Do You Eat at Scheduled Times Throughout the Day?

Truthfully, I didn't eat anything on any type of schedule for a period of close to two decades.  There were so many times where I skipped breakfast!  Trust me, because I grazed or "snitched" I got more than my fair share of calories in throughout the course of a day.  Oh yeah, and I had plenty of extra fat on my body to show for it.

Now, I do eat pretty much on schedule throughout the course of a day.  I have to for many reasons.  This is one of the single main reasons why I have been successful in losing the extra weight I had put on over the course of two decades.  It is also the reason why I have been able to maintain my ideal weight for over a year and a half. I stick to a balanced schedule of eating and exercising.  It is that important.

If you think of your day as the face of a clock, you can imagine a time schedule where you could easily spread out your caloric intake over the course of a day.  This is greatly beneficial whether you are in weight loss mode or maintaining your ideal weight once reached.

Of course it doesn't have to be perfect or look like this:

7:30 am Breakfast
10:00 am Morning Snack
12:30 pm Lunch
Etc.

It can look more like this:

Around 7:30-8:00 am Breakfast
Around 10:00-10:30 am Snack
Around 12:00-12:30 pm Lunch
Etc.

There are so many solid reasons why this sort of eating schedule is important.

1) Breakfast provides you with fuel after your body has fasted all throughout the night.  You need to get your system fueled up for the day.
2) Eating breakfast starts the spreading out of calories throughout the day in a balanced fashion.
3) Eating healthy snacks between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner prevents you from becoming famished.
4) Eating within a certain time period for each meal or snack prevents you from becoming famished or overeating due to a delay.

Here's an example of why I adhere to this type of schedule.  Just last night my husband and I went to visit our eldest daughter.  She was in the process of purchasing a car with her sister, my second daughter.  We were taking her puppy for a walk and waiting around until she returned.

Of course it took a long time and supper had long past.  My husband and I are used to eating on schedule around 6:00 p.m. or so.  My daughter was going to order a pizza on the way home from the dealership.

Here's what happened.  We were hungry so we began to eat snacks.  Most all of the snacks were healthy choices but still, they were snacks.  By the time she did return home, thank goodness the pizza guy wasn't far behind!

I'm sure you all can figure out what happened next.  The pizza came and we were so hungry that I ate more than usual.  Not a great amount but most certainly more than I normally do with my healthy eating patterns now in place.  Of course, I felt no guilt or remorse because I stick to a healthy eating plan 95% of the time and when I do choose to eat something off track, I do it intentionally and I enjoy it because I made a "choice" to do so.  It just made me realize how I used to eat like that most everyday!  I was so much like the grabby octopus!

Now I know more than ever the importance of staying on schedule with my eating.  This type situation confirms it all over again.  It most certainly does matter.  It is not a great thing to put yourself in a situation where you are overly hungry at any point during the day.

I am happy to say that I have finally learned these important facts and I'm happy to realize that I no longer allow this to be a frequent occurrence in my life.

For the most part, do you stick to a scheduled eating pattern throughout the day?

Have a great day everyone!