5 or 6 small meals a day may be a long term goal for some people

by Steve
(Perth, Western Australia)

There is no doubt about the benefits of having 5 or 6 small meals a day. However, I must admit that it isn't something I always recommend people do straight away.

When I was involved in the fitness industry industry many years ago, people would come and see me to find out how they can lose weight effectively. Of course when I would ask them about their current nutritional habits, many people would say that they only had 1 or 2 meals a day (this was one reason why they were overweight in the first place!).

In these cases the person's metabolism is obviously quite slow. Therefore, it simply doesn't make sense for them to go from 1-2 meals a day to 5-6 meals a day; the increase in meal frequency is too much and even though they will only have small meals, it is still probably too many calories and they will likely put on weight by following that approach.

However, it is something they can work towards over a period of time. For example, I would suggest they start by having 3 small meals a day and do this for a period of 4-6 weeks while their metabolism gradually sped up. Then, I would have them monitor their appetite and when they would start to feel hungry we would have them to increase their meal frequency to 4 small meals a day. They would then do this for perhaps another 4-6 weeks. Finally, as they started feeling hungry again we would have them increase their meal frequency to 5 or 6 small meals a day.

During this whole process the people would be losing weight, which would help to keep them motivated and even after they get to the point of having 5 or 6 small meals a day some people may still feel hungry so we would then start increasing their meal portion sizes! Even though they started eating more food/ calories overall, because their metabolism was now quite fast, they did not put on any weight!

Overall, whilst 5-6 small meals a day is a great goal to aim for, it may not be suitable for everyone to do straight away. If necessary, perhaps try following the procedure that I've used in the past and see how you go!

All the very best with your weight-loss efforts!

Steve.