How often should you eat to lose weight?

Posted on 28 September, 2016

Do you remember watching the diet infomercials in the 90s? I do.

I vividly remember one in particular. It launched the revolutionary concept (at the time) of eating six small meals a day to lose weight. I remember watching beautiful, toned bodies, with big, hair-spray-teased hair and high cut bikinis laughing around a campfire as the voice over guy outlined the merits of an eating pattern that would ‘fire up your metabolism’. Your new metabolism would be so fast and raging, it would be like throwing cheesecake on a bonfire. The testimonials came thick and fast.

Man with ripped abs: “Oh man, since I’ve been following this diet, the fat is just melting off me. I just eat every 2-3 hours and so long as I keep my metabolism high, I can eat whatever I want!”

Woman with very tanned skin: “I can’t believe I’m on a diet where I can eat cake and still lose weight! It’s like a dream!”

And so spawned the era of the perils of ‘starvation mode’ and ‘not letting yourself get too hungry’. All we had to do (apparently) was snack ourselves thin.

The problem with diets like this and all the other ‘labeled’ eating patterns out there (often peddled by celebrities and heavy marketing budgets) is that they lead us to believe that their way is the only way to achieve the results that we want.

The truth is, healthy eating isn’t so black and white. If you want to eat six meals a day and it’s easy for you to eat six meals a day and you can create six healthy meals a day with no problems, then you should eat like that.

If you’d prefer not to eat six meals per day, because you don’t have time to eat six meals a day and you don’t want to create six meals a day in lots of plastic containers – then that’s ok too. Because you don’t have to.

How often you eat has very little to do with whether you successfully lose weight or not. Eating more frequently does slightly elevate your metabolism. Slightly. But not so much that you shouldn’t eat any other way.

In the end, weight loss is the result of consistently sticking to an eating pattern that decreases your energy intake significantly enough to cause your body to start burning its stored fat. This could be three meals a day or it could be six. The best diet for you is the one that you can stick to the easiest.

I actually like eating four meals per day. If I were a celebrity and just about to publish a new book, I’d call my eating pattern, The Four Phase System.

I’d make up some science sounding jargon, like: ‘The first phase is all about waking up my metabolism with a protein and carbohydrate pairing. I then repeat this phasing again three hours later, to emphasise the gut response from the first phase. The third phase is all about food loading. I make this meal as large as possible to trick my body into satisfaction for the whole day, which mobilises my fat stores into the afternoon. The evening is a special pairing of protein and vegetables and often contains aioli. This special phase gets my body ready for fat burning as I head to bed…’ There you go! I just created a fad diet! No stealing. I plan to make millions from this bad boy!

But seriously, here’s what you need to know about how frequently you should actually eat:

Nourishment

Aim to use each time you eat as an opportunity for nourishment. Whether you’re creating a whole meal or just a snack, try to include a nutrient-rich, minimally processed food. Think vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes, meat, poultry, eggs, seafood and dairy.

Volume

Create meals that will help you feel full and satisfied on lower amounts of energy. These are generally meals rich in vegetables. Check out my latest article about the calories in food for further information.

Awareness

When you get super hungry, you may be prone to making poor food choices. This doesn’t mean you need to be afraid of ‘going too long without food’, just be aware that when you get really hungry (or hangry) you may say something like: “Stuff it!” and forget your goals. Perhaps a small, planned snack can help you stay in control of your food choices.

Realistic

Overly restrictive diets can result in binge eating sessions. If you’re looking at losing weight but finding it difficult to stay consistent, particularly with feeling hungry or craving sugar in the later part of the day, you may need to readjust your approach.

The temptation for the quick fix is hard to resist, but if you can’t stick to the quick fix, you’ll spend weeks trying and failing, only to find yourself frustrated with your lack of results. Take a more realistic, long-term mindset to your weight loss.

Knowledge

The world of nutrition is super confusing and contradictory. Get advice from a qualified professional so you can feel confident moving forward with healthy food choices.

Check out this awesome event I’m running called the Experiential Session – Yoghurt Bar. It’s a fully catered dessert bar with fresh, locally made yoghurt, a whole foods buffet plus a 45-minute session with me all about healthy snacking! Check it out!