Ask Heidi Anything: What If I Can’t or Don’t Eat Every Three Hours?

On Extreme Weight Loss and in our books “Choose to Lose: The 7 Day Carb Cycle Solution” and “Choose More, Lose More for Life,” Chris and I teach people how to lose weight and get healthy using a program called carb cycling. When you carb cycle, you eat 5 smaller meals a day, 1 every 3 hours starting within 30 minutes of waking up.

Eating this often is new to many people, especially those that skip breakfast and suddenly realize halfway through the day, that they’ve also missed lunch. Irregular eating can derail your fitness goals.

Preparation is key to eating every three hours. While we all know the best laid plans can go awry with an emergency, you get stuck in traffic, a meeting goes longer than planned, etc., so many people ask Chris and I what happens if I accidentally skip a meal or am unable to eat my meal on time. What do you do?

Find out the answers by watching this week’s  Ask Heidi Anything.

264 Responses

  1. I was just wondering about something on this line. My food problem is I don’t feel like eating and then a couple of days later I binge. So feeling a little stressed since it is 2:30 and 1/2 of my veggies are still on my plate. Not feeling it, ate the other required and some veggies, so I am just going to dump them. Move’n on, letting it go.

  2. I find I’m still hungry eating every 3 hours. This is probably due to smaller portions. Evenings are extremely hard and all I want to do is eat. Any tips for this?

  3. What do suggest if you are running late and can’t get breakfast done after 30 minutes of waking. I actually get up 30 min before its time to leave. So I have no time to eat. I don’t know a good breakfast to eat on the way

    1. You can get up a wee bit earlier… or have a boiled egg in the fridge ready to grab and a piece of fruit. 🙂

  4. Thanks for the tips. That is exactly what I am doing and it is really working. I usually have a protein bar with me when I go out just in case I don’t get back in time to eat or I stop and get a small garden salad with grilled chicken if needed. For most people, this is doable with some thought and determination to lose and keep losing.

  5. Hi Heidi, I can’t get the link http://www.staxsystem.com/ to get to the stax system to work. It goes back to ChrisPowell.com and is sort of stuck in a loop. I want to see about ordering it if it is still available. Not sure where to ask this but I figured you would be reading responses here today for sure! Love you guys! Thank you for all the help and motivation!!!

    1. Hi Sheila, we’re currently out of stock and working on a whole new and improved Stax system. In the mean time just use plastic containers. We’ll keep you posted on when the new Stax system is available. Thanks!

  6. Heidi–help! Just started the plan with my husband and we are following the portions and such but coming in at less calories than we should. What to do???

    1. Add in some more calories in protein or veggies. 🙂 Congratulations on getting started!

  7. Hi Heidi! I love you, you are such an inspiration! Question: I am following the carb cycling from the first book Choose to Lose, and I ordered the new book Choose to Lose More. I am loving the plan and seeing success. However, I noticed the high carb and low carb days on the Vemma Bode program is different, why is that? Love the chicken salad recipe on Chris’ website by the way!

    1. The Vemma Bod-e program just switches up the days but the program is still the same. You can either follow the app or follow the book. Pick one and go for it. Congratulations on getting started! 🙂

  8. I love Chris’ Extreme Weight Loss show, but I have issues with the $25K gift card from Walmart at the end of every show to supposedly to help the person maintain a healthy lifestyle when really there aren’t many healthy choices at Walmart. As a retired person with high blood pressure trying to lose weight and save money I have tried to do this through Walmart and it is not viable. They announced a few years ago that they were going to start carrying more organic produce, but they have not. Then there is the controversy of what Walmart does to communities which is ultimately not healthy. A good eye opening book concerning Walmart produce is The American way of eating : undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, farm fields and the dinner table by McMillan, Tracie. Perhaps Chris’ “endorsement” of Walmart would be more credible if he were to demonstrate how he thinks anyone can maintain a healthy diet buying most of your food through Walmart. Perhaps you and/or Chris could show how you shop at Walmart, if you do.

    1. Great idea! Keep in mind too that Walmart is a key sponsor for the show. They are promoting Chris. 🙂

  9. What if you sleep in late on the weekend until noon, should I still eat all 5meals every 3hrs? I will be eating until midnight 🙁 weekends are so hard… can you help?!

    1. “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” This applies to weekends too. LOL 🙂 But if you do sleep in then just start eating within 30 minutes of waking up and stop about 3 hours before you go to bed. You’ll have better results if you get up and get moving even on Saturdays though. 😉

  10. I was wondering this exact question, because I did try the 7 day carb cycle, but I am having a hard time eating protein at every meal and also every 3 hrs is like I am constantly eating

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