Q: How to get to 5 small meals a day?

naomijtaylor · June 2012

Hello all!

So I am trying to take on the idea of eat more often to lose more, and I have 18 lbs left to get to my target weight... my problem is right now I am not hungry enough to eat that many times a day... though I feel that slowly changing.

Any recommendations on small snacking foods to eat that will help sustain this program? I have Crohn's so that prevents me from eating raw fibrous fruits and vegetables (though I'd certainly and painfully lose the weight if I tried), so I need healthy, energy sustaining snack ideas.

So far I have done Fiber One/Clif bars, Aria protein shakes, snack portions of cottage cheese, natural cheese, turkey/beef jerky, yogurt parfaits (strawberries, organic yogurt and organic granola), and nuts... any other fun suggestions that I can incorporate?

All suggestions are welcome and appreciated....thanks!

Naomi

Acg67 · June 2012

Hello all!

So I am trying to take on the idea of eat more often to lose more, and I have 18 lbs left to get to my target weight... my problem is right now I am not hungry enough to eat that many times a day... though I feel that slowly changing.

Any recommendations on small snacking foods to eat that will help sustain this program? I have Crohn's so that prevents me from eating raw fibrous fruits and vegetables (though I'd certainly and painfully lose the weight if I tried), so I need healthy, energy sustaining snack ideas.

So far I have done Fiber One/Clif bars, Aria protein shakes, snack portions of cottage cheese, natural cheese, turkey/beef jerky, yogurt parfaits (strawberries, organic yogurt and organic granola), and nuts... any other fun suggestions that I can incorporate?

All suggestions are welcome and appreciated....thanks!

Naomi

Eating more often will not make you lose more, unless you mean that you find smaller more frequent meals more satiating and are less likely to snack or binge or what have you. But eating more often doesn't do anything special for weight loss, eat 1 meal or 10 meals won't make a difference holding calories and macros constant

naomijtaylor · June 2012

I should have said to increase metabolism... I heard somewhere increasing the frequency of eating to 5 smaller meals a day will help boost metabolic rate which in turn helps burn more calories... is this not true, or did I misunderstand the concept?

Thanks for the reply!

p.s. Nice abs!

Di3012 · June 2012

Hello all!

So I am trying to take on the idea of eat more often to lose more, and I have 18 lbs left to get to my target weight... my problem is right now I am not hungry enough to eat that many times a day... though I feel that slowly changing.

Any recommendations on small snacking foods to eat that will help sustain this program? I have Crohn's so that prevents me from eating raw fibrous fruits and vegetables (though I'd certainly and painfully lose the weight if I tried), so I need healthy, energy sustaining snack ideas.

So far I have done Fiber One/Clif bars, Aria protein shakes, snack portions of cottage cheese, natural cheese, turkey/beef jerky, yogurt parfaits (strawberries, organic yogurt and organic granola), and nuts... any other fun suggestions that I can incorporate?

All suggestions are welcome and appreciated....thanks!

Naomi

Eating more often will not make you lose more, unless you mean that you find smaller more frequent meals more satiating and are less likely to snack or binge or what have you. But eating more often doesn't do anything special for weight loss, eat 1 meal or 10 meals won't make a difference holding calories and macros constant

This ^

OP the only thing that eating more often will do for you is cut down the amount of calories you can eat at each main meal.

Seriously, only eat more often if that is what you really want to do, but not because you think it will enable you to lose more (or quicker even).

Acg67 · June 2012

I should have said to increase metabolism... I heard somewhere increasing the frequency of eating to 5 smaller meals a day will help boost metabolic rate which in turn helps burn more calories... is this not true, or did I misunderstand the concept?

Thanks for the reply!

p.s. Nice abs!

It's not true, it's a myth. If it was true why wouldn't you eat something like 36 meals, something small every half hr that you're awake? See when you put it that way it sounds silly.

Basically maintain a consistent caloric deficit, while getting in adequate protein, fats and micros, and you'll get where you want to be

epmck11 · June 2012

Hello all!

So I am trying to take on the idea of eat more often to lose more, and I have 18 lbs left to get to my target weight... my problem is right now I am not hungry enough to eat that many times a day... though I feel that slowly changing.

Any recommendations on small snacking foods to eat that will help sustain this program? I have Crohn's so that prevents me from eating raw fibrous fruits and vegetables (though I'd certainly and painfully lose the weight if I tried), so I need healthy, energy sustaining snack ideas.

So far I have done Fiber One/Clif bars, Aria protein shakes, snack portions of cottage cheese, natural cheese, turkey/beef jerky, yogurt parfaits (strawberries, organic yogurt and organic granola), and nuts... any other fun suggestions that I can incorporate?

