Eating according to the clock

These are fresh out of the oven, all ready for the birthday boy!

It’s Alfie’s birthday today, so I thought I would bake him his favourite red velvet cupcakes. Fair enough the decorations on this particular cupcake are a little girly, but I seem to have misplaced my chocolate sprinkles. Luckily Alfie doesn’t care as he has just scoffed one with his tea and really loves them.

So far this weekend has been pretty restful. I headed to the gym for a fantastic workout yesterday and we only popped out to do the grocery shopping and hibernated in doors from the rain. I did have some pretty delicious food though including a lovely bowl of warm porridge.

These were plain oats made with water and unsweetened almond milk and topped with blackberries, goji berries and honey. Warm porridge seems to be my thing at the moment and I’ve been having bowls of delicious bowls like this nearly everyday this week. Those juicy blackberries were fab!

I had my breakfast pretty late after a little lie in, so by the time lunch time came around I wasn’t hungry. Instead I decided to head to the gym for a fantastic workout. I did 20 minutes of cardio followed by a strength routine and core workout. By the time I got home I was ready for lunch.

After all of my workouts I am conscious of my protein in take and often have a green smoothie post workout. However, considering this was lunch I wanted something a bit more ‘lunch-like.’ On the menu was an omelet stuffed with roast chicken and Wesleydale cheese with cranberries and some salad.

Before heading out to do the shopping I made myself a quick snack:

The last of the tub of Greek yoghurt with frozen cherries and mixed nuts, yum!

This dinner was really was a tale of two halves. This was a pork stir fry cooked with peppers and mushroom, garlic, ginger, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, chili and honey. Alfie had his as a pad Thai with noodles cooked with an egg, whereas I had mine with some kale. Both were topped with parsley (ran out of coriander), peanuts and spring onions. I so needed this after the mad week that I had.

I’m about to get ready to take Alfie out for his birthday lunch. It’s somewhere very fancy in Oxford and he doesn’t know where yet so it’s going to be a big surprise.

Recently I’ve realised that there have been a few occasions where I have steered away from eating my meals at set times. I always used to eat my lunch at 13.00, even when I wasn’t hungry just because it seems to be a socially acceptable time to eat lunch. I know that the whole conscious eating debate is very controversial, but in some respects I can see how beneficial it can be where over eating is concerned. I think this is probably a topic for an entirely stand alone post…watch this space!

Do you eat at set meal times or do you prefer to listen to your body?

What have you been up to this weekend?

14 Comments

Nat- Tea, Cake and Make on October 20, 2013 at 12:35 PM

Ah Jemma, please stop making me hungry! Hehehe. All looks so delicious, yum!!

Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 8:19 AM

Ha! Thanks Nat! 🙂

Nikki @ The Road to Less Cake on October 20, 2013 at 1:34 PM

Happy Birthday to Alfie. The cupcake looks gorgeous. Hope you have lovely meal out.

I’m so into porridge at the moment as well.

I eat when I’m hungry. On weekends, I tend to get up later, so eat all my meals a little later and don’t have a mid morning snack. At work I can pretty eat lunch when I want. I don’t have a set lunch break. However, on deadline day I’m usually so hungry because I don’t take my lunch until the paper is finished and sent off for printing.

Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 8:18 AM

Thank you. We had a lovely meal and Alfie had a fab day. I’m the same with my weekend eating pattern, it shifts to a little later.

Lauren (@PoweredbyPB) on October 20, 2013 at 3:00 PM

I tend to just eat when I am hungry, sometimes I’ll have lunch early or sometimes not until after 3pm, with dinner I like to eat at 6-6.30 regardless but with lunch I am quite flexible. It’s been a very wet and miserable weekend, one of those ones for curling up and watching movies!

Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 8:16 AM

Oh the weather has been miserable, but perfect for duvet days.

sonja@vesenmork on October 20, 2013 at 6:33 PM

Beautiful birthday cake! Lucky Alfie 🙂
I tend to eat on set times, breakfast between 8 and 9, lunch at 13, snack at 17, dinner at 20 (I have this weird food thing where I afraid to eat dinner sooner because I’m scared I won’t be able to sleep if I get hungry again) but if I have a sleep in, and breakfast is late, I usually am pretty flexible with my eating hours

Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 8:15 AM

Same here. If I have a lie in my eating patterns shift to a little bit later on in the day.

Fran on October 20, 2013 at 6:59 PM

This is an interesting question and I look forward to hearing what other people do because I must admit I tend to eat at set times and eat usually more out of routine whether I am hungry or not. If I am hungry yet I feel I have ‘missed’ the appropriate time for lunch I will tend to hold on until dinner rather than eat lunch at what I would consider to be an ‘odd’ time because then I feel all ‘out of sync’! However, writing this down now and seeing the other couple of comments so far on this topic I realise how bazaar and silly this sounds!

Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 7:58 AM

I think it’s always best not to deprive your body of what it needs. But, when you are used to a particular routine it is hard to break out of it, totally understandable. 🙂

Lucy @ Lucy On The Lookout on October 20, 2013 at 8:20 PM

Wow those cupcakes look amazing (and very professional too!), I really need to start practicing my decorating skills 😉 I’m definitely a fan of listening to when my body’s hungry before eating, but with work if I know that I’m going to be super busy (and therefore not have time to eat) later in the day then I’ll make sure to have a proper lunch even if it’s earlier than I would like..!

Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 7:16 AM

Thanks! I think eating at work can be difficult especially with meetings and set lunch breaks. You seem to have it covered though! 🙂

Emma @ Stripes and Snapshots on October 20, 2013 at 9:48 PM

Aw looks like a nice weekend, cupcakes look lovely. I used to be somewhat a creature of habit with when I ate food, but now I am a little more relaxed. I like trying to eat much lunch later though as it makes the afternoon in work go quicker!

Tamzin on October 22, 2013 at 9:23 PM

I just eat when I am hungry these days, dinner is usually at the same time basically when Dale gets in from work its time to eat!

I had a lazy weekend after work on Saturday and enjoyed every minute of it! Those cakes look delicious, hope you had a fun day x

Nat- Tea, Cake and Make on October 20, 2013 at 12:35 PM

Ah Jemma, please stop making me hungry! Hehehe. All looks so delicious, yum!!
- Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 8:19 AM
  
  Ha! Thanks Nat! 🙂
Nikki @ The Road to Less Cake on October 20, 2013 at 1:34 PM

Happy Birthday to Alfie. The cupcake looks gorgeous. Hope you have lovely meal out.

I’m so into porridge at the moment as well.

I eat when I’m hungry. On weekends, I tend to get up later, so eat all my meals a little later and don’t have a mid morning snack. At work I can pretty eat lunch when I want. I don’t have a set lunch break. However, on deadline day I’m usually so hungry because I don’t take my lunch until the paper is finished and sent off for printing.
- Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 8:18 AM
  
  Thank you. We had a lovely meal and Alfie had a fab day. I’m the same with my weekend eating pattern, it shifts to a little later.
Lauren (@PoweredbyPB) on October 20, 2013 at 3:00 PM

I tend to just eat when I am hungry, sometimes I’ll have lunch early or sometimes not until after 3pm, with dinner I like to eat at 6-6.30 regardless but with lunch I am quite flexible. It’s been a very wet and miserable weekend, one of those ones for curling up and watching movies!
- Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 8:16 AM
  
  Oh the weather has been miserable, but perfect for duvet days.
sonja@vesenmork on October 20, 2013 at 6:33 PM

Beautiful birthday cake! Lucky Alfie 🙂
I tend to eat on set times, breakfast between 8 and 9, lunch at 13, snack at 17, dinner at 20 (I have this weird food thing where I afraid to eat dinner sooner because I’m scared I won’t be able to sleep if I get hungry again) but if I have a sleep in, and breakfast is late, I usually am pretty flexible with my eating hours
- Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 8:15 AM
  
  Same here. If I have a lie in my eating patterns shift to a little bit later on in the day.
Fran on October 20, 2013 at 6:59 PM

This is an interesting question and I look forward to hearing what other people do because I must admit I tend to eat at set times and eat usually more out of routine whether I am hungry or not. If I am hungry yet I feel I have ‘missed’ the appropriate time for lunch I will tend to hold on until dinner rather than eat lunch at what I would consider to be an ‘odd’ time because then I feel all ‘out of sync’! However, writing this down now and seeing the other couple of comments so far on this topic I realise how bazaar and silly this sounds!
- Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 7:58 AM
  
  I think it’s always best not to deprive your body of what it needs. But, when you are used to a particular routine it is hard to break out of it, totally understandable. 🙂
Lucy @ Lucy On The Lookout on October 20, 2013 at 8:20 PM

Wow those cupcakes look amazing (and very professional too!), I really need to start practicing my decorating skills 😉 I’m definitely a fan of listening to when my body’s hungry before eating, but with work if I know that I’m going to be super busy (and therefore not have time to eat) later in the day then I’ll make sure to have a proper lunch even if it’s earlier than I would like..!
- Jemma on October 21, 2013 at 7:16 AM
  
  Thanks! I think eating at work can be difficult especially with meetings and set lunch breaks. You seem to have it covered though! 🙂
Emma @ Stripes and Snapshots on October 20, 2013 at 9:48 PM

Aw looks like a nice weekend, cupcakes look lovely. I used to be somewhat a creature of habit with when I ate food, but now I am a little more relaxed. I like trying to eat much lunch later though as it makes the afternoon in work go quicker!
Tamzin on October 22, 2013 at 9:23 PM

I just eat when I am hungry these days, dinner is usually at the same time basically when Dale gets in from work its time to eat!

I had a lazy weekend after work on Saturday and enjoyed every minute of it! Those cakes look delicious, hope you had a fun day x

14 Comments

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