Who here eats 6 (small) meals a day?

capriciousmoon

I eat when I'm hungry. I try to make sure most of my meals are things that could work on their own as snacks so it's easier to just eat however much I need, whenever I want.

My exercise is mainly biking. I don't worry about doing anything special unless I'm going on a very long ride and will be out for a few hours, then I'll have a protein shake before and bring a snack.

sunkisses

Forget what everyone tells you about science and studies. Until you try it yourself, you won't know its affects on your body. If it seems unnatural to you, or like something you wouldn't want to do, then don't do it. You don't need a study to rearrange your food in such a way that it works for you.

It happens to work VERY well for me because I naturally want to eat in this way. I'm able to consume more calories than "allowed" on MFP for some reason. I broke my plateau by embracing this way of eating instead of forcing myself to have 3 large socially prescribed meals 3 times a day with snacks in between.

If you're going to start, just take the same meals you would have eaten for the day and break them into snack-sized portions. Same calories, different way of eating them.

My workout: Walking 5-6 days a week.

Silverkittycat

I agree with sunkisses -

Forget what everyone tells you about science and studies. Until you try it yourself, you won't know its affects on your body. If it seems unnatural to you, or like something you wouldn't want to do, then don't do it. You don't need a study to rearrange your food in such a way that it works for you.

Lately I've been eating 4/5 times daily. Some days I eat breakfast, some days I don't. Some days I end up snacking all day long and don't get a full meal in at all, on others I'll eat a large breakfast and won't be hungry again until later in the day. I don't have a set schedule for eating because my daily activities and level of hunger vary so much.

debilyn574

My personal trainer told me to do this and I thought he was crazy, but it works! I lost 22 lbs (have since gained a few back so I'm re-committing myself). It's important to eat something within a half hour of waking up to get your metabolism working again. My diet is roughly as follows:
6:45 wake up
7:00 oatmeal with fruit (1/2 or sometimes whole banana, 1/2 cup blueberries or strawberries) and walnuts (1 oz)
9:30/10:00 apple with almond butter
12:30/1:00 salad with turkey or grilled chicken
3:00 pear, pineapple, banana, or some other fruit
5:00 carrots
7:00 cardio and/or weight training
8:00 grilled chicken with veggies

Let me know if you have questions.

ElizabethRoad

It's important to eat something within a half hour of waking up to get your metabolism working again.

Your metabolism works all the time. There is no need to start it up again in the morning.

rkr22401

If you research the role that insulin plays in your body, and then understand why it is called 'the fattening hormone', the last thing you will want to do is keep eating! It is better to eat three times a day, or try intermittent fasting...if you are always feeding your body, why will it burn fat?

You've mentioned the key factor (insulin) yet somehow reached the exact opposite conclusion than the one to which logic should have led you.

Your body will burn fat because you are still consuming fewer calories than you are burning. By breaking these calories up into smaller more frequent meals you maintain your blood sugar levels flatter throughout the day.

Rather than eating a large meal that spikes your blood sugar then waiting hours until your next meal while your blood sugar levels and metabolism are dropping (leading to cravings, etc.), you continue to feed your furnace, keep the fire of your metabolism burning, and avoid hunger pangs and cravings.

DANCERPURPLE

BUMP

mnwalkingqueen

I was introduced to eating 6 small meals by a personal trainer to start my metabolism back up. I eat breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack and dinner. I also drink my weight in ounces. My workout routine is weights and cardio every other day and the opposite days just cardio.

emmyvera

I eat 5 meals a day. Breakfast, Morning Snack, Lunch, Afternoon Snack & Dinner. Sometimes I have
an evening snack. (Which would be 6).

I usually work out before dinner or at some point in the evening. With my schedule, I don't have a set time every day.

I eat bigger breakfast, lunch and dinners. And then my snacks are smaller sized.
This keeps me fueled throughout the day. :happy:

Isrn2

I eat 5 meals a day usually ... 3 main meals and 2 snacks. I try to make my lunch the largest meal of the day and eat most of my carbs by mid-afternoon. My afternoon snack is usually higher in protein than my morning snack. Seems to help with the afternoon blahs. I also try not to eat dinner after 7 pm.

Workouts for me are early morning. It's just easier for me to get it out of the way before the day begins.

Mom2Asa

I eat when I am hungry and it tends to be 6 times a day as logged but in all truth my snack may take me 2 hours to consume but it was not my lunch or breakfast per se so I log as a snack. I don't care when I eat as long as I eat when I am hungry and stay within my calorie ranges. If my body is hungry it will let me know therefore I eat I don't intend on starving myself!!

