"to snack or not to snack: That's the question"

Eating little and often is good and keeps your metabolism going at a good pace. If you're hungry then eat! just make sure its something healthy that will give you energy. A few nuts, a piece of fruit or some carrot sticks. Whoever heard of no snacks? As long as they're healthy I don't see the issue.

It does not matter when you eat, what you eat, if its 3 big meals, 5 small meals, before bed, none of this matters. Obviously its better to eat healthy nutritious meals, but as long as you're in a caloric deficit you'll still lose weight.

I am a snacker. Between needing to be on a low-fat diet due to minor medical issues, and having hypoglycemia and hitting low blood sugar very quickly, I cannot sustain a day without a snack. For me, it's about snacking smart. I usually have a good-quality granola bar in my purse for hunger emergencies, and I plan a healthy snack a day - usually greek yogurt/trail mix/mixed nuts and dried fruit/fresh fruit... I vary it obviously.

Different people have different approaches. Find what works best for you - every body is different. Listen to yours.

I workout daily and I I find that eating 3 modest meal with 3 healthy snacks in between is best. I never go into starvation mode, I avoid the feeling of deprivation which leads to binging. So snacking is good. Plus I have a metabolism that is totally fired up.

Personally, I can't sleep if I go to bed hungry (I already have sleep problems and have to take sleeping pills that hardly work) and i'm likely to binge during the night if I'm not full (because I wake up, like, four times every night :grumble: )

I like eating and snacking therefore I snack. 3 meals and 3 to 4 snacks. For me it help regulate my appetite and cut down on the chances that I'll start random snacking on junk food. I have x snack planned so I'm less likely to take the random chips, candy, or what have you offered to me at work or out and about. It also helps me work in the "treats" that I want. Yesterday morning my mid-morning snack was a doughnut. It all comes down to personal preference.

Log everything. Including times you eat if that helps you track what is going on. That way you find out what works for you. No two people are exactly the same. I don't eat before I go to bed and I can sleep even if I am hungry. I delay breakfast sometimes as well. That approach isn't going to work for everyone. Just make sure you are eating nutrient dense food most the time, the whole version if possible. Focus on getting enough protein (oh that's for me) and the other nutrients will follow.

Well, I wouldn't sleep at all if I went to bed hungry. I managed to lose over 50 pounds in a year (up a few after a major surgery) while eating snacks in between meals and all the way up until bedtime. I know that the same things don't work for everyone, but I personally believe being too restrictive results in eventual failure.

Whoever heard of no snacks? Pretty much everyone who lived before 1980. Snacking between meals is a pretty recent phenomenon. People used to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And that was it. Going back about 200 years, people ate one meal a day. So over time we've started eating more and more often, and obesity has been getting worse and worse. Coincidence?

Yeah, you know, they were pretty poor and sick back then too... Coincidence?

"The change is interesting, as is our ever-increasing longevity--something that scientists think may now reverse as a result of the global obesity epidemic."

WHAT KILLS US: The Leading Causes Of Death From 1900-2010
http://www.businessinsider.com/leading-causes-of-death-from-1900-2010-2012-6?op=1

"The researchers parsed the data [back to 1986] by the caloric content of the foods being eaten, and found the top contributors to weight gain included red meat and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages and potatoes, including mashed and French fries. But the largest weight-inducing food was the potato chip. The coating of salt, the fat content that rewards the brain with instant feelings of pleasure, the sugar that exists not as an additive but in the starch of the potato itself — all of this combines to make it the perfect addictive food."

"The increased use of potato chips and other [Frito-]Lay’s products as a part of the regular fare served by restaurants and sandwich bars should be encouraged in a concentrated way. A string of examples: potato chips with soup, with fruit or vegetable juice appetizers; potato chips served as a vegetable on the main dish; potato chips with salad; potato chips with egg dishes for breakfast; potato chips with sandwich orders."

"In fact, everyone in the country, on average, was eating more salty snacks than they used to. The rate of consumption was edging up about one-third of a pound every year, with the average intake of snacks like chips and cheese crackers pushing past 12 pounds a year."

The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all

Lol this thread is too funny. Whoever replied to my post saying "you're wrong" with nothing to back it up, you are wrong, sorry.

Doesn't it make sense that eating small meals frequently (like every 3-3 1/2 hours) would rev up your metabolism more than say 2 small meals and 1 giant dinner?

No, it doesn't. Diet induced thermogenesis is not frequency based.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html