Fractional meals for weight loss - menu for the week in the table

It doesn't matter what you eat, the main thing is your diet. A fractional diet allows you to lose weight without denying yourself your favorite foods. Find out how to eat right, get 8 effective diets and lose up to 8 kg per month!

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Author: Kristina Lobanovskaya, doctor, practicing nutritionist Article updated: 02/14/2020

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The fractional nutrition principle is used in most modern weight loss methods as the most effective eating regimen. Frequent snacks in small portions stimulate the physiological processes of digestion, promote rapid and high-quality absorption of foods, and provide a gradual release of energy, which does not allow excess food to be stored in reserve. A fractional diet can be almost anything in terms of product composition or duration of adherence, since the main thing in it is the nutritional pattern.

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What is fractional nutrition

This is frequent consumption of foods in small portions. Some recommend keeping an eye on the clock, while others suggest eating as soon as hunger sets in. Such a system will streamline your meals, allow you to quickly feel satisfied with small amounts of food and normalize your weight. And most importantly, with the right approach, split meals help improve metabolism and, in principle, have a positive effect on well-being. Why is this type of diet considered the most effective? The fact is that with a standard three meals a day, there is too much of a break, which a person can unknowingly fill with small, but very high-calorie snacks: cookies, candies, nuts and other snacks. The result is overeating and extra pounds on the scale.

Basic principles of fractional nutrition

Fractional nutrition suggests approaching meals as a strict system that allows the body to function as correctly as possible. There are several principles of this diet.

Frequent meals in small portions

. It is suggested to eat at least 5 times a day, sometimes 6 if the body needs more calories. You need to eat often, but little by little. The ideal dish size is 250–300 grams;

Compliance with the regime

. Some nutritionists believe that you need to eat at a strictly defined time every day, others recommend focusing on your own feeling of hunger;

Eliminating harmful foods, maintaining balance

. Like all diets, fractional meals completely prohibit alcohol, cigarettes, and recommend minimizing the consumption of salt and white sugar. The combination of BZHU should be harmonious, without distortions.

Why are these principles so important? The fact is that small portions are digested faster, do not overload the digestive system and at the same time saturate the body faster. Therefore, this diet is used not only for weight loss in women, but also for medicinal purposes: it helps get rid of flatulence, nausea, and heaviness in the stomach. Moreover, when you overeat, the walls of the stomach stretch, which leads to a constant feeling of hunger. Fractional meals help to cope with this problem.

The essence and features of a fractional diet

The basis of a fractional diet for weight loss is the distribution of the daily diet into 5-7 small snacks at regular intervals. To lose weight most effectively, along with breaking up food, you need to switch to a low-calorie diet, giving up unhealthy foods, or stick to the diet prescribed by a specific program.

Nutrition rules

In any case, using a fractional diet requires compliance with several mandatory rules:

1. The main thing is not to overeat, especially at night. Meals should be frequent, which will avoid feelings of hunger, and portions should be small, so as not to stretch the stomach and ensure a rapid reduction in its size.
2. Breaks between meals should be the same in time and be 2-3 hours.
3. Unless otherwise advised, it is recommended to have a fasting day every week, especially in cases where weight loss has stalled.
4. The last meal should be 4 hours before bedtime and consist of light protein foods or low-fat fermented milk drinks.
5. The basis of the diet should be proper healthy food, which does not include flour, fatty, fried and other foods harmful to the figure.
6. It is imperative to follow a drinking regime - 1.5-2 liters of clean water per day (including unsweetened herbal infusions).
7. You need to enter a fractional diet gradually, reducing portion sizes by 1.5, then 2 times, and also adding 1 snack between main meals, bringing their number to 3-4.

The main difficulty of such a weight loss system is the transition to an unusual fractional diet, consisting of equally sized portions. That is, you will need to eat the same amount of food for breakfast as at lunch or in the evening, and also make similar snacks.

Benefits and results

With fractional meals, the body does not experience a deficiency of nutrients and energy, quickly adjusts to a regular intake of food every 2-3 hours, waits for this time and begins to produce enzymes in advance that contribute to the best absorption of food. In addition, it stops making reserves in the form of fat deposits. As a result, you can lose up to 4-8 kg of excess weight in a month if you strictly follow the recommended diet or simply reduce the calorie content of portions.

