Friday, May 17, 2013

Eating when not hungry?

So, before I get to my topic of the day, I just wanted to update you on how last night went. I did NOT drink alcohol. I went to the bar with about 6 people, ordered seltzer with a splash of cranberry juice twice and sipped on them all evening. It was great! My hands and mouth were occupied and I never felt a desire to get an alcoholic drink instead. Beer is the enemy of my weight loss!

I did not eat paleo at the Greek place, but I ate smartly and put a lot of healthy fats and protein into me (olives, baba ghanoush, salad with oil, and I did eat a falafel as my main part of my meal, mmm).

Anyway, onto my question/topic:

From research, it seems the most common advice is to eat SOMETHING within an hour of waking up and to eat a generally well-rounded (good fats, good protein, nutritious) breakfast. Gets your metabolism working and keeps you from binging later in the day.

The past few days, I wake up completely NOT hungry. Not a bit. And I will go up to four or five hours before eating. I never get to that low blood sugar I-am-desperate-to-eat state. I just make food when I feel like it since I am home and have the ability to eat whenever I want.

Wondering if this is messing with my body and metabolism? Or if it is really no big deal?

Any thoughts?

Before I sign off for the day, wanted to share my lovely walk with Koda today (gosh, the weather is to DIE for!) that I took around 11 AM after running a ton of errands (got favors for the wedding, returned library books, got K9 Advantix for Koda - that stuff is EXPENSIVE, etc).


Koda will not take a good "selfie" with me :)

So I had to get him in the background!

Geese babies!!!


7 comments:

  1. You handled the drink situation nicely, good job!

    As for your question, everything I read says that eating within 30 to 60 minutes of waking is a good idea. The reason is the same as you listed, to kick-start the metabolism for the day. It sounds reasonable to me, but I know others disagree.

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  2. It seems like you've slipped into a IF (intermittent fasting) type schedule. It's actually really good for insulin sensitivity. It becomes personal preference. I personally like not eating till 10-11, sometimes noon. Essentially you are eating your daily calories in a "feeding window" of 6-8 hours. If it works for you, go for it.
    Great job last night too!

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  3. I am usually not hungry first thing, but I eat (drink, really -- half a protein smoothie) because by the time the kids are out the door and it's time for me to work out, I'd have a growling belly and working out on an empty stomach has proved to be a performance-damaging move for me. Sometimes, now, I'm not particularly hungry after my workout, but I always eat breakfast because I'm heading to work and I'm not at liberty to just stop and eat whenever I want once I'm there. If you function fine with no food in the morning, then you don't need it. If you found yourself cranky, headache-y, or spaced out/trouble concentrating, even though your *belly* didn't make any noise, that might mean you need a little protein and carbs to get the machinery going. Common sense, and listening to your body...you know what you're doing!

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  4. Great question! I've been doing the same thing lately- and reading the responses was helpful!

    Sarah
    www.thinfluenced.com

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  5. I don't get hungry in the mornings, so I don't usually eat til about 10:30 or so. Yeah, I know that's not a good thing, but I just can't make myself eat that early. P.S. Koda is adorable!

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  6. I think that IF is an individual thing in the morning. I'd go with your body's signals unless you notice any thing funky. Love that you had to catch Koda in the background. Funny

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  7. I think everyone's different. I am of the belief that if you're not hungry, don't eat. I haven't been following my own advice but that's truly what I believe. LOL.

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