Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Meal Sizes and Frequency


Meal sizes and frequency are very important. Over the years people are amazed by how much food I eat at work in a day and part of this can probably be explained by decent genetics but more importantly I make sure that I have a higher metabolism by eating more smaller meals.

Most people will eat Breakfast lunch and dinner or even less often as in the case of my parents where the only real meals are breakfast and dinner. I on the other hand eat at 7:30, 10:00 12:00 3:00 5:30 and 8:00. I have been eating six times a day for years. My only large meal is dinner the other feedings are smaller snacks even lunch and breakfast.

There are a few reasons to eat small meals often:

  • One reason to eat a smaller meal is that your body can not metabolize as much food as the average North American eats so some is wasted and some is stored as fat.
  • Secondly, if you go a long time between meals your body stores food as fat to get you between meals when your blood sugar drops.
  • Thirdly, you blood sugar will fluctuate a lot during the day if you have a big meal then a long break and then another meal and you will feel your energy constantly going up and down.
  • Fourthly, you can really vary what you eat and enjoy food more when you do not have four or five things to eat at a time.

Here is a sample of what my day will have for food:

7:30 Bagel and Natural Peanut Butter
10:00 Apple, protein bar, coke
12:00 Frozen lunch entrée or leftovers from last nights dinner
3:00 banana, chocolate bar and a granola bar
5:30 a regular dinner, Meat, vegetables and maybe desert
8:00 popcorn or fruit

You will notice that this is not the best diet, I really have some work to do still but the meals are spaced and the sizes are smaller.

One of the most important ways to look at food and meals is that you should eat six meals a day and each of these meals should have about 30 grams of protein and 50 grams of carbohydrates. This kind of meal is important as it will give you the energy you need to get through a great day including a hard workout. With a meal this size as well you should not gain weight and you should not waste any protein, your body can assimilate this much protein every three hours or so.

Related Blogs

  • Related Blogs on Banana
Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

3 Day Diet


3 Day DietThere has been a diet floating around for many years called the 3 day diet. It is crap and promises a 10 pound weight loss but is in truth a lie. I have thought a bit about this and decided to come up with my own 3 day diet.

Why Use a 3 Day Diet?

Have you ever thought of going on a 3 day diet? I was just surfing around and found that there are people looking for something of a short diet. If you were to do a three day diet I fear that you would not lose a lot of weight but you would have an opportunity to get in better shape by eating better and concentrating on some of those fundamentals of good eating and good metabolism tricks.

So here are some ideas that I have for how to do a 3 day diet.

First as you get up in the morning on the first day remember that you will be trying to do a couple of things. You will be looking to space out your eating for the entire 3 day diet and you will be looking to improve your water intake to help fill you up.

3 Day Diet Step 1 – Eating

First thing to do is to drink a lot of water. In the 3 day diet you will likely be drinking three or four times as much water as you are used to drinking. This morning you will drink three glasses of water and no food yet. This extra water intake will mean that you are going to peeing a lor more often than you are used to but that is ok as well, your body needs to relearn how to regulate hydration better.

Most people say that you should have a good breakfast to start the day. I have to agree that this is a good idea although having food first thing is not a very good idea as your body is not ready to understand hunger yet, especially after drinking all of that water. You can use the same strategy as me and wait 30 to 60 minutes until your body has really started to churn through that water and then my favorite breakfast is to eat a pack of instant apple and cinnamon oatmeal and then a banana. I know this seems like a small breakfast but that is part of the trick.

As you go through this three day diet you will find that you are eating probably the same amount of food but spaced throughout the day so each meal will seem small and you will not feel hungry because you get to keep eating often.

3 Day Diet Step 2 – Eat Often

Most people on the regular north american diet will eat one or two giant meals and another small one. This is a terrible way to treat your body, it can’t use those giant meals very well and your blood sugar is being shot up and then dropped down again. We should call regular eating the wrestling diet since it seems to being your blood sugar up off the top rope and then bodyslams it to the mat below. In your 3 day diet you will be eating a lot better than this with a bunch of small meals that will keep your blood sugar balanced.

So on my 3 day diet you will be eating at 8:00, 10:00, Noon, 3:00, 5:00, and 8:00

I will not tell you exactly what to eat as that would not be fair. What I suggest is that all of your meals should have some protein, some fat and some carbs and should satisfy you without making you full. The first day will be very difficult as you will be so worried about eating small meals that you may eat a bit much and then a couple hours later you will not be hungry but will still be eating.

So since this may be a radical departure for you I have just a few rules to make the 3 day diet work better and be easier.

1. No meal can be big. Dinner is as big as breakfast which is as big as a mid afternoon snack.

2. Eat at least 5 pieces of fruit or servings of vegetables in a day

3. Drink a large glass of water 30 minutes before each of your meals

4. Eat some kind of serving of meat 2 to 3 times a day. If you are a vegetarian then just make sure that you are eating lots of protein based foods often every day

5. Write down your foods everyday and then in the evening journal your victories as well as your mistakes and how you want to eat better the next day

Serving Sizes on a 3 Day Diet

After your third day of this 3 day diet you are going to find that you are not scared of your serving sizes anymore and you are also going to feel a lot better. There is a great improvement in health, concentration, energy, and attitude when you are drinking more and self regulating your blood sugar. The other great thing about this kind of diet is that you are going to be able to improve your metabolism as your body will not fear that it will be close to starvation at any point of the day.

I hope that after you have tried this three day diet that you will go ahead and start it right away again. This in not just a good idea for three days but instead this 3 day diet is a great way to change your lifestyle for the better.

Related Blogs

  • Related Blogs on 60 Minutes
Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Pepper Steak Over Rice

Last night’s dinner is one of my favorites! I use the sauce from PW’s recipe and marinate with (ribbye) steak. I cook the peppers and onions in 1T sesame oil until tender. Remove from pan. Add steak + sauce to skillet with 1 C. chicken broth (low sodium) and let cook until meat is done. Add vegetables back in. Cook for about 5 minutes. Serve over rice. (Oh! I also use white wine instead of sherry.)

It tastes just like it’s from a chinese restaurant, but a lot better. I calculated the pepper steak alone at about 350 calories per serving (makes 4 total) plus 160 for 3/4 C rice. Served with salad and viniagrette dressing a a little feta; Total calories: 580

For the day: 1,690

I did not earn my sticker yesterday because I didn’t exercise. After dinner, I worked on more projects and just passed out in the bed. I know. Today I am going to exercise before dinner. I notice that exercise really helps me with depression, I feel so much better and clear after a workout.

I’m feeling dehydrated so far today and am working on lowering my sodium intake for the day. So far I’ve only had 1/2 a banana and 1 C of orange juice, plus lots of water.

I’ll be back this evening with my food post and exercise report. Have a wonderful day!

Related Blogs

  • Related Blogs on fat