3 meals / 6 meals?

ntlbell

I can understand if you're working out and trying to gain muscle mass that eating 6 meals a day would be a good idea, but if you're primary goal is to lose a lot of weight is 6 meals the right way to go?

I've always been under the impression that "3 square meals a day" is the right thing to do big breakfast biggish lunch and a light dinner no food after 8.

So is this 6 meals only for people looking to build up muscle? is it to stop cravings during the 3 main meals? is there anything wrong in just having 3 meals? with maybe a bit of fruit in between each main meal?

Cheers

Killme00

For weight loss and fat burning, its better to keep the fire buring all day long. Therefore 6 meals spread throughout the day makes more sense.

aye

Eating 6 small, protein-rich meals - spaced 2 to 3 hours apart - is a way to keep your metabolism going strong and to ensure that your energy levels remain constant throughout the day.

eating 3 big meals, means that your metabolism will slow down between meals.
also the body can only process so many carbs in a meal, which is why you can feel tired after a big starchy meal (i think).

the problem is actually managing to eat 6 meals a day.

Dr4gul4

The theory behind 6 meals a day is that you split out you're calorie requirement minus 10 - 20% so you loose weight.

Of course it's hardly that simple, If you under-eat for a long time you're body will get used to taking in very little food therefor it conserves more,however if you jump up to you're required daily allowance you will gain weight !!!!

The simple truth is if you eat more you keep you're metabolism working which will cause you're body to then use up the stored bf you are carrying as you are on a deficit of you're daily calorie allowance.

Thats a bit long winded, im sure there easier way to explain it...

mack1

Yes - There is huge benefit to eating 6 times a day even if losing fat is your goal, smaller portions spread out throughout the day keep your metabolism in check, stops you snacking on junk etc etc.

I would even go as far as to say that it is one of the most important first steps to make, along with cutting out junk and doing some exercise. i noticed a huge difference when I started doing it and I have not had 3 meals in a day in years!

ntlbell

All right makes a lot of sense.

So if my daily calorie consumption is around 1500/1600 calories

I divide this up by 6 and make 6 meals of around 250 cals?

What is the best way to work out what amount of cals is in something?

E.g.. if cook 6 oz of steak from the butcher with two spuds mashed and some veg how do you work the cal intake of each meal?

Hanley

ntlbell wrote: »

All right makes a lot of sense.

So if my daily calorie consumption is around 1500/1600 calories

I divide this up by 6 and make 6 meals of around 250 cals?

What is the best way to work out what amount of cals is in something?

E.g.. if cook 6 oz of steak from the butcher with two spuds mashed and some veg how do you work the cal intake of each meal?

fitday.com

These are meant to be good too http://www.amazon.co.uk/Salter-1400-Nutritional-Scale-Silver/dp/B0007MTN1I

Killme00

ntlbell wrote: »

All right makes a lot of sense.

So if my daily calorie consumption is around 1500/1600 calories

I divide this up by 6 and make 6 meals of around 250 cals?

That seems very low. You should work out what your recommended daily cals should be and take off 5-10%. If you want to lose weight you should do it gradually not drastically. You will be more likely to stick to it and you will put on less weight when you do eventually up your intake again.

Hanley

Killme00 wrote: »

That seems very low. You should work out what your recommended daily cals should be and take off 5-10%. If you want to lose weight you should do it gradually not drastically. You will be more likely to stick to it and you will put on less weight when you do eventually up your intake again.

Depending on weight and height it could be right. If she was 5' and 60ish kg it'd be pretty accurate.

ntlbell

Killme00 wrote: »

That seems very low. You should work out what your recommended daily cals should be and take off 5-10%. If you want to lose weight you should do it gradually not drastically. You will be more likely to stick to it and you will put on less weight when you do eventually up your intake again.

Yeah I made a bit of dodgey calculation, it's more like 2050

Killme00

You should read this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054886861

especially this part

g'em wrote: »

1) So.. first off you need to figure out your resting metabolic rate (RMR) or the calories your body requires just to exist if you were lying down for 24 hours:

Age Men
10-18 (body weight (kg) * 17.5) + 651
19-30 (bw (kg) * 15.3) + 679
31-60 (bw (kg) * 11.6) + 879

Age Women
10-18 (bw (kg) * 12.2) + 746
19-30 (bw (kg) * 14.7) + 496
31-60 (bw (kg) * 8.7) + 829

e.g for me, a 72kg 26 yo female its (72*14.7) +496 = 1554

2) Then calculate your lifestyle daily energy needs:

Activity level
mostly seated or standing RMR * 1.4
regular walking or equivalent RMR * 1.7
generally physically active RMR * 2.0

again for me its 1554 * 1.4 = 2176

3) Then estimate your daily exercise expenditure by working out how much exercise you do a week and divide by seven for an average daily value:
Weekly I do 4 hours of weights = approx 1536 cals
2 hours low intensity cardio = 600 cals
2 hours high intensity cario = 1200 cals
Total = 3336 / 7 = 477 cals

So add that to my daily energy needs.. 2176 + 477 = 2653

My maintenance calorie needs every day are 2653 cals/ day.

For weight loss: I need to reduce my calories by about 15% a day:
2653 * 0.85 = 2255 cals/ day

For weight gain: Increase your calorie intake by 20%:
2653 * 1.2 = 3184

Of course most importantly, make sure you meet your calorie needs from nurittious healthy sources. If you need help with that.. well see here

Hope thats of help

ntlbell

yeah i had read it that's where i got the calorie count from once i used the proper math