Smaller Meals All Day or 3 Square Meals?
MaiLinna
Posts: 580 Member
Let me start this off by saying I am by no means overweight. I have a 22.3 BMI, but I have a belly and I want it to, you know, not be there. I recently moved to Washington State and I'm now in a safe enough area to be able to walk everywhere. My first week here my boyfriend stayed with me and he forced me to explore every crevasse of this area, warm or cold, rain or sun. It was pretty brutal for the first few days, but I started to adjust.
Went up to Vancouver with him for a few days. Constant hilly streets and rushing around to catch buses and trains...holy crap. I don't know why but I was constantly starving and I ate and ate every chance I got.
Now I'm back home in Washington and I still want to constantly eat. This is horrible of course. I already have a muffin top - I don't need a gut. I tried to curb my want to eat all day by timing my meals so I could get adequate downtime to burn fat like an article had suggested, but in reality all I did was stare at a clock literally ALL DAY waiting hungrily to stuff my face.
Here's where my questions come in.
1. Is it better to go with my instinct of wanting to eat all day, just keep the meals small and drink lots of tea with them, or is it better to time my meals, stop snacking, and make my body adjust?
2. Is there some sort of weightless strength training I can do in my tiny bedroom, hidden from my roommates? (I hate working out in front of other people.)
3. I have really bad chocolate (and peanut butter) cravings. Just last night I decided to cave and I ate 3 squares of a truffle bar, 5 mint cremes and a spoonful of peanut butter, which doesn't sound bad at all, but it's almost 400 calories total! How can I fix this? Even my boyfriend says I eat way too much candy and I ask for way too many sweets (I always wanted coffee drinks, treats, donuts and chocolates while we were out.) I've struggled with this since I was a little girl and still can't get over it. How can I fix this?
Please help. I lost 30 lbs thanks to this site but I'm slowly gaining it back even though the stressors that triggered my bad eating habits are gone!
Went up to Vancouver with him for a few days. Constant hilly streets and rushing around to catch buses and trains...holy crap. I don't know why but I was constantly starving and I ate and ate every chance I got.
Now I'm back home in Washington and I still want to constantly eat. This is horrible of course. I already have a muffin top - I don't need a gut. I tried to curb my want to eat all day by timing my meals so I could get adequate downtime to burn fat like an article had suggested, but in reality all I did was stare at a clock literally ALL DAY waiting hungrily to stuff my face.
Here's where my questions come in.
1. Is it better to go with my instinct of wanting to eat all day, just keep the meals small and drink lots of tea with them, or is it better to time my meals, stop snacking, and make my body adjust?
2. Is there some sort of weightless strength training I can do in my tiny bedroom, hidden from my roommates? (I hate working out in front of other people.)
3. I have really bad chocolate (and peanut butter) cravings. Just last night I decided to cave and I ate 3 squares of a truffle bar, 5 mint cremes and a spoonful of peanut butter, which doesn't sound bad at all, but it's almost 400 calories total! How can I fix this? Even my boyfriend says I eat way too much candy and I ask for way too many sweets (I always wanted coffee drinks, treats, donuts and chocolates while we were out.) I've struggled with this since I was a little girl and still can't get over it. How can I fix this?
Please help. I lost 30 lbs thanks to this site but I'm slowly gaining it back even though the stressors that triggered my bad eating habits are gone!
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Replies
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Looked at your diary and you eat more than you think
some entrees are not weighed out food
(1 medium apple???) how big there can be a lot of difference in calories and what is medium to you isnt medium to me.
And there are more entrees like that
Weigh everything, So ALL your solid food on a food scale also dressings etc butter,sauces etc they can be very calorie dense and a bit off means quickly hundreds of calories a week wrong
Eat less calories than you burn and you lose weight instead of gaining0 -
and btw the time or what you eat when, where doesn't matter
just the How much you eat!!!!10 -
Smaller meals all day works better for me, because I'm a recovering binge eater. I still think about food constantly even though I have had the will power to be able to lose 30 lbs so far. Knowing that I get to eat a small snack or meal at a certain time gets me through the day. If I try to eat 3 square meals a day, I find myself thinking I'm starving when I'm not, it just seems like forever until I get to eat again.0
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TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »Looked at your diary and you eat more than you think
some entrees are not weighed out food
(1 medium apple???) how big there can be a lot of difference in calories and what is medium to you isnt medium to me.
