Some people consider three meals a day to be the only correct diet, while others are accustomed to eating five times a day. So what mode can be considered correct: how many times a day should you eat to lose weight? To get an answer to such questions, you need to develop a clear nutrition plan for yourself and study possible mistakes when losing weight.
How many times a day should you eat to lose weight and at what time?
Experts have different approaches to the question of how many times a day you need to eat to lose weight. According to many nutritionists, the optimal number of meals per day is at least 5. The three-meal diet is called erroneous by many experts.
To determine how many times a day to eat to lose weight, rely on the following recommendations:
- To maintain cholesterol levels at a normal level and prevent sudden changes in pressure, the number of meals is increased to 5-6 times a day. At the same time, the volume of portions is reduced;
- During intense physical activity, a five-times-a-day diet is optimal. In this case, three meals a day is undesirable. By increasing meals to 5-6 per day, protein absorption is facilitated and muscle mass is actively growing.
The speed of weight loss depends not only on knowing how many times a day to eat to lose weight. The timing of the meal is also of great importance. Food consumed in the morning is completely burned by the body. Calories eaten in the evening quickly turn into fat deposits.
conclusions
Research shows an indirect link between meal frequency and weight gain, suggesting that the only way to gain weight is by increasing the number of calories you consume. Lower meal frequency may be associated with lower BMI (while maintaining identical caloric intake) through exercise.
There is, however, too much evidence to suggest that meal frequency has no effect on metabolism. Metabolic speed and weight fluctuations cause completely different indicators and habits.
Approximate menu for one day
How much you need to eat to lose weight depends on the individual characteristics of your body. You can create an approximate diet for yourself for one day, presented in the table below.
| Breakfast | A serving of oatmeal with honey and slices of berries, green tea |
| Lunch | 150 ml juice squeezed from ripe apples at home, 1 nectarine |
| Dinner | A portion of veal baked in the oven, with a side dish of vegetables, 220 ml of green tea |
| Snack before dinner | 2 slices low-fat cheese, a small amount of cereal bread |
| Dinner | Portion of lean fish with vegetables |
| Just before bed | 200 ml low-fat kefir |
How many times a day you need to eat to lose weight largely depends on the correct selection of foods. You can include various types of cabbage in your diet:
- red cabbage;
- white cabbage;
- Beijing;
- broccoli;
- Brussels sprouts
Cabbage contains a large amount of vitamins. The vegetable is one of the low-calorie foods. Cabbage can be eaten both fresh and stewed.
Women who are painfully thinking about how many times a day they need to eat in order to lose weight need to pay attention to lettuce. This product goes well with meat dishes. Leaf lettuce makes protein easier to digest. It is recommended to replace the usual side dish with lettuce leaves at least once a day. This will significantly speed up the weight loss process.
When losing weight, the daily menu also includes vegetables that do not contain large amounts of starch. For this reason, corn and legumes are excluded from the diet, and potato consumption is limited.
It is also harmful to eat large amounts of beets and carrots. These vegetables have a sweetish taste.
When preparing dishes, lean types of meat are used:
- chicken fillet;
- turkey;
- beef;
- rabbit fillet.
It is not recommended to consume pork and lamb when losing weight. This meat contains a large amount of fat and protein of animal origin. The same can be said about sausages, sausages, and products made from minced meat. Meat is prepared in any way (except for frying). It is recommended to eat it with vegetables and herbs.
Cereals contain many useful substances. It is recommended to prepare similar dishes for breakfast. They saturate the body with additional energy. Dishes made from millet, rice, and buckwheat satisfy hunger for a long time. Wholemeal bread is consumed for breakfast or lunch, in moderation.
Kefir and cottage cheese contain quite a lot of calcium. Such products help fight excess weight by activating the process of breaking down fat deposits. Preference is given to products with minimal fat content.
Green tea has good fat-burning properties. The drink activates metabolism, accelerating the weight loss process. It is not recommended to add sugar to green tea.
When losing weight, they also use a variety of herbal infusions. They can be prepared with ginger tea, mint or chamomile.
You should avoid drinking store-bought juices when losing weight. They contain a variety of preservatives and sugar.
How much curcumin is in turmeric?
It is thanks to the curcumin contained in turmeric that the spice has all those unique properties. Curcumin is a chemical compound contained in the rhizomes of the plant that can fight inflammation of various origins at the molecular level.
However, it should be noted that the curcumin content in the root of the spicy plant, as well as in the powdered seasoning itself, is only 3%. This is what you should use as a starting point to determine your daily intake of spices.
How much should you eat to lose weight: popular recipes
Women who are thinking about how often they should eat to lose weight should take note of vegetable salad recipes. They often contain pumpkin. You can make a pumpkin salad with apples. It consists of the following ingredients:
- 0.25 kg pumpkin;
- 200 grams of apples with a sour taste;
- 1 onion;
- 2 garlic cloves;
- a small amount of parsley;
- kefir in the amount of 3 tablespoons.
First, the apples and pumpkin are grated and the onion is cut into small cubes. Then you need to chop the garlic. All ingredients are combined. At the final stage of preparation, the salad is seasoned with fermented milk sauce with parsley.
When losing weight, you can prepare Japanese pumpkin from the following products:
- 1 small pumpkin;
- 3 garlic cloves;
- 30 ml olive oil;
- a small amount of pepper;
- apple cider vinegar in the amount of 2 tablespoons;
- a small amount of dill.
The recipe for the dish looks like this:
- The pumpkin (with peel) is cut into 4 parts.
- The middle with seeds is removed from the vegetable.
- Pumpkin quarters are immersed in hot water for 5 minutes, removed, and cooled.
