Do you eat 3 or 6 meals a day?

Ellaskat

3 meals, sometimes a snack if I'm feeling hungry.

KnM0107

I don't eat a set number of meals at certain times.

ndj1979

breakfast, lunch, dinner, and ice cream time...

nathanmwithers

I eat about 7 times a day

RaspberryTickleChicken

ditsyblond17 wrote: »

I realize that the myth of eating small meals more frequently is widely ignored. I even tried it and noticed it made me 1.) more stressed out trying to remember to eat 6 tines a day, and 2.) more apt to binge because I never felt satisfied. Which leaves me curious as to what all you lovely people are doing. Do big meals make you feel sluggish? Do smaller meals stress you out?

It REALLY just depends on the person, their relationship with food, & lifestyle.

Some people can really thrive on smaller meals throughout the day. They tend to be your grazers ... eats constantly & are just unable to consume a lot of food at one sitting.

While others prefers to have defined times to eat.

On one of my earlier failed attempts to lose weight I worked with a trainer who prescribed the 6 meals a day. Personally I was TOTALLY stressed out eating 6 times a day!

The regiment was pretty much eat something every 2-3 hours. I felt food was always being forced to the forefront of my mind and was in constant front & center - which for me was not only stressful but burdensome as I see food as fuel for my body, nothing more.

After giving it a go for about 3 months I abandoned it, the trainer, & exercise completely because I saw ZERO results.

When I started using MFP, I opted for the more traditional 3 meals w/a snack every once in awhile. I have a light to moderate breakfast & lunch, then a hearty dinner where 2/3 of my plate are veggies. This complimented my lifestyle much better than the 6 and more importantly I saw results! I have lost approximately 40 lbs & have kept it off for about 18 mos now so you just have to kind of experiment & find what will work for you.

Unfortunately my one take away from my own MFP venture is that there's a lot of trial & error because there is no one blanket solution for everyone.

Best of luck to you.

rainbow198

I eat 2 - 3 larger well-balanced meals a day. No snacks since I don't need them. When I started writing down everything I ate a long time ago I noticed the days I snacked were the days I ate more.

Bigger meals keep me happy and satisfied.

LoupGarouTFTs

Three meals with the largest typically being breakfast. Bedtime snack and sometimes a snack earlier in the day. My recent snacks have been sweet things, like jello and dark chocolate.

Bogditzy

2 Meals + some snack

into_fitness

I eat 3 meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and 2 snacks (between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner). I find that it helps bring down my cravings and reduces over eating. For breakfast I try to eat a lot of protein to keep me satisfied enough where the snack isn't an " i'm absolutely starving and need this to hold me over until lunch" kind of snack. or I will have oats and fruit - for example, I made overnight oats for breakfast this am. 1/2 cup oats, almond milk, PB, and half a banana with blueberries on top with a coffee. I have that around 8-815 am. I will have my snack around 1130 which are some blueberries. For lunch around 1230 I try to have a lot of vegetables and protein to hold me over! Then will have a snack around 2-3 and go to the gym! dinner will be heavy or light depending on how hungry I am feeling/hard my workout was. Regardless, I again try to have vegetables and protein! Snacking isn't for everyone, and as many have pointed out, some like three larger meals. It's all trial and error and what works for YOU! After all, this is your life style and your journey so make it as comfortable and worry free as possible

ditsyblond17

ndj1979 wrote: »

breakfast, lunch, dinner, and ice cream time...

Haha....YES!!!!!! My kind of routine

RaspberryTickleChicken wrote: »

ditsyblond17 wrote: »

I realize that the myth of eating small meals more frequently is widely ignored. I even tried it and noticed it made me 1.) more stressed out trying to remember to eat 6 tines a day, and 2.) more apt to binge because I never felt satisfied. Which leaves me curious as to what all you lovely people are doing. Do big meals make you feel sluggish? Do smaller meals stress you out?

It REALLY just depends on the person, their relationship with food, & lifestyle.

Some people can really thrive on smaller meals throughout the day. They tend to be your grazers ... eats constantly & are just unable to consume a lot of food at one sitting.

While others prefers to have defined times to eat.

On one of my earlier failed attempts to lose weight I worked with a trainer who prescribed the 6 meals a day. Personally I was TOTALLY stressed out eating 6 times a day!

The regiment was pretty much eat something every 2-3 hours. I felt food was always being forced to the forefront of my mind and was in constant front & center - which for me was not only stressful but burdensome as I see food as fuel for my body, nothing more.

After giving it a go for about 3 months I abandoned it, the trainer, & exercise completely because I saw ZERO results.

When I started using MFP, I opted for the more traditional 3 meals w/a snack every once in awhile. I have a light to moderate breakfast & lunch, then a hearty dinner where 2/3 of my plate are veggies. This complimented my lifestyle much better than the 6 and more importantly I saw results! I have lost approximately 40 lbs & have kept it off for about 18 mos now so you just have to kind of experiment & find what will work for you.

Unfortunately my one take away from my own MFP venture is that there's a lot of trial & error because there is no one blanket solution for everyone.

