Question:
I recently had an evaluation at my local gym. They told me to make sure to eat 4-5 small meals per day rather than 3 bigger ones, so I am trying to decrease amounts at dinner and add a walnut or some other healthy snack in between lunch and dinner, at least. What guidelines can you give me about when to eat and how much I should have at each meal?

Answer:

You received good advice about eating several small meals a day - however, there is more to it than that. Of course, it depends on how far you want to take it, but the best nutritional plan for a weight loss program is to eat every 3 - 4 hours, and to make all the meals of equal size and common composition.

For instance, each meal should contain a portion of carbs, a portion of protein, and some healthy fat. A portion is defined by the hand/fist method - the amount that will fit in your hand or that is the same size as your fist. Here's an example of how that might look in real life:

8:00 am - Meal 1: Srambled eggs (one whole egg plus three egg whites) and a single slice of whole grain toast. (One portion of protein [eggs] plus one portion of carbs [toast]. The fat is in the one egg yolk.)

11:00 am - Meal 2: Half a tuna salad sandwich (enough tuna to fill the palm of your hand) and an apple (apple should be about the size of your fist. If it's one of those huge apples, have only half.

2:00 pm - Meal 3: Have the other half of your sandwich, and a small yogurt. (Yogurt is considered a carb, because one serving doesn't have enough protein to make it count as a protein source.) Salad is good here too, with 1 tablespoon of an olive oil based dressing.

5:00 pm - Meal 4: Chicken breast (size of the palm of your hand), veggies, brown rice (a scoop the size of your palm). (Maybe toss your walnuts into the veggies or rice, to get some healthy fats into this meal)

8:00 pm - Meal 5: A meal replacement bar, a protein shake, or protein pudding. Or have some more cottage cheese with fruit or yogurt.

Principles behind the schedule
This schedule is just an example. If you want to send me a description of what you typically eat in a day, I can tell you where you might be able to make some adjustments. The main principles here are: When carbs are eaten together with an equal amount of protein, the carbs are more slowly converted into sugar and absorbed, so instead of the spike in blood sugar that comes with eating a piece of toast alone, if you add tuna or eggs to that piece of toast, you will get a longer, slower absorption, and you will avoid an insulin spike, which would create cravings an hour or two later. Also, you will be eating as you are using energy - the way coal is added to a coal furnace: a little at time, to keep the fire burning hot and efficiently. The steadier your blood sugar remains, the more efficiently your body can burn fat.

I once coached a man who had been running a mile a day but wasn't really losing any weight. Then based on these principles he started splitting his lunch into two meals, ate a smaller dinner, added a small meal in the evening, and kept up the running. He lost 16 pounds in three months, and he never felt deprived because he was always eating!

Making it easy to keep up
It can be a pain just to prepare that many meals in a day. That's why eggs, cottage cheese, and tuna are so great as protein sources. You can make egg salad ahead of time (one yolk and three whites per serving), or just have hardboiled eggs in the fridge, using four at a meal and taking three of the yolks out. Smash 'em up, add some salt and pepper, maybe a little relish, and spread it over a rice cake or a piece of toast - and that's a meal. Same thing with tuna. Just have a bowl of tuna salad in the fridge all the time. Have two rice cakes with tuna, and there's your carb and your protein. I used to love taking fruit flavored yogurt - the small sugar free ones - and mixing it up with 1/2 cup of cottage cheese...it was like a pudding. That's a whole meal. This system requires you to rethink what a "meal" really is. It does take some time to get adjusted, but it works.

The calorie spike
I have been eating this way for years, but on the weekends, I always allow myself one meal that is purely for pleasure. Cheeseburger and fries with ice cream for dessert, or Chicken Parmagiana with a chocolate brownie. Just once or twice a week - two meals with no rules. If you eat the way outlined above, it's important to create a calorie spike once a week or so because it prevents your body from thinking that there is a lack of supply; your metabolism would slow down if your body perceived that there just wasn't enough food - it would go into a starvation mode of sorts, holding onto body fat instead of burning it. Varying your caloric intake over the course of the week keeps your metabolism stimulated and running.

Meal timing and exercise
Two other things to keep in mind: It is best to exercise on an empty stomach - that means either before your first meal, or three hours after your most recent one. So if you have breakfast at 8:00, try to work out at 10:30 or 11:00 and then eat your next meal after the workout. This will help encourage your body to use stored fat for the energy required during the workout.

Of course, the real test of whether or not a particular approach is right is whether it works for you. Try implementing these nutritional guidelines, and keep up a regular routine of exercise. It may take four to seven weeks before you notice any changes, so don't give up too soon. If, after two months, you don't see results, it's time to look for ways to be more aggressive in your training, nutrition, or both.

In strength,
Julie

Keeping a journal during the process of physique transformation is highly recommended. Journal writing is a great way to come to a deeper understanding of your habits, your thoughts, and your desires. The more you understand yourself, the more powerful you are in your own life and fitness. (To learn more about journal writing, download Become a journal writer at http://www.mckowntown.com/downloads/BecomeaJournalWriter.pdf)

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Julie Scipioni McKown is a certified personal trainer and a writer dedicated to the ideals of personal transformation for optimum fulfillment, happiness, and fullness of life. Visit http://www.JulieMcKown.com

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Consult with your physician or health-care provider before commencing any new exercise, nutrition, or supplementation program, particularly if you use prescription or over-the-counter medications, or if you are being treated by a health-care provider for any chronic or medical condition. No representations are made about the results you may achieve from following the information in this blog; as every individual is unique, there are no typical results that you can expect.