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Do I eat dinner or skip it?


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Ok so I've been trying to do the 3 meals a day and I'm doing pretty well and I'm following the template and I'm not snacking.  I get up early and eat about 7 or if I have to leave early I eat while I'm driving.  I know I'm not supposed to but I just can't get up earlier, I'm already not getting enough sleep.  I take my lunch with me and before the diet I would eat it while I'm driving between jobs, so it was like snacking.  Sometimes I don't get lunch, it depends on how busy we are and how behind I am.  This week I've had lunch but I guess I would just try to inhale the lunch in the few minutes I had so as not to snack.  Is it better to just not eat lunch on those days?  Lunch is supposed to be around noon and I'm sufficiently hungry by that time.  Then I work till night and sometimes don't get home till 9, 10, 11 or later.  I'm usually too tired to eat, let alone cook something.  I've been doing good lately and cooking even when I get home late.  But really I'd rather just not eat, I'm too tired.  I get home, shower and then eat then sleep immediately.  I know the last meal is not supposed to be right before bed.  So the question is do I eat dinner or would it be better to go without?  I've gone without lunch and dinner on some days.  I install cable in peoples houses and I'm fairly active.  I lift heavy objects all day, move ladders, climb them, crawl through attics and crawl spaces.  I find I get even more exhausted when I don't eat.  I've been on the whole30 since 30apr and I've stuck to it as in I haven't eaten anything that I shouldn't.  But I only found out about the template last week and realized that I had been doing it wrong.  I had been thinking that I wasn't eating enough protein, and I wasn't, and nuts had been a big part of my food since it's so easy to eat while driving.  While I've been on the diet for a while I'm not even close to done, I'm doing it for sugar cravings (among other reasons) and I feel I'm going to need to extend it.  I wasn't eating very much fruit at all but I stopped eating any last week (hoping this will help) and just stick to the protein, veggies, and fat for each meal.  So would it be better to eat dinner then go to sleep immediately or just skip it?  Same for lunch, would it be better to not eat it if I don't have time to eat it all at once?  

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Dena

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Hey there!

Thanks for reaching out in this issue :)  THe answer is no, don't skip lunch or dinner... the meal template (which you now know about) is the minimum requirement for an adult human to live... not to mention people with extremely active jobs.

I know this may not be the answer that you like, or that is the easiest, but you really need to carve out 10 min every day to eat lunch... that's the least amount of time I would ever tell someone to eat their lunch in, but it sounds like that 10 min might be all you get.  You are worth 10 min of time to eat, regardless of what the clients, bosses etc. say... and you can bet that if a cable installer came to my house and through conversation I found out they didn't eat all day because they were working, I would insist that they take a break right there in my living room.  Everyone deserves to eat during the day, regardless of busyness.

You can google 'whole30 brown bag lunch' or 'whole30 picnic' if you need help with good food on the fly.

As far a your timeline, you should be eating every 4-5 hours, so 7ish, noonish, 5/6ish... If you can make your meals big enough through the day you could probably squeeze dinner to 630/7.  If after this, you were working so hard you were burning a lot of calories, you may need to have a mini meal an hour or so before bed.

You may need to consider taking two or three meals to work on days you work that long.  Eating in the car is fine if that's all you can manage but again, it's not unreasonable to take a 10 min food and pee break somewhere on your way between calls.

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I agree with SugarCube - I'd suggest smaller bagged meals that you can eat in 10 minutes, and maybe have 4 smaller meals a day rather than 3.  as long as the total amount of food is about the same.  you're active so you could get away with slightly more food.  I would try to stop and eat, rather than eat while driving though.  There are legal rules about how long you should work without a break too...

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Oh no worries, I'm allotted an hour everyday but I'm slower than I should be or travel between jobs is long and don't always get it but I definitely have at least that amount of time between jobs. Thank you for your advice, I hadn't thought of bringing dinner too since we don't get a dinner break as well. But I'm sure I can make that work much better. Thank you so much. 

 

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Yes, ideally you're eating 3 meals a day, however if you have especially long days (like your work days) then you would add that fourth meal or mini meal.  If, on your days off, your timing works to something like 7, noon, 5/6 and then bed by 9/10, 3 meals should suffice.

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