Eatin' Like a Truck Driver- An Experiment in Free Food

kimmydct

Tues-Thurs. of this week I had off-site meetings all day.  That meant an earlier start than usual, and breakfast and lunch were part of the meetings. 

For some reason, at these things were a buffet is involved, I feel compelled to eat like a truck driver.  Perhaps it is because my usual diet is so consistent and boring and very little 'home cooked" meals.  (Lean Cuisine type stuff for lunch and PBJ pre-WKO for dinner)  So for the 3 days, I ate what I wanted for b-fast and lunch.  First 2 days, still had my 10am Larabar snack, last day I didnt' need it. For lunch both days I ate seconds of at least a part of the meal (whatever I liked best) and was pretty much stuffed.  I know, oink oink.  I was so full, I didn't need dinner or even a pre-WKO snack.  I did my WKOs as usual except Tues as I had ART.  I had a bowl of Go Lean post WKO and maybe a cheese stick or mini bagel w/a little PB when I got super hungry around 9.

The most interesting thing about this experiment (which happened by accident) is that I lost 1/2lb (and hit another all-time low).  This is good for me even when sticking to my usual plan and being strict w/ LoseIt.  Now I did atttempt to track calories but basically put in big plugs for bfast and lunch.  (ie 500 for bfast and 1000-1200 for lunch)  No sugar though.  (I've been recreational sugar-free sine Feb. 2- thanks J&J Withrow!)

Just wanted to share and see what input folks have on this.  Perhaps 1500 cals a day isn't enough (non-exercise days) and eating more actually helped me?  Maybe it jolted my metabolism?  Maybe its just luck and tomorrow I'll be up 3 lbs?  Or maybe I overestimated what I ate?  I doubt that... Thurs. I had a croissant sandwich and some fruit then for lunch I had chix, beef, garlic mashed potatoes, a roll w butter and a few onion rings... Then went back and repeated! Not huge portions each time but still, it was a lot.

It was a fun week though!    I may try the bigger lunch thing more often and see if it is a good long-term strategy.  It was nice not to be hungry for once!  Although, I might actually have to cook or I'll go broke on lunches!

Anu Rao

It is possible with not eating dinner you may not have eaten as many calories as you thought, especially if you were avoiding sugar. But yay on the 1/2 lb loss with eating what you wanted. It may also point to trying and getting more variety in your your regular diet.

That said, I recall reading about "starvation" mode, when people chronically undereat there is a tendency of the body to stubbornly try and hang on to fat making weight loss harder. So maybe you do need a few more calories. Have you had an RMR test?

I have also noticed every so often due to one reason or another, I will have eaten tons of complete junk food the day before a twenty miler and have just an incredible run. So maybe there is something to be said for letting loose every so often.

[Deleted User]

0.5lb over what time frame?? My weight fluctuates so much day to day that I can't really detect a trend in less than 2 weeks of measurements. Lose .5lb today, put on 2 tomorrow, blah blah. blah. I'm almost at the point of taking my survival knife and just carving off the excess flab!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kimmydct

.5 for a week. I only calculate my loss or gain for the week based on fri or sat as those are usually my lowest

MattAaronson

I try to practice the "nutrient timing" concept as outlined in the book Racing Weight. This has to do with timing food around workouts. I also don't eat dinner on a lot of days (since I do evening workouts), and I think that makes a HUGE difference. Having a bit of a bigger lunch (just a bit, mind you!!) helps facilitate having energy for evening workouts and also being able to eat a protein bar after the workout and call it a night. I think eating in the evening contributes a lot to weight gain.

The only thing I'll say about catered office food -- which I have a ton of exposure to in my job -- is to be really careful abotu what you choose to eat. Does cutting recreational sugar mean you don't eat those muffins they put out in the breakfast spread? I hope so, because those suckers have up to 800 cal and zero nutritional value. And the list goes on...try to eat some whole foods like fruits and vegetables and meats like chicken breast or whatever at those sorts of functions. Actually eating that, as long as you do it in moderation, is probably better for you than the overly-processed Lean Cuisine stuff.