- Pressed garlic is combined with salt, vinegar and pepper.
- Cooled pumpkin pieces are peeled.
- Vegetable slices are chopped and seasoned with vinegar.
- The oil is heated over a fire, then it is added to the pumpkin salad.
- Mix the finished dish and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Before eating, the salad is decorated with finely chopped dill.
When choosing a vegetable for cooking pumpkin in Japanese, preference is given to brightly colored products. The darker the pumpkin pulp, the more carotene and other nutrients it contains.
Important! Pumpkin contains a lot of pectin and potassium salts. The vegetable saturates the body with iron, calcium, B vitamins, and ascorbic acid. Pumpkin is not only a dietary product, but also an excellent antidepressant.
The carrot and radish salad contains:
- 1 carrot;
- 3 garlic cloves;
- 1 black radish;
- 100 ml kefir;
- 5 grams of mustard;
- greens for decorating dietary salad.
The step-by-step scheme for preparing the salad is as follows:
- Grate the vegetables on a coarse grater and mix.
- Kefir, squeezed out through a kefir press, is poured into a separate container and mustard is added. The resulting dressing is poured over the vegetables. To improve the taste, refrigerate the dish for 1 hour.
Radish salads contain essential oils, minerals, phytoncides, and vitamins. The vegetable also contains a sufficient amount of amino acids that are beneficial for the body. Radish is low in calories. Due to its composition, the vegetable is very useful for weight loss.
Green radish contains a large amount of iron. The vegetable supplies cells with oxygen and helps improve metabolism. Green radish contains vitamin C, which helps improve immunity. Thanks to ascorbic acid, the body becomes less susceptible to colds. Vitamin A present in green radish has a beneficial effect on vision. The vegetable contains coarse dietary fiber and fiber, which normalize the functioning of the digestive organs.
Green radish salads help eliminate toxic substances. Eating such dishes improves the condition of your skin and hair.
Daikon is also actively used for weight loss. This radish is shaped like a white carrot. Daikon speeds up metabolism and normalizes the functions of the digestive system. Salads with white radish stimulate the elimination of harmful substances accumulated in the body and provide a feeling of satiety. But such dishes should not be consumed in large quantities. Otherwise, irritation may occur in the intestinal mucosa. In the process of losing weight, they additionally consume daikon juice. Take 5 ml of freshly squeezed drink, once a day, before bed.
Low-calorie salads are consumed approximately 20 minutes before the main meal. It is recommended to follow a diet based on vegetable salads for no more than three days. There are also longer-term diets. If they are followed, salads in the diet are supplemented with vegetable broths, cereal dishes, and eggs.
Salt intake is limited as much as possible. When preparing salads, the spice can be replaced with dried seaweed. When following a salad diet, refrain from drinking carbonated drinks.
Note! It is recommended that patients with chronic liver diseases and diseases of the digestive tract refrain from following a salad diet.
What foods can you eat?
I'll tell you a secret - when fighting for a slim figure, a huge number of products are permissible. However, you need to be very serious about choosing the food you will consume. When losing weight, foods that speed up metabolism are very good. For more details on what you can eat, read the article “full list of foods for weight loss.” Here I will briefly talk about each food group.
This group of foods is rich in plant fibers, which are beneficial to our digestive system and can promote weight loss. Thanks to them, a feeling of satiety comes quickly and lasts a long time.
In addition, consuming cereals is beneficial because the body is saturated with valuable elements. These include phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, niacin, iron, selenium, etc. These substances have a beneficial effect on the body. Among other things, they speed up metabolism.
Nutritionists recommend giving preference to the following cereals:
- buckwheat;
- rice (brown, black and red are especially good);
- rye;
- oats;
- barley.
Avoid instant cereals such as one-minute, 5-grain, or steamed white rice. They only left pure carbohydrate there, which will not benefit you. Take grains that need to be boiled for a long time, at least 10 minutes. They are all useful. For more information about which grains are best to eat, read the article “Low-calorie cereals for weight loss.”
Meat and fish
This is a valuable protein, so necessary for building muscle tissue. Refusal of meat when losing weight leads to the accumulation of adipose tissue and the simultaneous loss of muscle tissue. And yet, the body spends a lot of energy on digesting meat. And after such a meal you forget about the feeling of hunger for a long time.
Some weight loss experts believe that the best meat is fish from cold waters. It is rich not only in proteins, but also in iodine and omega-3 fatty acids. These elements are important for the normal functioning of the thyroid gland, which is responsible for the speed of metabolic processes. Choose low-fat or low-fat fish. For example, flounder, tuna, cod, pollock, etc. And seafood should not be neglected. Include shrimp and squid in your diet.
When it comes to protein, don’t worry about taking in more than 20-30 grams at a time. It will sink in later. I recently read an article, and there are even more offers to eat there. Include any protein at every meal.
This group of products is low in calories. Vegetables are also rich in fiber, the digestion of which requires the body to spend a large amount of energy. Plant fibers improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract and normalize metabolism. In addition, fiber prevents fats from food from being completely absorbed.
Vegetables recommended for weight loss include:
- cabbage (cauliflower, white cabbage, broccoli);
- tomatoes;
- cucumbers;
- pepper;
- zucchini
- turnip;
- celery (root), etc.
Remember that beets and carrots should be eaten raw. When cooked, their glycemic index level increases significantly. And this is a surge in sugar levels in the body and excess fat on the sides. For more information about what you can eat boiled or raw, read the article “what vegetables can you eat without restrictions.”
Fruits
Most fruits have low carbohydrate content. Therefore, they do not have much effect on blood glucose levels. Fruits are also rich in fiber, the benefits of which I have already mentioned twice above.
