Who here eats 6 (small) meals a day?

2

Replies

  • Mom2Asa
    Mom2Asa Posts: 109 Member
    I eat when I am hungry and it tends to be 6 times a day as logged but in all truth my snack may take me 2 hours to consume but it was not my lunch or breakfast per se so I log as a snack. I don't care when I eat as long as I eat when I am hungry and stay within my calorie ranges. If my body is hungry it will let me know therefore I eat ;) I don't intend on starving myself!!

    With that said my problem is not with food and food is not why I am where I am--overweight--medication is so maybe it depends on the person, situation etc and if you have an issue with food and eating to much and not being able to limit yourself when need be. Who knows but what I do know is your body will tell you when it needs fuel=food you just have to be willing to listen to it :)
  • mleoni092708
    mleoni092708 Posts: 629 Member
    I do 6 small meals per day and it works well for me. Keeps me from getting too hungry, and large meals make me feel sick.

    7 am-200 calories-egg english muffin sandwich
    930 or 10 am-200 calories, protein and whole grain
    12 pm-250 to 300 calorie lunch-protein, veggie, small carb
    3 pm-200 calorie post workout snack-fruit, protein
    530 pm-dinner 300 ish calories-protein, veggie, small carb
    8 pm-evening snack 200 calories-protein and carb
    1400-1500 calories total and usually a 200-300 calorie burning workout
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
    I eat every 2-4 hours. For me, it helps keep my blood sugar stabilized - which helps to keep me from binge eating. I also just feel better overall when I eat regularly.

    I don't have a set amount of calories I eat at each "meal". I eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full.
  • catshark209
    catshark209 Posts: 1,133 Member
    I eat a high cal breakfast ( good foundation on which to base my day ), then we take a break at 11am. We eat lunch at 1400 and then we may snack at 1600. I then eat a light dinner at 1830.
  • katekrise
    katekrise Posts: 178 Member
    I do! I eat breakfast, 10am, lunch, 3pm, dinner, and 8pm snack. I'm always hungry and want to eat, so it kinda keeps my hunger at bay. My snacks are usually around 100-200 cals.
  • carolinedb
    carolinedb Posts: 236 Member
    I eat. All day. I'm a big time snacker, so my mini meals are more like an apple with peanut butter, a protein shake, some fruit leather, carrots and hummus, things like that. I get hungry every 2-3 hours, so I eat every 2-3 hours. It works for me, and I don't ever feel like I'm "dieting".
  • soccer8s
    soccer8s Posts: 238 Member
    I feel like I'm eating all day long, but really it's more like 5 times...I try to have 3 "meals" and at least 2 snacks...seems to be working for me!
  • nicolina823
    nicolina823 Posts: 450 Member
    This is my meal plan:

    AM: 2 egg whites 1/4 cup of fruit
    Mid AM: 2 egg whites 1/4 cup of fruit
    Lunch: 2oz protein, 2 cups of veggie and 1/2 cup carb
    Mid PM: 2oz protein, 2 cups or veggie or 1/2 cup carb
    Dinner: 2oz protein, 2 cups of veggie and 1/2 cup carb
    PM snack: 1/4 cup of fruit.

    I adjust the protein depending on how much I've worked out.

    I'll be starting up again once I go shopping. December, killed me.
  • I did this under a PT and found my idea of 6 "small" meals was way off. The aim was to gain weight in muscle and at the same time reduce fat. I ended up gaining weight in both muscle and fat.

    The "small" size was described clearly to me (I just could not eat that little). Esentially your own fist is the measure, each of the 6 meals should have 1 fist of carbs and 1 fist of protein. (note: no mention of fat is intentional as that apparently does not matter !! )

    Sounded easy to me too !!

    The other side of this argument is why 6 meals? And do you really need 6 meals? The theory is that by spreading out the food intake you are less hungry and still getting the correct amount of calories. On the other hand I have MFP friends who are following intermittant fasting (they only eat once a day after 5:00pm) with good results.

    My advise, if you are up for 6 meals a day try it, but keep a close eye on your weight and % body fat. I could see myself drifting back to fat !!.

