Changing my eating habits

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sunshineshica
sunshineshica Posts: 277
in Health and Weight Loss
So I'd like to try this "eating more, lose weight" thing. My plan isn't to add in more calories but to eat more frequently throughout the day instead of all my calories in the 3 meals a day that I've done for all of my life. I've never really been a snacker. I eat when Im hungry. my question is how soon after I start eating 6 times a day will I see the results of this change?

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    If your total calories are going to remain the same then no change to weight loss/gain should happen. I eat 6-8 times/day, but I do this more to keep my energy level constant, not for weight management. I also get irritable if I go longer than 3-4 hours between eating.
  • sunshineshica
    sunshineshica Posts: 277
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    If your total calories are going to remain the same then no change to weight loss/gain should happen. I eat 6-8 times/day, but I do this more to keep my energy level constant, not for weight management. I also get irritable if I go longer than 3-4 hours between eating.

    Thanks Erik. Sooo i'm going for weight loss. Should I reduce my calorie intake? I exercise about 4-5 times a week.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    I see you only have 10lbs to go. I would suggest setting your weekly weight loss goal to 0.5lbs/week. Too large of a deficit when you don't have much to lose can lead to a loss of lean muscle not just the fat you are looking at losing.

    Slow is the way to go.
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    I see you only have 10lbs to go. I would suggest setting your weekly weight loss goal to 0.5lbs/week. Too large of a deficit when you don't have much to lose can lead to a loss of lean muscle not just the fat you are looking at losing.

    Slow is the way to go.

    I agree. Concentrate on building your body up to being able to handle maintenance.

    Also, having done those last stubborn lbs, I would say try upping your calories (slowly) until you are around maintenance level, and then dropping down to a significant deficit. For example(I'm just going to assume you are at 1300 calories for sake of the example):

    Week 1: 1300/day
    Week 2: 1400/day
    Week 3: 1500/day --> Important to concentrate on eating healthy this week so you don't get any false gains. Minimize fun snacks or take out for this week.
    Week 4: 1300/day

    And repeat. Using this kind of structure (which I totally just made up, so modify however you got to to feel comfy) my last 10lbs were pretty steady.
  • sunshineshica
    sunshineshica Posts: 277
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    Ok thanks alot! Ya'll are the best!

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