Optimal eating hours for weight loss

Fractional nutrition is not a diet, not a treatment course, as it may seem. This is eating not according to the usual pattern - breakfast, lunch, dinner - but eating in small portions five to six times a day.

Fractional nutrition is not a diet, not a treatment course, as it may seem. This is eating not according to the usual pattern - breakfast, lunch, dinner - but eating in small portions five to six times a day

.
no more than four hours
pass between meals . At the same time, you can only change the composition of your diet towards a healthy diet. And there is absolutely no need to limit the consumption of any type of food.

How it works?

The main merit of fractional nutrition is the reduction of daily calorie consumption
.

The ABCs of healthy eating

20 simple statements about how to eat right will help you build a balanced diet for beauty and health.

If a significant amount of time passes between meals, special hormones are produced that stimulate appetite.
The more time has passed since the last meal, the more hormones there are and the stronger the appetite. And, accordingly, the more you will want to eat
at the first opportunity.
After all, a person usually overeats not because he needs everything that is on the table, but because he cannot stop. If you eat more often, appetite hormones will not have time to develop
, and you will not want to pounce on food.
Meanwhile, a constantly fed body, according to various sources, requires approximately 15 percent fewer calories
than an occasionally hungry body. This is another comfortable feature of fractional nutrition, which distinguishes it from radical diets: you eat less overall, but you don’t starve at all.

Recommendations

When organizing fractional meals, it is important to follow the principles outlined above. Recommendations will help you implement the system as comfortably and quickly as possible.

Basic

Following 5-6 meals a day will help:

• Reminders on your phone that will form a habit;
• break between meals 2-3 hours;
• the recommended serving size is 250-300 g. When you don’t have scales at hand, you can use your palm as a measuring tool;
• monitor the amount of calories and macronutrients you consume;
• Increasing physical activity through home workouts or gym classes will help you lose weight;
• compliance with the drinking regime.

It is advisable to limit the consumption of fast carbohydrates and sugars. Add foods containing fiber to ease the gastrointestinal tract and satisfy hunger.

For every meal

Tips for organizing portions throughout the day:

Are we losing weight?

A hungry body goes into “panic” and tries to store as much as possible in reserve
.
If you constantly feed it, you can “instill” in the system of regulation of fat metabolism that there is always food, and it is not necessary to make strategic reserves. With constantly maintained fractional meals, the absorption of nutrients is accelerated, and much less is deposited on the waist. In addition, with fractional meals it is easy to control
not only the volume of food eaten, but also the composition of the diet.
It is quite easy to exclude saturated fats and excess sugar from the diet - as components of a hearty meal of two or three dishes. But healthy vegetable oils will go great as a dressing for a snack salad. And finally, fiber-rich foods that are so often ignored will become in demand in the diet: vegetables, whole grain products, muesli. Not only will they keep you full until your next snack, but they will also create a suitable environment for digestive bacteria in your gut
.
The psychological aspect
also plays an important role . Knowing that the next meal is in just 3-4 hours, it is much easier for a person not to overeat in reserve.

Menu for the week

An indicative menu for maintaining fractional nutrition allows you to create a personal diet that is extended for a month or more.

The above table contains one of many options suitable for fractional meals. The plan is tailored to suit your taste preferences, diet and training goals. Serving size is determined by daily caloric intake.

Let's wake up!

Many people are probably familiar with the feeling of lethargy and drowsiness
after a heavy meal.
This is a completely natural state: the blood is sent for the long-awaited portion of nutrients to the intestines, leaving the brain, heart and muscles. Performance drops sharply, and the desire to move disappears. If you do not overload the body with dense food, its tone naturally increases, and it begins much more efficiently
.
In addition, split meals eliminate heavy dinners and problems with falling asleep on a full stomach, which allows you to fully rest during the night. And healthy sleep, according to scientists, is another way to prevent
excess weight gain.

How do we eat?

