How many times a day do you eat?

I have 3 "square" meals a day, no snacks at all. I've heard that you should eat more times a day to get your metabolism going but I'm not hungry at other times. Should I eat even if I'm not hungry?

Wed. Feb 7, 11:11am

I eat several times a day. 150 cal breakfast, 500 cal lunch, 300 cal dinner and then 100 cal snacks in between.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 11:16 AM

I try to eat more, smaller meals

I break up breaskfast into a little before my work out and a little after
I break up lunch into two meals, soup around noon, half a sandwich around 1:30-2:00
Diiner is generally one meal, but definitely a snack later in the evening.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 11:30 AM

During the week, I tend to eat smaller meals throughout the day. On the weekends were I often have bigger meals, I don't snack.

My opinion is that if you are not hungry don't eat. It is the overall amount of calories you consume that matter. If you can stay within your desired calorie range with the 3 meals, stay with that. The eating more often helps some people who are trying to lower there calorie intake not get hungry. There is not enough of an increase in your metabolism by eating 5 vs. 3 meals to worry about.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 11:47 AM

About 5 times a day:
Breakfast, about 300 calories
Lunch, about 200-300 calories
Afternoon snack, about 100 calories
Dinner, about 500-700 calories
Evening snack, about 100-150 calories

Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 12:11 PM

If I'm not paying attention, I only eat twice a day. I say sometimes, you have to eat even when you're not feeling hungry. I can get so busy I don't even realise I haven't eaten in 7 hours- that's NOT a good thing. So if you haven't eaten for 4 hours, pull out a ziploc of veggies, and try to eat a few- if you really can't stomach it, ok fine, but if you notice your body is craving fuel, then eat.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 12:26 PM

I eat either 5 or 6 times a day most days. My doctor recommending doing that, so my blood sugar stays about the same all day. I can't go too long without eatting.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 12:39 PM

i eat roughly 4 meals a day (sometimes 5)-I try to get 1700-1800 cals a day so If i'm too low or too high at some meals, I plan accordingly the rest of the day.

breakfast-300-400
snack-100-250
dinner-600-800
snack-100-250

Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 1:51 PM

I like to eat at the first signs of hunger or even before I get hungry, because if I let it get too bad, I can justify eating a massive amount of food. I've been known to create that scenario on purpose (it's called "hoarding" in the world of eating behavior terminology).

Breakfast 250-300 calories
Lunch 450-550 calories
Snack (fruit or salad, milk) 100-150 calories
Dinner 450 calories
Snack (fruit or lite ice cream) 100-150 calories

Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 3:31 PM

I agree on eating at the first signs of hunger or even before hunger. I make better choices if I'm not hungry.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 5:16 PM

They say you should eat smaller meals more often, but I am with you....I eat 3 meals and no snacks. Reading some of these comments, one mistake I am seeing, is your breakfast and lunch meals should have more calories than your dinner meal. You will burn the calories during the day more so than after your evening meal.

Saturday, February 17, 2007, 10:00 AM

I eat:
breakfast around 7:30am (200-300 calories)
morning snack around 10am (100-200 calories)
lunch around 12:30pm (300-450 calories)
afternoon snack around 4pm (100-200 calories)
Dinner around 7pm (300-500 calories)
Another small snack (if i have calories left) after the gym (50-150 calories)

Up to 1,600 calories per day.

Sunday, February 18, 2007, 8:53 AM

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