My name is Tracy...and I'm a snackaholic!

Thank you.  I'll add it in.  :-)

keep a journal, also. I'm kind off in the same boat, the journal helped me keep it real and we are in progress.

Tracy I think you've hit on something really important for successful maintenance. It seems that snacks actually increase our hunger so it is important that we learn to go for longer stretches - say 4-5 hours or more when we are 'empty'.

I've spent a lot of time reflecting on this lately (after discussing it with Frisco) and I think snacking encourages disordered eating and may even jeopardize our restriction over the longer haul. I wasn't overly dependent on snacking during weight loss and I'm consciously avoiding it now. 

"...and I think snacking encourages disordered eating and may even jeopardize our restriction over the longer haul."

Bingo, Linda!  I agree with you 100% on this.  It took me years to acknowledge and be diagnosed with an eating disorder and I'm still working to recognize the triggers for my compulsive overeating.  Snacking just never came up as an issue before surgery but - wham! - it's slapping me upside the head now.  

I'm happy to report that yesterday went really well.  I had GREAT restriction at lunch and dinner and easily pushed away extra food that I would have normally eaten.  I had some hunger in between meals but it wasn't overwhelming.  It was the first day in weeks that I actually under-ate my sleeve.  And it felt GREAT! :-) 

Thanks for your kind words and support 

Tracy

I eat four times a day four hours apart.  I make myself wait until mealtime and they are meals.  Maybe a yogurt, maybe a chicken thigh.  I found it was too easy to discount a snack as not really anything and also if I don't have some feeling of satiety I'm hungry again in two hours.  It has to do with having a meal and not a snack if you follow me.  I've done this from the beginning and while some days I start to get hungry around the three hour mark I make myself wait. 

I was interested in your 3 meals a day strategy with no snacks because I know without a doubt I could not do that.  That would mean you eat every five hours unless I guess you get a ton of sleep.

I also pattern my eating on my body.  I have never been a morning eater.  When I was  a kid and my parents insisted I ate breakfast before school 3 times out of 5 I would throw up.  So they settled for me having a banana or half a slice of toast.  Full breakfast never worked for me.  When I  was having surgery my psych consult insisted I get ready for ordered eating by having breakfast, just doing it.  I ignored him. The whole metabolism revving I would just have to do without although now there is ample evidence that when you eat has no bearing. 

I'm not hungry in the morning so I go about three hours before I have my first meal and since I'm still not really hungry this can be a light one.  I'm not hungry in the afternoon, so I leave my dense protein meals for the evening and night.  One of the problems I have is insomnia and I have a great fear (yes I'm somewhat eccentric) of going to bed and lying there hungry because then I will get no sleep for the night.  so my last meal is never less than 2 hours before bed.  This works for me.  But like you I was never a snacker.  I was more a volume meal eater with several courses.  It still amazes me that I could eat so much and only be as overweight as I am because if I deviate too much from my plan my scale really does let me know and right away.

I also think we are all so different.  I never had any feeling of satiety from protein shakes and at 6 weeks gave them up immediately.  I watched posters on here who kept up with the shakes for months even years because they filled them up.  Not me.  the one thing I do know and I know one of the things people do on here is under eat their sleeves but right from the beginning I knew (because I tried it) that not feeling satisfied meant I would eat more but I still have the same capacity I had at the beginning.

Good luck with your

Thanks for your thoughtful response :-)  I'm always interested in how others are handling this tool.  I actually eat about every 6 hours; breakfast at 6:00 a.m., lunch at noon and dinner at 6:00 p.m.  I'm in bed by 9:00 p.m. and up at 5:00 a.m. to exercise most days.  

I'm happy to say that yesterday went amazingly well! Did I have a bit of hunger/acid (so hard to tell the difference)?  Yes, but it was quite manageable and popping a couple Tums helped, which means it was actually acid.  The freedom from the constant thinking about food was a relief.  For the first time in weeks I was able to keep my calories and carb grams in line.  

I'm with you on the shakes - i could never really use it as a meal replacement because it doesn't satisfy my hunger or stick with me.  I still use one a day but it's my commute-to-work drink that I start drinking 1 hour after breakfast.  

Thanks for the support!