How many times a day you should eat to lose weight and not harm your health

How to lose weight correctly and without harming your health? How many times a day should I eat?

Why do you need a meal plan

There is no universal number of meals a day to lose weight effectively and harmlessly. The main thing is not to starve, because any restriction leads to breakdowns, overeating, slowing metabolism, insulin resistance.

At the moment, the most physiological and suitable for most people remains three meals a day. It involves breakfast, lunch and dinner – without any snacks. This organization of food helps to normalize carbohydrate metabolism and prevent pathologies on either side, especially insulin resistance.

In the diet is important not only the mode of nutrition, but also the calorie norm, which is logically divided into three main meals:

• breakfast – 30%;
• lunch – 35%;
• dinner – 25%;
• two snacks (if you can not do without them) – 10%.

This scheme is comfortable for the activity of the gastrointestinal tract and does not traumatize the psyche.

What do we get, adhering to a specific dietary regimen?

Harmless burning of fat deposits

Insulin is not produced at the moment when the food is digested. The absence of this hormone in the blood leads to the fact that no fat is deposited, the body begins to burn previously accumulated fat deposits.

Control of food intake and calories

With systemic dieting, it is easier to control your daily calorie intake. You can place in advance on the containers of each meal, calculating the caloric content of portions.

If it is not possible to consult a specialist, you can use the Mifflin-San Géor formula.

Men: (10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y.) + 5) x CA.

Women: (10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) – 5 x age (y.) – 161) x KA.

KA is the physical activity coefficient:

• minimal activity (sedentary work) – 1.2;
• low activity (1-2 short workouts per week or walking) – 1.375;
• medium activity (3-4 workouts per week) – 1.55;
• high activity (exercising up to five times a week for more than an hour) – 1.725.

When eating a balanced diet, the caloric content of the diet should be reduced by no more than 500 kcal compared to the usual daily norm.

The lower threshold of calories for women is 1200 kcal per day, and for men – 1800 kcal.

Eat, do not starve

Dietary nutrition should be full and regular, not meager and once a day.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner should include proteins, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates. The satiety index of the dietary intake should be adequate to give the necessary energy and strength and not lead to exhaustion and deficiencies in the body.

Rushing caloric intake of meals to zero harms the endocrine system, increases the stress hormone cortisol, decreases the satiety hormone leptin, and worsens overall health.

Of course, on a healthy diet, avoid refined foods, sugar, preferably limit fructose and foods that can lead to inflammation (e.g. processed foods, trans fats, etc.).

Compose a diet based on white meat chicken or turkey, eggs, low-fat cottage cheese (a source of protein), healthy fats (nuts, fish, flaxseed or olive oil), complex carbohydrates (buckwheat, quinoa) and, of course, fill your meals with green vegetables and herbs – the main sources of fiber, which is necessary for the full functioning of the intestines.

Don’t forget about water balance. Drink at least 1.5 liters of pure water daily. The approximate norm is calculated according to the formula: 30 ml per 1 kg of weight.

The basic principles of healthy weight loss

• Small calorie deficit.
• Full sleep (7-8 hours, lie down before midnight).
• Sufficient water.
• Three full meals (skipping at least one meal can provoke overeating).
• Sufficient motor activity (for example, 8 thousand steps per day and 2-3 workouts per week).
• Complete or partial abstinence from alcohol.