In my 16 months of health & wellness coaching, I have found that the one thing my clients have the hardest time with is breaking out of the mold of 3 square meals a day.
I will admit, I felt this way at first too. I was raised to believe that we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.. Never after 7pm.. And so on. But that’s just not how it’s supposed to be! Our bodies are meant to be fed every 2-3 hours (so yes, 5-6 times a day or so). After about 4 hours, our body goes into fat storage mode. Which is what most of us don’t want.
Think of our metabolism as a fire. We must continually fuel that fire to keep it going, right? Same idea. We must continually fuel our metabolism to keep it going (and to speed it up).
For many people, it sounds like a lot of food and eating, and in their head, they tell themselves they’re eating too much. But you see, they’re smaller meals. 3 meals, 2-3 snacks. If you’re doing it correctly, you’re still staying within your caloric intake, but boosting your metabolism. We are not meant to feel starved! Even if you are not hungry, if it’s been 3 hours, eat something. I don’t care if it’s half a protein bar. NOT eating will actually hurt you more. Plus, by doing this, we don’t allow ourselves to become starving (and therefore eat everything in sight).
I eat 6-7 times a day, and I lost 55.6 lbs in 8 months. Before that, when I was 188, I was eating twice a day. That’s it. We just have to get out of the mindset of 3 big meals a day, and a lot of us will be much better off. 🙂
lyndsinreallife
Thanks babe! Very well put! Eating every couple hours is so so so important! Especially if you’re working out or do some kind of job that’s strenuous or on your feet a lot or if you are ALIVE! 🙂
The link between good nutrition and healthy weight, reduced chronic disease risk, and overall health is too important to ignore.
So true Arie!