3 meals vs 6 meals a day, what's your experience/opinion?

I've had a doctor recommend it for GERD prevention. It doesn't really work with my work schedule, though. I can see how it would help With GERD- less full stomach... But I think for most people it's really personal preference.

I change it around a lot. Some days are 3 meals and some are 6. I do find that on days when I eat 6 times, it usually ends up being a higher calorie day.

I would go with how you feel so you aren't fighting hunger. If you need to eat more, do it, but on days when you are not as hungry, eat less frequently.

At work, any eating (apart from my scheduled lunch break) is done on the run. My brain does not even register that I've eaten and this has a huge impact on me. I do much better on 3 mindful meals a day.

spittingpink wrote: »

Like it says in the title I want to know what peoples experiences are?

I'm currently 306lbs and have dropped from 355lbs by reducing my calories down to 1300 per day (breakfast around 200 calories, lunch around 200 calories, 2x snacks between 100-200 and then my evening meal which is whatever is left). this has worked so far, however I've just got a PT and she has advised I'm not eating enough calories, that I should be eating around 1500 and that I should have 6 meals a day.

I've read some mixed reviews, I'm just wondering if anyone has tried it? does it work? how do you do it? what sort of things do you eat day to day?

Increase your calories. Especially add more protein.
Eat at times and frequencies that work for you.
That six meals a day thing would drive me completely nuts. I do not feel like eating until late in the day. .
. . . So I have dinner when I get first home from work in the afternoon and a small meal or large snack later. I am losing weight this way.

Do whatever works best for you. It's all personal preference and doesn't make a difference.

I change it. I like to eat at least three times from 3:30 to before I fall asleep, so I usually eat about 5 times per day. If I'm not working I like to eat a bit less and save room for a great dessert (working makes me hungry, must eat).

I pack lunch and snacks together for the day. Some days I get a lunch break and other days my schedule doesn't allow for a lunch break, so I eat a little at a time between meetings at and such. Same number of calories -- just consumed in different configuration s. Can't say I prefer one over the other--

During the work week I eat 3 meals and 3 snacks. Weekends I do a light lunch, snack and big dinner

I agree it varies greatly person to person. After I moved to burning fat as my main fuel source without intent I went to two meals a day (breakfast and mid afternoon meal) with an optional evening snack. The two meals however are like 1300 calories each and if maintaining the snack is around 400 calories.

Read the other day something about six meals a day keeps our hormone insulin high which makes weight loss harder typically.

I eat when I'm hungry because I feel like if I restrict myself then I'm more likely to binge. So I'm finding myself eating probably 6 or so times a day. I've been told that being hungry more frequently means my metabolism is starting to speed up, so I'll take it. Prior to trying to lose weight I was hardly eating so it's a step in the right direction for me.

Re: 3 meals vs 6 meals a day

It doesn't matter when it comes to weight management.

You could eat one, large meal and nothing else for the day... or you could spread that out with 6-12 tiny meals. Assuming both plans are the same calories at the end of the day, your weight will be adjusted in the same respect, too.

Don't buy into meal timing myths either. Much of it is based on fallacious outdated information, media scares, or fad marketing.

A couple of things. Meal timing does not matter. You will find sources that say it does, but I can guarantee those sources are trying to make money off you believing that. Or they heard it from someone trying to make money. I sometimes eat a single meal with all my daily calories. Sometimes I eat about 12 mini-meals because I spend the whole day grazing. I eat what I want when I want (just not necessarily AS MUCH as I want ).

Carb timing does not matter, unless you have a medical condition. I have type 1 diabetes, and it only moderately matters for me, but not for the reasons your PT claimed. Your body can use the energy from carbs even if you eat them right before you go to sleep. That is just a fact. I eat in bed watching Netflix almost every night, and all my snacks are high-carb. It has not affected my weight loss or my health in any way whatsoever.

Your PT is not a registered dietician who was trained on nutrition, so you should ignore the advice she's giving you, since it is incorrect. Either see a registered dietician, or stick around MFP to read what some of the regulars with higher post counts are saying.

And finally, I would agree with previous posters that 1300 calories is too low for someone of your size. HOWEVER. That assumes you are correctly weighing your food with a digital scale and logging everything. If you aren't, then you are probably eating more than 1300 calories already and increasing what you eat could be counterproductive to your goals. If you are weighing your foods and logging correctly, then yes, 1300 is too low. However, you should know if it's too low by how fast you're losing. Your body doesn't care if you're logging correctly or not, it will lose the weight based on the calories going in vs the calories you burn. If you are losing the weight rapidly, add calories and slow down. If the weight is coming off at a slow/steady pace, then you are most likely already eating more than 1300. In that case, you would want to tighten up your logging when you get closer to goal, but it may not matter so much right now.

There's a lot of misinformation out there about dieting, and it can be frustrating when you start to realize how much "common knowledge" about nutrition/dieting is simply false. Like I said, stick around and you can learn a lot on these forums.