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Having a hard time with meal timing


Roxyc

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Hi everyone!

 

This is the second week of my first Whole30, and the only thing I'm really struggling with is the timing of my breakfast!

 

I commute one hour each way to work everyday, which means that I'm up at 5:00 am, and I don't get back home until around 6 pm.  During my first week I was bringing my breakfast to work with me and not eating until around 8:30-9:00 so that I wasn't starving in between meals.  I take lunch at noon and wasn't finding it too difficult to make it to dinner.

 

This week I'm trying to follow the "eat within an hour and a half of waking up" rule.  This means that I have to have had breakfast before I leave the house at 6:45 and then the wait until lunch is WAY too long.  If I eat lunch earlier, the space between lunch and dinner is too long.  I've been eating a mid morning and mid afternoon snack for years, so breaking that habit is proving to be a little tough.

 

Any thoughts??  Is it ok to wait until 8:30 or 9:00 to have my breakfast?

 

Thanks!!

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Your meal timing makes a mini meal necessary.  When we say snacking, we mean hand to mouth mindless eating when you're not hungry.

 

It's more important to eat within an hour of waking than it is to not have a mini meal so I would suggest packing some extra protein and fat (and ideally vegetables).  As your meals should get you 4-5 hours, I put a meal schedule below... let us know if that seems like it would work. 

 

7am M1

Noon - M2

4pm - Minimeal

6pm - M3

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Ya, that looks like it would totally work!

 

Play around with it but you may try making your M2 to the higher end of the template and you could find that you can get to M3... of course we don't want you to be famished but you may find you can get there... 

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I'm having the same issue, we are up at 5 but with kids activities sometime don't get to dinner until 8:30. I'm thinking we will need to do 2 mini meals as well.

M1 6am

Mini meal 10am

M2 1pm

Mini meal 4pm

M3 8pm

With this outline i need some mini meal ideas please

Thanks!!

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I'm having the same issue, we are up at 5 but with kids activities sometime don't get to dinner until 8:30. I'm thinking we will need to do 2 mini meals as well.

M1 6am

Mini meal 10am

M2 1pm

Mini meal 4pm

M3 8pm

With this outline i need some mini meal ideas please

Thanks!!

Mini meals are just smaller portions of whatever you already eat.  Chicken and olives, tuna and mayo, hardboiled egg and carrots... a small portion of whatever casserole or fritatta you have on hand in the fridge etc...

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I have a similar situation as I take the train to work so that means I am up around 5:30am and do not het home until around 6:45pm each day and this is how I have been doing it on days I am going into the office (not working from home). Currently on day 10 (Woo Hoo!)

 

M1 - around 6am

M2 - 12:30 - 1pm

M3 - around 7-7:15pm

 

I do have a up of coffee and tea between M1 and M2 and another cup of tea between M2 and M3  and drink a lot of water which I think helps. I probably am having larger than average meals, but I only eat till I feel full and have not been tempted to snack between meals when previously I would have 2-3 snacks (usually nuts or granola or fiber one type bar) between M2 and M3.

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I'm glad I'm not the only one who struggles with this. 5:00 alarm, leave the house at 5:30. M1 when I get to the office, around 8.

Getting up before 5 isn't an option- in that it's already a struggle. I would have to give up my morning yoga/swimming in order to eat a proper M1 within 15 minutes of waking up. Tiny handful of walnuts in the car is the best I can do. On one hand, it's not being able to swim or do yoga after anything more than a few bites of food, but the bigger obstacle is not being able to spend the time (to prep and eat) at that hour.

I don't do pre-WO or post-WO meals because the level of activity is such that it's not really a "workout". If I actually work out (on the weekend), then I do those.

I just don't know how to solve the timing problem. Knowing how black and white I see everything, even being able to commit to the rest of the program knowing I would fail the 15-minute rule is an odd victory, in a way.

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I recommend the Egg muffin recipe you can find on the blog by searching Freezer foods.  This past Sunday I made a batch of the egg muffins and a batch of sausage for breakfasts because I knew me getting up and actually cooking something each morning was not sustainable.  I am usually out the door and off to the train with in an hour of getting out of bed.  This way I can easily heat up an egg muffin or two, a piece of sausage, a leftover vegetable from the night before, and a small piece of fruit and have something good to eat in less than 5mins. 

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