Fractional meals do not mean that you are allowed a three-course lunch with compote five to six times a day. And you shouldn’t call the chaotic absorption of everything during the day fractional nutrition. The energy value of the diet should remain at the level of daily requirements
.
The volume of food intake is quite simple to calculate. The serving should not exceed the size of a palm
or the volume of
a glass
.
In order to learn how to measure such a volume, you can get small bowls or saucers and measure portions with them. For snacks during the working day, small trays that are convenient to carry in your bag are suitable. It's better to start the day with a hot breakfast
.
Volume - as needed. Also don't forget about hot food for lunch and dinner. A hearty breakfast, as opposed to a traditional cup of coffee on the run, allows you to maintain a feeling of fullness for several hours, even if this breakfast happened at six in the morning. Between hot meals you can have a snack 2-3 times. Nothing new - in childhood we also had a second breakfast, an afternoon snack and a glass of milk at night. By the way, nutritionists recommend starting the day with dishes containing the maximum amount of carbohydrates
from the daily norm. And during the day and evening, try to eat foods containing proteins and fiber.

Advice from nutritionists

Here are the recommendations nutritionists give while following such a diet:

• Set realistic goals for yourself. Don't try to lose more than one kilogram in a week. Firstly, rapid weight loss is not very beneficial for the body, and secondly, unlike the results of strict diets, with slow weight loss the kilograms disappear forever.
• Get in the right mindset. Don’t worry too much if you couldn’t stand it and ate something harmful, fast food or candy. And, conversely, praise yourself even for small results.
• Find support from your loved ones. It will be much easier for you to stick to five meals a day if your family is with you.
• Choose a physical activity that you enjoy. Walk more.

It will be good if you keep a notebook to record and count the calories you eat per day. Such a notebook acts as a controlling and restraining factor when you see how much you have already eaten over the past day.

What are we eating?

It’s worth remembering right away that chips, chocolates, seeds and other nuts are not intended
.
They contain too much fat, and they don’t give you a feeling of fullness for long. Burger and any other fast food are not suitable as a hot dish for the same reason. Ideal foods for snacking
: grain bread or crispbread, vegetable and fruit salads, just snacking vegetables and fruits, low-fat cottage cheese, natural sugar-free yogurt, sugar-free cereals and muesli.
There are no secrets: it is enough to follow the principles of a healthy diet
and do not forget that the diet must contain vitamins, microelements and essential fatty acids in sufficient quantities.

5 meals a day for weight loss?

There is no scientific basis confirming the correctness of the theory of 5 meals a day, it is a myth. On the contrary, there are completely opposite studies - that the longer the interval between meals (this is called “hunger simulation”), the faster you lose weight.

Metabolism is a complex biochemical process (I’m using my own words now, this is not a popular science magazine) aimed at producing energy. And they tell you that it “accelerates” depending on the frequency of meals? As I write this, I understand that it even sounds stupid, but few people think about it. The next time someone advises you something like this with a smart look, ask them to justify it and listen to the “theory”))

No, people think twice when they give money to “gurus” and online trainers and get a 6-meal plan. I assure you that if you do not need to eat constantly for medical reasons, then such frequent eating will cause you difficulties. My opinion is that failures and setbacks on such nutrition plans, and as a result, loss of self-confidence, loss of motivation and, as a result, gaining new enormous weight from stress are largely the result of the imposition of constant unmotivated nutrition.

It is clear that we are designed quite wisely - we have a signaling system . We feel thirsty - we drink. If we want to go to the toilet, let's go (sorry). If we are hungry, we eat. We sweat - we cool down... Etc... Unmotivated eating (without desire, and therefore without the slightest pleasure) is the same nonsense as if we went to the toilet for hours, regardless of the contents of our bladder. I deliberately give such an absurd example, because there is a timer - at the same level of absurdity.

Eating 5 meals a day turns you into a constantly grazing sheep, thinking only about food.

When I described my diet on the 5 meals a day program, I noted how difficult it was for me to switch to 5 meals a day and in the end I convinced myself that it made sense, but I never understood what it was. As a result of eating on a timer, my life turned into a nightmare . I didn’t have time to have breakfast, answer email and do a little work - it’s time to have a snack. What is usually prescribed here? Almond? Rice cakes with nut butter? These breads taste like toilet paper, but oh well. Okay, we pushed it in, set a timer. Let's eat again! And here’s what’s interesting - when you start “grazing” like a sheep, you begin to not only concentrate on food, you begin to experience constant hunger. And now you can’t bear to wait for each subsequent meal. Sound familiar?

