I'm posting this becuase, I know if I post this here, make it public, I know I am more likely to stick to it!

I know that with my schedule, 6 meals IS NOT do-able. BUT I know that 3 medium sized meals and 1 nutritious, small snack are. That's how I lost 7 pounds in February, but then in March I stopped and put 4 of those back on! This is how it'd go:

Breakfast:
2 slices of whole wheat toast
peanut butter (on the toast)
and some kind of fruit-usually an apple or an orange.

Lunch:
Sandwich on whole wheat (usually tuna w/reduced fat mayo, or turkey with mustard and cheese) (this takes care of both carb and protien)
Fruit or vegetable.
Some Reduced fat Triscuit type crackers.
OR
A microwave SmartOnes or Lean Cuisine meal and fruit or vegetable. Most of them tend to have some sort of protien and carb, but not the veggie component.

Mid afternoon snack:
Fruit--it has to be something like this due to the fact that I'll be in school. Lukcily, the class I will be in at this time allows eating.

Dinner-
This won't change much, since I've already gotten us into the habit of a balanced dinner. Only thing that'll change is that the portions will be smaller!! Oh yeah, I'll also try to limit how much we have bread with dinner. He's 1/2 Italian and I'm 3/4ths Portugese, so we're both bread-lovers. But its unnecessary when we already have a carb with dinner! I'll try to get us to limit it to once a week. (I don't want to be too restrictive!)

I'm also going to put myself on a time management plan, to help myself deal with stress and my inability to manage my time without a schedule. Sooo hopefully that will mean for me, being in bed earlier and waking up earlier so I can go to the gym in the mornings before work. LUCKILY, for the time being, I live a whole block from my gym, so I will have no problem running home to shower before work. By the time we move out, I will have graduated already and can fit in working out in the evenings after work.

In regards to time management--I did it VERY well last quarter and used most of my time at work to do my reading. I need to do that again! I'd just tell myself to tackle things 2 chapters at a time, then I'd give myself a break. I can do that now, considering i have just one class where I have to do intense reading. All the others, doing the "selective" reading thing is ok. Guess its just senioritis! (Remember, I graduate in June! Ohh speaking of that, must remind myself to contact advisor about the translation test!)
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This is good, Rose Bud.

You are eating small, balanced meals, which will take care of your hunger throughout the whole day and lessen cravings.. maybe something between breakfast and lunch? I eat five times a day - usually five balanced snacks.. I don't eat meals anymore. Too much hassle when you're trying to eat five-six times a day! :r

Also, your time management sounds really great. When we know what we're doing, we are more motivated because our minds are less messed up and we can fully concentrate on the task in hand. :)

And remember - if you have cravings, change the diet! Incorporate your fave foods into it.

But then, you know all this. :)

Jordie
xxx
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You know, I thought about trying to squeeze in some small snack between breakfast and lunch. But from my own experiences, I know that hunger is a much much bigger problem for me in the afternoons. I can survive in the morning between breakfast and lunch, as long as the breakfast I eat is well balanced. (I dunno, I guess that says something about my metabolism??) And by all means, if I am finding that this isn't working, I'll tweak things.

My problem right now is that I *can* find time for three moderately sized meals and one small snack. I just do not have the time to manage more than that. And, I know that plan works. I had success with it until I got lazy.
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