On the Clock

As mothers, we live by the clock. After that first baby arrives, everything suddenly has an hour/minute/second attached to it. How long did she practice the piano? How long did the baby cry? How much more time for the bread to bake? How many more minutes until bedtime?

Well, it’s time to put yourself on the clock. Putting yourself on an eating schedule is very empowering and grants you the power you want over food. And even though you are only eating at certain times, the food still tastes great, I promise.

From Personal Training pics

Basically, we have already established we need to eat 5-6 small meals a day. However, spacing the meals/snacks out by about 2 1/2 to 3 hours will really help get through the day without eating an entire box of Lucky Charms by 4:00 PM (what I affectionately call the CRASH AND BURN hour). Here’s is my personal eating schedule:

5:15 AM – snack – 1 slice of whole wheat bread (I workout in the early morning)
8:00 AM – breakfast
10:30 AM – mid morning snack
1:00 PM – lunch
3:30 PM – mid afternoon snack
6:00 PM – dinner
I’M DONE.

I had one client put herself on the clock with an eating schedule and she was astonished to actually feel hungry again. It had been years of constant eating day in, day out without ever stopping, really. She truly could not remember the last time she felt the sensation of hunger.

Now, eating on a schedule won’t make you feel hungry all day, just right around the time you are scheduled to eat. However, occasionally, hunger pangs come uninvited at the wrong time. Here’s the mental game plan:

You start feeling hungry. No problem, no panic, no shakes or cold sweats. You can look at your watch instead of straight to the fridge. 9:30 AM. Hhmm, another hour to go. What to do? Drink 24 oz of water of course! Then make yourself busy with tackling one of the many things on that “To Do” list– or even better make a break for it and leave the house. Take a walk, call a friend, or get some of those errands done without being so close to the food that is singing your name.

You control the food, it does not control you.