Eating 5x a day?

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  • rileamoyer
    rileamoyer Posts: 2,411 Member
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    If I may add my 2 cents!! I have been in maintenance since 2011. I usually eat about 6 times a day, but split my calories accordingly. I have a healthy breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, desert later in evening. I find by keeping meals small and adding the snacks I don't binge and I feel full after a small meal. Portion control with frequent fueling along with exercise is what worked for me. I used this site, consulted regularly with my Dr. - who is not a nutritionist, he stayed out of trying to tell me what to eat, just to work out, eat less and he monitored my blood (which I need to do anyway due to RA meds). I also arranged to have Body Comp scans on a dexa machine every six months to ensure my body composition was doing what I wanted. I found my energy level was much higher with more frequent 'meals'. I still don't get enough protein, but do pretty good most of the time. When actively losing I measured and packed my lunch and 2 snacks for work. If someone brought donuts, I skipped my snack and had 1/2 a donut. Drinking water is extremely critical also, helps flush everything for you. So---Work with your Dr, learn to ignore you mom's negative comments about you!!!!!! Some folks are just negative no matter what you do. Good luck!
  • mschicagocubs
    mschicagocubs Posts: 774 Member
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    Just eat ... and stay under your maintenance.

    It doesn't matter how you eat, when you eat, why you eat ... as long as you stay under your maintenance you will lose weight.

    While some people may binge if they eat a lot of small meals, another may binge if they eat too many big meals.

    Find what works for you & stick with it. There is no right or wrong answer.
  • DeliriumCanBeFun
    DeliriumCanBeFun Posts: 313 Member
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    I generally eat 5-6 times a day, 3 meals and 2 or 3 snacks. But I do it within my calorie goal and macros and it's working great for me. I have also found it really makes a difference to me in what I eat throughout the day too that determines how I will fare when I waiting for dinner to be ready and in the evening after, which are my most crucial times to avoid over eating. Learning how to deal with hunger is a very good thing, but it is important to keep yourself from getting too hungry and then going overboard. My diary is open if you're interested in seeing how I work things. I've had to pretty much cut out "treats" during the day because certain things are triggers. But I actually had a donut this morning and have managed to refrained from more, but it's almost lunch and I'm definitely feeling the effects of the empty calories. You just have to live and keep learning. It must be hard dealing with a mother like that while you're trying to make healthy changes for yourself. You'll have to learn how to deal with her, but try your best to keep her negativity out of your head. You are worthy and capable of everything you set your mind to :)
  • Heirgreat
    Heirgreat Posts: 262 Member
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    There is no blanket statement that will fit every persons body-listen to your own body make good food choices and stay within your calorie allowance-being a mother I understand how sometimes she can love children so much and want to "think for them" but it's really necessary to remember they are separate human beings they need to make up their own lives and they can think for themselves. Good wishes and great job in your endeavor to be healthy
  • Iknowsaur
    Iknowsaur Posts: 777 Member
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    I try to eat 2-3 larger meals a day (whenever I feel like it, it doesn't matter if it's in the breakfast, lunch or dinner category. "Breakfast" is usually around 12:00 and "lunch" 4:00 or 5:00.) If I have calories left, I throw in whatever else I need to meet my macros and/or just add extra protein (yoghurt, nuts) and a treat (chocolate.) I also pre-plan, so I already know what I'm eating for the day and then I just have what I want when I feel like it off that list.
  • freddi11e
    freddi11e Posts: 317 Member
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    most of my calories come from snacks lol. i could not live without snacks. <3Snacks.

    ...otherwise i binge too. 3 meals isnt enough. constantly need something in my mouth.. especially since i'm gonna quit smoking on monday yiiiiikes.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    I am another who needs to eat 5x a day, both to maintain blood sugar levels and because of hunger. My doctor told me that 5-6 meals is ideal but grazing over the course of the day can lead to problems (of course YMMV). I have a pretty set schedule: breakfast at 9AM, lunch at noon, snack at 3PM, dinner at 6PM and snack at 8 or 9 PM. I gained weight by grazing, eating too much, and eating the wrong things. Anytime I made an effort to eat actual meals I lost weight whether I was trying or not.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
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    I just got into an argument with my mother about the benefits of having 5 small meals a day. Particularly, I've read that having the daily meals- bfast, lunch, and dinner with 2 small snacks in between helps keep you from binging. Well, she keeps nagging that snacking between meals is what's making me "fatter" and so today I felt that maybe I should cut snacks and eat only 3x a day. Today I wound up binging by dinner because I was so hungry. Granted, after looking back, I should have traded yogurt and protein bars for maybe veggie-protein based snacks instead but even when I brought that up, she insisted even eating vegetables alone is going to make me fat just due to the calories.

    If eating small snack between meals is keeping you from binging, just continue to do so. Just make sure that you're counting those calories and it fits within your allowance. In that respect you are right. However the whole meal timing myth you've been reading about is just that a myth.
    In her defense she's also right that if you over consume anything, even vegetables it will make you fat.
    What the hell??? Her idea of losing weight is strictly cardio (cuz according to her, lifting weights makes women "bulky") and only eating one or two meals a day which I think is ridiculous. I am going to go see a doctor to get my blood tested for thyroid issues or PCOS, the latter which I have most of the symptoms for but she does not educate herself on this disease and won't take it seriously, saying that I don't really have it and use it as an excuse and simply eat too much. She looks at me in disgust when I eat more than twice a day and always mutters that I'll never lose weight if I continue to eat more than that. I feel that when I did used to eat only once or twice a day, I would binge like crazy and it may have shot my metabolism as well...

    Well she's wrong, it's very hard for women to bulk up and in fact strength training is incredibly good for you.
    Good luck with seeing the doctor.
    My diary is currently spotty since I just came back after feeling down about my lack of success, but when I do use a food scale and jot down every ingredient in my food, clean or not, I usually only range from 1200-1800 cals a day and maybe 60-150 carbs. I eat mostly clean (I have the occasional slip up, I have a sweet tooth and I'm no food saint) and I recently upped my lazy 3x a week workout to 6x a week with HIIT and Pilates. I'm trying hard to believe I am doing everything I possibly can to get myself on the right track. I am so frustrated that my own mother is not supportive and just criticizes me and won't educate herself on health as it is today. Sometimes I don't think mother always knows best....

    Don't worry about eating clean, worry about eating good food and hitting your macros. Also don't worry about her. Read a lot and make your own mind up. What works for some won't work for others and you need to find what's right for you.
    It's hard but sometimes you've just got to tell family to shut up and get their nose out of your business.
  • alijpizza
    alijpizza Posts: 3 Member
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    I eat 7 meals a day:

    Breakfast
    Second Breakfast
    Elevensies
    Lunch
    Afternoon Tea
    Supper
    Dinner

    ^ lol so awesome! :)))

    i have lost 72 lbs with all kinds of different methods and techniques over the last year and a few months, and have found that when i eat more often (but smaller meals) i am not as hungry and don't binge as much. i stumbled onto this discussion looking for reasons why eating more often would be more beneficial or harmful to fat loss goals. i'll repost if i find something substantial.

    (p.s. elevensies is definitely the cutest meal of the day.)

    edited to add that I'm trying to find out if there's a metabolic or fat loss benefit to more or fewer meals per day.

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