Ariane,
I am struggling. Maybe you can help me with some type of suggestion... I have been stuck at the same weight for about 3 months now. I have noticed that I would rather just have a snacky something than a real meal in the evening. This is why I was so excited when the tapas craze took off,
and people now eat small bites in every restaurant in New York City, because I prefer to pick at little stuff than to have a real meal. I am totally good up until about 4pm, but then at night / late afternoon is when I ALWAYS seem to mess it up!!!!
And, I have no willpower these days, not sure what is going on?
This is honestly what happens:
I exercise in the morning and have a protein shake at about 9am while getting ready for work.
I get my day started putting out fires at work and then I have a really great raw vegetable salad with two boiled eggs for breakfast at 11am. Then we are busy during lunch at the restaurant, so I can not eat again until around 3:30pm. By then it slows down and everyone can eat. I always have another raw vegetable salad (which i really DO enjoy) with either a 1/2 piece of fish or a little lobster or something like that. Around 4.30pm is when the trouble starts. I am no longer crazy busy at work - so it's time for some administrative work and once I sit at the desk I am in trouble. I start to crave 'a little something' .... like I just want to PICK at something. And then I start with the darn nuts.
When 8.30pm rolls around and we’re ready to close, I want a SNACK and so I eat more nuts. Then I am totally full of gas and bloated and hate myself and don't eat dinner.
I am admitting this because I KNOW this is wrong thinking, My brain KNOWS that my body doesn't feel good doing this. I am an intelligent adult and yet every day I find myself doing that same crap.
And I know that I am consuming more calories and fat than I want to WITHOUT even having a nutritious meal. And, the scale is not budging because of it. What do I do to get myself out of this?? Why am I this person?
I feel so dumb because I know what to do and I am just not sure why I can't DO IT. I am also being a fatalist because I have my period right now, but I HAVE legitimately been struggling all month with this.
Maybe you can shed some light?
My birthday is coming up and I might be sabotaging myself because I have convinced myself that I can't reach my goal weight - so maybe i am 'making sure' I don't reach it? i don't know.... ugh.
Thank you in advance for listening and for your wisdom. - J.
Dear J.,
first of all I don't want you to ever feel dumb for not getting your body to do what your brain wants it to do. We all have struggles like that. I believe that the answer is quite simple in this case and is probably not a matter of will power or 'dumbness' at all. Phew - good news, right? :-)
There's 2 issues you need to fix and once you do I'm almost certain you'll get your body to budge again:
You need to eat breakfast earlier. Having a protein shake and nothing else until 11am won't balance your blood sugar and won't fill you up in terms of feeling satiated. Shakes are liquids and as such as absorbed very fast by your stomach walls. There is no digestion process needed and that makes you hungry quickly again. Move up your solid food breakfast and have the eggs with veggies or a slice of grainy bread within 1 hour of getting up, ideally. If you work out in the morning, then have the breakfast within an hour of finishing your workout. Eating solids will keep your stomach full and will provide you with food over time. Doing this will prevent the afternoon desire for something to nibble on. That craving simply starts because you didn't fill your stomach with enough food early on and your blood sugar is letting you know it needs fuel.
Secondly, make sure you eat every 3-4 hours the latest. Letting so much time go by without food sets you up for caving in with unplanned food choices. So, don't get to the point of being ravenous and the pig out only to regret it later. Counteract it. Cut up veggies or snack on baby carrots. Take some hardboiled eggs to work with you and even though you are putting out fires at work you're going to feed your body. A protein shake in the afternoon would also be a good idea but you might want to put 1/2 avocado in there so the fat can keep you full longer and slow the absorption of the protein into your body.
Look at your eating schedule and what happens:
Getting up - around 7am?
9am: Protein shake - too late. Your blood sugar is already low after a night of not eating and being up for at least 2 hours AND a workout.
11am: Salad with 2 eggs (which is not enough protein by the way. You should have 3). Not enough protein to fill you up or to balance your blood sugar level.
3.30pm: Raw veggie salad with fish. Perfect meal but it's too late now to balance your already low blood sugar level.
4.30pm: Cravings - well, of course because your blood sugar wasn't balanced at breakfast or at lunch. And, too much time went by between your breakfast salad and the afternoon salad.
8.30pm: Dinner - you don't even want to eat because the guilt of your nibbling on snacks tells you that you had enough already. Not eating a decent dinner, however, is a bad move because your blood sugar will drop during the night and in the morning you wake up lethargic and low on energy.
Do you see how this cycle prevents you from losing weight?
Here's what to do:
- Eat your breakfast within an hour of getting up or within an hour of your workout
- Eat every 3-4 hours
- Load up on more veggies
- Eat more protein
- Prep healthy snacks for work (counteract failure)
- Bigger breakfast, smaller dinner. don't skip meals.
- Nuts - get rid of them and have something handy that you enjoy nibbling on. snap peas, bell peppers, carrots, celery....
Give it a go and see what happens….
Cheers, Ariane
Ariane,
I’m much better, thank you for asking.
you were totally right.I wasn't eating enough early in the day and it made me want to pick later. Since our dialogue, i have been bringing my protein shake (and some almond milk to mix in to make it thicker) to boot camp for directly after the workout. This way i don't have to wait so long to eat and then I eat a larger breakfast right when i get to work. I figured out that three boiled eggs gives me major gas, but two eggs doesn't do that - so i have added in a little scoop of plain canned tuna. I know canned tuna is not the most amazing but I am picking my battles with the protein and this seems like the better of all evils .. given my avoidance of dairy and nuts. Miraculously, after I eat my salad for lunch I am no longer interested in picking!
One day i had the health inspector come in and I couldn't eat since the inspection took about 2 hours. It was almost 6 hours between my meals and .... I was dying to pick on something and had sugar cravings for the rest of the evening!
So I am sticking to the every 3-4 hours rule and am good. Thank you! J.
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