Eating for Hunger?

[gecko...]

I'm a touch confused. I know you should eat every few hours for around 5 meals a day. But what would happen if I only ate when hungry? Today I've trialled myself and only eaten when I'm truely hungry ie: my stomach was rumbling. So far I've downed a smoothie (protein, banana, soy milk and linseeds) and just had some mince beef and veggie mix (leftover san choy bow) and its 3:30pm.

Today I have power walked with a 32kilo pram (2 kids) for an hour and its my day off weights - just doing abs tonight.

So - am I stuffing up my metabolism or should I continue to only eat when hungry?

Thanks!

[Emma-Leigh]

Meal frequency is not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things (regardless of the 'hype' about 'keeping your metabolic fire up with frequent meals). And it basically comes back to the overall calories you consume. So - you could eat three big meals a day - and if they had all your calories for the day... you'd be ok.... Alternatively, you could eat 10 x a day and not eat enough - and you'd end up with issues.

So to answer your question - if by eating only a few meals (when you are hungry) means you fall far below your calorie needs... And you do this over a period of time.... Then yes - your metabolism would likely suffer (the extent of which would be depending on how low things where and the extent of your training/cardio).

BUT this doesn't mean you need to eat 'more frequently'.... And if you LIKE only eating when hungry - I would suggest you simply increase the size of your meals to compensate.

[ethereality]

My suggestion would be to find a "happy medium" that suits yourself. I would suggest ainimg to eat every 3 hours, though this is only a guideline (life gets in the way, sometime it may be a little longer or a little shorter). Experiment with the size of your meals, and try to keep them the right size so that you get hungry about three hours later. If you're not hungry three hours after eating a decently-sized meal, then you are probably eating too much at one time. If you're hungry earlier than that, you probably aren't eating enough. If you think that your previous meal was a little imbalanced (say, too many carbs or fats), try to compensate a little in the next meal my having fewer carbs or fats. As you continue to do this, you will get better at figuring out exactly how much food is right for your body at one time. I have found through trial and error that both eating too little and eating too much can slow digestion/metabolism. The point is to give your body a steady state of energy, thus resulting in level blood sugar levels and steady insulin.

[gecko...]

Thankyou for the replies :) Nice to see the other Aussies on the forum

*sigh* so much of this is just trail and error. I really wish I could just be given a meal plan to follow that will work for my body. I did try Keto for four weeks and it worked brilliantly - but IMO its not a healthy way to live full time - so I'm trying to figure out what to do for the weeks I'm not doing Keto.

I think I will focus on eating every three hours, if that doesnt work then I will look at lowering my calories but keeping the 6 meals a day. Thanks!

[freebirdmac]

If I ate only when I was hungry I'd be missing some serious cals on some days :) I do find that over time if I eat anyway, there's room and I discover a bit of hunger that I didn't feel. But it would be so easy for me to fall back into the under eating trap.

[Tulsa28]

This is what I do and I love it! I feel free! Not having to stress about missing a meal, or eating out, or food preperation. I started with IF and kinda went off on my own, now I eat 2 meals at night after work. I have so much more energy during the day in the fasted state its unbelievable! I'll never go back to the eat every 3 hours deal.

[Amanda76]

If I ate only when I was hungry I'd be missing some serious cals on some days :) I do find that over time if I eat anyway, there's room and I discover a bit of hunger that I didn't feel. But it would be so easy for me to fall back into the under eating trap.

I'm the same way. Those are the kinda habits that led me to skinny fat city. As a non-breakfast eater, I've woken up ravenous because I totally forgot to eat the day before. I can easily train my body not to be hungry all day. Or, I guess it's not that my body doesn't need food...it's just that your body quits giving you as many signals that you need it.

The opposite can also happen when you only eat when you are hungry...you can go nuts eating everything in sight and/or choose the wrong foods because by the time you are actually hungry, food feels like more of an emergency situation.

Eating BEFORE I'm hungry works best for me. You know, at that point where you can say, "I'm not hungry but I could eat." I don't think it takes exactly 6 meals a day or eating exactly every 3 hours, but those guidelines are how I trained myself and then I figured out from there exactly where I needed to move my cals to.