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Fat people often eat only 2 times a day, and sincerely do not understand why the weight does not move. Some people with this lifestyle even gain weight, especially if the second, last meal is in the evening. Let’s look at what the mistake is.
Why is eating rarely harmful?
The secret lies in the fact that the habit of eating less often, but a lot, makes you gain more calories than you would gain from several more frequent snacks, when you manage to maintain a constant feeling of fullness in the body.
It is known that hunger is directly related to blood sugar levels. If you rarely eat, your blood sugar drops, you feel unwell, fatigue and, as soon as the opportunity arises, you pounce on food to satisfy your hunger, and besides, you eat quickly enough. Since the feeling of fullness appears only 15-20 minutes after the start of a meal, you eat much more than you should, as you swallow the pieces.
Losing weight needs to try to maintain blood sugar at the same level throughout the day, to prevent severe hunger when sucking in the stomach. The metabolic rate slows down within 4-6 hours after eating. That is why when losing weight, it is important to eat often and in small portions, at least 4-6 times a day. And it would also be good to count calories while losing weight, so as not to overeat. Food must be chewed thoroughly, trying to eat slowly, this is important so that as little food as possible crawls into you before you feel full.
Which is better than 3 or 7 meals?
What kind of diet suits your lifestyle? Do you eat rarely and thoroughly, or a little, but often?
If you strive to lose weight and are familiar with well-known diets, then you probably know that many of them are designed for three meals a day. American nutritionists conducted an experiment: they offered those who want to lose weight, a seven-meal meal plan. At the same time, the portions were made very small. This method is used by wild animals, which, by the way, do not suffer from excess weight at all.
Of course, eating all day and losing weight at the same time is the dream of any girl. But how effective is it in reality? Below we offer you to compare the pros and cons of 2 food models: meals 7 times a day and meals 3 times a day.
Meals five to seven times a day
Of course, there is often and a little – that’s good. This way, you maintain your blood sugar levels and do not overeat from hunger.
Positive sides:
- with such frequent meals, efficiency increases. Your body is constantly energized by 5-7 meals a day. The result of this is cheerfulness, activity and high efficiency;
- with seven meals a day, they do not suffer from bouts of hunger. Eating this regularly throughout the day, at short intervals, helps to maintain normal blood sugar levels. As a result, there is no feeling of hunger and you will not be able to eat a lot at one time. This principle helps you lose weight if you eat apples as a snack. So you can develop indifference to sweets in your body;
- metabolism improves. This happens because the digestive organs are constantly working. As a result, much more calories are burned.
Negative sides:
- time frame. Sometimes it is difficult to observe such a diet, not every person manages to eat every two hours;
- fats are burned more slowly. Due to the fact that the insulin content in the blood is constantly increased, the process of burning fat in the cells becomes slower or practically stops altogether;
- you can overeat if the stomach is distended.
Meals three to four times a day
You do not starve for more than 3-4 hours, food comes in evenly, there is no overeating. These are the pluses, but what about the minuses?
Positive sides:
- fats are quickly burned. Insulin is not produced when food is digested. The lack of insulin in the blood leads to the fact that fat is not deposited, the body begins to burn previously accumulated fat deposits;
- good food control. With three meals a day, it’s easy to control the amount of calories you eat per day;
- hunger “by the clock”. The body gets used to a certain schedule, which is why hunger occurs every day at the same specific time.
Negative sides:
- if you do not eat for about 4 hours, then you suffer from bouts of hunger. You may sometimes want to eat ahead of time. This is due to the fact that when digesting food, a large amount of insulin is spent, therefore, its level in the blood drops;
- nutrients are absorbed worse. In the case when the body receives a lot of nutrients and useful substances from food at once, it often cannot use them in the best possible way.
To sum up
The three- or four-day meal model is suitable for those who are unable to control the amount of portion eaten at one time and cannot eat every 2 hours. The five-, seven-meal food model can be safely recommended to people who have an active lifestyle and who go in for sports. For those who want to constantly eat, you can also try to lose weight like this.
With any eating pattern, it is important to remember that your diet must be balanced. You need to eat often without overeating. Eat often vegetables, vegetable oils in moderation, protein and slow carbs, drink at least 2 liters of water per day, and do not fast for more than 3 hours in a row so that your blood sugar does not rise too much, causing the desire to eat fast carbs. For weight loss, it is much more important not to exceed your calorie content, and to eat 4 or 7 times a day – it’s up to you!