If you’ve been on the weight loss train for ANY length of time, you’ve no doubt heard to eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. Lord, who came up with that dumb idea? Gymbros, likely. Anyways. When you’re starting a journey, you want to eat regularly so you don’t get hangry and succumb to the temptations around you. But you DON’T need to eat that much! So focus on seeing WHEN you’re hungry, and what your individual hunger cues look like. Are you REALLY hungry right before bed, or are you tired, bored, or is it a habit?
Here’s my top tips to set yourself up for success!
- If you’re anything like me, you barely get up in time to get ready for work, let alone prepare & eat a healthy breakfast. Let me give you my best tip to set you up for a successful morning…. With a simple change to your morning coffee!
Brew your coffee as usual. Instead of your usual container of creamer with a TON of funky ingredients, put 4-6 oz of dairy of choice in a shaker bottle, add your protein powder, shake, and pour into your coffee! You’ve now got a healthy, delicious protein proffee! You can do this with a couple shots of espresso too. Pour over ice or serve hot. (Click here for my favorite coffee combo!) - Protein-heavy breakfast ideas. Eat a protein-heavy breakfast in the morning, and set yourself up for success! Here’s a few of my stand-by breakfasts:
Bacon & eggs.
Make chaffles and you can put the bacon & eggs on a sandwich to go!
Add avocado
Sub sausage for the bacon.
Yogurt or cottage cheese with fruit. Too Good yogurt or Chobani Zero sugar are both good options for prepared flavored yogurts. - What about intermittent fasting? You can go to this if you want. Allll depends on your schedule, but for your hormones, focus on eating earlier in the day, rather than late at night. Most people skip breakfast, which is a GREAT idea to get into IF. If you can, especially if you’re a perimenopausal woman, I suggest eating when you first wake up, and shift your fasting window to later in the day.
Aim to stop eating 2-3 hours before bed. Let your body finish the main digestive process before you to go bed. This will allow your hormones (the eating ones) to subside so you can STAY asleep throughout the night. Make sure to eat plenty of protein & fat at your last meal, and go easy on the carbs. Those will spike your insulin which causes issues with your melatonin which in turn causes you to have issues sleeping through the night.
Eat during daylight hours. Our ancestors days had to revolve around the sun. Not much could be done if you couldn’t see to do it. So try to get back to that today. Eat breakfast shortly after waking to cue your body it’s starting the day. Get some early morning (sunrise) sunlight on your eyes if you can. Eat your last meal while it’s still daylight out, if possible. My work doesn’t always allow for that, but I do try!
Make sure to subscribe to get my weekly coaching content direct to your inbox!
If you’re curious about one on one coaching, or maybe group coaching, sned me an email to essentially.lyd@gmail.com and I’ll connect with you right away!
Essentially Health & Wellness 