How many of you are breaking your calories into 5-6 mini meals and if you are having greater success with that compared to eating larger meals, but the same calories?

My 18 y/o son seemed to have great success with the 5-6 meal plan and it really seemed to change his metabolism long term. He was chunky for years until he did this. Since then (2 years ago) he now eats a bunch of food and rarely watches his food intake and doesn't gain.

I am using this method now, but it's only been a couple of months, so I can't really judge it's success for myself long term.

I'm just interested to hear others ideas on the subject.

Cindy T

Im not sure how much it helps with my metabolism, but i eat as often as possible. 6 or so times a day. I dont like the feeling of being hungry so eating small meals throughout the day helps me to stay satisfied. I know when i get hungry is when i tend to binge and then throuw off my progress.

I don't really eat mini "meals" but I do snack. I'm ambivalent about it. It does seems to help with the hunger sometimes, and I really enjoy some of those snacks. At the same time, I've lived long parts of my life without snacks and not been starving between meals. It's certainly easier in some ways not to have to worry about planning / bringing snacks all the time. I'm sticking with the snacks for now, but I don't know if for always.

i just joined today and hopefully i will learn alot here and do this right! i think im going to just snack all day long... i dont ever really eat Big Meals... so a buncha small ones is more for ME...

Me. I tend to have larger dinners, but mostly the rest in the middle is about the same. I know I need a snack in the morning and a snack in the midafternoon and even room for a possible snack in the evening, or I'll get really hungry and overeat at meals.

Usually I have (as an average):
Breakfast - 250 cals
Snack - 150 cals
Lunch - 250 cals
Snack - 150 cals
Snack - 150 cals
Dinner - 450 cals
Snack - 150 cals

.

I have been eating 3 meals a day and maybe one snack of less than 200 calories if I need it. I like to be hungry (but not ravenous) before my meals and full (pleasantly, NOT stuffed) after. To me, it seems more natural than eating before you are hungry.

That said, while I was purposefully losing (up to when I hit 119, since 120 was my original goal), I ate 5-6 small meals.

I naturally eat 4-5 times a day, so I'm not sure if it's helping or not, but I'm having success (30 pounds in the last 54 days!) but I think calorie shifting is helping even more

I eat 6 times a day, 3 meals, 3 snacks, that is not the same as 6 meals a day.This keeps you from getting so ravenous that you will eat anything that doesn't move.I eat about every 3 hours.

I have to eat between meals or I'd never make it! I split my calories this way:

Breakfast = 350 cal
Lunch = 300 cal
Snack = 250 cal
Dinner = 400 cal
Sanck = 200 cal

Thank you all for answering. When I first started this, I had a difficult time remembering to eat. Then I had a hard time because I was suddenly starving all the time, watching the clock until it was time to eat again, but now I've settled in quite nicely and am happy and not hungry. I tend to eat small meals through the day, then dinner is a bit more, like 300-350 calories. I usually eat a 100 calorie bag of popcorn sometime after dinner.

Funny, I did Atkins for 18 months a few years ago and never snacked. When I went off of Atkins and was busy gaining my weight back, I still didn't snack. I guess I had gotten out of the habit. One really good habit I changed while on Atkins was tasting and nibbling while I cook. I had to still cook dinners for my family and many times they were carby, so I couldn't taste. It's a habit I never started up again.

Keep up the great work everyone!!

Cindy T

Three meals and three snacks for me here. I never used to eat during the day (I consumed almost all of my calories from dinner on!) so this is new for me. I like it a lot though