Fitness Challenge Nutrition Tip #6: Eat More Often
Today we are going to talk about the benefits of eating several small meals a day versus fewer large meals a day. Oftentimes people that are trying to lose weight will skip meals, thinking that because they are consuming fewer calories they are more likely to lose weight. A couple of things happened when you practice this mindset. First off, when you skip a meal your body goes into starvation mode. This basically means that your metabolism slows down and your body tries to retain every calorie it can, in the form of fat. So actually you will get the exact results you were trying to avoid. Secondly, when you skip meals your feeling of hunger is exaggerated. When this happens, the hunger can often offset your will power and you end up eating anything and everything put in front of you. At the end of the day you almost always will end up consuming more calories than you would have by eating smaller meals throughout the day.
Eating several small meals a day helps for a couple of important reasons. First off, it sends your body a clear signal to keep the metabolism moving fast because the next meal is just around the corner. Also, because there’s never a meal too far off, you never feel quite as hungry. Therefore you will be able to exercise better self-control and make better choices.
Remember, when we talk about a meal, were not referring to a three course banquet. We’re referring to breakfast lunch and dinner, just like you normally have (smaller portions of course) but then we’re adding two or three in between smaller meals. This might consist of and low-fat yogurt and an apple, maybe some carrot sticks and a handful of nuts, or perhaps a bowl of oatmeal and a banana.