So, when can you eat?

            I eat every three hours, and when I say every three hours, I mean every three hours. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing. If it’s time to eat, I find a way to eat. I carry snacks everywhere I go incase I have to eat fast. I even tell people, “Hang on, I have to eat. Don’t worry; I’ll just shove this in my face. It’ll take like two minutes.” Eating on a schedule was probably the toughest adjustment to make. At first, I think it was hard for everyone around me to adjust to as well, but now they have it down too!

            When I first started the meal plan, I wouldn’t eat anything unless I prepared it and knew exactly how many calories were in it. I also wouldn’t go out to eat. I wanted to be as exact as possible when I started because I wanted to get used to everything. I gradually eased back into going out to eat, although I look up the nutrition content before I go out. When I get to the restaurant, I already know what I’m going to eat before I even see the menu. In fact, I only stare at the menu. I don’t read anything on it.

            When I do go out to eat I have to plan my whole day around it. So, if you want to go out to dinner at 7, I have to plan my day around that. Here’s what I would do in that situation. If you want to go out at 7, I would assume that we won’t be eating until 7:45. So, I would eat breakfast at 7:45 AM. That way I will be eating every three hours all day and be on schedule to eat with you at 7:45 PM. Then I would make sure I knew where we were going to eat and tell you that you can’t change your mind, because I have to research what I’m going to eat. Sometimes it’s exhausting to think about, but it really pays off. I just have to plan everything ahead of time! I’m sure you think I’m neurotic now. It’s ok, I am.

            When I started all of this, I was working at a Charter School. I explained to my middle school students what I was doing and asked them to help me keep track of the time. By the end of the school year, my students were on top of the whole thing! It was like they were all on the meal plan too. When I would lose track of time, my students would remind me. They would yell out, “Oh man, it’s 9:30! Time for a snack! 400 calories!” I think they liked it so much because I would bring snacks for them all the time too. One of my students told me if he didn’t know what time it was he would look around to see if I was eating. He told me he could tell time by my stomach. I told him I would take that statement as a compliment.

            Now, nearly everyone around me asks when I can eat, and what I can eat. It makes me happy that everyone is helping me out with this. For the most part no one is trying to sabotage me. I know that everyone wants me to succeed with this, so they have all started planning their days around my eating schedule. I think if they’ve already done that, they might as well get a meal plan of their own!