Psychological moment - you stop thinking in normal categories

Snacks?

The photo shows a completely typical report of someone “losing weight by 100%” - note that in addition to the main meals (although 5 meals a day blurs this concept, which completely knocks you out of any personal and social life), the person has obviously stocked up on snacks more than he planned. And this is all the time.

Now I’ll talk about who benefits from pushing the myth about 5 meals a day. Isn't this obvious? Of course, big business. A huge industry is profiting from this myth! Let's start with supplements and sports nutrition. I myself (dammit) am a simple woman, I really believed that I needed to drink protein shakes and supplements after workouts! This industry is based on the myth that if you don't eat constantly, you will "kill your metabolism" (next time you are told about "killed metabolism", ask what exactly that means) and lose muscle mass.

It also benefits the manufacturers of all those 6-meal cooler bags and containers (“the best way to push people away”). Of course, food delivery services are growing like mushrooms - of course, 5-meal (or 6-meal).

5 meals a day is big business

Let's look at the menu of one such service and try to understand why a person needs all this? What does this give him? Why does a person need a snack of salad with cabbage and celery? What about broccoli with green beans? Oh, yes - for the sake of fiber! But my goal is not to criticize someone’s food delivery service - after cabbage and celery with an apple, in an hour I’ll be ready to gobble up a jar of nut butter, but that’s not what I’m talking about. And about the business that serves this myth about 5 meals a day.

Scientific studies (not just hundreds, but thousands) find no evidence that, given the same caloric intake, there is any difference in whether these calories are divided into 3 meals or 6. There is no effect on “boosting metabolism” does not provide. How you distribute calories is up to you and depends on your life and eating habits.

The myth about eating 5 meals a day: why is it bad for weight loss?

Is eating 5 meals a day better for your metabolism than eating a healthy 3 meals a day? Let's find out! Because in fact, the truth is completely different. Eating 5 or 6 meals a day takes you away from the main goal of losing weight - burning fat.

• When you eat by the hour (2 or 3 snacks), you constantly release insulin, which forces the body to work in what is called the “absorption phase.” This means that the body stores sugar and prevents enzymes from burning fat. It's very simple - we all know that first of all the body uses the most accessible source of energy - sugar (carbohydrates) and lastly - fats. If you give your body new sources of sugar every two hours, it won't reach fat. The goal of losing weight is to move the body into a “post-absorptive phase,” where it begins to use the energy we store for survival—yes, that fat we hate so much!
• If you constantly eat, you easily lose control (I wrote about this above) over what you eat, become focused on food, often feel hungry, and overeat. I'm not even talking about the fact that snacks rarely contain normal combinations of macronutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates). I'm sure you have stories about how eating 5 meals a day sabotaged your weight loss efforts. Not to mention that all this is wildly exhausting and constricting in life.
• You feel unsatisfied. Research shows that people often feel hungry after small portions of food and do not feel full - this, of course, leads to overeating and breakdowns. Cultural and eating habits are also collapsing - people simply stop eating normal food and thinking in terms of meals. You no longer have lunch and dinner - you just need to bite.

Yes, I completed these programs twice – once for 12 weeks and the second time for 8. Yes, I lost weight, although it was incredibly difficult. Yes, the fat practically stood still (now I understand that it couldn’t go anywhere, it would be contrary to anatomy). It was incredibly difficult for me to fight hunger and I am against this use of willpower. In the very near future I will tell you about the 5:2 diet and about “simulated fasting” - this is where the future of dietetics and increasing life expectancy lies. In general, don’t listen to the advice of “gurus” about “accelerating your metabolism” anymore - this myth should remain in the 90s. There’s a time for everything – we’re not doing aerobics with Jane Fonda anymore!

