Real Meals or "Mini Meals" ?

RobertaG · May 2010

Hey, so I heard that 5-6 meals a day is better than 3 regular meals a day . Is this true ? Has it worked for any of you? I try to stay under 1200 since I don't do so much physical activity. I was wondering whats better 3 400 calorie meals or 5 250 (and under) "mini meals" ? Any suggestions for "mini meals" ?

Breathe_Glamour · May 2010

I've heard that eating 6 meals a day is a great way to lose weight - that's what personal trainers request of many celebs who have to get in shape quickly for movie roles.

On the other hand, my dentist told me it isn't good for your teeth. lol

chanstriste13 · May 2010

eating 5 to 6 mini-meals is a good way to get your metabolism revved up. i learned that if you are eating properly, your body should begin to feel hunger every 2 to 3 hours. i don't mean hungry after a carb/sugar binge, when you get hungry after 5 minutes, but after eating a small portion of good food. i ate this way for several months on the power 90 program and lost a fair amount of weight - i just didn't have the willpower to stick with it. but if you can manage it, i think it's a good way to go. i'm trying to get back on that bandwagon myself at present!

tkrall · May 2010

I believe that the mini meals are better then the three larger meals. But keeping under 1200 calories a day is not good. Even if you do not have much physical activity a day, your body needs at least 1200 calories a day to function properly. You body has a natural deficit. So keeping under that 1200 calorie mark is putting you body furher into a deficit. Causing you body to thing you are starving. Try keeping at 1200 calories everyday. But if not possible, try to stay close to that. Eating the mini meals should help your body not feel hungary.

ShellLynn2 · May 2010

5-6 small sized meals are much healthier for your body than 3 large sized meals. The reason is because eat 5-6 times a day will keep your metabolism up and working all day and will help you lose weight, rather than eat 3 meals larger sized meals and then snacking between because you are hungry. IF your spread out your meals and drink lots of water you will find yourself to be fuller longer and snacking less and less and it will working your favor.

Also try to keep your calorie count to about 1400-1600 that is what a grown adult need to function on a normal day, and even just taking a small walk durning your lunch at work will help get some sort of exercise in rather than doing nothing and trying to just eating hardly anything and not working out and hoping to lose the weight. Your body will hold onto all of the food you put into your body cause it will go into starvation mode and you might actually gain weight. You don't have to worry about miles, go off of time, go as far as you can in 30 mins, and before you know it you'll be racking up the miles in 30 min before you know it.

sparkles321 · May 2010

Giving your body fuel every few hours, and eating enough of it, is what keeps it from going into starvation mode. If you make your body wait too long, it assumes food isn't available and the next time you do eat, it will store it as fat rather than burn through it. It's best to eat every 2-3 hours so your body knows food is always around and your metabolism will continue to burn. Also, you have to eat enough to make your body register that you've eaten something. I don't mean by hunger, I mean by that your body actually acknowledges that you ate enough for it to put effort into burning that fuel. So by eating less than 1200 calories a day, your body is not making that acknowlegement and again is assuming there isn't enough food, again putting you in starvation mode. So make sure that you eat enough at each of the mini meals to keep your metabolism burning hot and heavy!

suckitup · May 2010

It was always hard for me to eat 6 meals during the day. Five was the most I could do unless I wanted to eat later in the evening. The Body for Life program had good results for me and has always maintained that 5-6 small meals, balanced carbs & proteins, and 20 minutes of excersice was not rocket science. When I typed in my weight and my goal, it also told me to stay just a hair over 1,200 calories. I am trying to make those calories count and planning my food the night before so I won't cheat (as easily) :blushing: 32 lbs is my total lost right now and the walking plus now this food diary has been accounting for all of it. Good luck to you!

Jennwith2ns · May 2010

I don't think those that have 3 meals a day are doing it wrong, but personally it is easier for me to stretch my calories out over 5-6 meals. I have breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner.. sometimes dessert. It's too early to see if it's working, but my hunger is more subsided than when I was having just breakfast, lunch and dinner.

RobertaG · May 2010

Thanks everyone and I will definitely give it a try . Especially since summer is coming up, I'll have more time to plan out what I'm going to eat at each " mini meal" .

Good luck to you all .

aippolito1 · May 2010

I have 3 "real meals" and 2-3 snacks. I try to eat every 2-3 hours because it keeps your metabolism going and active, as does exercising (where my biggest gap in eating is from 6 o'clock until about 8 or 8:30 pm is because I've worked out in between) and it's really been working for me!! As opposed to eating 3 big meals per day and crappy snacks in between... I watch my portions and lately my meals and snacks have been consistently about the same size but I TRY to do biggest meals earlier in the day, such as : BIGGEST breakfast, smaller lunch, smallEST dinner, with 3 snacks and a protein shake after I work out. Hope this helps!!

Real Meals or "Mini Meals" ?

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