Does anyone else here question the wisdom of eating 5-6 small meals a day?

Lately it seems that everywhere that there's diet advice, people are recommending that we eat 5-6 small meals a day rather than the old-fashioned square 3.  I'm not challenging the effectiveness of this new advice, but sometimes I wonder if it's for everyone.  I tried following it for quite a long time but lately I've been finding I eat much better if I eat 3-4 meals a day.  I don't have to do all the planning and fussing over my meals that I do with all the extra snacks, fussing that also seems to make me want to give up my diet altogether.  It's seems to me that getting hung up on this advice might make it a lot more difficult for some people to plan meals and follow through on their diets effectively.  Since I started eating 3 meals, eating seems so much more carefree, yet still healthful.  Any thoughts on this?

It seems to work better for some people, but if it's not working for you then.... do what works.

I think for many people waiting until they are *hungry* at meal time often means they overindulge at those times.  

Eating small meals throughout the day help to  keep them from getting that feeling of gnawing hunger that makes people go overboard.

I think it depends on you, and also where you are in your weight loss. 3 meals worked for me when I had 30 lbs to lose. I have maybe 10lbs (at most) and really I'm pretty good where I'm at but I'm shedding body fat now for bikini season ;). That means 6-7 meals a day... but then again it also depends on where your at. If you're serious about weight loss and body fat then you'd probably do the 6-7 and make the effort. If you're looking for the easy way then just do whatever feels easy and see if it works :)

What I do is, the night before my gym day i make a little extra dinner so i can bring a little extra to work for lunch.. i half that up and eat it as a "snack" then i'll have my lunch, then i'll have my fruit and later dinner.. so its like.. 7am breakfest, 10am lunch snack, 1pm lunch, 4pm snack on fruit, 7pm dinner, around 8pm gym, 9/10 pm depending on how long im there.. a small snack like maybe a hard boiled egg and a slice of wheat bread.

On days that i don't go to the gym i tend to just snack on fruit and a yogart instead of halving my lunch.. the point is to keep tricking your metabolism to keep running throughout the day.

At first it was very hard for me to do it.. i was so used to eating 3 big meals a day sometimes only 2 meals.. i would skip breakfest lol.. but now thats like my favorite meal! anyways.. goodluck!

It's certainly the only option for me. I wouldn't want to eat 3 600 calorie meals of the type of food I eat. I'd have to prepare huge plates of food each time (600 calories is a lot without many carbs).

And my 3000 calorie days.. that would be pretty impossible.

I do 3 meals + 4 snacks.

the snacks are all 100-150 cals, so I have a choice of snacks without having to re-add my cals for the day.

this works best for me because if I go 3-4 hours, I'm STARVING. I snack and that keeps my numbers in line way better. Plus, if I eat a big meal it stretches my stomach, so i'm hungrier faster. Small meals + snacks keeps it small and it fills up faster.

But like everyone said, theres success stories from both sides so whatever works best for you is what you should do!

After much experimenting, I've found that I do better on 3 meals and 1 substantial snack in the evening.  Stopping for six little meals is just too much trouble since I have to prepare from scratch to avoid sodium.

It took me a long time to figure this out.  I think everyone has to arrive at what works for them and what's sustainable for life.  I can see myself eating this way forever, only increasing to maintenance calories when I reach my goal.

My pattern is much like yours, Clairelaine. I'm too busy during the day to constantly stop to eat. Plus, I really don't get hungry until mealtimes.I also tend to think that a big part of what makes us obese is not allowing ourselves to get hungry. We need to be in tune with our body's hunger signals and eat when we're hungry. Just my opinion...

It varies from person to person. I tried, and I CAN'T eat three meals a day. Just not happening. But I have breakfast at 7:30ish, larger morning snack 10:30sih, lunch 1:00ish, small afternoon snack 2:30ish (because I get off at 3:30 and there just isn't enough time to get home and have a snack before dinner, but if I don't I will snack while I cook and overeat) and dinner whenever it's done. But then there are some times that I've found if I eat a larger breakfast (especially eggs), that I'm not hungry again until after lunch.

