Managing my weight has always been a monumental task for me. When I get busy I forget to eat, and then when I finally get hungry enough to stop and take a bite suddenly I’m eating an entire day’s worth of calories. Some people will try and tell you it’s just a number. As long as you don’t exceed the calories you can have and lose weight it doesn’t matter how much you eat at a sitting or how many times you eat a day. In my experience, this isn’t true.

My muscles ache like crazy if I only eat one meal a day. I feel significantly more tired than I should. I need more sleep than otherwise and I tend to overdo my required calorie intake once food finally is in front of me because I feel famished by then. Moderation is good in theory but if you’re not eating multiple meals a day you end up eating significantly less calories than you need. When you short yourself too much you don’t lose weight either based on my experience.

I don’t claim to have an answer. The ideal situation would be to eat 3-5 small to medium-sized meals every day. I simply don’t have the time available to do that and probably most other caregivers don’t either. I’ve decided for the new year I’m going to celebrate progress when it happens and do my best not to get upset when it doesn’t. The only time I’m going to get frustrated with myself is when I gain weight. If I’m trying to lose weight and end up gaining it instead I feel like I’m doing something significantly wrong, no matter how busy my schedule happens to be.

Do you have any tips or tricks? I would love to hear them!