number of meals
- Thread starter kariev
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morningstar
Cathlete
Depends which day you're referring to - if it was yesterday, oh, I think I had about 25 meals!
On a more reasonable day, I eat 5 times - 3 meals, 2 snacks. It helps me not be hungry so I make better choices. Usually, anyway.....
On a more reasonable day, I eat 5 times - 3 meals, 2 snacks. It helps me not be hungry so I make better choices. Usually, anyway.....
Zozo
Cathlete
I've read that eating lots of little meals is the best, but personally I can't do it. It's supposed to keep your metabolism up, but i'm not sure...If it is supposed to make you make better choices, then I'd just choose however many your prefer. I don't snack, I like to treat myself at meals, 3 times a day, but I have read somehwere that this is not the best approach.
Sorrry.. that wasn't much help!
Sorrry.. that wasn't much help!
Govtgirl
Cathlete
This is me too...I like to treat myself to a nice meal, and will even save my calories for dinner if I know I'm going to have something extra yummy! I don't think our metabolisms are so sensitive that going 4 or even 14 hours sometimes without food will make it spiral downwards.
I follow my instincts and go by how I like to eat. I don't adhere to what "they" say is best. Next year they will come out with another study that will say the exact opposite anyway!
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Zozo
Cathlete
That's a lovely post
thank you I too save my calories up for the evening.. it's nice to suffer and then treat yourself! he he.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that loves to 'save' up the eating occasions xxx
i feel the same way but i keep reading how we are supposed to eat mini meals so i get confused about what i should be doing. i guess i just need to do whats best for me.
Govtgirl
Cathlete
But, no matter what you read from one "expert", you can always find another to dispute it. You just have to go on what works for you.
A few months ago I got a lecture and a finger-wagging from the nurse at the doctor's office about how I should be eating 6 meals a day, that skipping breakfast wasn't good for me, and so on. It was sort of hard to pay much attention, since she was easily a good 30 pounds overweight. I'm not overweight.
Also, I firmly beleive that all the hype about how we must snack and eat all day long was driven by the food industry so they could sell more. How else to explain the surge of protein bars and shakes, 100-calorie snack sizes, and even "4th-meal" deals at fast-food places. Of course, it hasn't made Americans any thinner, as a population we are fatter than ever. It's easy to underestimate the calories at each mini-meal....do it by 50 calories, and a year later you are 30 pounds heavier.
The more meals Americans are urged to eat, the more food they will eat, and the more money the food companies make. They do have a sort of obvious incentive!
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morningstar
Cathlete
Well, the vast majority of those people are not following a mini-meal diet. They are having snacks on top of regular-sized meals.
kathryn
Cathlete
I agree.
Though research has shown that those who eat their calories in fewer meals (same amount of calories, but broken down differently) live longer (as per Dr. Fuhrman). This is probably because the longer break between meals allows the body time to devote its energies to things like cleaning up aberant cells that could become cancer, for example.
Govtgirl
Cathlete
Oh, I agree! Most Americans nowadays have such a warped idea about what a proper meal and a true serving size is. The monstrous serving sizes in restaurants and fast-food joint are what's to blame, I think (like Cheesecake Factory...yikes--and yummy!)
In my personal experience, eating 1800 calories a day, whether all-at-once, three meals, or 6 mini-meals all means the same thing: I maintain my weight nicely. It's the 1800 calories that's doing it, not the timing. I just prefer 3 (or less) meals a day.
hiitdogs
Cathlete
Couldn't agree more!
After all it was another "expert" who sent me on my way to obesity with the "meal plan" they put me on because they thought I was gaining weight too fast with my second son. I had gained weight at the same rate in Germany with my first pregnancy and no one gave a hoot, 3 months after my 1st son's birth it was all gone.
With my second son I was sent to a dietican by the finger-wagging OB/GYN and lectured by the clinical dietician that I needed to eat 6 times a day, needed to have breakfast and needed to add protein. That worked real well - NOT! Gave me nothing but constant hunger pangs and sent my weight soaring.
And since I am obviously a little slow learning I continued listening to the "experts" and countless diets, eating programs and 5 nutritionists later I had ballooned from 130 lbs to over 270 lbs - Welcome to America
It wasn't until I stopped listening to the experts and did what felt right to me that I shed 125 lbs. I don't count calories, I don't obsess about food, I eat when I am hungry, one day I may eat 2 times and the other day 7 times, I don't have a plan, I just eat unprocessed food, mostly plant based food and raw and I have never felt better.
I think Michael Pollan said it best: Eat food, mostly plants, not too much!
Govtgirl
Cathlete
Wow, that's amazing. Seriously, that's one hard core accomplishment.
I'm 48 and it has taken me waaaaaay too long to realize how much I screwed myself up when I was in my 20's and 30's listening to experts. Do what is logical, feels right, and makes sense to you.
I mean, if eating and food were all that complicated and our bodies so fragile, our species would have died out hundreds of thousands of years ago. Somehow we muddled through, eating when we found food, and tummies rumbling when we didn't. And we're still here. Funny thing how we did all that without the experts!
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Wow, that's amazing. Seriously, that's one hard core accomplishment.
I'm 48 and it has taken me waaaaaay too long to realize how much I screwed myself up when I was in my 20's and 30's listening to experts. Do what is logical, feels right, and makes sense to you.
I mean, if eating and food were all that complicated and our bodies so fragile, our species would have died out hundreds of thousands of years ago. Somehow we muddled through, eating when we found food, and tummies rumbling when we didn't. And we're still here. Funny thing how we did all that without the experts!
your so right. i'm still trying to learn how to listen to my own hunger cues as my signals are messed up from listening to the experts and eating by the clock. i'm going to stick with my 3 meals a day b/c it works for me.
Stebby
Cathlete
I'm another one who does best on 3 meals a day. I tried 6 mini-meals, but 300-calorie "meals" just don't do it for me - I felt I was preparing food & eating food all the time, I got gassy and bloated because my stomach was never fully empty, and I developed food obsessions - at the same time, I never felt satisfied. Oh yeah, and I went above 300 calories often enough that I gained weight doing this. My body works the best when I have a reasonable amount of food (say, 500-600 calories) so that I'm comfortably full but not stuffed, then let myself get hungry before I have another meal.
Stebby
Stebby
Connie07
Cathlete
I agree 100%! As someone with digestive disorders, eating just because its "time" caused me a lot of unnecessary discomfort. I feel so much better by eating when I'm hungry. I"m getting really fed up with so called "experts" and think we can do so much better by listening to our body and doing what works for each of us. I"m stopped reading so much info on when/what/how much to eat. This has saved me lots of headaches and tummy aches!