6 vs 3

rcatr

Do you graze or eat 3 solid meals with a tiny snack in between? I currently do the latter

I know we should switch things up with our exercise every now and then to spur on weight loss so I'm wondering if switching to six mini meals is worthwhile.

tutujoli

I eat three, with one good sized snack and a treat at the end of the day.

miqisha

I eat three full meals and my fruits and snack in between

mirgss

I also do 3 meals, with a small snack in the morning (usually yogurt with fruit) and sometimes an apple before lunch.

andy_drouin

I'm more of a grazer, but I'm trying to switch to 3 meals with only 1 snack per day.

squoozyq

They say to eat within two hours of waking up, and to eat 300 cals both at breakfast and lunch....make those two meals your biggest. Two snacks of 100 cals or so, and then a light dinner. So, that's what I do, and it works for me....
Hope this helps.

fitinyoga14

i graze. i guess its because i have a fear of feeling hungry and losing control. some argue against this and believe that it is normal to be hungry and you need to just wait until your next meal. however i feel like waiting would hold me back and i would give in to larger portions. so i plan four 300 calorie meals for myself for the entire day. it consists of breakfast, lunch, 'afternoon pick-me-up', and dinner. however i don't eat these meals all in one sitting. it sometimes takes all day for me to finish what is considered my lunch. it just works for me and i rarely feel hungry.

jaylu

i eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and a snack between both. so 3 meals, 2 snacks.

TheMaidOfAstolat

I graze. I think I have a very small tummy for some reason I fill it up pretty fast and the 'full' feeling only lasts for 2-3 hours and them I'm starving again. Eating once every 3 hours seems to work really well for me.

sadiebelle06

I usually eat 3 full meals and 2 snacks each day. I try to keep my meals around 300 calories and the snacks around 100 calories. Dinner usually winds up being my biggest meal of the day so I try to eat by 6.

cymills

I keep my daily calories in check - as I eat when i can. With my joband lifestyle I eat when i can. It is very important i plan my next days food options, as I never know when i will eat what! I do not have a desk job and can be in any one of four different buildings throughout the course of my day!

00trayn

I'm currently at 3 meals, with lunch being my largest meal usually, and a few smaller snacks. I keep an assortment at my desk at work like pita chips, fruit leather, apples in the fridge, etc. I also have a dessert after dinner. I find it's been working for me. I probably total 3-4 small (less than 100 calories each) snacks per day and my meals are 200-400 calories. On occasion i have a fruit smoothie for dessert instead of a snack and eat a small dinner.

ivykivy

I usually eat 3 meals and a snack. If I'm busy I may get 2 meals and 3 snacks. If what you are doing is working for you there is no need to change style. You may want to change what you eat or what time you eat more so than number of meals.

I posted this a couple of months ago in my status about mindful weight loss..

Ellen Langner, the Harvard psychologist, puts it brilliantly in her book "Mindfulness," when she says that "certainty" is the enemy of mindfulness. When we blindly follow a strategy, for weight loss or for anything else, we often stop paying attention to the individual cues that tell us whether it's the right thing to do in our particular situation. We need to stop blindly following conventional wisdom and start paying attention to our individual differences when it comes to weight loss.

questionablemethods

I graze. I think I have a very small tummy for some reason I fill it up pretty fast and the 'full' feeling only lasts for 2-3 hours and them I'm starving again. Eating once every 3 hours seems to work really well for me.

Me too. I eat about 5 or 6 meals of around 200-300 calories each. If I eat more in a sitting I feel uncomfortably full and I still end up feeling ravenous about 3 hours later.

erickirb

I eat 3 meals and 4 snacks per day, so I guess you could call it grazing with a little more food 3 times per day.

RedHotRunner

I eat 3 meals, but breakfast and lunch are usually pretty low calorie (200 calories or so). I also snack on something pretty much every two hours or so. Usually some fruit, yogurt, almonds or laughing cows with triscuits.

Behavior_Modification

I've been working with a nutritionist for 2.5 months and this is what I've been trained to do:

Eat 5-6 meals a day about 3 hrs apart. Each meal should be about the same calorie amount instead of bigger meals and snacks. When people eat too many calories at one time, their body is not properly burning them off and therefore the extra will be stored. Eating that many times a day all spread out will allow your body to efficiently burn off the calories and use the food as fuel and not store it.

P.S. I get scolded when my "meals" go over 500 calories each (and I'm at 2200 cals per day), that is too much at one time. Even taking an hour break and then eating more is better. Like if I get a 12" sub from Subway I have to eat each 1/2 separately.

Barneystinson

3 meals, 400-500ish calories, one small snack. If I'm traveling, I'll have one large meal with a snack thrown in somewhere. Over time and the 30 pounds I lost before joining here...it works.

You know, people can eat at whatever interval they want as far as I'm concerned. There's arguments on both sides. On one hand - grazing can lead people to eat too much, and it spikes blood sugar more frequently. On the other hand, eating 2-4 meals daily without snacking leaves some extremely hungry in between meals.

So there you go.