    With the 6 meals a day regieme I was working out with 3 Weights sessions and 3 cardio sessions a week (one rest day). Never doing cardio on weights days. Also cardio days were intense 20 min workouts no more. The idea was to trash my muscles and have a week of recovery per muscle group.

    I tried the 6 meals-a-day thing after reading Bill Phillip's book Body for Life a few years back. At least for me, it just didn't work out, but part of my issue was that I wasn't hungry 6 times a day. I felt eating smaller portions that often, especially when you're not hungry, took more discipline and will-power than I was willing to develop at the time. Sort of the equal but opposite problem of denying yourself food when you really are hungry.

    Right now, I do the one meal a day thing on a low-carb diet as described above. Once your body is able to make the switch in burning stored fat effectively for fuel (i.e. ketosis) instead of glucose, it's really not as hard as some imagine it to be. Though, through trial and error, I did find that trying to do vigorous workouts in the morning while intermittently fasting until 5PM didn't work out so well since vigorous exercise naturally increases appetite. So now I schedule my vigorous workouts (like strength training) to later in the afternoon, closer to 5. But throughout the day, I'll do some light to moderate walking whenever I can.

    There's a lot of ideas on how to allocate your meals throughout a day, but just experiment and take notes until you find a routine that you think can be sustainable for you. At the end of the day, all that really matters is whether it works well for you or not.
  • MHunte
    MHunte Posts: 149
    i dont really eat 6 meals a day , i just watch my calorie intake while eating healthy foods, burn off about 500-800 calories or more if i can and have a nice dinner... i started a week ago and already lost 4 pounds....i also take b-12 to help speed up my Metabolism..
  • Dustinryan24
    Dustinryan24 Posts: 233 Member
    My personal trainer told me to do this and I thought he was crazy, but it works! I lost 22 lbs (have since gained a few back so I'm re-committing myself). It's important to eat something within a half hour of waking up to get your metabolism working again. My diet is roughly as follows:
    6:45 wake up
    7:00 oatmeal with fruit (1/2 or sometimes whole banana, 1/2 cup blueberries or strawberries) and walnuts (1 oz)
    9:30/10:00 apple with almond butter
    12:30/1:00 salad with turkey or grilled chicken
    3:00 pear, pineapple, banana, or some other fruit
    5:00 carrots
    7:00 cardio and/or weight training
    8:00 grilled chicken with veggies

    Let me know if you have questions.
    ^^^^^ i agree with this.. i dont see why people think eating 6 times a day is dumb? youre never hungry, and depending on your goals, you can spread your protein intake out through the day.. I lost about 40 pounds doing this in 7 months..
  • i will have to answer this in terms of what i did when i was successful (as i am just now returning to MFP after a long hiatus where i gained back about 16 pounds)... I lost 71 pounds by eating 6ish "meals" a day. I say 6-ish because its a lot of grazing, i suppose, and generally 3 meals. I faithfully record/measure/weigh/count what i eat. That is key if you eat frequently, IMO. I also spread water consumption out thru the day.

    My main "meals" tend to be around 300 calories each and my snacks keep me satisfied between meals and round out my day. I guess i am naturally a grazer. When i know i will be eating a larger dinner, i try to do 300/100/250/100/550 +/- . (Altering those numbers for exercise calories, if that applies!)

    Then there are the days that i am out all day, running errands and lunch and snack tend to be a clif bar and an apple, spaced out over time. It happens. Oh, and one little thing i found recently: Target sells individual Market Pantry string cheeses up front in their Target Cafe. Works great when my hunger is getting to Critical Level when i'm shopping! :laugh:
  • My personal trainer told me to do this and I thought he was crazy, but it works! I lost 22 lbs (have since gained a few back so I'm re-committing myself). It's important to eat something within a half hour of waking up to get your metabolism working again. My diet is roughly as follows:
    6:45 wake up
    7:00 oatmeal with fruit (1/2 or sometimes whole banana, 1/2 cup blueberries or strawberries) and walnuts (1 oz)
    9:30/10:00 apple with almond butter
    12:30/1:00 salad with turkey or grilled chicken
    3:00 pear, pineapple, banana, or some other fruit
    5:00 carrots
    7:00 cardio and/or weight training
    8:00 grilled chicken with veggies

    Let me know if you have questions.

