Eating six times a day...discuss

Lord Nikon

I have been told a few times that I should be eating six times a day.
Does anyone do this?
If so, what do you eat in the six times?

i can barely fit in 4 meals a day, never mind 6.

Dr.Feelgood

How is that possible??

You wouldnt be finished one meal/food before you'd have to begin preparing the next.

I have never heard of eating 6 times a day unless you're going for strong man/woman competition in Finland or something.

tman

6 small meals instead of 3-4 large ones :rolleyes:

Dr.Feelgood

Every 4 hours?

That would interrupt sleeping patterns.
Time table it out there-

Up at 6 eat
then at 10 eat
then 2 eat

then 6 eat
then 10 eat
then 2 eat?

I know my time table is wrong but i just wanna see the time frame, seriously. Doesnt seem logical. I understand small yeah no problem but 6 times?????

tman

i think you're supposed to eat more frequently during your normal waking hours...
*shrug*
i'm no dietician

LundiMardi

you don't have to eat every 4 hours.

6am - cerial etc etc blah

9am - fruit etc blah blah

12pm - sandwhich etc blah

2pm - fruit etc blah

5pm - pasta etc blah

7pm - toast etc blah.

Lord Nikon

LundiMardi wrote:

you don't have to eat every 4 hours.

6am - cerial etc etc blah

9am - fruit etc blah blah

12pm - sandwhich etc blah

2pm - fruit etc blah

5pm - pasta etc blah

7pm - toast etc blah.

Nice one, all I have to do now is get up a 6am. I guess I left out the fact that I work 12hour shifts, which messes things up rightly.

Mr E

I eat 6 times a day, no problem.

Meal 1: 8am
Meal 2: 10:30am
Meal 3: 12:30pm
Meal 4: 2:30pm
Meal 5: 5pm
Meal 6: 7pm

I eat 5 times a day when I do cardio in the morning (so my first meal is at 10am).

As a previous poster said, a meal isn't "Steak and spuds" every time. A meal (ideally) is one piece of carbohydrates and one piece of protein. So it can be a piece of fruit and some raw peanuts, or a chicken sandwich and brown bread, or some cereal and a protein shake.

Your metabolism is the rate at which your body converts food to energy (required by your organs to work at 100% efficiency). Eating 5-6 small meals (along with regular exercise) raises your metabolism. The faster your metabolism is, the more efficiently you burn calories (and less opportunity for your body to store fat). If you have a slow metabolism, your body is less efficient at burning calories, so it will be more likely to store fat.

LiamONeill

If it is inconvenient to eat 6 solid meals a day then have three meal replacment shakes on top of your normal three meals. That's what I do

eirebhoy

I just eat when I'm hungry. I'd have a breakfast, lunch, dinner and something at night. I'd also probably have a chicken sandwich or whatever in between those meals. So on average I'd have about 6 "meals" a day. I'm more underweight than overweight too. I mainly eat in the evenings. I had my dinner yesterday. About an hour later I put on some Pot noodles. Then I had a sandwich. I couldn't wait until I got a bit hungry so I could have a bowl of cornflakes before I went to bed.

DrIndy

eating 6 times a day is like eating 3 times a day so long as you eat half as much. It certainly helps you avoid the hunger pangs between meals normally that could drive you to gorging on junk food.

Does no harm - whatever you are comfortable with so long as it is 6 times with half the amount!

incisor71

DrIndy wrote:

eating 6 times a day is like eating 3 times a day so long as you eat half as much.

I can see the logic in the six small meals method insofar as one is grazing on food, rather than periodically gorging on it, and the "slow burn" effect results.

However, one logistic snag I can see with this is that it considerably increases the amount of time one has to spend preparing food, as well the increased frequency of eating it. My main meal, in the middle of the day, is my break from work, and I look forward to that, as well as the fact that it's a hot meal and it's handed to me (at a financial price, of course.)

I guess the extra food preparation time is ok if you don't mind spending an hour cooking in the eveningtimes, but not if it's the only spare hour left in the day when work, gym and commuting (to/from work and to/from gym) have eaten into the available waking hours.

(You guessed it, I'm in a very frustrated mood today.)

Keyzer

incisor71 wrote:

I can see the logic in the six small meals method insofar as one is grazing on food, rather than periodically gorging on it, and the "slow burn" effect results.

However, one logistic snag I can see with this is that it considerably increases the amount of time one has to spend preparing food, as well the increased frequency of eating it. My main meal, in the middle of the day, is my break from work, and I look forward to that, as well as the fact that it's a hot meal and it's handed to me (at a financial price, of course.)

I guess the extra food preparation time is ok if you don't mind spending an hour cooking in the eveningtimes, but not if it's the only spare hour left in the day when work, gym and commuting (to/from work and to/from gym) have eaten into the available waking hours.

(You guessed it, I'm in a very frustrated mood today.)

