Small meals vs. Large meals?

THe reason small meals are better is this:

Your body can't predict when it's going to be fed again. What happens is if your body goes 10 hours without food and then gets a lot of it, not only does it panic (thinking "WHEN WILL I EAT AGAIN??" but also, your body CAN'T process it all at once!

So it turns it into fat and stores it. Gross.

If you think of this for a minute this makes no sense. If our bodies actually acted this way, ie slowing our metabolism right away when a time of say more than 2-3 hours of no food intake happened, it would severely hinder our ability to survive. To hunt efficiently one needs to be share mentally and physically, if you research slowed metabolism both mental and physical systems are slowed down. If that happened to humans with such a short time of not eating we would never has survived.

Secondly, it takes more than 2 hours for your food to fully digest. A decent sized meal takes hours to digest and depending on the mix of components can still be providing amino acids (the building blocks of protein) even at 8 hours after eating. There is no way a body is saying it is starving after only 2 hours.

Thirdly, starvation mode simply doesn't work that way. It happens after a prolonged time on lower calories not after hours. All the research into fasting show that for up to the first 72 hours of not eating there is no negative effect on metabolism. If your body was going to go into fat storage mode it will take more than the extra hours between meals. In fact, in at least the first 24 hours of fasting (probably longer) your body actually increases its metabolism and burn, get this, more fat not less. When you re-feed after a 24 hour fast, breaking it with a normal meal, those nutrients do not go to fat, but to replenish your glycogen stores in your muscles and liver. In fact that short fast will have also improved your insulin sensitivity so your body will not have to produce as much insulin to get those sugars into your muscles and liver as opposed to storing it as fat.

Fourthly, if you truly believe this is the case I am hoping you are getting up every 2-3 hours through the night to eat so your body doesn't think it is starving and put all your breakfast into fat. That is the logical consequence of this sort of thinking.

In short there is, to the best of my knowledge, no evidence that many small meals has any effect positive or negative for fat loss. It is probably the most common dieting myth out there with no real support from scientific studies. It is proof that if you repeat something enough times people will assume it is true. If it helps you control how much you eat so your meet your energy (calorie) goal, use it, if it doesn't either because it cannot work with your schedule or whatever, don't, but don't keep saying it is a must. I have eaten 3 meals a day and lost more than 80 pounds with no plateaus.
By eating smaller meals and lite snacks throughout the day, your body gets used to the idea that in 2 hours you will eat again. Also, how much water are you drinking? Did you know that your body can't differentiate between food and thrist? For weight loss, it is recommended that you drink at LEAST half your weight, in ounces, of water a day.

THis is mental. I promise. I went through it too. When you get used to eating all the time, portion control is KEY. But I went from a size 16 to a size 10 in three months by switching. Control sugars, calories, fat, and DRINK WATER!!!

It helps for hunger with some people, but for others, like me, those small meals never satisfy. As for controlling sugar all it does is keep your blood sugar level high, and that is not a good thing in general. As stated I have lost all my weight on three meals a day (with some evening snacks) and I do not generally struggle with hunger. I did when I tried the 5 meals because they never satisfied me.

In sort if it works for you, use it. If not, do what works for you. To the original poster you are not broken because it doesn't work for you. You a completely normal.

Try having a large breakfast, small snack, medium lunch, small snack, small dinner. I've seen a lot of people doing that and doing wonderfully with it.

You are so right! This really works! For breakfast eat like a queen, for lunch eat like a princess, and for dinner eat like a beggar. LOL It's silly but it works. Having snacks in between is key but they must be healthy.

Eat the way makes YOU feel best. Leave the rest. Seriously.

Some days, I get busy and I don't eat until like 3pm, after being up since 6 am. Some times I eat a breakfast and skip lunch. My total calories and my adherence to my diet is what matters for weight loss or gain. For health, balance your macro / micro targets. A few days ago, I had a 1400 calorie evening snack before bed. Woke up weighing in a pound lighter. Timing has no bearing on weight loss or gain.