According to Psychology Today, at any point in time, 56 percent of women 25 to 45 years old are dieting. Most diets consist of reducing calories and exercising regularly. In some cases, though, this routine will only steer you down a frustrated, hungry road to failure.
The truth is, without proper nutrition, your body has no energy for exercise let alone energy to fuel your daily routine. You may see better results by doing the opposite of what most diet fads recommend and eating five or six healthy meals daily to achieve your weight loss goals.
Keep Up Your Metabolism
Boosting your metabolism is one of the keys to loosing weight. Metabolism helps your body burn unneeded fat. Eating three large meals daily leaves hours in between meals, when your metabolism starts to slow. This reduces your body's ability to burn the maximum amount of fat. When you eat five or six healthy meals daily, or every three hours, it keeps your metabolism rate up, enabling your body to burn those unwanted calories all day without the lulls
Effects of Hunger
Eating five or six meals daily also makes you feel satiated, or full and content. Your stomach releases acid throughout the day to digest food, but if there is no food, it can cause the stomach to contract, prompting hunger pangs. Without eating routinely, your blood glucose levels may fall out of control, which can also cause hunger pangs. When this starts to occur, your body thinks it's starving and goes into survival mode, storing fat instead of burning it.
Overeating
Eating five or six small meals daily will also prevent overeating or gorging yourself at any one time. Eating only three meals a day leaves a lot of time for hunger to strike, which can lead to unhealthy snacking. Smaller meals that are spaced three hours apart keep you from becoming too hungry and therefore less likely to break down and grab donuts or head for a drive-through window.
The Thermic Effect
The thermic effect refers to how much fat is burned during digestion. Harder-to-digest food uses more energy, and with more energy being used, more fat is burned. Eating small, frequent meals that have high thermic levels keeps your body burning more fat throughout the day as opposed to those with low thermic levels, which use a minimal amount to digest.
Protein-filled foods such as chicken and vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower have some of the highest thermic levels.
Healthy Choices
To maximize weight loss when eating smaller, more frequent meals, select foods that will leave you satisfied in place of sugary snacks that will leave you hungry. Lean meats such as chicken, fish and nuts provide energy. Fruits and veggies, whole grains and low-fat dairy will keep you feeling full. Eating frequent and healthy meals not only prevents you from overeating but also gives your body proper nutrition to carry you through your day and still have enough energy for an afternoon workout.
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