And there are more entrees like that
Weigh everything, So ALL your solid food on a food scale also dressings etc butter,sauces etc they can be very calorie dense and a bit off means quickly hundreds of calories a week wrong
Eat less calories than you burn and you lose weight instead of gaining
It goes by diameter. I measured my apples. It also says how many in a pound, 2,3, or 4, and there are 3 apples in a pound. So, that means it's a medium apple.
I use my measuring cups and spoons.
I cut my tempeh and tofu into 4 sections, as equal as I can get. Being off by 20 calories isn't a big deal.
Hell, being off by 100 calories isn't a big deal for me either. I'm not overweight at all.0 -
Amount of meals, timing of meals, etc. don't matter. When it comes to weight loss, it's about CICO. How you achieve it is a matter of preference.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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oke but that 100 calories a day being off is 700 a week
And believe me measuring with cups and spoons is highly inaccurate
Also serving sizes
( i ate cheesecake about 2 weeks ago sering size said 210 calories for 46 gram when i weighed the piece it was a total of 280 calories)
So you ask here for info/help and advice
i gave it
Its up to you
Here a small video for only 2 kinds of foods ( which add up hundreds of calories )
It shows you how quickly the inaccurate measuring and serving sizes adds up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
But up to you, only remember your body is the perfect calculator for you and counts every calorie...even when you dont.0 -
TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »
As long as that 700 doesn't equal 5000 at the end of the week, it really doesn't matter in this case. I'm not on a diet. I'm not trying actively to lose a bunch of weight. I only have 3 questions: Does eating frequency matter, do any of you recommend some weightless strength training I can do discreetly in a small room, and do you know how to curb the two cravings I've been having since I was a child? I'm not quite maintaining at the moment but I am by no means going to obsess over a scale or every calorie I put into my body. I'd rather the calories come from good, wholesome foods than worry that my slice of apple or plum is going to put me over sugars/calories for the day.
If I wanted caloric advice, I would have asked for it.
I can't tell you how to feel, but you seem to be a little too defensive in this case. 0 -
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Let me start this off by saying I am by no means overweight. I have a 22.3 BMI, but I have a belly and I want it to, you know, not be there. I recently moved to Washington State and I'm now in a safe enough area to be able to walk everywhere. My first week here my boyfriend stayed with me and he forced me to explore every crevasse of this area, warm or cold, rain or sun. It was pretty brutal for the first few days, but I started to adjust.
Went up to Vancouver with him for a few days. Constant hilly streets and rushing around to catch buses and trains...holy crap. I don't know why but I was constantly starving and I ate and ate every chance I got.
Now I'm back home in Washington and I still want to constantly eat. This is horrible of course. I already have a muffin top - I don't need a gut. I tried to curb my want to eat all day by timing my meals so I could get adequate downtime to burn fat like an article had suggested, but in reality all I did was stare at a clock literally ALL DAY waiting hungrily to stuff my face.
Here's where my questions come in.
1. Is it better to go with my instinct of wanting to eat all day, just keep the meals small and drink lots of tea with them, or is it better to time my meals, stop snacking, and make my body adjust?
2. Is there some sort of weightless strength training I can do in my tiny bedroom, hidden from my roommates? (I hate working out in front of other people.)
3. I have really bad chocolate (and peanut butter) cravings. Just last night I decided to cave and I ate 3 squares of a truffle bar, 5 mint cremes and a spoonful of peanut butter, which doesn't sound bad at all, but it's almost 400 calories total! How can I fix this? Even my boyfriend says I eat way too much candy and I ask for way too many sweets (I always wanted coffee drinks, treats, donuts and chocolates while we were out.) I've struggled with this since I was a little girl and still can't get over it. How can I fix this?
Please help. I lost 30 lbs thanks to this site but I'm slowly gaining it back even though the stressors that triggered my bad eating habits are gone!
May i highlight your last sentence!
I only gave you my advice
What you do with it is up to you! What will help is for each person different.
Maybe more meals a day helps Maybe more protein etc All up to you.
But you only gain weight when you eat more than you burn
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TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »
May i highlight your last sentence!
I only gave you my advice
What you do with it is up to you! What will help is for each person different.
