Posted by Steve in Your Questions | 9 Comments
How many times a day should you be eating?
I received an email question last week from a reader asking:
“How many times a day should I be eating?, Is there a set number that is best for weight loss? How often do you eat?”
Ok it was 3 questions, but here is the best answer I could come up with.
I don’t think that there is 1 specific eating schedule that is best for weight loss. It really depends on the individual and how they deal with the hunger in between meals. I’ve found that the longer I go between meals the more likely I am to go off course and eat something I’ll regret later.
I’ve heard a lot of people say that your body goes into “Starvation Mode” after 5-6 hours without eating. I personally don’t believe that is true. Starvation mode is when your body starts to store energy (fat) in anticipation of an extended period without food. I don’t think 6 hours qualifies.
Now your body will start to slip into fat storing mode if your overall daily calorie intake is constantly too low. I would say anything under 1000 calories per day can be dangerous and will probably prevent you from losing weight. (Well fat anyway)
A popular way of eating is 5-6 smaller meals a day. The theory is that it keeps your energy levels steady and you end up burning off the calories more evenly throughout the day, meaning there is nothing left to store as fat. This makes sense for me and it’s what I am currently doing.
Right now I am eating every 3 hours with a glass of water or 2 in between meals. I find that at the end of 3 hours I am hungry enough to eat but not too hungry that I will abandon my plan and overeat.
Here is a sample of my day.
-Wake-up and workout 6am-7am
-Breakfast 7am
-Mid-morning Snack 10am
-Lunch 1pm
-Midday Snack 4pm
-Dinner 6:30/7:00pm
-Post workout snack on weight training days 10pm
The bottom line is that unless you are really looking to add some serious muscle, it doesn’t really matter what kind of eating schedule you employ. As long as you are comfortable between your meals and don’t overeat at those meals you should be ok.
A couple of tips to keep in mind:
1. Always have a post workout recovery snack that includes some protein and carbs. Chocolate Milk is a great choice.
2. Watch your portion sizes, some meals can have well over 1000 calories.
3. Breakfast, Breakfast, Breakfast you heard this over and over again. Just eat something early in the morning and call it breakfast, so I can stop preaching it please 
If you have a question you’d like answered just send me an email. Please remember to include your name/site if you would like me to include it in the post.
When I was on Jenny Craig I ate 3 normal (meaning comparatively small to what I was used to) meals and had 3 snacks too, so basically I was eating 6 times a day.
Like you said, it kept me fed enough so that when it was time to eat I didn’t eat everything inside the house.
I know plenty of people who swear by not eating at all for the entire day and then they eat one meal at night. I try not to argue with them too hard since everyone is different. They mostly seem just as healthy as everyone else, so how can I really argue? What works for one doesn’t necessarily work for another.
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For me, it’s usually between 3 and 5 meals a day. I never skip any of the 3 main meals, but I’ll add morning and mid-afternoon snacks only if I’m hungry (I won’t eat a snack just ‘because it’s snack time’, that is). Said snacks mostly being fruits anyway. As long as I’ve already planned my meals, being hungry doesn’t cause me to make wrong choices anymore… and I must admit that I simply don’t like snacking, in fact. But 3 meals is definitely my minimum. I never go under that.
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Lorelei,
I also know people who do the 1 meal a day thing. You can talk to them until you’re blue in the face and like you said they seem healthy enough so you can’t really tell them their way is unhealthy.
If it works for them that’s all that matters.
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Kery,
3 meals has always been my minimum too. Since switching to 6 meals a day though I can’t make it through the day on only 3 meals.
I usually crash and burn if I just have fruit as a snack, it has the same effect as a chocolate bar. For me anyway.
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I think that it’s different for everyone. My stomach can’t handle six meals a day because if I do, I’m unable to eat dinner.
Thanks for sharing your daily routine.
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Thanks for the comment Catherine.
Six meals can be a bit much at times, like you said everyone is different.
I’ve found that 5-6 meals a day fits my routine and it has really helps keep the weight off.
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Amen to the breakfast thing! Couldn’t live without it. I generally just go for a banana and an apple though, and plenty of water to shake that night time dehydration.
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I used to train in the evening at home and never eat breakfast those days, because I was to tired after exercising and I would get up at about 11AM – going straight to lunch. You can guess that this led to something – in my case – problems with my stomach. And the first lesson that I had to learn was that breakfast is mandatory – doesn’t even matter if you lift or not. Funny though the way you marked this in your post.
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I’m sold
) +1
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