PS Friends, I'm having a little trouble getting comment notifications, I'm working on it.

How to start?

First, decide for yourself why
you need to switch to fractional meals.
If a person does not feel hungry with three meals a day and is in good physical shape, split meals are not necessary for him. Fractional meals are also not suitable for those who want to lose weight in a week, since losing weight with this regimen gives a stable but slow result. Firstly, fractional nutrition does not imply a sudden change in diet or any restrictions other than the size of portions. Secondly, you need to get used to small portions and eating patterns, and this is not a matter of one day. Thirdly, with fractional meals, you can, of course, get rid of excess weight. But not in a week. After all, it takes time to accustom the body to burn the calories received, and not save them in reserve. Try starting on the weekend when you are at home
.
Of course, on the one hand, here it is, the refrigerator. On the other hand, no one will stop you from accurately measuring the portion and eating it on time. And don't try to keep a strictly regulated break between meals. For some it may be 4 hours, for others it may be 3. Find a regime that is comfortable for you and break your daily diet into smaller and more frequent portions. For those who are busy and overworked, there are reminder functions
on phones and computers that make it easier to measure the time between meals. And over time, you yourself will begin to feel hungry at the right time. Our experts advise writing down everything you eat during the day. This helps analyze nutrition and identify imbalances. Register on our website and get access to a food diary and other personal services.

Tags:

• Diet

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• aconithum On fractional feeding for 4 days. 1 kg gone! And this is before critical days, when fluid stagnation occurs in the body. The method works!
• iutinka I ate like this for a month, + fitness 3 times a week. It took a little kg, but I lost a lot of weight! But then she snapped. and now, after 3 months, I tuned in again. But by the way, I gained 1-2 kg.
• M_A_R_U_S_Y_A You need to come to this in your head. I finally got there. Today we begin the fight! No, not a struggle, but a new pleasant way of life. I realized that it was just some kind of food at any given time that forced the body to “Stock up”. Our body does not know what to expect from its owner every minute, so it gains kilos “just in case.” Good luck to all! Forward!
• cat123 Experienced, please share your approximate diet. I really need to lose weight, but as I get older it becomes more and more difficult.
• more111 She herself was forced to eat this way due to the appearance of a peptic ulcer. The body itself rebuilt itself, and a feeling of hunger often appeared. For me, the best snacks were vegetable salad with vegetable oil. with a piece of grain or rye bread. How tasty and healthy it is! When the ulcer healed, the salad remained tastier than any cake for me! The body was directly grateful to this, because... I felt better instantly!
• vasilevna54 And I want it this way, I’ll try to switch to fractional meals. I wish you all good health!
• mozgopraf In addition, losing weight quickly is extremely harmful (remember last year’s deaths of those losing weight) - faster than 2-4 kg per month. 2nd article about nutrition - about “eating”! Hunger can also be caused by stress. And the cause of stress is anything, and most importantly, it can be nothing.
• mozgopraf Complex carbohydrates (all grains, potatoes, pasta - preferably unprocessed) and meat give long-lasting satiety - for 4 hours. If your intake does not contain these components, then you can use snacks. The article says that there are diets with which you can quickly lose weight - but why? How will you live after losing weight?
• mozgopraf It is not easy to switch to this type of nutrition, because in people who eat rarely, but a lot, the stomach is greatly stretched (sometimes up to the small pelvis - the size of a bucket) and until the stomach contracts and you can get enough of small portions it can take up to 2- x weeks. During this period, you can eat a small amount of simple carbohydrates at the beginning of the meal - so that by the end it would be easier to feel full. Hot food really fills you up faster.
• mozgopraf is the main article about nutrition on this site! I responsibly declare that in Bormental they teach exactly the same principles. Only the composition of the daily diet is specified - by calorie content: 30% - meat, 30% complex carbohydrates, 40% - everything else - vegetables, fiber and whatever.
• MIG13 How much do you have to dislike yourself in order to throw at yourself what we throw at you???? The system is really very relevant, everything ingenious is simple, eat less, move more! AND LOVE YOURSELF!
• tkutsenko Tatyana. This is a very efficient system. I stuck to it for 3 years and lost 15 kg. I am 45 years old and weigh 55 kg. The system works, in my experience, under one condition: you need to eat less fat. And if you simplify everything to a primitive level, you need to eat less. We overeat monstrously.
• Camomile My analysis of what I have eaten is a shock. It seems like you’re trying to control yourself, but it turns out you’re throwing anything at yourself. This is actually a shock, at least for me. No wonder what hangs there and sticks out here...
• Azovskaya It’s possible to record. But how to analyze?

