Struggling With 3 Large Meals a Day

[Justine603]

Hello! So just to preface, I am only on day 2 so anything I'm concerned about should probably be taken with a grain of salt. A little background - I'm a 25 year old female, 5'7" and 135 lbs (5 lbs more than I have been in probably 10 years ugh). I am also not as active as I have been but am hoping to find the motivation to get back at it. I'm generally in shape and don't find exercise hard. I am mainly doing Whole30 because there is a food group that does not agree with me and I would love to figure out what it is. Losing a few pounds and gaining some lean muscle wouldn't be the worst either

 

I have been eating about 4 small meals a day plus a mid day snack and maybe an after dinner snack for as long as I can remember. This is because my metabolism is pretty fast and I get hungry pretty quickly after eating. My stomach is pretty used to eating this way so I am finding it difficult to eat a "giant" meal and then wait 4 hours to eat my next "giant" one. I get full too quickly and then hungry again too quickly.

 

For example - this morning I had half of a large sweet potato roasted in coconut oil, half an onion and half a pepper, and 2 large duck eggs. I had to force myself to finish and I felt grossly full. Now it is 12 (30 mins till lunch time) and I'm pretty hungry. I feel like I am going to be overeating and end up gaining weight. I guess it just goes against everything I've been told.

 

Any thoughts, advice, anyone who can related would be greatly welcomed! Thank you

[laura_juggles]

I came from eating a bunch of little meals and snacks too. What worked for me was slowly increasing the size of my meals until I got to the point where I was fine eating only 3 proper template meals plus post-workout meals (aka 2-3 bites of chicken and sweet potatoes, not a lot of food there). 

 

Because your meal 1 this morning was technically too small for a template meal, it's understandable that you're hungry early and that's okay. 

 

Meal 1/breakfast was *always* the hardest for me because I used to not eat until 3-4 hours after waking up. I'd have some coffee, but nothing else until I got to work (I was up at 5:30, then commuting to get to work for a start time of 8:15 and I'd typically start working and *then* eat breakfast at my desk. In hindsight, it was terrible). 

 

So, when I started Whole30 I would cook a properly sized template meal and pick at the protein/veg/fat in equal proportions until I was full. Not OMG stuffed full but full to the point that I didn't want to eat anymore. Put the rest in a tupperware and take it with me. Inevitably, when I got hungry a couple hours later I'd eat the rest. But I'd try to eat a little more the next morning. Then a little more the next morning. It worked for me 

[LydiaJo]

Make sure you are getting enough healthy fat. Don't drink fluids with your meal. Get enough water during the day.