Ding, ding, ding... how many times a day to eat? I just read some article where a celebrity would set her alarm on her phone every three hours to remind her to eat. All sorts of diets recommend this saying it keeps the metabolism revved up. However it just seems strange to constantly be eating, so for me three meals is what I like, and maybe a snack. How many meals do you eat? Three or more?

On weekdays, I eat 7 times a day: Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, two afternoon snacks, dinner, and dessert.

On weekends, I usually eat 4 times - brunch, snack, dinner, dessert.

I eat 4 or 5 times a day depending on time and availability to my food.

Snacking is popular these days, but if it's not for you, that's OK. The French style is meals with no snacking in between, and that works too. You have to be open-minded to new ideas, but also figure out what works for you.

three to six, depending on how often I get hungry.

3 meals and 3 snacks.

I started out with the 3 meals, 3 snacks.

I'm now discovering that I need an even more substantial morning snack - I eat a good breakfast (~7am), but I always seem very hungry by about 10:30, no matter what I have for breakfast.

On the other hand, I'm realizing I don't think I need the afternoon snack (lunch ~1, dinner ~7). Go figure.

My after dinner snack was never very substantial. I don't eat any earlier than 6:30 and usually a bit later than that, and I go to bed by 10 (sometimes earlier!). So my after dinner snack is almost always just a piece of fruit and/or square (occasionally two) of dark chocolate. It's really more like dessert. Sometimes right after dinner, sometimes more like 9pm. I really enjoy that "snack," and I don't miss "real" dessert a bit during the week.

I don't think there's any right answer, it's whatever works for the individual. I like the celebrity that had to be "reminded" to eat, heh My stomach reminds me nicely when it's mealtime!

For the record, I eat at 7, 10, 12, 3, 5 and 7 (3 meals + 3 snacks).

I eat 5 or 6 times a day. Breakfast 7:30, Snack 10:30, Lunch 12:30, Snack 3:30, Dinner around 6:00...and some days a small snack around 8:30 or so.
My meals are small...almost never over 400 calories and generally closer to 300. My snacks range from 100-250 calories. These days, in maintenance, I am aiming for around 1900-2000 calories a day, and I find that eating every few hours keeps my blood sugar up so I don't get hungry. It also makes it so I don't think about food all that much...eating is just something I do when it is time.

I've only been eating two meals and sometimes 1-2 snacks. It's not on purpose, it's just working out that way. If I were hungrier, I would be eating more often.

I honestly think that the only way to know how many times to eat a day is to pay attention to the sensations in your body. If you feel hungry, then I think that you should to eat. If you don't feel hungry, then don't eat. I think the popularity of eating small portions of food frequently throughout the day essentially comes from this ethos; that is, one of not constraining your body to be hungry only at traditional mealtimes and when society suggests is a sensible time to eat (breakfast, lunch and dinner).

When I am successfully losing weight, I allow my body to start to get a little hungry, and then I eat something. When I was putting on weight, I ate so frequently that I never had that sensation. Really, listening to your body and ignoring the clock is the way to go - whether that means you eat every three hours or stick to the traditional three meals a day.

For me, this is typically three meals a day with a small snack in the afternoon. The timing and size of these meals varies somewhat according to how hungry I am, what I'm doing and where I am, and of course, what I feel like eating.

Lately I've been skipping my morning snack - I find I just don't need it.

Right now on weekdays I eat:
Breakfast ~ Lunch ~ afternoon snack ~ pre-workout snack (sometimes) ~ post workout snack ~ dinner ~ snack

On weekends I eat:
Brunch ~ late lunch ~ snack ~ snack ~ dinner ~ sometimes dessert

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3 meals a day, and maybe sometimes a snack in the evening. I'm not a fan of eating several small meals a day, I go big or I go home!

I'm a work at home person, I get up late, don't eat breakfast until 9:30 or so, and I have been trying (if I remember) to do a morning snack like even v8 juice and almonds. But I think this grazing idea throughout the day does help, as then I don't build up the type of hunger to gorge, and that's when I stop at fast food. I just don't see how to eat 6-7 times a day like Clean EAting and other books say to do. Perhaps I will set my computer alarm though to remind me about my am snack or "booster" as some book called it - because we all need extra vegetables (I even bought myself a juicer to make juice myself) and a few almonds. I'm also moody, so eating snacks appears to help with blood sugar. This NOT eating to lose weight thing doesn't appear to work for moods.