    Eating right after I wake up makes me feel a little ill. I don't know why and also makes me feel like I'm forcing myself to eat since I don't feel hungry in the mornings.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    My personal trainer told me to do this and I thought he was crazy, but it works! I lost 22 lbs (have since gained a few back so I'm re-committing myself). It's important to eat something within a half hour of waking up to get your metabolism working again. My diet is roughly as follows:
    6:45 wake up
    7:00 oatmeal with fruit (1/2 or sometimes whole banana, 1/2 cup blueberries or strawberries) and walnuts (1 oz)
    9:30/10:00 apple with almond butter
    12:30/1:00 salad with turkey or grilled chicken
    3:00 pear, pineapple, banana, or some other fruit
    5:00 carrots
    7:00 cardio and/or weight training
    8:00 grilled chicken with veggies

    Let me know if you have questions.
    ^^^^^ i agree with this.. i dont see why people think eating 6 times a day is dumb? youre never hungry, and depending on your goals, you can spread your protein intake out through the day.. I lost about 40 pounds doing this in 7 months..

    it's only dumb if people follow such a meal plan because they think they are revving up their metabolism or other nonsense like that. Meal frequency is a personal preference
  • SinIsIn
    SinIsIn Posts: 1,865 Member
    I eat 3 meals a day and try and snack between each meal.
  • You really don't have to eat THAT much - even a 100 calorie yogurt cup will do the trick. I do it to keep my metabolism up & because I LOVE eating. By eating 6 small meals a day, I'm able to eat allllllll the time so I never feel hungry or get cravings to binge.

    As for my workout: I go to the gym 3-4 days a week for 60-90 minutes. Right now I focus alot of my time on lifting because I am trying to build more muscle.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Eating right after I wake up makes me feel a little ill. I don't know why and also makes me feel like I'm forcing myself to eat since I don't feel hungry in the mornings.

    the simple answer is just don't eat in the morning if you're not hungry. Eating breakfast doesn't confer any special advantages to weight loss.

    Just eat the same number of calories spaced out over less meals.
  • I have breakfast lunch and dinner and then 2 snacks, the snacks usually consist of fruit or vegetables though ...
  • Meal frequency is irrelevant unless your are an athlete

    Irrelevant to weight loss directly, yes. But some studies do show that eating more frequently may help to speed up metabolism, which means a higher fat burn. Although, this is not proven, there are many correlations with this fact.
  • It's important to eat something within a half hour of waking up to get your metabolism working again.
    Your metabolism works all the time. There is no need to start it up again in the morning.

    This is partially correct - your metabolism slows down when not digesting, and speeds up when you eat (and need to digest).
  • It's important to eat something within a half hour of waking up to get your metabolism working again.
    Your metabolism works all the time. There is no need to start it up again in the morning.

    This is partially correct - your metabolism slows down when not digesting, and speeds up when you eat (and need to digest).
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Meal frequency is irrelevant unless your are an athlete

    Irrelevant to weight loss directly, yes. But some studies do show that eating more frequently may help to speed up metabolism, which means a higher fat burn. Although, this is not proven, there are many correlations with this fact.

    Some people are lead to believe this due to TEF, but assuming the same macronutrient composition there will be no difference in TEF

    from Lyle McDonald
    Say we have two people, both eating the same 3000 calories per day from identical macronutrients. One eats 6 meals of 500 calories/meal while the other eats 3 meals of 1000 calories/meal and we’ll assume a TEF of 10%. So the first will have a TEF of 50 calories (10% of 500) 6 times/day. The second will have a TEF of 100 calories (10% of 1000 calories) 3 times/day. Well, 6X50 = 300 calories/day and 3X100 = 300 calories/day. There’s no difference.

