Hi itsaboatjack,
- I prefer to eat well (have a good amount & feel full) once a day rather than to have several mini-meals where I feel only half-satisifed
- obviously, what I eat (even if only 1 meal a day) is quite enough for me as I feel/look fine/healthy.
- people have been brainwashed into thinking 3 meals a day is 'normal', but I don't think it has been normal throughout our (long) evolution process?
- a lot of people are shocked when I say I only eat (properly) once a day in the evening
- I reckon that we just need enough calories to keep us going, and number of meals is irrelevant
- calorie intake can be averaged out per day or even per week?
- if someone is very physically active (sports or work) they probably will need to feed more often than once a day
- I do eat bfast or lunch if on a hiking hol or something like that where I am using more energy than usual
- most people eat too much/wrong sort of food hence they have weight/fat issues
- we shouldn't measure our eating compared to what other people are doing, as each of us needs a different amount of food. And some of us need/like different types of foods.
- I wish people would try not to see one meal a day as weird? (For many people it is fine as a strategy.)
- if I ate 3 times a day, (while not being very physically active), I think I would not be able to happily keep slim. (I am 55.)
- I find eating once a day (ie saving up my calories to the end of the day) really works for me (after many years of struggling), so might work for others? Maybe cos I am a night person/not a morning person?
- I think it doesn't matter how many times a day you eat as long as total is OK.
- for me, each "eating event" (ie meal) is a temptation to over-eat, hence waiting till evening to eat means there's only one event to control.
- one (good) meal a day means I feel I deserve my meal and I really enjoy it.
- enjoyment when you eat I feel is quite important, otherwise you will feel deprived/unhappy and this can make self-control harder
- I can eat anything I like in the evenings but I generally choose healthy things
- I never feel deprived
- I enjoy the feeling of (almost) real hunger before I eat
- I hate meeting people "for lunch" if they will badger me to eat (with them) for social reasons, even if I am not hungry
- hardly anyone in the UK (including me) knows what "real hunger" feels like? (We generally only ever feel "peckish"?)
- eating when it's not necessary is why most of us are fat?
- like smoking and drinking, I think we should each be free to decide when and what to eat, ie not have to eat for social reasons/not to offend or make others feel awkward
-some foods are quite addictive (eg crisps, choc, fresh bread?) so better avoided
- I have fruit or a small portion of protein as a day-time snack (if needed) which at least is good for the body
-drinking tea/coffee (with milk) throughout the day definitely helps to stave off hunger until my meal time.
Has anyone else ever tried this way of eating/getting and staying slim & healthy?
For me, this way of eating has just evolved. It works well for me, so I have just stuck with it.
I know that one meal a day might sound harsh or controversial, so I am wary of telling people in RL! (They generally think I am very hard on myself, but it's honestly just the easiest way for me.)
Maybe one meal a day can work for others as well as it works for me? (Might not work for "morning" people, or people who are very physically active.)
The key question is "do you want to feel full/satisfied" once a day, (and a bit hungry the rest of the day), or "can you live with never feeling full/satisfed" in order to eat more often/avoid feeling a bit hungry during the day?