Eat often or on a schedule???

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Delaina1
Delaina1 Posts: 168 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've heard both. Some say that your body craves a stable diet. You should even out your calories between meals and eat around the same times everyday. Others say to eat several small meals throughout the day and to switch it up? What do I do? I usually eat a small breakfast lunch and dinner but I do have snacks throughout the day. I find that if I eat a few larger meals I get really full and then an hour later I am starving and I end up eating snacks anyway. Plus I'm just a snacker. If I eat smaller meals and have snacks throughout the day I feel so much better. Which is better for my body though? And which will help me lose weight?

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  • mfinney
    mfinney Posts: 314
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    I have followed the golden rule of 5-6 smaller "meals" and had great success, not only in my weight and body fat, but also with energy level. the problem, as you've already eluded to, with 3 meals, is that we let our bodies go too long without refueling and then normally are so hungry, we put in more than we can handle... i'm paraphrasing out of a book i read, but basically, you wouldn't expect your car to run on empty for hours and then try to put 30 gallons in a 20 gallon tank -- but that's what a lot of us do. by eating throughout the day, i keep my metabolism rocking, my energy up, and control the amount of "fuel" that goes into my "tank" --

    I live by this and believe in it. I always say never feel "starved" and never feel "stuffed" and you're on the right track!
  • Nich0le
    Nich0le Posts: 2,906 Member
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    I do best on a scheduled plan, eating 4-6 small meals and snacks at or about the same time each day. The weeks that I don't do this I always gain weight. the weeks I pay great attention to this are the weeks that I do teh best. :wink:
  • mommybug77
    mommybug77 Posts: 19
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    I eat when I am hungry. I do not stress about what time it is.
  • reedman
    reedman Posts: 35
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    MFINNEY - You pretty much nailed it.
  • PonyGirl34
    PonyGirl34 Posts: 29
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    I plan the entire day out in the food planner. I also plan out my exercise for the day so I know about how many calories I'll need. With my job, it's easy to schedule food. Bfast @ 8, small snack @10 (usually veggie/fruit), lunch @ noon, snack @ 3 (again, healthy choices), dinner @ 6.

    I know my ticker doesn't show it (b/c I lost weight before I got on here), but I've taken off 18 lbs in 2 months on this plan eating more calories (just more healthy foods) than I did when I was gaining weight. Of course I didn't exercise before either. I still have 48 lbs to go and I plan to keep this schedule. I know the weightloss will slow as I get closer to my goal. EATING IS KEY TO KEEPING YOUR METABOLISM GOING!

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