All suggestions are welcome and appreciated....thanks!

Naomi

Eating more often will not make you lose more, unless you mean that you find smaller more frequent meals more satiating and are less likely to snack or binge or what have you. But eating more often doesn't do anything special for weight loss, eat 1 meal or 10 meals won't make a difference holding calories and macros constant

Yep, this is right. The old idea that it's healthier to eat 5-6 small meals a day is outdated and flat out wrong. It doesn't matter when you consume the calories as long as you consume them. Eating more often will make you hungry more often and makes it easier for you to snack all day long and then you end up consuming more calories.

I've been following Lean Gains (www.leangains.com -- it's an intermittent fasting plan based on 8 hour feeding windows and 16 hour fasting windows) over the last couple months to try to lose some extra fat, and since I've started I've lost 8lbs, and for much of that I wasn't even eating that great or counting my calories. Counting calories is new to me, and it sure has helped, but just the fact I was only eating in those 8 hour windows limited my calorie intake a considerable amount and made it much easier to lose weight.

(My first post here!)

naomijtaylor · June 2012

Hello all!

So I am trying to take on the idea of eat more often to lose more, and I have 18 lbs left to get to my target weight... my problem is right now I am not hungry enough to eat that many times a day... though I feel that slowly changing.

Any recommendations on small snacking foods to eat that will help sustain this program? I have Crohn's so that prevents me from eating raw fibrous fruits and vegetables (though I'd certainly and painfully lose the weight if I tried), so I need healthy, energy sustaining snack ideas.

So far I have done Fiber One/Clif bars, Aria protein shakes, snack portions of cottage cheese, natural cheese, turkey/beef jerky, yogurt parfaits (strawberries, organic yogurt and organic granola), and nuts... any other fun suggestions that I can incorporate?

All suggestions are welcome and appreciated....thanks!

Naomi

Eating more often will not make you lose more, unless you mean that you find smaller more frequent meals more satiating and are less likely to snack or binge or what have you. But eating more often doesn't do anything special for weight loss, eat 1 meal or 10 meals won't make a difference holding calories and macros constant

Yep, this is right. The old idea that it's healthier to eat 5-6 small meals a day is outdated and flat out wrong. It doesn't matter when you consume the calories as long as you consume them. Eating more often will make you hungry more often and makes it easier for you to snack all day long and then you end up consuming more calories.

I've been following Lean Gains (www.leangains.com -- it's an intermittent fasting plan based on 8 hour feeding windows and 16 hour fasting windows) over the last couple months to try to lose some extra fat, and since I've started I've lost 8lbs, and for much of that I wasn't even eating that great or counting my calories. Counting calories is new to me, and it sure has helped, but just the fact I was only eating in those 8 hour windows limited my calorie intake a considerable amount and made it much easier to lose weight.

(My first post here!)

Well welcome and thanks for making this your first post! Well crap, now I am glad I asked this question out loud cause I been thinking "How in the heck is this supposed to work?"

Thanks and welcome to MFP!

MileyClimb · June 2012

would suggest joining eat more to weigh less group here on mfp they have tons of suggestions there. I am 15 days into it

sarar87 · June 2012

I am not a doctor by any means and eating 5 small meals may or may not help boost your metabolism however I have read that eating small meals throughout the day may help ease symptoms of Crohn's disease.

gatecityradio · June 2012

Just eat whenever you want, the only thing is to stay under your calories.

lkcuts · June 2012

A few years ago ,I tried the Michael Thurman way of eating. he suggested eating every three to 4 hours with the same balanced food each time. The reason i believe is, so you won't become to hungry ,keeping food in your stomach. each meal had to consist of 2 oz of lean meat, 1/2 cup rice or half potato and 1 cup of veggies. No condiments,oil or butter of any sort.(had to come up with different ideas to put on the potatoes without oils etc. This program took way too much of my time cooking ahead,trying to eat on time etc. I ended up packing double portions of what ever I ate and split it up. It worked, I started losing weight, but the routine became time consuming. I got tired of eating the same things as I could not figure out even with recipes what i would like to eat. I do like the idea of splitting up the calories though, it seems to hold me over to the next meal and sometimes i still do that.
I like MFP because I can still have the things I like in a healthier version. I still eat mustard and catchup,use healthy oils have my peanut butter etc. the weight might not fall off as fast, but i have gained and lost so much because of "Failed diets" going back to what i like to eat.
Back to the snack thing you might just try eating part of your meals and eat more on them later. This method does seem to keep you from getting too hungry if nothing else. Good luck!!

naomijtaylor · June 2012

I am not a doctor by any means and eating 5 small meals may or may not help boost your metabolism however I have read that eating small meals throughout the day may help ease symptoms of Crohn's disease.

