3 normal meals? 5 small meals?

gemmaleigh1989

I prefer 3 normal meals with snacks in between to keep my metabolism firing. I feel more. Satisfied than having tiny even meals 5 times a day. Plus 3 normal meals with snacks is more convenient for me.

Just do what works for you.

SideSteel

You should absolutely structure your meal frequency/timing around personal preference/performance and overall lifestyle.

Improved adherence will trump any minimal (or nonexistent) effects of specific timing.

Willowana

I think the jury has spoken. Doesn't matter, and do what feels best to you. Either way, you will lose weight. I'm eating three meals a day with 1-2 snacks in between, and then ICE CREAM before bed. I'm still within my calorie range and losing steadily.

Edit: Oh, and I should mention my dinner is usually around 8-9 pm at night. So, time of day does not matter either.

mustgetmuscles1

Another vote for personal preference. It does not matter for overall weight loss or muscle gain as long as calorie goals are met.

mmddwechanged

I ate six or more mini (or larger) meals for over twenty-five years for borderline hyperglycemia. I was worried I would faint if I missed a snack, and it always had to have protein in it. Since October when I read about intermittent fasting, and haybale's spreadsheet and IIFYM and IPOARM and Sara and SideSteel's awesome advice I do whatever the h3ll I want as long as I am within my calorie goal for thecweek! The other sh1t can work but this is so easy! It works and I feel confident that I'm in charge now. I still eat frequently out of habit but if I miss a meal or several, I can still function. Same goes for over eating in one sitting. Fine!

rabblerabble

Since starting a life style change, I eat 5-6 modest sized meals a day with my breakfast being the largest of the day. Down about 20 pounds since mid December and 3 pounds since starting to use this site a couple of weeks ago to log my food.

KeepOnMoving

I read in health magazines that eating 3 sensible meals with a morning and afternoon snack is reasonable. Just watch your in-take. For example, for go the mayo on your sandwich. Portion control your snacks. If you build muscle, focus on lean protein snacks like cottage cheese and a peach. Or a measurable amount of peanut butter with apple. Hummus with baby carrots, etc.

The bottom line is do what works for you. If you are diabetic, you may need small meals through out the day. But when I was in my 20's I ate 3 good meals a day and that was it. Now I like to snack, but I have to watch the type of foods I eat more.

AmazonRDH

everyone's body is different, i say do what feels right to you and seems to work for you.

Miguel_29

Like the majority of the people have said, Eat when its convenient for you. 2-5-1 meals, Just as long as your hitting your calorie & macro nutrient goal

SoDamnHungry

Whatever works for you. I eat one big meal, one small meal, and miscellaneous snacks throughout the day.

paulperryman

i eat whenever i feel the need so could be 3 could be 4

during the week i work around 10hrs a day so i have Breakfast at 5am then a mid morning break at 10:30am and then nothing til 3pm maybe some fruit and nuts between 10:30 - 3pm but we work flatout as a forklift driver so not much chance to stop and eat when trucks are in every 10mins sometimes 4-5 at a time.

after work i'll generally have a piece of fruit on the way home or something when i get home and then dinner at 6:30 after my gym workout. But that all varies, stress tends to kill my appetite and where i work it gets really stressfull at times.

As far as i'm concerned aslong as i get around 1500-2000 calories a day it's all good. I'm still losing weight at a reasonable pace. and feel good. Far better then i use to not being able to sleep, emotional eating all the time and what i'd consider obese.

my father is type 2 diabetic so he has smaller meals more often, and whenever he feels off.

mistesh

If your meal frequency is too high, your body will release insulin constantly, sugar is stored, fat is building up. Eventually your overworked pancreas might give up, leaving you with diabetes. When you allow for time inbetween meals, maintaining low levels of insulin allows your body to more easily tap into your stored fat for fuel. A scenario of three meals a day and a mid-afternoon snack which makes you fuller for longer boosts your metabolism.

JeneticTraining

There have been several studies done that show smaller meals do play a role in higher calorie burning. However, some are right that the bottom line is that taking in a lower amount of calories per day than you burn does help you to loose weight. The problem is, though, when you eat three bigger meals, your body tends to store more fat because the liver can only process a certain amount of calories "at a time" so any additional calories are stored as fat for later usage. This becomes a problem later in the day because the liver can only store a certain amount of food to use for when you are sleeping (starvation period). When people eat a big meal in the evening, because your liver has already stored its calories for the day, the rest of the calories get stored as fat because the liver can't handle them. So...my point is that the reason people should eat smaller meals is so they can use those calories for energy throughout the day so the can store a small amount of energy from those calories each time you eat. This way, it won't get overloaded, and push them into a fat storing stage. And because you are full by the end of the day from eating so much, you won't eat a large meal that converts to fat in the overnight hours. My apologies if I sound like a know-it-all, but just want to share what I've researched and read about on the subject.

