Chubby Mommy

So many of the diet options out there insist on three meals and two snacks per day, beginning with breakfast. I’ve never been a breakfast person. Ever, ever, ever.

Even on days when I have only a salad for dinner, I simply don’t wake up hungry. Now, waking up craving coffee? Oh, yeah, I definitely do that.

I always find it humorous to read about people who — like me — are trying to lose weight and yet aren’t morning eaters. They moan and groan over having a morning meal, and everyone assures them they must eat. “It’s the most important meal of the day,” the saying goes.

But consider this: one of the things everyone with extra weight knows we’re supposed to re-learn is the habit of eating only when we’re hungry. Not when we’re bored. Not because the clock says it’s time to. Not as a way to relieve stress. We are to eat when we’re hungry and stop when we’re not. (Ideally, we’re supposed to learn what hunger actually feels like, too.)

I’ve often found that my best weight loss happens when I “forget” to eat — then find myself at dinner time absolutely hungry to begin with, but full after the first helping. It runs counter to all of the talk about keeping your metabolism up by eating regularly, I know, but it works for me. And if it works, I’m not going to argue with it.

Apparently, I’ve been following the Houseguest Diet:

It’s quite simple: you can eat anything you like. But only once a day. And it has to be food already in the house, you’re only allowed one paper towel to eat it with – no dishes, utensils or pots, and you have to eat over the sink. The rest of the time you can drink as much tap water as you like – but straight from the faucet please.

As the article notes, you never really realize how much work goes into feeding a person until you’ve got a houseguest. By the time you’ve finished cooking, eating and cleaning up after one meal it’s already time for another. If houseguests are my in-laws, there are also snacks and desserts to be prepared, served and cleaned up after, too.

I’d love to put them on this diet. Hell, I’d even join them myself if I thought starving my mother-in-law would in any way diminish the appeal of visiting my home.