Along with this, the fractional weight loss method has a number of other advantages:

• weight decreases slowly, without the appearance of stretch marks, cellulite, or sagging skin;
• at the end of the diet, no special exit is required; moreover, in most cases it can be continued indefinitely or made a way of eating for life;
• Digestive and metabolic processes are normalized, incoming food is absorbed quickly and as completely as possible, releasing all the beneficial substances;
• the habit of eating small portions is developed, while the stomach shrinks, which allows you to be satisfied with significantly less food;
• eating on a schedule 5-7 times a day prevents strong feelings of hunger;
• the load on all organs of the digestive system is reduced, which is the prevention of diseases and makes it possible to use a fractional diet even if there are any.

A big plus of this nutrition system is that there is no need to completely give up your usual foods or favorite dishes. They can be completely or partially excluded from the diet while losing weight, and then return to the previous menu, continuing to eat fractionally and maintaining the achieved results for a long time.

Cons and contraindications

All doctors in the world approve of fractional diets. This diet has no contraindications and is not suitable only for those who want to lose a large amount of excess weight in a short time. Its only drawback is considered to be the inconvenience of following such a diet, especially in conditions of traveling work. Although you can always find a way out if you take healthy snacks with you. Moreover, the fractional diet has a large number of options and makes it easy to choose the most suitable diet for a particular person or a particular situation.

How it works

Weight loss while following this diet is due to several important factors.

Mode

. The body gets used to eating by the clock, so by a certain time the stomach begins to actively secrete gastric juice, which promotes faster digestion of food. Over time, the feeling of hunger begins to appear “on schedule,” which reduces the risk of overeating outside of the prescribed time.

Frequency

. Small meals eliminate the risk of overeating, since between short periods of eating the body does not have time to get hungry, which means it can do just fine without small, high-calorie snacks.

Portion volume.

No more than 300 grams of food enters the body at a time. This prevents the stomach from becoming full and makes digestion easier. As a result, you not only reduce your daily caloric intake, but also teach your body to cope with smaller amounts of food.

Product Set

. All harmful and high-calorie foods are excluded from the diet, which allows you to cleanse yourself of toxins, put the gastrointestinal tract in order and significantly improve the general condition of the body.

Why then are some people unable to lose weight on fractional meals? The reasons are as follows.

Wrong diet transition

. The body does not have time to adapt to the new regime, so it begins to constantly feel hungry. The result is breakdowns, overeating, shame, again a sharp transition to dietary nutrition, and so on in a circle.

Lack of physical activity

. No diet or proper nutrition will help if you spend all your time sitting in an office chair. There must be at least a minimum load: it is recommended to walk at least 3 kilometers per day.

High percentage of calories

. If you don’t follow the BJU ratio and overload your body with carbohydrates, you won’t be able to lose weight. Fractional nutrition requires excluding hamburgers and other high-calorie fast food from the diet.

Of course, the problem may also lie in the individual characteristics of the body, but in this case, before choosing a diet, you should consult a specialist.

Menu of the week

Having considered the menu for the day, you need to think through the further steps of fractional nutrition, now planning your diet for the week. This is necessary in order to achieve weight loss within a month.

When eating fractionally, it is imperative to maintain a variety of foods, the choice of which is not limited.

You can eat less than the norm, but not more! If one meal was missed, then there is no need to try to compensate for it by eating a double portion at one time.

So, you can create a sample menu for the week. Each person composes his own menu individually, according to his tastes, but based approximately on the given sample.

Monday

• Breakfast can be made from semolina porridge with cottage cheese and the addition of berries and grapefruit juice.
• For second breakfast you can eat an apple, as well as unsweetened compote.
• Lunch will consist of chicken fillet with vegetable salad and two slices of bread.
• For an afternoon snack, eat a glass of yogurt and a handful of berries.
• You can have brown rice with stewed vegetables for dinner.
• Complete your daily diet with a portion of kefir.