Like someone already said, its not 6 four course meals a day.
A meal could be a shake with fruit and whey protein plus some peanuts or something, which takes 2 mins max to make...

Anyone read the Abs Diet book? The author emphasises this practice over and over again. Instead of having 3 square meals it should be 6 smaller meals every 3 hours, of thereabouts. Eating this way has been proven to aid in fat loss and metabolism speed up..

incisor71

Keyzer wrote:

Like someone already said, its not 6 four course meals a day.

I clearly acknowledged that fact - I was alluding to the inconvenience of having to personally prepare every morsel of food that passes my lips. It exceeds the number of sacrifices involved in improving one's physical status than I'm currently prepared to make - and trying to make interesting meals myself rather than choosing from a carvery menu is one such sacrifice!

Time for a sacrifical review, I guess. Or a stronger mind.

Chucky the tree

eating 6 meals surely isnt a huge sacrifice? As has been pointed out, take a eal replacement drink if its that much hassle.

eirebhoy

I personally eat the equivalent of around 5 or 6 proper meals a day. My breakfast, lunch and dinner would add up to about 4 normal meals as I eat more than most people. People are shocked when they see what I have for breakfast. For my lunch today I had steak and chips, then an ice-cream desert. I have something like this every day as I get it free in work. That was at 2.00 and when I got home at 4.45 I was hungry again so had soup with 4 slices of bread to dip. Then had my dinner. Just an hour ago I had a bag of chips from the chipper and I'll probably have a large bowl of cornflakes before bed.

DrIndy

I am also someone who has a big metabolism and eat 3-4 enormous meals a day!

I think this is a good idea simply because they are planned meals, which defeat the hunger buzz between meals and thus you will not be tempted to junk food. You know what you are eating and know it is healthy as opposed to temptation.....

eirebhoy

DrIndy wrote:

I am also someone who has a big metabolism and eat 3-4 enormous meals a day!

I think this is a good idea simply because they are planned meals, which defeat the hunger buzz between meals and thus you will not be tempted to junk food. You know what you are eating and know it is healthy as opposed to temptation.....

No 4 meals, no matter how big, would be enough for me to stop eating between meals. I don't know how I'm only 12 stone, I haven't a clue where the food is going.

nathan

6 smaller size meals a day is pretty much the standard advice for keeping your energy levels more consistent through the day.It works pretty well once you get used to going to the trouble of eating that many times a day.Other benefits include less fat retention provided your last meal is not too close to when you go to bed.

poobum

tman wrote:

i think you're supposed to eat more frequently during your normal waking hours...
*shrug*
i'm no dietician

from what i no its cos its btr for your metabilism something about it being able to handle small meals btter and more frequently then big ones(i mite be wrong in this do)

incisor71

TmB wrote:

I eat 6 times a day, no problem.

Having conceded that it is indeed possible to have six half meals, would some of you good people be willing to post links to books with suitably sized (and healthy) recipes - or indeed links to other Boards posts pls?

I have zero creative capacity when it comes to food preparation, and tend to fall back on the same old same old if I'm not nudged firmly!

Thanks folks!

{Edit} As an aside, I've just ordered two books, "Food for Fitness" by Anita Bean and good ole' Mz. McKeith's "You are what you eat Cookbook", just to get a few ideas. Let's hope their respective nuggets of wisdom don't conflict too much.

madchef

6 small very small meals with only 2 of them containing about 5oz of meat between them.The rest shuld contain all roughage and SOME fibre.Too much on the old breakdown system. and on the ozone!!!!!!

incisor71

incisor71 wrote:

Having conceded that it is indeed possible to have six half meals, would some of you good people be willing to post links to books with suitably sized (and healthy) recipes - or indeed links to other Boards posts pls?

Quick update - I phased in the small meals eating regime early last week (11/07). Now, a standard "main" meal feels like too much for one sitting. I'm comfortably consuming 5-6 small meals per day, and I never feel hungry. The frequent sound of munching does raise eyebrows at work, though!

If I'm going for carvery lunch (and for a break from work during the day) I bring a plastic sealable lunchbox with me and eat half the food before sliding the remainder off the plate into the lunchbox for later consumption. This has become necessary since the hotel stopped serving half portions of main meals, and I see no valid reason for abandoning €5 worth of food each time!

DAEDULUS

eirebhoy wrote:

I personally eat the equivalent of around 5 or 6 proper meals a day. My breakfast, lunch and dinner would add up to about 4 normal meals as I eat more than most people. People are shocked when they see what I have for breakfast. For my lunch today I had steak and chips, then an ice-cream desert. I have something like this every day as I get it free in work. That was at 2.00 and when I got home at 4.45 I was hungry again so had soup with 4 slices of bread to dip. Then had my dinner. Just an hour ago I had a bag of chips from the chipper and I'll probably have a large bowl of cornflakes before bed.

thats not good lol,4big meals isnt as good as 6small regardless of them being equal in size...