Morning snack attack

Because I like challenges and I like to maximize life I have created a challenge which I believe is going to lead to some serious success in body composition and rowing power.  I am following a 5 meal a day plan and everything I eat should be 2 cups of food or less, with 3 hour intervals between meals.  This is because, as my mom says, your stomach is only so big (as big as your fist) - and if you stretch it out with every meal you over-eat at every meal and visa versa.  What I have realized is if I don't eat enough I don't have any energy and if I eat too much I am sluggish and have no energy.  The only way to find the perfect balance is to listen to your body and eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.  That is a super big challenge however, when you are doing this after eating large meals, because when you shrink to small meals you are hungry all the time.  If you wait it out and just be patient through the hunger - I distract my stomach with liquids, like tea, coffee, water, emergen-c - 0 calorie beverages - your stomach will start to shrink and eating based on what you need will become second nature - the problem, especially in the holidays - one binge, one overeating, can stretch your stomach back out - so to avoid this here are some tips(don't worry I struggle with these too, they are hard to master):

-don't drink liquids when you eat (stretches out your stomach and leads to a dilution of stomach acid) - drink 2 (16oz) 5 min before your meal and sip on water after 30 min of digestion.  If you need supplemental liquids when you eat is can be because: you are use to drinking and eating, this is a habit and not a need and can be stopped - you are eating food that does not carry water (ie fruits and veggies have liquids - meat and starches are dehydrating to digest) remedy this by eating more fruits and veggies - you are dehydrated - remember this and focus on hydrating after you have digested for 30 min and until your next meal.

-eat slowly; chew every bite until you cannot help but swallow - after you bite food off your spoon/fork put your utensil down and do not think about the next bite until you are done with the one you are chewing on.  I found this not only allows me to feel full when I am full but I feel an immense amount of gratitude for the food I am eating when I eat slowly - hidden flavors come out and I have the time to think about what I am eating and how it is nourishing my body.

-Pre-plan meals; you don't have to be militant about it just have a general skeleton of how your eating for the day is going to go, think about what you are doing that day and how you can really fuel that activity/day.  It can be as general as a small salad for lunch - then when lunch rolls around and you are in a hunger craze you already know that you need salad and you will not be tempted by the carb cravings because of an energy crash - after you eat the salad, if you are still hungry then eat the bread or sweets - but allow yourself to be fed whole food first.   Also if you are going to workout then you earn that sweets/starchy carb and you can feel happy eating it after working your body and because you planned it you have a more positive experience.

I will sometimes post my food log so that you can see what sample days looks like.   Today looks like this:
5am wake up - banana with tbsp almond butter and 10 grapes.
6-7am run 7 mi
9am 20g whey in 12 oz sugar-free almond milk and below fruit salad (1 cup - diced grapefruit, black grapes, pomegranate) + tbsp maple syrup, cinnamon, pinch coconut shreds, pinch coco nibs, pinch chia seeds (tummy rumbling before eating, felt full after whey, waited 10 min and felt hungry again and ate fruit salad)

12 noon - small salad (about 2 cups total) mixed greens, chopped veggies, diced chicken breast.  Was "deliriously hungry" before eating, had been distracting myself with tea  -  but felt satisfied and light after eating - took some digestive enzymes to help with all the raw material.  I had also re-heated 1cup split pea soup but will eat that at 3pm.  

every hour I am doing 5 1 leg squats all day (5 on each leg).

pm will be weights and bike recover with 20 g whey +almond milk.   Dinner at 7:30pm of a veggie omelet with lox =).

Because I am in a recovery/"off season" phase this is the time to get my digestive system on track for excellence in the spring - if I train it now it will be habit by April =)