You just have to fit in what you're going to eat in the time that you have/want to eat. I pack all the food I'm going to eat for the day and bring it to work, and I eat when I get hungry. So maybe I eat a HUGE breakfast and then I don't eat until lunch, or I eat just a little for breakfast and snack the whole day. In any case, I still eat the same amount of food, just spread out differently. Go ahead and do what works for you -- whatever works, works.

It's completely different for everyone. I choose 5-6 minis bc I love to snack.  Do what is best for you. I wish I could be fine with 3-4, bc planning ahead and running around looking for tupperware can be a pain in the ass sometimes (it's worth it though).

I can't go with the mini meals - i never feel satisfied and wind up fighting (and usually losing) a binge at night even if I have the same # of calories as I do w/three full meals.  I just try and keep fruit and light string cheese on hand to pop some mini snacks in there -

The hardest part of losing weight is to change your eating habits without feeling like it's a chore.  Do what works for you and what you can maintain in the long run.

I do much better with three meals.  Usually a big meal, and two smaller ones.  It was just too hard to eat 5-7 times a day because I never felt satisfied.

Not every bit of diet advice applies for everyone.  Don't be afraid to experiment and see what way of eating works for you.

I have to eat 3 meals a day instead of 5-6 because I take a medication that cannot be taken with any food on my stomach, three times a day.  My calorie allowance is 1800 (it's been working so far) so I try to fill that with 3 filling, good cal meals.  I go small to large (breakfast to dinner).  This has been working for me...lost almost 20lbs since the beginning of April.  Do what feels best for you...honestly I don't think it makes that much difference in the long run (other people may disagree, but that's MHO).

i believe some people do better on 3 meals, lose weight and are healthy.

As others have said it depends on what works for you.  Besides helping quell an errant hunger, there is no real benefit eating 6 meals over 3. 

Personally, I do really well on 6 small "meals" a day.  But I have always eaten this way.  My mom would get so frustrated with me because I would eat just a little at meal times and be hungry 2 hours later. 

When my mom and I get together for a meal - I am always last one done and will have eaten half of what is on my plate.  My mom will clean her plate to the last crumb.  Though I think she only eats when I see her - about once a week  lol

5 to 6 meals a day is really only designed for those who are extremely physically active and its because their body is constantly burning up their food supplies and their metabolism runs so fat that they need constant food to keep their energy levels up.

Personally I wouldn't eat this often as it would make me quite ill but on the days that I am really active I do up it to 4 meals for the day and just cut my portion size down accordingly.

disagree - the many meals is what MAKES my metabolism go up. If I ever get hungry and don't eat, that's when my body starts the slow down. So i eat when I'm hungry. I'm no giant athlete. I just have to feed my body when it wants, so it will keep burning and not saving.

I agree with crazydiamondchrysalis.  I eat every 2-3 hours because I know it's good for my metabolism.  When you eat throughout the day is keeps your metabolism constanting working to burn what you've eaten.  If you go long hours without eating your metabolism will drop.  It may not working for everyone but I eat like Kashi granola bars and yogurt with fruit as snacks and it works out great...I recommend the 5-6 meals a day for sure!

I HAVE to eat 5-6 times a day.

I wake up around 8am. I go to sleep around 11 or 12 at night. If I only ate three meals, I'd be eating about every five hours... I only eat 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day so I'd have to eat three 400 calorie meals.

Frankly, it would just make me worse.

So I eat 100-300 calories meals/snacks every two to three hours. Some days I slip up and eat 1,500 calories in one day, but I do a bit of exercising so it doesn't matter. Another reason why it doesn't matter? 5-6 meals a day keeps my metabolism burning. A few hundred calories over my limit once or twice a week doesn't matter because it'll burn off much quicker than it would if I only ate three meals a day.

Plus, knowing I have a little bit of food coming just when I start to get hungry is the best feeling ever. I can tell myself "Just a while longer, an hour isn't so bad!"... As compared to "Oh, I can't eat for another four hours, I'm STARVING!". =P

If it works for you, though, great.  Do what works.