up my lunch by eating more of my snacks with my salad at noon and it’s been a huge success. I’m actually full after lunch now and am so much more productive because I’m not constantly watching the clock to see if it’s “ok” for me to eat again.
I struggle with this. For so long my goal was to count calories in order to lose weight. I still count calories but I’m not as strict as I used to be. I’m currently struggling with changing my mindset to look at food as fuel and something I need as an athletic person. It’s so ingrained in me. But it’s a journey. If IE works for you, do it. Just don’t beat yourself up!
I have been having a mid-morning snack (packet of instant oatmeal, apple, apple sauce, granola bar) around 11 am which I find helps me make better lunch choices – by noon I would be ready to eat anything in front of me – now I am not starving and can take time to wait in the cafeteria for something I would rather eat.
Hi Monica!
Just discovered your blog via a friend – what a treat!
I wanted to shoot you some encouragement today! It is a great thing to be able to recognize a bad pattern, stop, and realign. And some days it’s a great thing just to do that first part. 🙂 Be proud of your accomplishments and of your ability to adapt and change!
it’s funny that everyone seems to follow the same pattern (overeating when they get too hungry), but the opposite is true for me! if i wait until i’m truly hungry (like my stomach is growling kind of hungry) before i start eating then i feel proud of myself for waiting a proper amount of time between meals and want to continue staying on track. however, if i eat at all when i’m NOT as hungry, then i usually end up overeating. weird! so i find it works better if i let myself get really hungry before my next meal. guess everyone’s different!
Eating bigger breakfasts and lunches has never worked for me. I always end up wanting to eat the same amount at dinner time and I end up just eating more on those days!
Monica,
Let me know when you find a plan that works for you so I can test that out also! I, like you, have struggled (still struggle every day) with nighttime binges. It is so frustrating to have control over what you eat all day and then turn into a ravenous beast when the sun goes down…I completely understand your frustration on this subject. I think the good news is that even though you might be falling back into/are scared of falling back into those patterns, you are THINKING in a healthy manner. You realize the problem, you have voiced it, and you are working towards a solution. That is so important for people with our (for lack of a better word…) “issue”. It starts to be detrimental to a person’s health when they feel guilty over it and hide their feelings. I have been reading this blog for a while now and just want you to know I’m rooting for you and can’t wait to hear how you will overcome everything. I just recently started the king, prince, pauper plan but I think I might need to change it to the king, queen, pauper plan….we will see! haha.
I find that bigger breakfasts and lunches work so well for me. Also, what about cutting out sugar for a few days? I’ve been doing that and I have SO much more energy and my cravings/hunger has really been under control.
Cutting anything out leads to a binge for me. I should try to cut back though, since it’s been a little out of control. Hello, powdered donuts…
I LOVE the IE posts and get excited every time I see that I am about to read one! Maybe I’m just a dork. I have very similar issues (hello eating when I am already full) and I want to read that book eventually. Seeing your journey makes me feel like I am not the only one and I love how honest you are, AND with that being said it seems like you are often hard on yourself when it seems like from what you show you are normally an extremely healthy eater. I love the reminder about breakfast, lunch, and dinner – a great idea I sometimes forget!
I like it when you talk about the IE stuff! It’s really interesting and I can relate to it. I’m also a nighttime snacker and the snacking (and sometimes bingeing) gets in the way of my goals. It’s really handy that you had notes to refer back to to get you back on track!
I’m sorry I missed your rant! Anyway, I’m an IE failure, but I keep working at it. For me, it is just very hard to see food as nourishment only. I don’t think my brain is wired that way.
But thanks to your IE blog posts, I can see that when I allow myself to get too hungry, I over eat. I shove food in my face at rapid speed and then fell overly stuffed, demoralized and still unsatisfied. Boo.
Oh, but I would’ve liked to read your rant!
Oh Monica, I know how hard it can be to get down on ourselves when we feel that we’ve failed, but I’ve been reading your blog for a long time now and it seems like you might be trying to work towards goals that are not reasonable for your lifestyle. Okay, so I HATE those commenters that try to tell me how to live my life when they don’t really know me, and by any means, I swear to you I’m not judging or trying to do that, but I just noticed that you like to eat a nighttime snack. I think that’s totally fine and I don’t think you should beat yourself up for being more hungry than you are. Girl, you are such an ATHLETE! You work out like crazy and your metabolism is working so much harder and faster than most. Don’t feel bad because you get hungry when you think you’re not supposed to. You should be hungry most of the time and that’s okay! 🙂
You seriously look amazing. Please don’t ever think anything different.
<3 you!!!
Lauren,
I always love hearing from you, even when you’re telling me how to live my life 😉
It’s not that I’m mad at myself for having a nighttime snack, it’s that I’m mad at myself for having 7 nighttime snacks – basically eating nonstop until bed time. This used to be my hugest issue and it was getting better until recently. I was just trying to assess the problem and find a solution.
I used to be hungry all the time. I would eat breakfast, get to work, and be starving again. Then I started upping my calories at breakfast from about 400 to 600 or 700. Huge difference. And I eat a spoonful (or three) of nut butter after breakfast and lunch. It’s the only thing that holds me over and makes me feel full.
I think that’s exactly what I’m going to start doing for breakfast and lunch. Good plan 🙂
I find the intuitive eating information in your posts to be helpful…It’s a little challenging for me to eat bigger breakfasts and lunches (than dinner) but on days that I do I feel more energized throughout the day!
I like reading about IE. I ended up spending some time on her website because of one of your recent posts, which was a great help for me.
Hey Monica,
I really like your site and have commented a bunch of times how I love that you are so down to earth. However, i HAVE to comment on that pic you posted above because it irks me to the depth of my soul.
I’ve struggled with my own set of eating issues in the past. During the middle of my more recent episode, I came across a book called The Obsession: Reflections on the Tyranny of Slenderness (http://www.amazon.com/Obsession-Reflections-Tyranny-Slenderness/dp/0060925051) that really made me think twice about a lot of the thoughts I had been having or have seen in other women. In the book, the author uses an example of a conversation she overhears between two women where one says something like: “I was so horribly sick. But, at least I lost a few pounds out of it!” The author notes how simply terrible and demoralizing it is that we are willing, and in fact *hopeful* that we will undergo stress, illness, bodily harm, etc. just so that we can lose weight with ease.
Now, whenever I hear these kinds of ideas I cringe. I really, really believe with all of my heart that women are worth more than that.
/endrant.
Obviously i know you didn’t write that card, and obviously I know it wasn’t your intention to make any kind of comment about women like that. However, i felt like I wouldn’t be doing my duty to an AMAZING POWERFUL fellow woman out there if I didn’t at least share this with you.
🙂
Darryn
Hey Darryn,
Sorry if the picture bothered you. I just meant in to lighten the mood of a heavy post 🙂 A lot of what I put on here is supposed to be in good fun. I know actually getting sick is not fun or funny.
Have a good day,
Monica
I totally get it. And your blog *is* funny, i laugh all the time reading it! It was just that I wanted to share that little tidbit about the deeper side to those kinds of thoughts. That’s all!
🙂