Hey, now that would be a very compelling reason to do the small meals... I have been able to identify the triggers, but even then, I get the occasional flareup... I will certainly read more on that!

Thanks for the tip!

MikeSchmidt254 · June 2012

The only problem with asking for advice on what you should do for your diet instead of personally researching it, is that you have all of these people who come from different backgrounds, lifestyles, and with their own nutritional goals (which may not be the same as yours) offering advice. No one knows your body better than you and I would highly recommend educating yourself on what is best for you and your nutritional goals.

However, I will tell you what worked for me and you can also research it and see if it may work for you as well. Keep in mind, I am not a professional doctor, nutritionist, or personal trainer. This is just what helped me acheived my goals.

Basically, despite popular belief, your body does not fully process you caloric intake daily (every 24 hours). In fact, it takes your body approximately 2-3 days to fully process all of the calories you take in. With that being the case, I found that splitting my calories day-by-day not only boosted my metabolism, but in turn assisted in helping me burn the extra unwanted fat on my body. What I mean by splitting my calories is, instead of setting daily goals of let's say 2200 calories, I made a weekly goal of 15,500cal.

Then, I figured out which days I work harder than others in the gym, took into consideration my rest days, etc. In the end, I had a split that looked like this:

Monday-2500
Tuesday-1800
Wednesday-2900
Thursday-2000
Friday-2400
Saturday-1400
Sunday-2500

This sort of split keeps your metabolism boosted and causes your body to feed on the excess fat on the days you choose to do your calorie deficit.

As far as eating more per day, some say it's just a myth while other's will stand by it until their last day. Once again, it all depends on you. The way I see it is, as long as your getting your adequate macros and not exceeding your calorie goals, you'll be fine. Of course this doesn't mean splurge out and think "Oh this cheeseburger fits in my macros, i'll just not eat that yogurt or almonds later" lol But I digress...

Once again, this is nothing more than advice and what worked for me. I hope you take the time to learn what is best for you. I wish you the best of luck in reaching/surpassing your goals!

jennifermaxine · June 2012

I agree with the above post. It's hard asking for advice on here because everyone is coming from a different background/lifestyle .. they all have different health issues, different bodies .. and all have different goals. Just do as must research as you can .. and do what works for you. Everyone has they're own opinion .. of what works and what does not work. But, just keep in mind, that what works for one does not always work for another. For me - I do eat 5-6 small meals a day .. and it has been a life saver for me. I was diagnosed with low blood sugar (hypoglycemic) and I was MISERABLE and SICK all the time. I was too weak to workout properly. I would crash during the day. This is when I was eating typical 3 means a day. Once I switched to eating 5-6 small meals a day 2 years ago - it's like the hyperglycemia has gone away. I feel so healthy. I'm able to workout more and get better results. I don't crash ever. And I actually have lost weight since switching. I eat between 1200-1600 cals a day between 5-6 meals. 1200 on rest days .. 1600 on workout days. Perfect for me .. but find what works for you.

mcarter99 · June 2012

I agree that biologically it doesn't matter, and there is no such thing as firing up your metabolism.

But if you have a tendency to overeat or make poor choices when you get very hungry, eating more often can be a good plan. If you have trouble hearing your body's hunger and satiety signals until you're famished or starved, it can also help. A lot of "intuitive eating" type books will suggest keeping your satiety level between like a 4-7 on a 1-10 scale (1 being famished, 10 being overstuffed). It doesn't necessarily mean eating 5-6 times a day but it could. I find I get sated on 200-300 (healthy) calories if I really pay attention to my body, so I eat more than 3 times a day.

If you decide to eat more often for Crohns or whatever reasons, it's really not that hard. Eat half your usual breakfast and put half away for a few hours from now. Same for lunch and dinner.

geekyjock76 · June 2012

The reason why there isn't any difference between eating smaller meals more frequently vs larger, fewer meals has to do with the thermic effect of food - energy utilized to absorb and process food. If you eat the same food and amount of calories in 7 small meals, you can draw a graph and you'll get many small peaks which represent the thermic effect of food value. The second day you can eat 3 large meals of the same food and calories and the graph will display much higher peaks with higher thermic effect of food values. At the end of the day, the total daily thermic effect of food is the exact same regardless of which approach you follow.

Try both approaches, and if one allows you to live with Crohn's more comfortably, then opt for that one.

Q: How to get to 5 small meals a day?

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