eating small meals all day

toast and peanut butter, or yogurt or soy milk and granola, and decaf black tea for breakfast.

snack might be toast or banana and pb, or cottage cheese and a piece of fruit, something like that, or a luna bar or something like that.

lunch is a salad with a can of tuna or some kind of meat, or leftovers (stew, fish, last week it was rice and chicken), sometimes fruit but usually i have a piece of dark chocolate if i don't have a carb i might eat some chips.

snack ditto.

dinner looks like lunch but often features noodles. tonight i am having noodles and broccoli with pesto i made the other day, parmesan cheese.

i've been told by a professional that i don't eat enough. i drink water all day.

The "small meals" thing is a "your mileage will vary" option. Some people find it keeps their energy up and aids in weight loss. Some people prefer three squares, some three plus a snack. If you are maintaining or moving towards a healthy weight, not hungry, and getting all your nutrients, do what feels right.

well, that's the thing. i used to do just fine on 3 squares, but then i was told to eat more so i added snacks. then i don't want to eat as much for lunch and dinner. i was just wondering if anybody else had a transition period to a new way of eating or if this is a signal that it isn't a good idea for me.

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Edited by AcesFull 2006-09-29 10:43 AM

i know that problem... the more i eat the more often i'm hungry... which is kind of weird i think.. i was told i don't eat enough so i started breaking down the 3 meals into smaller portions and ate more often... by now my stomach is screaming for food every other hour... i have more energy for the workouts, but i'm not really losing a lot of weight anymore... so what's more important? weightloss or good workouts? good question... i have no clue what to do right now..

transition. and your body gets used to eating more often, so yes, you will experience hunger more often. it is a strange sensation when you are used to 3 squares though! you will avoid dips in your blood sugar and keep your metabolism revved up if you eat every 2-3 hours.

give it some time. it gets better.

Refined carbs such as chips, sugars, refined flour (including noodles made from refined flour), etc are poison for me...metabolically a chip, noodle or piece of refined bread converts immediately to glucose and sends your pancreas into overdrive...you're doing the right thing by eating smaller and more frequent meals but try to stick to whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean meats and fruits. I've been eating this way for 3 years and have lost almost 100 lbs and have kept it off...Frankp

Consider adding more protein to your diet. Protein is harder for your body to digest, and usually gives you a fuller feeling for longer periods of time. Carb heavy meals or snacks never seem to fill me up. Protein bars or shakes make pretty good snacks, and some type of lean meat should also be in your meals.

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Not sure if this will help...but here is what I posted on another forum. This is how I eat small meals all day. I'm never starving.

I will try to give you an idea of what I eat. I actually log all my food... and I wish I could just do a copy/paste of my days! HA! I log my food on [url]www.sparkpeople.com, you might want to check it out.

A little information about me and my dietary needs:

I am a 15 year-vegetarian.

My body burns 1600 calories a day, this is my RMR (resting metabolic rate).

I am 5'4" and 125 pounds with 25% body fat.

I have currently been eating 1600-1800 calories a day, because I was up to 130 pounds- and I needed to lose a few pounds.

I exercise 5-6 days a week on average.


Here is a typical day:

BREAKFAST, 8:00 AM-
2 slices of Sara Lee Delightful Wheat bread (YUMMY!)- 90 calories
3 slices of veggie bacon - 90 calories
2 slices of FF American cheese (It's good cheese!)- 60 calories

SNACK, 10:00 AM-
Quaker Instant Oatmeal- Brown maple sugar- Low Sugar- 160 calories

LUNCH, 12:30 PM-
A frozen low fat/calorie meal- around 300-400 calories

SNACK, 2:30 PM-
2 String 'ems Mozzeralla Cheese - 140 calories
1 Lite and Fit Smoothie- 70 calories
1 Kashi Trail Mix bar- 140 calories

SNACK, 5:00 PM-
A health bar- Luna/Mojo bar/etc. - 180 to 200 calories

DINNER, 8:00 PM-
A frozen low fat/calorie meal- around 300-400 calories


Here is a great dinner as well, that is easy to make and low calorie!
Have a bowl of soup. You can get a large serving of soup for 200 calories.

Make a grilled cheese:
2 slices of Sara Lee Delightful Bread- 90 calories
"I can't believe it's butter" Spray - 0 calories
2 slices of FF American Cheese- 60 calories

TOTAL FOR THE MEAL: 350 calories and very filling!


The key to your healthy eating is picking the foods that stick with you. For example, I use to eat a bagel at 10:00 AM, but I would quickly get dizzy and hungry. So, it was a wasted 300 calories. I found that my 160 calorie bag of oatmeal filled me up more and stuck with me fine through my AM workout and until lunch.

Also try to drink a LARGE glass of water when you feel hungry. Oddly it helps with the hunger pains.

