How Many Meals Should You Eat For Weight Loss?
When it comes to losing weight, there is no magic number of meals you can eat each day to fast-track your progress. Ultimately, weight loss - and more importantly fat loss - comes from being in a caloric deficit consistently, but there is some research that shows eating a specific quantity of meals per day can help maintain that deficit. So what is the magic number? 5-6, the traditional 3, or 1-2 meals?
The Pros & Cons to 5-6 Small Meals Per Day
Think of your metabolism like a fire: It needs wood consistently to keep burning at a high rate. Your metabolism functions the same way - giving it a steady stream of nutritious food throughout the day will keep it burning at a higher rate, therefore burning more calories and resulting in weight loss. The con to this is many people find themselves hungrier when their metabolism increases, which leads to an increase in calorie consumption. The other thing to be mindful of is the portion sizes. When consuming 5-6 meals per day, they should be smaller meals to avoid overeating.
The Pros & Cons to 3 Traditional Meals Per Day
The age old standard of 3 meals per day - breakfast, lunch and dinner - can be effective for those trying to lose weight because it keeps their appetites regulated and avoids hunger between meals which often results in overeating. The cons for this traditional setup is for those who don’t find themselves hungry in the morning. When they force themselves to eat breakfast, they may still rely on late night snacking, therefore resulting in a higher caloric intake.
The Pros & Cons to 1-2 Meals per Day
Intermittent fasting has become extremely popular, with most people operating on a 16:8 fast, which means fasting for 16 hours (typically overnight) and eating for 8 hours of the day. This method suppresses appetites and decreases stomach capacity, which leads to a fuller feeling sooner and prevents overeating. Researchers at Harvard conducted a test where the test group had the same caloric intake, but half ate 6 small meals per day and the other half ate 2 large ones. They found that consuming 2 large meals was actually better at controlling body weight, blood sugar management and more.
The verdict: It really depends on what works for you! If eating 2 large meals per day leads to you being hungry, miserable, and sneaking snacks, try having 5-6 smaller meals. Ultimately, when you want to lose weight the most important thing is maintaining your caloric deficit and the quality/nutrients of the food you’re consuming.
If you’d like guidance on picking a strategy that works for you, schedule a FREE 30 minute consultation with me so we can discuss your goals and develop a customized plan just for you!