How many meals per day should you eat..

howardrw
howardrw Posts: 80 Member
edited September 22 in Food and Nutrition
I am wondering, how many meals should you eat per day and the amount of calories should you intake per meal, especially if you are eating 1500 calories per day?

Thanks to everyone that responds......

Replies

  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
    Most of us eat three meals a day plus 2 to 3 small snacks in between. The key is not to be for too long without food to avoid over eating at any particular meal.

    Just do what is best for you, because sometimes is trial and error. Good luck!
  • NightOwl1
    NightOwl1 Posts: 881 Member
    6 meals a day, eating every 3 hours, is considered ideal (a meal can be something as small as a banana). The more frequently you eat, the higher your metabolism gets. On your diet, that would mean 200-300 calories per meal approximately.

    Now, 6 meals a day isn't realistic for most people, including myself, so just try to eat as many as possible. It's better to eat more smaller meals than fewer bigger meals.
  • Ashlea_M
    Ashlea_M Posts: 165 Member
    I eat 6 small meals a day :) I eat every 2-3 hours
  • PatCrizack
    PatCrizack Posts: 3
    6 meals is ideal, however, unrealistic.
    If I could, I would, but life doesn't allow it.
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
    I eat 6-7 times a day. I try to eat every three hours or so and sometimes if I'm up early and late it ends up 7 instead of the 6 most people aim for. I've done this for so many years now that I get physically ill if I don't eat on time. So, I carry food with me everywhere just to make sure I can get it in. I've been lucky, though, in that I haven't had any problems with working somewhere that I'm not allowed to take a snack break.
  • binary_jester
    binary_jester Posts: 3,311 Member
    6 meals a day, eating every 3 hours, is considered ideal (a meal can be something as small as a banana). The more frequently you eat, the higher your metabolism gets. On your diet, that would mean 200-300 calories per meal approximately.

    Now, 6 meals a day isn't realistic for most people, including myself, so just try to eat as many as possible. It's better to eat more smaller meals than fewer bigger meals.
    Just a FYI, recent studies show that meal frequency does not impact thermogenisis or metabolism.
  • GremlinJenny
    GremlinJenny Posts: 151
    I graze all day long out of my lunchbox/cooler. Seriously, all day. I usually munch on something every 30 minutes and take forever to finish it. Like, a 100 cal pack of pretzels? I'll eat one pretzel and then get distracted typing/working. Then I'll eat another pretzel like 5-10 minutes later. And so on and so on. It can take me over an hour to finish a snack sometimes. hahaha... I swear I feel like I'm eating WAY more than before, but obviously not if I've lost 27 lbs.

    So if nothing else, it's a great mental trick!
  • LivingFitNC
    LivingFitNC Posts: 18 Member
    There is no really any ideal...for a long time people purported that you needed to keep your metabolism revved by eating every 2-3 hours like throwing logs into a furnace but, as mentioned above, this has recently been challenged by a lot of studies and the whole Intermittent Fasting trend has spun out from this. That said, I have done both approaches- force-feed myself every 2-3 hours (especially when I swam competitively) and then eating in a 6-8 hour window a la Leangains.com. How often you eat is really up to you...I liked the 6-8 hour window because I could eat bigger meals, although only 2-3, to get my calories in but generally I found myself eating more to satisfy my mind rather than my hunger and was uncomfortably full half of the time then starving the other half. This also applied when I ate 3 evenly spaced meals. Now I eat 4-5 times depending on the day and what's going on- I'm not a night time eater, it's dinner at 6 then done so that limits as well. I find that 300-400 calories for my bigger meals and 100-200 calories for snacks seems to work best for me. That said, I follow a primal diet so my carbs are all vegetables with some fruit and a 40C-30P-30F ratio so I tend to stay fuller longer and get satisfied quicker than when I ate a higher carb diet when I ate 6x a day before. Hence, if you eat a lot of simple carbs and a lower fat diet you'll most likely be hungry for 6 meals a day.

    All that said...it's really up to you. I would try following your hunger levels instead of forcing a regime on yourself and see what happens. Keep track of your energy levels in the Notes portion of your diary and how hungry you are at each meal. You just might find something surprising!
  • secostley
    secostley Posts: 409 Member
    The typical answer is six broken up throughout the day. For me, the amount of calories per meal is dictated by what I have scheduled for the day. On average, most of my calories are eaten at the beginning of the day, tapering off toward the evening.

    Just as important to meals is your intact of water.


    Shawn
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