Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I'm starving ...

Getting on the scale a week ago I was shocked and appalled to see it tipping past the point of no return! I'd only been this heavy once before but a cycling trip to the Maritimes took care of that. I lost 20 lbs before I left while training and then another 25 on the actual 2300 km ride. It helped that I was carrying all my equipment, even maple syrup in a glass bottle, for morning pancakes in the campground. The bike and kit weighed in at 100 pounds - 35 for the bike and 65 for the panniers and kit - and that turned it into an exercise machine for 6 hours each day as I plodded eastward from Nepean.

That was in 2002 and it's taken about five and a half years to get back up to this totally unacceptable weight. So I decided to do something about it. The first major change was to limit my visits to the pub to only once a week and to only have a drink with one other meal each week. I've done this in the past, sometimes for months on end, and I've noticed how easily I shed the pounds even when I'm not really dieting. The second, and only other, major change is to stop eating after 7:00 pm. It's too easy to snack on something after dinner and this one is as much mental as physical. Food after dinner, for me, is a panacea for all that happens (or doesn't) between 9 and 5.

The problem is that, even with breakfast, I'm starving by 10:00 and am very tempted to have half my lunch. That makes me short of calories at lunch and then I'm dying to get home to have something. Anything!

It doesn't help I walk by Zaks every morning ...

6 comments:

JuliaR said...

I think you should be able to eat when you are truly hungry. I advocate taking a second breakfast to work and eating it when you are hungry at 10am. I am hungry at 10am! Especially if I have had breakfast at 6am. And so I eat something then. At lunch I don't eat too much because I had some calories at 10. And then I'm good until dinner.

I just checked with Nutrition Data and you can probably have 2400 calories a day so just spread them out in a different way. Eat more before noon if that's when you want food.

But you are on the right track! Keep going!

Peter Reichert said...

Thanks for the encouragement. But I'm not comfortable in a routine yet. I don't have much time for breakfast in the morning. Cereal is quick and easy but I think it's got too many simple carbs an that's what's making me hungry at 10. I'll have to figure out something to take as a 2nd breakfast. When I begin riding, I can't do breakfast before the commute because I just can't ride my bike with anything in my belly and pedal without either falling asleep feeling like I'm having a heart attack!

JuliaR said...

I don't think it's the simple carbs - it's the lack of calories. Eat two small breakfasts, a small lunch, etc. and spread your calories out when and where you need them.

Peter Reichert said...

OK, I'll try it. Thanks ... :)

Anonymous said...

I just read a terrific nutrition blog and there was just a weeks worth of egg information. It said to eat 2 boiled eggs for breakfast and you won't need to snack until lunch... I tried it all last week and it really worked, I did add a glass of orange juice to wash them down, but it really worked... go figure.

Peter Reichert said...

Hey, Anon. I've heard similar views on the protein in eggs staying with you longer. And soft or hard boiling reduces all the calories of other prep methods, especially scrambling. Maybe I'll it a try, too. Thx.