healthy lunch

[ultraslacker]

I basically eat every couple of hours. I guess what I have between "meals" could be called "snacks"... I'm not sure how to strictly define the difference between the two.

Here's a typical day for me (when I'm working days):

breakfast: bagel, yogurt, fruit
morning snack: fruit/veggies and/or granola bar and/or sandwich
lunch: soup and salad, sandwich
afternoon snack: fruit/veggies and/or granola bar
supper: pasta
evening snack: cheese and raisins, or crackers

now, that's a good day, lol. a lot of days I add some junk into the mix.

would it help you to have set snack times? my boss and I basically have our morning and afternoon snacks together and around the same time every day. Then you could forbid yourself from snacking BETWEEN those times, to avoid the constant eating...? It also helps to remove yourself from your normal space so that you don't associate that with eating--ie, if you work at a desk, eat your meals and snacks somewhere else. We have ours at a table in the middle of our office.

[Racer]

Thanks holly and lisa (you posted while I was posting and I didn't see your reply initially!!)

I spent an extra long day at school today and I was sitting there in class thinking....geez if I was studying or at home I'd probably be eating!! (Cause I was hungry. ) So you are right that being in a different context makes it harder to eat between meals.

Hm. well i'll have to give this more thought. My thinking with limiting the snacking was that it would force me to eat more at meal times. It would also force me to eat less fruit and more vegies (I think the apples are OK though) and then just more balanced in general. Another problem is that I'm lazy when it comes to cooking. I dunno. maybe cooking is over-rated. Ok clearly i need to give this more thought. I do think some pre-planning (the day before) might be necessary to start with anyway. Cause i'll need something to pack for lunch in the morning!!

I could also set times to eat...that might be helpful. I could even set my watch lol!!!

I don't think you eat too much Holly. Your diet looks pretty healthy to me. No offence anyone else but I don't know how some of you run on what you eat!!!

[ultraslacker]

Another problem is that I'm lazy when it comes to cooking. I dunno. maybe cooking is over-rated.

Me too. I don't often cook a real meal. And when I do, it's not always the healthiest. Usually pasta (which is a good running food, fortunately!).

I don't think you eat too much Holly. Your diet looks pretty healthy to me. No offence anyone else but I don't know how some of you run on what you eat!!!

The problem isn't usually in what I eat (though I have lots of junk days too). It's in how much I eat. When I say I have pasta, I have a LOT of pasta (like a heaping dinner plate, sometimes more). It's the portion control that I'm trying to work on... :)

[QuickChick]

What I've decided is that in order to combat my snacking problem, I'm going to have to eliminate snacks for awhile and just eat meals. This means no snack foods, or snack-sized proportions of foods. Because as it stands, the snacks are sabatoging my meals and that's so not good. Once I'm eating real food meals, then I figure I can add snacks back in if I want/need them. So:

-three filling, nutritious meals a day

-snacks are only for before or after running, and perhaps before bed if I'm hungry (or I won't be able to sleep)

-Apples are neither meals nor snacks. They are just apples.

What do you think?

?

I don't usually advocate for calorie counting. But maybe it would be a good idea to have a rough idea of the calories you're taking in. There are many formuli you can use to figure out the number (well, it's a rough number, but a guideline) of calories you should be getting. How you get those calories throughout the day is up to you, but keep in mind that you don't burn many off after dinner (unless you run after dinner like me).

For me on days when I'm running I try to get 2000 calories. If I'm not running, I try to stick somewhere between 1500-1800. To do this I have a VERY rough idea of how many calories my food is (eg. 2 pieces of bread- 190 cals, 3 pieces of lunch meat- 60 cals- so a sandwich is 250, plus about 100 for my yogurt, plus 85 in an apple- LUNCH CALORIES- 435 calories). I eat variations on the same thing every day, so for me this is pretty easy. If, say, each meal is 400-500 calories, then I have 400-500 calories to play with for snacks. I can easily have a yogurt and an apple twice a day, for example (less than 400 cals) plus maybe some carrots or something before dinner.

In essense, I just know the calorie count of the food I eat most, and I find it helps me more closely monitor what I eat. Due to time I can't really graze, so I have to do the 3 meals a day, but unless I have 3 huge meals, I have to have a little something for a snack.

[QuickChick]

Add-on to my last post... whoa...
I just calculated my calorie needs with 3 different calculators, and I should have between 2200-2500 calories a day... I think if I ate that much I'd be huge for sure! I seldom get up to 2000 and believe me I'm not depriving myself! The only time I am even close to 2500 would be the day of a long run when I eat like a horse.
I know I said before you have to think of it as a rough guideline... that's a big difference from what I thought before though.

[lovethehills]

Oh, and speaking of soups, those Campbells Gardennay soups (in the carton) are SOOOO good

Have you seen the new Campbell Soups that come in the "travel mug"?? They are awesome!! So easy and convenient! The Blended Vegetable is fantastic. Great for people on the go....and aren't we all??

[lisaannr]

Oh, and speaking of soups, those Campbells Gardennay soups (in the carton) are SOOOO good

Have you seen the new Campbell Soups that come in the "travel mug"?? They are awesome!! So easy and convenient! The Blended Vegetable is fantastic. Great for people on the go....and aren't we all??

And on WW they are only 1 point!