Feb 2, 2010
More Small Meals or 3 Big Meals?
I bet that if anyone was to ask any of my friends what one of my New Years Resolutions were for the past 10 years, 95% of them would say that losing weight is one of them. Even till today, this happens to be one of my biggest goals. I put in time to exercise (once a day with a break every few days) yet I still continue to gain weight consistently. What am I doing wrong?
I’ve made a move towards the “eat smaller meals but more often throughout the day” lifestyle. Everyone throws this idea around but I don’t think everyone knows the reasoning behind it. Smaller meals are better because this technique keeps your metabolism and digestion working throughout the day and allowing you to burn more calories in that process. Plus, you address that whole hungry feeling that you get that psychologically convinces you that you can eat an entire cow. Unfortunately, this probably leads you into eating more than you should and feeling bloated and terrible afterwards.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to eat big meals; i’m guilty and still have been guilty of doing it quite often. The satisfying feeling that comes with having these large meals comes with a trade off (feeling overwhelmed and nauseous for some people).
However, I do not believe that society on average encourages us to “eat healthier” which in this case would mean smaller meals. Take for example my experience at Subway. Jared’s story did great things for Subway not just for attracting customers but for building it’s image. Before hearing about Jared, I never had Subway because I was turned off by the smell of one store that I went into when I was younger. The idea simply didn’t appeal to me either; when I was younger my mom would make sandwiches all the time so subs just seemed boring to me.
I ordered a 6 inch turkey breast on italian today. No add-ons, no bacon (the story about when I went to Subway at 1:40 am and was offered extra bacon by the sandwich master for unproperly moulding the bread thus making it more like a 9″ instead of a foot long still makes me shiver), no nothing. The total cost without making an additional meal was around $5. I could have made it into a footlong for another $2 more. Financially, this was very disappointing for me.
Credit to Google Images
Although i’m making a huge generalization with the following calculation (assumes I eat Subway 3 meals a day plus doesn’t take into consideration tax etc), I would have to incur…
$7.50 * 3 meals a day = $22.50
$5.00 * 6 meals a day = $30.00
That’s a 33.3% percent increase in my costs/expenses because I decided to split my meals up (I hope I never have that much bread in one day). I know this isn’t the likely scenario that anyone faces, but if you pay attention to how much you pay to opt for a smaller meal but more meals, it ends up being quite costly. Not to mention I was pretty disappointed the time I decided to go fruit healthy and ended up spending around $6 on a small plastic box container of cherry tomatoes. (I also realized that you can buy a foot long sub and save half of it, but not everyone likes to do that especially if they don’t have a fridge nearby).
What is your preference and why?
This is so nerdy.
I think it’s also the type of food that you choose. Even when you choose Subway you like to try out the intense stuff. Like that night when I went out with my dad and you gave me epic suggestions. And your late night peanut butter toast. And your eating of chicken skin. I can go on and on, but I won’t
I don’t do either of your preferences; I think you know my eating habits. If I were to choose though, I think that I would be the small but frequent meals. I like going grocery shopping with my mom and buying lots of snacks to stock the house, so when I get hungry I can just go grab a yogurt out of the fridge or something.
And about the saving the footlong for later, that’s what I usually do late at night. I’d eat half at night, and save the other half for lunch the next that. That is, if I don’t end up eating the whole thing.
I have to say though, you have made many many improvements, so good job for that!!
when people graze, they don’t graze with 6 inch subs.. they do things like a fruit.. or like a small portion of salad or something
i personally can eat a 6′ sub and call it a meal, so maybe you should try smaller portions first.
eating more times a day in smaller portions would speeds up metabolism, so i guess that’s why people think it’s more beneficial.
If you want to eat less, make sure you have less variety in your meal.
Sensory-specific satiety posits that eating behaviour was considered adaptive to have great variety in your food so that you obtain as many different nutrients as possible. However, we have access to all types of foods so that isn’t necessary. If you limit your meal to perhaps 3-4 flavours each meal then you will steadily decrease the portions w/o realizing it.
To me, It’s all about calories. For a grown man of our size, 1850 calories aday limit for 0 exercises and 2350 for light-normal exercises. Even if you exercises vigorously during the day, eating over the calorie limit will not help you lose weight. I’ve read it somewhere that every 4800 calories you eat extra will gain you 1 kg; vice verse every 4800 calories less you’ve eaten will lose you 1 kg. (the number might be a little off) I’ve personally tested this method by “starving” myself and it actually worked… I’ve lost over 5 kg in less than a month.
Subway is relatively healthy, eating it long term wouldn’t be a problem. But if you go over the calorie limit, it’s not going to help you lose weight. To not gain weight, make sure you don’t go over 2000 calories per day.
BTW I decided to pick up blogging again so I’ll add you ^^..
I cook a large pot of fried rice and just munch tiny bits off it for a few days
very cost effective
@Stevo I don’t want to worry about not getting enough in a day though. Good point though!
@Mazzii Where did you read up on that number for calories? I swear we needed more in a day. Then again I think I weigh than you. Good point though!