With that said my problem is not with food and food is not why I am where I am--overweight--medication is so maybe it depends on the person, situation etc and if you have an issue with food and eating to much and not being able to limit yourself when need be. Who knows but what I do know is your body will tell you when it needs fuel=food you just have to be willing to listen to it

mleoni092708

I do 6 small meals per day and it works well for me. Keeps me from getting too hungry, and large meals make me feel sick.

7 am-200 calories-egg english muffin sandwich
930 or 10 am-200 calories, protein and whole grain
12 pm-250 to 300 calorie lunch-protein, veggie, small carb
3 pm-200 calorie post workout snack-fruit, protein
530 pm-dinner 300 ish calories-protein, veggie, small carb
8 pm-evening snack 200 calories-protein and carb
1400-1500 calories total and usually a 200-300 calorie burning workout

chevy88grl

I eat every 2-4 hours. For me, it helps keep my blood sugar stabilized - which helps to keep me from binge eating. I also just feel better overall when I eat regularly.

I don't have a set amount of calories I eat at each "meal". I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full.

catshark209

I eat a high cal breakfast ( good foundation on which to base my day ), then we take a break at 11am. We eat lunch at 1400 and then we may snack at 1600. I then eat a light dinner at 1830.

katekrise

I do! I eat breakfast, 10am, lunch, 3pm, dinner, and 8pm snack. I'm always hungry and want to eat, so it kinda keeps my hunger at bay. My snacks are usually around 100-200 cals.

carolinedb

I eat. All day. I'm a big time snacker, so my mini meals are more like an apple with peanut butter, a protein shake, some fruit leather, carrots and hummus, things like that. I get hungry every 2-3 hours, so I eat every 2-3 hours. It works for me, and I don't ever feel like I'm "dieting".

soccer8s

I feel like I'm eating all day long, but really it's more like 5 times...I try to have 3 "meals" and at least 2 snacks...seems to be working for me!

nicolina823

This is my meal plan:

AM: 2 egg whites 1/4 cup of fruit
Mid AM: 2 egg whites 1/4 cup of fruit
Lunch: 2oz protein, 2 cups of veggie and 1/2 cup carb
Mid PM: 2oz protein, 2 cups or veggie or 1/2 cup carb
Dinner: 2oz protein, 2 cups of veggie and 1/2 cup carb
PM snack: 1/4 cup of fruit.

I adjust the protein depending on how much I've worked out.

I'll be starting up again once I go shopping. December, killed me.

CharlieLopez2005

I did this under a PT and found my idea of 6 "small" meals was way off. The aim was to gain weight in muscle and at the same time reduce fat. I ended up gaining weight in both muscle and fat.

The "small" size was described clearly to me (I just could not eat that little). Esentially your own fist is the measure, each of the 6 meals should have 1 fist of carbs and 1 fist of protein. (note: no mention of fat is intentional as that apparently does not matter !! )

Sounded easy to me too !!

The other side of this argument is why 6 meals? And do you really need 6 meals? The theory is that by spreading out the food intake you are less hungry and still getting the correct amount of calories. On the other hand I have MFP friends who are following intermittant fasting (they only eat once a day after 5:00pm) with good results.

My advise, if you are up for 6 meals a day try it, but keep a close eye on your weight and % body fat. I could see myself drifting back to fat !!.

With the 6 meals a day regieme I was working out with 3 Weights sessions and 3 cardio sessions a week (one rest day). Never doing cardio on weights days. Also cardio days were intense 20 min workouts no more. The idea was to trash my muscles and have a week of recovery per muscle group.

I tried the 6 meals-a-day thing after reading Bill Phillip's book Body for Life a few years back. At least for me, it just didn't work out, but part of my issue was that I wasn't hungry 6 times a day. I felt eating smaller portions that often, especially when you're not hungry, took more discipline and will-power than I was willing to develop at the time. Sort of the equal but opposite problem of denying yourself food when you really are hungry.

Right now, I do the one meal a day thing on a low-carb diet as described above. Once your body is able to make the switch in burning stored fat effectively for fuel (i.e. ketosis) instead of glucose, it's really not as hard as some imagine it to be. Though, through trial and error, I did find that trying to do vigorous workouts in the morning while intermittently fasting until 5PM didn't work out so well since vigorous exercise naturally increases appetite. So now I schedule my vigorous workouts (like strength training) to later in the afternoon, closer to 5. But throughout the day, I'll do some light to moderate walking whenever I can.

There's a lot of ideas on how to allocate your meals throughout a day, but just experiment and take notes until you find a routine that you think can be sustainable for you. At the end of the day, all that really matters is whether it works well for you or not.

MHunte

i dont really eat 6 meals a day , i just watch my calorie intake while eating healthy foods, burn off about 500-800 calories or more if i can and have a nice dinner... i started a week ago and already lost 4 pounds....i also take b-12 to help speed up my Metabolism..