Tuesday

• For breakfast you can eat omelet and buckwheat porridge.
• Make second breakfast from one boiled egg and tomato.
• For lunch, vegetable soup with bread.
• For an afternoon snack, cottage cheese with pear.
• Dinner of steamed fish and vegetables.
• You can have a snack with a glass of yogurt.

Wednesday

• Breakfast of omelet and oatmeal porridge.
• Second breakfast of a handful of nuts with a banana.
• Lunch of beet soup with bread and tomato
• Afternoon snack of yogurt and berries
• Dinner of boiled chicken breast with vegetable salad.
• A glass of kefir will serve as a snack.

Having drawn up a menu, you can prepare products in the right quantities for each day.

Thursday

• Breakfast of scrambled eggs with coffee and toast
• Second breakfast of vegetable salad
• Have lunch with mushroom soup with boiled beef and herbs
• For an afternoon snack, eat cheesecake with cottage cheese
• Have a vinaigrette with beans and bread for dinner
• End the day with a glass of sour milk

Friday

• Breakfast will consist of buckwheat porridge with milk and toast
• The second breakfast will be a fruit salad dressed with yogurt.
• Lunch of stewed vegetables, steamed turkey and greens.
• For an afternoon snack, you can drink a mug of cocoa.
• Have pasta with cottage cheese, herbs and green tea for dinner.
• Snack: a glass of fermented baked milk.

Saturday

• Have breakfast with oatmeal porridge with butter, rye toast and unsweetened tea
• Second breakfast of orange and grapefruit
• Have lunch with bean soup, bread and vegetables
• For an afternoon snack, eat cottage cheese casserole
• For dinner, chicken risotto and tea
• Snack: glass of yogurt

The Sunday menu can be repeated on one of the listed days.

Benefits and harms

Fractional nutrition has its opponents, who cite a number of arguments against such a diet.

• Rapid wear of teeth. With frequent meals, the enamel is damaged faster and caries may develop.
• Losing control. If the body does not feel hunger, it is easier for a person to overeat.
• Biological clock failure. It is assumed that snacking can disrupt the natural fluctuations of biological processes.
• Insulin increase. After each meal, its percentage in the blood increases.
• Lack of cholesterol control.

Most of these statements are unsubstantiated. Yes, tooth decay can develop faster if your diet contains a lot of sweets. Loss of control will not occur if you weigh food, and the biological clock does require a person to snack frequently. Insulin does rise, but its levels drop quickly. But the issue with cholesterol should be resolved together with your nutritionist.

Strengths and weaknesses of fractional nutrition

Of course, there are pros and cons of the fractional nutrition method, the existence of which you should know. First of all, it is worth mentioning its strengths:

• there are no cardinal and strict changes in the usual diet;
• the effect of the lost kilos lasts for a long period of time;
• there are no contraindications to fractional meals;
• Digesting small portions of food requires much less energy;
• This is a flexible nutrition system that will suit absolutely every person.

There are not as many disadvantages of fractional nutrition as there are advantages. The weaknesses of such a diet include:

• This is a diet that is not suitable for people who are psychologically dependent on food, because their body will experience enormous stress;
• strict limits require chewing food 30 times, which not every person can do;
• You may not always be able to eat at the required time as some offices have strict rules of conduct.

Despite these disadvantages, many people adhere to a fractional diet. They were able to achieve good results, because excess weight disappears right before our eyes without unnecessary restrictions.

Switching to fractional meals

You should switch to any diet gradually to give the body time to get used to the new regime. If you change your usual diet too quickly, it can lead to breakdowns, a feeling of constant hunger, and even harm your health. Therefore, everything should be done within a few weeks.

Week 1

. You start eating by the clock: the diet still includes three meals a day, but now you need to strictly ensure that breakfast, lunch and dinner occur at the same time throughout the week. In the same week, determine the number of calories consumed and exclude from the menu one unhealthy product (fast food, fatty and fried foods, sweets, flour) per day. Start moving more, walking. The daily rate of water consumed should be at least one and a half liters.

Week 2.

Start reducing your daily caloric intake by 200 calories. Add a fourth snack to your diet - lunch or afternoon snack. Reduce food portions to the new calorie calculation, try to harmoniously select foods in accordance with the BZHU tables. Keep walking more. The daily water intake should be two liters.

