How often do you guys eat?

SergeantSausage

kmayers143 wrote: »

I know eating frequently helps boost metabolism.

LOL - you'd better check what you think you "know" then, right?

My preference is once a day, but when in a good calorie deficit, and especially in high-mileage training weeks, I get too hungry to wait for that once a day, so switch to eating when hungry. That might be twice. That might be nine times. That might still be only once. Every day is different.

Zedeff

I try to eat once per day. If I'm at work and find that my hunger is getting distracting (I'm usually not hungry until 4 pm, but it happens) I have a small snack like hummus and crackers, or some veggie salad rolls that our cafeteria sells. I think that there is some benefit to intermittent fasting and also I would rather than 1, 1000+ calorie meal than 3-4 400 calorie, unsatisfying meals per day.

I personally find this works well for maintaining a social life. My wife and extended family and friends are not on a diet. By keeping 1000+ calories available to me for dinner, it means that when the wife says "let's order pizza" or the friends say "let's hit the pub" I can say YES without reservations or excuses. Other nights it means I can eat a big steaming bowl of pasta and meat sauce instead of a tiny little side portion that is more of a tease than anything.

DanoMammal

I've read somewhere that every 2-3 hours is a good start, and that's the schedule that works for me (3 meals, 3 snacks). Though it will largely depend on when you exercise and your own daily routine. Also very helpful: drinking a big glass of water before each meal/snack, and eating until you're not hungry rather than when you're full.

elphie754

kmayers143 wrote: »

I know eating frequently helps boost metabolism. How often is too often? If I don't feel hungry, should I still snack on something light every couple hours or so??

Nope. That is a myth.

J72FIT

kmayers143 wrote: »

I know eating frequently helps boost metabolism.

This is a myth...

strongeriam

I try to eat as often as possible within my limit. This just works for me.

rickloving

I eat every 2-4 hours, 3 decent sized meals around "normal" times with small snack meals in between. I base how much I eat on my calorie goals for the day with planned exercise. There are days where I eat 8 times...small snack meals of 100-200 cals and bigger meals of 300-400 depending on how much I have exercised. I go for high volume with low calories, egg whites, broccoli, turkey breast, asparagus, green peppers & onions, etc...I also drink protein shakes.

davis978

I NEVER eat if I am not hungry, no matter what. I tell myself that every time I eat when I am not hungry, that's a time I am going to have to NOT eat when I AM hungry later. It's not worth it!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Good thread on the subject, with links to studies:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/820577

Personally I eat about 4 times per day. There have been times when I have eaten more or less often; it just depends on how my preferences run at the time.

Sued0nim

kmayers143 wrote: »

I know eating frequently helps boost metabolism. How often is too often? If I don't feel hungry, should I still snack on something light every couple hours or so??

What you "know" isn't knowledge unfortunately, it's rubbish

Eat when you wish to, 1 meal, 50 meals make no odds as long as you stick to your calorie defecit

FrancesAnnLFM

i eat 4 -5 small meals a day i tossed out breakfast lunch and dinner labels as a diabetic i eat a lot of proteins, i save my cheese for late snack, i drink coffee or yogurt in early hours, i never eat unless i am hungry..so i am not grazing or mindless munching, i also sort my foods to only fruit, or only meat, or only salads..i never combine items, like in the past carbs n meats, or eggs and oatmeal at same time, or raw veggies with lots of meats , i just take each food group and see what my blood sugars do with each group, cut back on portions and eat more of low carb items..my body is getting used to this now..playing mind games with cravings and small portions never eat on large dinner plate only eat on a small salad plate,, i gone as much as 12 hours without eating ..then my liver dumps..so hardest thing for me is to eat past 6 pm...eating food late at night gags me..for now

Athos282

Enough people have already posted how eating frequently doesn't boost the metabolism, so I'll leave that alone. I used to eat several times (5-6) a day, but was always hungry even immediately after eating. Now I'm back to just the 3 meals a day and feel like I'm eating enough to actually feel satisfied (not necessarily full, just enough to actually slake the hunger). I eat a decent breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a snack or two thrown in for good measure.

Danny_Boy13

Eating IMO is all in personal preference. There are many studies on this. For me it depends on what is on the agenda that day. If I am going to be lifting I perform the same if I eat 3 or 6 times a day. If I am performing a HIIT session I perform better when I eat 5 times before I train, carbs being a large portion of my cals, and then a dinner to finish out my macros but mostly targeted in protein.

SergeantSausage

kristen6350 wrote: »

Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Bed Time snack. Not because it boosts metabolism, it makes it so I never get Hangry, which I tell you this, is a real thing.

No Elevensies?

dunnodunno

I usually eat breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, sometimes an afternoon snack (if I have calories), dinner, & a later snack (usually ice cream or gelato).

hdrenollet

Like others have said, eat when you're hungry and eating frequently doesn't boost metabolism (we've all been lied to about this). I eat something about every 3 hours throughout the day, but I'm only eating 100-150 calories at a time. I do eat a reasonable dinner with my family that comes in around 600 calories which helps give me an energy boost to get through my workout (I do my workouts at night about 4 hours after dinner). Then typically a post-workout protein supplement. This is just what works for me. It keeps me from overeating at one or two meals per day like I used to which is part of the reason why I need to lose some weight now. Just find what works for you.

AmazonMayan

I eat when I'm hungry.

arditarose

7:30 am, 11:30 am, 2:30, 5:30, 6:30/7:00, 8:00/9:00. Something to that effect.

RodaRose

I eat twice day: when I get home from work and a snack before I go to bed.
I lost 55 pounds since May 2014 eating this way.

queen_of_disaster

My schedule is never the same from day to day, so I eat whenever I feel hungry. I tend to eat like 4-5 meals per day because I don't eat that much at one time.