Benefits of fractional meals

By dividing your daily diet into small portions, you risk absolutely nothing - you are not depriving the body of nutrition, as happens with some strict types of diets? Diets that require strict restrictions with long breaks between meals very often lead to the opposite result - you often feel hungry, and the body, experiencing stress from this, begins to accumulate nutrients “in reserve”. As a result, adipose tissue accumulates, which is accompanied by excess weight gain. On the subject: How to give up sweets So, the positive aspects of split meals:

• improvement of metabolism;
• the food eaten is better absorbed;
• weight loss - loss of excess weight, of course, with fractional meals occurs more slowly than with other diets, but the weight is lost forever, and not just during the period of fasting;
• normalization of sleep - the body stops working “frantically” at night after a heavy dinner in an attempt to digest the food eaten; a person on a fractional diet sleeps more deeply, but wakes up easily and feels rested;
• the aesthetic appearance of the skin improves - with a gradual weight loss, the skin has time to shrink and does not sag, as happens with rapid weight loss.

Fractional meals go very well with sports, and are also suitable for people with many chronic diseases. However, the fractional nutrition menu in the latter case should be agreed upon with doctors.

About the existing disadvantages of fractional nutrition

Perhaps, fractional nutrition has only one major drawback - the need for a radical change in lifestyle. Not every person is able to train themselves to eat small portions. A big contribution to this is made by elementary laziness and the routine of preparing small portions of food - not every working person can devote time to this. So, when switching to fractional meals, you will have to make some efforts and work on yourself and your own laziness. Fortunately, there are now a sufficient number of catering establishments (restaurants, cafes). where you can find completely healthy food in small portions.

How to increase the efficiency of fractional nutrition?

In addition to eating small portions, you should acquire other healthy habits: start going to the gym or at least do gymnastics at home; optimize your diet so that there is a certain division of consumed foods - bread, meat and fruits are best consumed at different times of the day.

Fractional meals for weight loss - menu

When switching to fractional meals, it is advisable to create a menu for a certain period at once - for a month or at least for a week. This will help you manage your time more rationally and make the transition to a new eating rhythm easier. You can create a menu for fractional meals for weight loss for a month and never return to this issue, just by preparing dishes according to the menu. There are a huge number of fractional nutrition systems, including those compiled by medical specialists in nutritional support (nutrition specialists) - a person can only choose the one that he likes best. As an example, we will give just a few of them. Menu for split meals per day:

• Breakfast: oatmeal + green tea + pear.
• First snack: a glass of low-fat yogurt + a couple of peaches.
• Lunch: baked fish with a side dish of rice + vegetable salad in olive oil with the addition of flax seeds.
• Second snack: grated carrots flavored with a little honey.
• Dinner: boiled chicken in honey-orange marinade + boiled broccoli + green tea or compote.

Menu for split meals for the week: Monday:

• breakfast: cottage cheese casserole
• lunch: rice soup with green peas and squid;
• dinner: vegetable stew.

Tuesday:

• breakfast: millet porridge with a small amount of cottage cheese;
• lunch: baked meat with vegetables;
• dinner: boiled chicken breast with rice.

Wednesday:

• breakfast: omelette with vegetables;
• lunch: buckwheat casserole with fish;
• dinner: fish cutlets.

Thursday:

• breakfast: oatmeal with dried fruits and nuts;
• lunch: vegetable soup with chicken;
• dinner: stuffed zucchini.

Friday

• breakfast: cheesecakes;
• lunch: fish pudding;
• dinner: salmon fillet steak.