Week 3.

Reduce your daily calorie intake by another 300 kcal, evenly distributing them across all meals. Add a fifth snack and decide if you need a sixth. Try to increase your physical activity, such as doing exercises or walking part of the way to work. Organize your drinking regimen (30 mg of water per 1 kg of weight per day).

Next weeks

. Now you need to reduce your daily calorie intake to 1200 (for women), and your serving size to 250-300 grams. If you need fractional meals not for weight loss, but for a simple transition to proper nutrition, the daily calorie content can be 1500 kcal, and the portion size can be up to 300–350 grams.

Making a menu

The advantages of fractional meals are that the diet here can be varied; you do not need to exclude all “harmful” foods from the menu. Based on the data below, you can create a fractional nutrition table with a menu for the week, making your meals as healthy and varied as possible.

Breakfast

. The very first meal is the most important; it should be as filling as possible, rich in carbohydrates and contain 25% of the daily calorie intake.

Lunch

. There should be only 5% of calories here. It is recommended to use fresh vegetables, fruits or berries for a snack; sometimes nuts are allowed.

Dinner

. The most calorie-dense meal, requiring consumption of 35% of the daily value. Here you can eat cream soups, hot dishes, stewed vegetables and meat.

Afternoon snack

. Approximately 5% of the daily value. For an afternoon snack you can drink freshly squeezed juices, fermented milk products, cocktails made from fresh fruits and berries.

Dinner

. 25% of the daily value. There should be more protein and fiber here. Ideally, these are fish and meat dishes, steamed, stewed or baked vegetables.

If you need a sixth snack, it is recommended to drink a glass of kefir, fermented baked milk or herbal tea at night no later than an hour before bed.

Fractional meals for weight loss: menu for the week

Now that you have learned what the Fractional Meals diet is, let’s talk about the menu for the week. You already roughly understand how to compose it. If you don’t want to work yourself, take the ready-made option from our table. It is not necessary to eat a specific food on a specific day: you can swap breakfasts, lunches and dinners between each other and mix them at your discretion. The main thing is that the overall “composition” of a particular meal is correct.

So, fractional meals - menu for the week:

Based on this table, it is not difficult to create a fractional meal menu for weight loss for a month. You can simply “go through” the entire table in order over and over again, you can change breakfasts, lunches, dinners at your discretion - the choice is yours. Good luck!

Tips and tricks

Dietitians recommend never skipping breakfast, saturating your morning meals with carbohydrates and remembering your drinking regime. In addition, it is not recommended to skip three main meals, and lunch should not only be nutritious, but also as healthy as possible. You should not completely exclude oils from your diet: they are a “transport” of vitamins. If creamy or simple refined ones seem too harmful to you, choose an alternative: coconut, flaxseed, cedar, etc. And Herbalife products will help you not to lose energy in the first weeks of switching to fractional meals.

Soup kharcho"

Fractional meals are necessarily hot dishes, for example, “Kharcho”. Write down the recipe for a delicious soup that will be appreciated by all household members. You will need the following ingredients:

• Beef on the bone – 500 grams.
• Tomatoes – 250 grams.
• Onions – 2 pieces.
• Brown rice - ½ cup.
• Garlic – 2 cloves.
• Spices for Kharcho soup.
• Adjika – ½ teaspoon.
• Olive oil – 1 teaspoon.

Cooking:

• Pour three liters of water into the pan and send the beef to cook for one hour.
• Pour pre-soaked brown rice over the meat. Continue cooking the broth.
• As soon as the meat is ready, take it out, remove it from the bone, cut it into small pieces and pour it back into the pan.
• Remove the skins from the tomatoes (scald them with boiling water) and pass them through a blender until pureed.
• Finely chop the onion, fry in oil, add grated tomatoes, finely chopped garlic, spices and spicy adjika. Cook for another five minutes.
• Add the frying mixture to the broth and cook until the rice is completely cooked.
• After turning off the gas, let it brew under the lid for another 15-20 minutes.
• Bon appetit.

Eating in small portions is not only healthy, but also very tasty. See for yourself.