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html
  • dkmclean
    dkmclean Posts: 8 Member
    I eat every two hours, starting with breakfast at 6:00AM and I don't eat after 6:00PM. I lost 52 lbs in 8 weeks at the beginning of the year and have kept it off using this method. Snacks are always fruits/yogurt/protein bars or shakes. I record it all in myfitnesspal and try not to exceed my calorie goal for the day.
  • Meal frequency is irrelevant unless your are an athlete

    Irrelevant to weight loss directly, yes. But some studies do show that eating more frequently may help to speed up metabolism, which means a higher fat burn. Although, this is not proven, there are many correlations with this fact.

    Some people are lead to believe this due to TEF, but assuming the same macronutrient composition there will be no difference in TEF

    from Lyle McDonald
    Say we have two people, both eating the same 3000 calories per day from identical macronutrients. One eats 6 meals of 500 calories/meal while the other eats 3 meals of 1000 calories/meal and we’ll assume a TEF of 10%. So the first will have a TEF of 50 calories (10% of 500) 6 times/day. The second will have a TEF of 100 calories (10% of 1000 calories) 3 times/day. Well, 6X50 = 300 calories/day and 3X100 = 300 calories/day. There’s no difference.

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html

    Thats interesting! I've never come across this article. Thanks for the info, I'll have to check it out!
  • carrie_eggo
    carrie_eggo Posts: 1,396 Member
    Meal frequency is irrelevant unless your are an athlete

    Irrelevant to weight loss directly, yes. But some studies do show that eating more frequently may help to speed up metabolism, which means a higher fat burn. Although, this is not proven, there are many correlations with this fact.

    Some people are lead to believe this due to TEF, but assuming the same macronutrient composition there will be no difference in TEF

    from Lyle McDonald
    Say we have two people, both eating the same 3000 calories per day from identical macronutrients. One eats 6 meals of 500 calories/meal while the other eats 3 meals of 1000 calories/meal and we’ll assume a TEF of 10%. So the first will have a TEF of 50 calories (10% of 500) 6 times/day. The second will have a TEF of 100 calories (10% of 1000 calories) 3 times/day. Well, 6X50 = 300 calories/day and 3X100 = 300 calories/day. There’s no difference.

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html

    You can't argue with Lyle. :drinker:

    I eat 6 times a day simply because I like to eat and I feel better if I eat frequently.
  • Jackie9950
    Jackie9950 Posts: 374 Member
    I eat 6 meals - breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, evening snack.. My meals are ~300 calories, and my snacks are ~100 calories. It works out very well for me because I get hungry all the time. And I work out once a day, 60 minutes of cardio 5 times a week, and 25 min of strength training 2-3 times a week.

    This is what I do as well. I might eat a little more cals during the meals/snacks but only if I plan on eating back my exercise calories. Doing it this way means that I always have food on hand and I don't feel the need to seek out bad food! I do Zumba 3-4 times a week and cardio/strength 2 times a week with my treadmill or doing the 30ds.
  • JennLifts
    JennLifts Posts: 1,913 Member
    I end up with 6, just so i dont have to eat so much at once, but when I'm short on time, I just end up eating meal after meal to keep up haha
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    I do this, but mainly because it's what I'm used to, and I enjoy eating every few hours. When my schedule is sporadic and I don't know when I'll have a chance to eat again, I tend to "double up" on the meals.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
    And what is/are your workout regimen? I feel that as I start to workout more, I'll probably need to be eating 6 small meals but I can't fathom the idea. I've done it before and it feels like I'm always eating and sometimes I'm not hungry enough to eat that much. And I'm just curious to see how everyone else does it.
    My dairy is open - check it out.
    I eat 6 meals a day - LOVE IT!


    In general I do 90 minuted of cardio with 30 minutes of resistance 6 days a week.

    I rest resistance Tuesday and cardio every 10 days or so.
    My resistance is lower weights but high reps, then heavy every 3rd workout.

    And I split my body into 3 muscle groups:
    1. Legs
    2. Chest- triceps - shoulders
    3. Arms - back

    I do a lot of weird things for cardio like military march, boxing type training,
    dancing, floor rolls, squat thrust intervals and the good ole jumping jack.
    And I jog, swim, play tennis, fast walk and bike.

    Lost 64lbs and nearly 20% body fat - it works for me.
  • Me, every 3-4 hours. Check out my current routine on my profile.
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