How Often Should I Eat???
How often should I eat ????? This is a question I hear quite often and really ties into my previous blog about calorie counting as well.
Ideally, you should be consuming 5 or 6 meals a day – 6 is the preferred number. If we assume you are awake for 15 hours a day and sleeping 9 hours, this means you should be eating every 2.5 hours to get in your six meals.
If your caloric intake is 2500 calories per day (as an example) this means you should be consuming 416 calories at every sitting. Ideally your earlier meals will be slightly higher and you will decrease a few calories over the course of a day, but we won’t bother getting into that right know and just stick to the basics. It takes about 2 hours for your body to digest a meal, which is why every 2.5 hours is the ideal time to eat. If you are a light sleeper and only get in 6 hours a night, then you should be adding in an extra meal.
Like you Mother used to tell you, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. If you go to bed at 10pm and have just had your last meal and then wake up at 7am you have already gone 9 hours without eating. Say you skip breakfast and then don’t eat until lunch – you have now gone 14 hours without eating. For those trying to make changes (either bulk or cut) this is disastrous. By going so many hours without eating you will have done two things; #1 - enter a catabolic state whereby your body will essentially use your muscle to provide energy to the body, thus losing muscle and #2 – enter into a ‘starvation response’ where you body has no idea when the next meal is coming, so it essentially holds onto fat to use for future use. So whether your intention is to gain weight or lose it, when you don’t eat you are hampering your potential results. The starvation response and catabolic state actually kick in after as little as 3 to 4 hours, which is another reason why eating every 2.5 – 3 hours is ideal – to fend off the negative responses of the lack of food in your system.
Every meal should contain a healthy portion of protein, carbs and fats – try to adhere to the 40 – 40 – 20 rule when it comes to you caloric make-up of each meal. Stick to the basics when it comes to your meals as well; oatmeal, sweet potato, brown rice, fish, chicken, green veggies, etc.
In addition, eating more frequently will help to control cravings and binging because you are getting healthy meals more frequently. Your insulin and sugar levels remain more constant as opposed to having a ‘spiking’ effect by eating poorly and infrequently – which again often leads to binging and the craving for carbs. This constant flow of food also will help to maintain energy levels throughout the day.
Unfortunately, nobody said losing weight or gaining it is easy, otherwise we would all look like sculpted Greek gods. It is hard work in the gym and even harder work in the kitchen. It requires planning your diet ahead of time, doing meal prep every night for the next day, packing your food in tupperwares, finding time in your schedule to eat, and so on. It is said that 80% of your success comes down to what you do in the kitchen and that is very true. Ask any successful competitor or individual who has had a great transformation and they will echo the same sentiments; diet prep, planning and control are key.
In summary, you need to eat to lose weight, just as badly as you need to eat to gain weight. It is a matter of being smart about it by ensuring you are making healthy choices, planning out your meals and ensuring you are eating according to your plan.
That’s it for now – please let me know if you liked or disliked this blog or have any questions or feedback.
And remember; eat clean, lift hard and Step Beyond!!!!!!