Best of luck to you.

Thank you so much. And thanks for the insight. So glad it's not just me getting stressed out by this. Makes sense for people who tend to overeat to have 3 square meals. Congratulation on your weight loss. That's so inspiring!!

brannoncpa

5 to 6 times per day. Mostly balanced carbs/protein/fat - not always. Every 4th or 5th day I end up with a larger meal. The MFP app helps a bunch. I love the "plate" graph under the nutrition section.

nicsflyingcircus

Usually twice a day (midday and evening) with morning coffee. Rarely I might eat early, in which case I don't tend to eat midday. Occasionally I have a snack.

Not very regimented. I've lost 140lbs.

CherokeeBabe

Eh, roughly 3 meals, sometimes more like 2 + a bunch of snacks, or a dessert after dinner.

Uba31

I eat 3 meals and then a snack or 2.

ForeverCharlie

I eat three 400-500 calorie meals with once snack here or there if hungry. Eating every few hours has never worked for me personally.

mmonaghan99

I do breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack (if I'm hungry) and dinner. Sometimes I do a little snack or something sweet after dinner if I want, but a lot of days I don't eat after dinner.The breakfast thing is new, I used to have a hard time eating breakfast but I've been doing oatmeal with walnuts in the morning and I feel so much better, I'm not completely starving by lunchtime and I eat less throughout the day in general when I have breakfast.

SweeDecadence92

4 Meals generally. 4-5 days a week I get up at 6:30AM and don't get to bed til 5:30AM because of my work/education schedule.

Breakfast -Green smoothie with protein powder, if I'm in a rush I'll just have some muesli.
Lunch - Usually light, some kinda salad or soup, maybe a sandwhich at a push
Mid Afternoon Snack - High protein, usually a boiled egg
Dinner - Grainy carbs, veg and meat. At the moment I'm liking brown rice with stirfried veg and fish
Evening Snack - High protein, more eggs
Late Night Meal - Veg & meat

970Mikaela1

judiness101 wrote: »

I eat 2 or three meals a day with no snacking. I like big meals especially dinner.

Yep me too. I usually skip breakfast so I can have the huge dinner.

spilledmilk

Generally 3 meals a day with a small afternoon snack. My meals are not equal though- I eat a very light breakfast, medium-sized lunch, and big dinner. That's just how I like it.

Find a system that works for you, there's no right or wrong way to do it.

cwolfman13

I don't have some set number. I basically eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner and I do some snacking throughout the day.

Need2Exerc1se

I don't have a hard and fast rule about eating, but typically I eat twice a day. Once in mid-day (anywhere from noon - 4:00 p.m.). This is light. Many people would probably call it a snack. And one big meal in the evening/night.

Sometimes on the weekend I will only eat one meal.

kommodevaran

ditsyblond17 wrote: »

I realize that the myth of eating small meals more frequently is widely ignored. I even tried it and noticed it made me 1.) more stressed out trying to remember to eat 6 tines a day, and 2.) more apt to binge because I never felt satisfied. Which leaves me curious as to what all you lovely people are doing. Do big meals make you feel sluggish? Do smaller meals stress you out?

I usually eat five meals a day. Sometimes I'll skip a meal or add dessert, but I aim for five meals every day and the biggest at dinner, roughly 600-700 cals, and the rest around 200-300 each.
I don't feel sluggish, but stuffed, after big meals. But too much sugar at once makes me feel sluggish.
I don't like small meals/"snacks" that aren't "complete", aka at least containing a fatty protein source and some non-starchy vegetable.

LAWoman72

Three here. Eating more frequently makes me more hungry; who knows why.

jessupbrady

"What about elevenses?" - Pippin (Lord of the Rings)

LAWoman72

jessupbrady wrote: »

"What about elevenses?" - Pippin (Lord of the Rings)

Don't think he knows about those, Pip!

caryb2015

I've lost 100 lbs. by eating every 2-3 hours most days. I don't believe the timing is relevant but it helped me with the sensation I perceive as hunger. I've found I get this feeling irregardless of the size or quality of the previous meal so now I basically divide up every meal so I can spread it out. For example lunch yesterday was soup and 2 hours later the apple that previously I would have eaten with the soup.

nicfitnesszone

5-6 small meals

minties82

I have 4 meals per day. 7am, 10:30am, 2pm and 5:30pm. This seems to work best for me.

Liftng4Lis

I eat 3 plus snacks, though its irrelevant to weight loss. CICO.

angelexperiment

I eat 5 meals two of them are smaler snacks. It was hard and was stressful at first as I had no idea what I was doing and not used to eating so much. Your body at first does not like it but then gets used to it and get hungry every 3 hours. If you are eating right portion you do not feel hungry. Every meal is 1 fat 1 tbsp 2 cup veggies and 1 protein on low carb days on high carb days its 1 carb about 1/2 cup or 1 potato permeal plus no fat and 1 protein 2 cup veggies. I am never hungry and mostly do not want to eat next meal but I do and it has been working awesomely lost about 4 lbs so far. Used to eat 1large breakfast small lunch and a mmedium dinner.