Try to only eat ONE cheat meal a week! Learn how many calories are in all the foods you eat.

It's so easy to eat too many calories, when you don't look up the calories. [url]www.calorieking.com has the most comprehensive food list I have ever found.

You can easily look up food for just about all restaurants too. So, if you are going out to eat, you can plan your meal ahead of time. It's harder to cheat when you walk in with a plan.

really. if this is in response to my posting of my diet, i am surprised that you missed the fresh fruit, the salad at lunch and the broccoli mentioned at dinner. or did you just want to be snide? personally, i would never consider eating as much processed food as the person who posted earlier. and what i find interesting isn't that i am hungry all day eating what i eat, it is that i am hungry all day WHEN I SPLIT UP EVERYTHING I EAT INTO SMALLER MEALS, or adding snacks. if i eat 3 meals i only really ever get hungry in the middle of the morning. my diet is not 'nutritionally devoid' but thank you for the shocking information that eating nutritious foods would help me lose weight. gosh. i'll have to try that.

Edited by serena36 2006-10-23 3:40 PM

I graze all day. Because I do, I now can't stand the "too full feeling" I get from eating a "normal" meal. For example, my husband and I went to brunch on Sunday and I had a filet mignon and eggs. The plate came with potatoes as well. The filet was probably 4-5 oz. I ate the filet had a few bites of the scrambled eggs and perhaps two bites of the fried spuds. I WAS MISERABLE that afternoon. It was too much for me at one sitting.

So I guess this is my long way of saying that you do get used to it. But I can't tell you why, exactly I started eating this way. It wasn't a conscious decision. I guess it started when I quit working and could graze all day. Give it a few more weeks, and if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for you.

I know this is only the experience of one person, but I've found that once you cut out sweets, they lose their appeal. Same with most frozen food. Scratch that, same with lots of food. We haven't ordered pizza in a long, long time just because I can't remember the last time I had a good pizza. None of this was a decision to deny myself, I just found I lost the taste for some of my formerly favorite food groups.

this is definitely something i am finding. i went out to dinner with some friends (who are both thin, but not athletic) and they ate almost all the 3 baskets of chips (it was mexican) and all of their meals. i really couldn't believe they could keep eating. i took 1/2 the main home and left some of the sides, and did eat a few chips. but i just didn't want to eat that much, and getting that full makes me feel sick now too. when we go out for breakfast, which is an occaisional treat, i get the senior meal. but i don't really eat out that often.

so, what i need now is to get into new habits which is hard. but, one thing that is working for me is that i used to have granola and yogurt for breakfast. for the past couple of weeks i have had yogurt (plain, sweetened with agave syrup) and a piece of fruit when i wake up. then a couple hours later i have toast and peanut butter or something. i think my tummy is adjusting to this now. but i haven't been working out as much since i crashed my bike a week ago so i'll have to see if my energy stays up this week. i'm also taking out the luna bars and such since they have too many ingredients. going to apples and pb. processed food is easier when you are as uninspired to cook as me. i just need to shop differently to have the stuff in the fridge ready and available. or, you know, a personal chef.

Serena, I am definitely not the poster child for clean eating, so if I say what works for me, if you want to, you can kick my to the curb!

My breakfast generally is leftover protein from the night before. If we have braised chicken thighs, noodles and green beans for dinner, I'll probably have a chicken thigh for breakfast. I don't overthink any of this. Portions rule. I'll probably eat a 3 oz loin lamb chop for bfast tomorrow.

I eat a lot of sushi and I consider it good luck pre- and post-swim. Our secret!

A mid-day snack might be olives or almonds. Or low-fat cottage cheese. And cheeseburgers always taste great. I just cut one in half and eat that because I know that a whole one makes me miserable.

Just find whatever works for you.

BUT, just quit worrying about what you're putting in your mouth. You're smart. You'll figure out what works best for you. I've never overeaten more than when I spent every moment wondering what I was going to eat next.

Just me.

thanks lynda. that's the thing. i am trying to eat real food in reasonable amounts. but everybody has a different opinion about what and how you should eat. like the guy who posted earlier in this thread or the woman who is the vegetarian. both diets sound crazy to me but it works for them so that's great for them. so this thread was more a question about if people had to adjust, if i am the only one who has digestive issues or if it is a common transitional kind of thing. and maybe, in the end, i really am just a freak of nature. easier to do a triathlon at 390lbs than to lose weight. i'm sure it is also just going to be slow for me since i am not willing to go on some crazy diet to lose weight and risk my health (anyone who challenges that you can weigh as much as me and be healthy can call my doctor). so please, please, please, to anyone else out there who wants to give me diet advice, don't. if you have supportive comments like 'hang in there and it will get better, because what happened to you happened to me' that would be welcome.

p.s. i live for sushi