I agree.

mistesh

There have been several studies done that show smaller meals do play a role in higher calorie burning.

I was hoping for disclosed links to those studies. Meanwhile, here are some other references.

"Yes, that's right - eating every 2-3rd hour to manage blood sugar is nonsense and a myth that's just about to die."

http://www.leangains.com/2011/01/better-blood-glucose-with-lower-meal.html

"The body needs time between meals to finish digesting, because when digestion has ended the body can more effectively detoxify and promote cellular repair. To maximize health, it is not favorable to be constantly eating and digesting food."

http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/diet-myths-eat-for-health-commonly-held-nutritional-beliefs-and-the-truths-behind-them.html

"Perhaps one of the longest standing dogmas in the weight loss and bodybuilding world is the absolute necessity of eating frequently for various reasons. Specific to weight loss, how many times have you heard something along the lines of “Eating 6 times per day stokes the metabolic fire.” or “You must eat 6 times per day to lose fat effectively.” or “Skipping even one meal per day will slow your metabolic rate and you’ll hoard fat.” Probably a lot

Well, guess what. The idea is primarily based on awful observational studies and direct research (where meal frequency is varied within the context of an identical number of calories under controlled conditions) says that it’s all basically nonsense. The basic premise came, essentially out of a misunderstanding of the thermic effect of food (TEF) also called dietary induced thermogenesis (DIT) which are the calories burned in processing of the food you eat."

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html

KenosFeoh

No one strategy works for every body; that's why you see so many different opinions. You have to find out what works for you. Be willing to experiment a bit.

My natural style is to "pick" a pinch of this, a spoonful of that, etc. But that makes it REALLY hard to keep a food log. I can't find an option for - example - 1 bite of lasagna. So now I'm trying to break it down into meals. I figure once it's on a plate measured and logged, I can take 2 hours to eat it if I want. I really detest a full feeling in my stomach.

taylorwaylor

It really doesnt matter... I tried a lot of different ways of eating.. and i chose with eating when im hungry! I think everyone should... Because unless you plan on counting calories for the rest of your life, you might just gain the weight back.. And when you eat does not matter... I dont even eat breakfast anymore... and im seeing greater progress then when i did eat it! Just eat your calories and keep it clean and your set... Oh, and llift heavy

MsPudding

It doesn't matter how often you eat - do what works for you.

My preference is not to 'graze' constantly because a) I can't imagine ever getting enough time in the working day to think about food that often and b) the only creatures I see around me that graze all day are herbivores.

I was also listening to a radio documentary a few months ago that said that 'grazing' was probably a contributing factor to obesity in the Western world. Even as short a time ago as the 70s we had an average of 4-5 hours between meals and now apparently it's about 2. The reason why 'grazing' was said to be bad is that most people don't count calories and 'pick up and go' food tends to be calorie dense/nutrient poor. Naturally there's going to be exceptions and it's likely that anyone on a fitness board who's eating lots of small meals is also calorie counting.

Energizer06

It really only matters for the following reasons:

1. If your diabetic
2. If your borderline diabetic
3. If you have a tendency to gorge eat after fasting for a period of time.

There have been studies both ways showing results to back up eating 5-6 times and back up 2-3 times.

I personally prefer to go with more meals. As my opinion, is to believe that your burning calories while digesting, so if you digest all day and your comfortable with that preference, then go with it. However, you can burn the same amount of calories by digesting a large meal with less frequency. See no difference.

Diabetics and borderline diabetic's pancreas cannot handle the major influx of insulin needed for one large meal. Sugar spikes and they have issues. So, unless you far in one of the 3 numbers above...whatever fits your day is best. Since there are a lot of obese folks on here, who may be borderline and don't know it, it is best to go with more frequency of meals until they out of danger of any unforeseen diabetic problem.

Just my opinion.

dr3w_s

it doesn't matter, I only have time to eat 3 times a day and if I'm cutting it would 3 x 600 cal ish and if I'm bulking I would eat around 3 x 900 cal a day and I still see results

XXXMinnieXXX

It doesn't matter! Some days I eat small meals and lots of snacks, other days like today didn't eat all my meals, most of my calories was a big Sunday dinner. All that matters is that you work out a regime that is good for you, and helps you keep everything under control. Doesn't matter if it changes day to day! As long as I'm within calories and carbs with plenty of protein and not too much sugar I am happy, really doesn't matter how I get to that point through out the day!

Zara :-)