the idea behind five small meals (and I don't know that its proven) is metabolic consistency. You eat smaller meals, keeps the metabolism at a more consistent rate then three larger meals, and avoids the post-meal fatigue that one can feel from digesting a lot of food consumed at one sitting.

It makes sense that its harder to lose weight as you near your goal. The more overweight one is, the more impact a specific calorie diet is going to have, as even sedentary, fat will burn calories (just like muscle). Is weight-lifting a part of your regimen? Building muscle mass will increase sedentary calorie burn and perhaps accelerate the progress towards your goals. Of course, muscle weights more than other tissue, so it actually may increase the number on the scale, but if you have the body shape that you want, then the number on the scale really shouldn't matter.

Its better to do what works for you - there is no evidence that how often you eat or when you eat makes ANY DIFFERENCE AT ALL.

But as you get close to your goal, you can no longer expect to lose 1 or 2lbs a week. And that's all there is to it.

Set your MFP goals ot .5 lb/week, keep up your workouts (you do workout right?) and you should be fine.

okay that makes sense. i think im just still trying to see what works best for me. i try to work out about 5 times a week but i keep seeing myself plateau... i have already lost over 30lbs and im looking to lose my last 30- im wondering if im setting my goal too high?

I think you may be setting your goal too high. I was doing research on MPF about this last night actually, because I was starting to think my goal might also be too high. I was aiming for 2lbs a week. But I really only need to lose 20lbs, so that goal is too high. I read somewhere that if you have less than 50lbs to lose, you should aim for 1-1.5lbs per week. I'm aiming for 1.5 to see how that works, and if I don't see any changes I'll aim for 1lb

does that mean the slower you lose, the more body fat you lose or somewhere along those lines?