Work Week Eating...

[Whit]

I have been back to work for months and months. 10 to be exact, and until recently I just did not feel settled with respects to eating during the day. I wanted to get back to normalcy ASAP when I first returned. 3 meals a day, lunch at noon, no snacking then dinner when I got home. I would alway bring lots of options. But I found if I waited to long not only did I not want to eat I couldn't. So strange to look at food take a bite and have my stomach reject it. A few months back and I realized this was not working and started experimenting when and what I should eat.

I think I have found what works for me. I always drink a Protein drink within 30 minutes of rising. My DH brings this and a cup of coffee to me every morning. Skipping this is almost a precursor for a bad tummy day. Took me a long time to figure that one out. I have a second breakfast when I get to work. Yogurt, egg, soup, curry chicken, leftovers from dinner the night before, whatever I want. Then the rest of the day I eat every 2 hours. Clockwork. Cheese, tuna or chicken salad, nuts, anything I can get in. Eating in the evenings is still hit or miss sometimes I can not eat a traditional dinner. I'll have more cheese, another shot of protein powder.

Have I found my new normal? Yes I think so...

 

[JackieOnLine]

this sounds a lot like me back when I was where you are. only thing is, my capacity really increased further out - which is good, actually, as I LIKE to snack. and I think it is healthy, or it can be.

I totally like to start the day with a protein drink and then I have Second Breakfast later, at work.

 

[southernlady]

Hey, Whit, it works for you...just be open to other options as you move forward.

 

[JackieOnLine]

yes - I expect you continue to get more capacity further out than that. maybe not, though.

and maybe not if you don't abuse eat Ritz Crackers

 

[Happy DSr]

frequent small "snacks" is what worked for me too. I had a lunch bag filled with small containers of various proteins and veggies to grab when the mood struck all day long

 

[Joanne]

I don't think you're alone. I prefer to eat that way, too. It's only if I'm travelling on business with others that I eat more conventionally.

I think what helps me maintain IS the routine, I do the same things each weekday - not the same foods, per se, but the same patterns.

I'll always start with two cups of coffee and steel cut oats early in the AM. Breakfast 2 us a Fage, berry, and nut parfait I made up. Lunch is always insides of a sandwich - be it cold cuts, tuna, egg salad, etc. Sometimes on top of a salad, sometimes not. Snacks come around 3pm. On my rotating list are cheese, nuts, olives, veggies w dip, pepperoni and provolone cubes, peanut butter on popped grain cakes (I actually like the cakes, don't think of them as a diet food), sf breve lattes, etc. Dinner is whatever protein I make or order out. I usually do another snack around 9pm. Sometimes that is ice cream - but I also make literally Ice Cream, as in blending crushed ice with cream, and either sf syrup or chopped fruit. I have good restriction, still, so these quantities are small. If I don't eat every few hours I'd starve.

I'm maintaining at goal, so disclaimer is I would not do the oatmeal or fruit or the grain cakes if I still wanted to lose.

 

[Munchkin]

You have a wonderful H! I salute him!

 

[Elizabeth N.]

I munch cheese every single day, and breakfast has been 8-12 oz. of Greek yogurt for a long time now. (Has the added benefit of probiotics.)

Eventually I will graduate and be forced to part from my beloved dining hall, then I'll have to find other ways of making the work/school day eating work. Hrumph.. I LOVE my dining hall. Oh wait, I just said that.....

 

[Tabitha]

I have found that if I drink a protein drink first thing I feel better and eat better(more) the rest of the day. If I wait to long to eat I can not eat much for the day. Two bites and I am full.