Maybe more meals a day helps Maybe more protein etc All up to you.
But you only gain weight when you eat more than you burn
Okay, I'll delete that last sentence.
I was reading a few posts while I waited for replies and I realized that maybe I'm obsessing too much over gaining 2 lbs.
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I always want to eat too. And I love sweets. I've lost 80 pounds. It's just about moderation. You don't have to eat 3 squares of chocolate and 5 cookies. Just have one cookie and one square of chocolate... that's easy enough to fit in your calories. When I restrict too much, that's when I end up binging.
Otherwise, do whatever works for you. Some days I have 3 meals and a snack, some days I have 5 mini meals, some days I have 2 meals... completely depends on how much/when I am hungry that day.0 -
Do some Body Weight Exercises on Youtube.TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »
As long as that 700 doesn't equal 5000 at the end of the week, it really doesn't matter in this case. I'm not on a diet. I'm not trying actively to lose a bunch of weight. I only have 3 questions: Does eating frequency matter, do any of you recommend some weightless strength training I can do discreetly in a small room, and do you know how to curb the two cravings I've been having since I was a child?
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I always want to eat too. And I love sweets. I've lost 80 pounds. It's just about moderation. You don't have to eat 3 squares of chocolate and 5 cookies. Just have one cookie and one square of chocolate... that's easy enough to fit in your calories. When I restrict too much, that's when I end up binging.
Otherwise, do whatever works for you. Some days I have 3 meals and a snack, some days I have 5 mini meals, some days I have 2 meals... completely depends on how much/when I am hungry that day.
Oh okay. Thanks0 -
I'm a huge fan of body-weight strength training. I started with Mark Lauren's book, Body By You (specifically for women), and then after I finished that I moved onto his other book, You Are Your Own Gym. I did most of the exercises in these books in my office-the only thing I had to move to a different room for was for my pull-up bar, which is in my kitchen of all places lol.
Another great option is body-strength challenges through this site-http://www.hundredpushups.com/ There's several available challenges, and my profile picture was taken as I wrapped up my first round with the 100 pushup challenge. Very pleased with the results
eta: meal/calorie timing is a preference thing and nothing more. If you prefer frequent, small meals than go for it. For me I actually do best with two large meals, and then an added snack on some days. I do 16:8IF and have an eating window from 11am-7pm. Helps keep me on track with my calorie goals.0 -
I have much greater willpower if I get properly full at meals. For me this means eating a smallish breakfast and a rather large lunch and dinner, complete with a small dessert. When I do that I hardly think about eating until it is the next mealtime. In the past I have tried to stretch it over several small meals, but I never felt that good, satisfied, full feeling.0
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Sample search: "body weight exercises women"
30 Min Beginner Full Body No Gear Workout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efDPdSK-2zk 0 -
Bookmarked some of this stuff. Thanks guys!0
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Just peeked at your diary. That doesn't look like a ton of food to me, how tall are you? For dealing with hunger, increase your protein, by like a lot. Get in 80-100 grams per day at least.
I do 3 squares + 1 maybe 2 snacks (an evening one for sure though usually). Because I don't want to be thinking about food or fussing with it all day, it's annoying. I like big meals, 500-600 calories (with lots of protein).0 -
Just peeked at your diary. That doesn't look like a ton of food to me, how tall are you? For dealing with hunger, increase your protein, by like a lot. Get in 80-100 grams per day at least.
I do 3 squares + 1 maybe 2 snacks (an evening one for sure though usually). Because I don't want to be thinking about food or fussing with it all day, it's annoying. I like big meals, 500-600 calories (with lots of protein).
I'm 5'6", 140ish lbs (haven't weighed myself in 2 weeks. Moved out and don't have a scale anymore.)
Scale doesn't really matter though. I put on a pair of bluejeans that I swore wouldn't fit because they're a size 8. Totally fit.
And the new dress I just bought is a medium, and so are my tank tops.
I'm a vegan. I don't get a whole ton of protein. I have trouble eating much at breakfast so it's usually just a cup of coffee and sometimes an apple. I tried to do a tofu scramble the other day and all it did was make me want to eat more and keep eating. It's almost 3pm now, had coffee at 11am, and I'm still not hungry. My problem is chocolate and sweets. As soon as I cut them out I'm pretty good to go.0
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