“Why do I have to eat 5-6 times a day… how do I eat 5-6 times a day?” Does that sound like you? I’m pretty sure it does, because I can’t count the number of emails that we get each day and week asking how in the world to get in all those meals. I’d like to talk to you about that this week, and my hope is that after reading this article you’ll understand why eating consistently is so important and then be motivated to be sure you do it!

If you can, think about food for just a moment, as fuel. Think about how a car runs if it’s low on fuel, or even how it runs if you have filled it with “cheap” fuel. It works, but not as well as it does when you keep it filled with a higher grade of fuel. Your body is the same way in a lot of respects. We all have different lifestyles, and so we will all require a different amount of fuel to get through the day. However, one thing remains the same for all of us, and that is that we do need to feed our bodies every 3-4 hours throughout the day, right up until about 3 hours before we go to bed. Our bodies depend upon the food we eat in order to function not only optimally, but just to function properly. The idea is for our bodies to burn more “total calories” in a days time than it did before. That’s how we will not only lose the weight, but keep the weight off as well. And isn’t that what all of us are trying to accomplish?

Our bodies are complex machines that are constantly working. When we skip meals, or just don’t eat for more than a period of 4 hours, the body goes into a starvation state. What happens once we allow that to happen is the very thing that will prevent thousands of people from being able to maintain a healthy weight once they have reached it. Once the starvation state sets in, the next phase is a storage state, and in layman’s terms, that equals fat. Fat is how our bodies store food, and if the starvation state is entered into, when you feed the body again later it will take that food and store it as fat in anticipation of not being fed again later. It’s a terrible viscous cycle that has so very many people confused, and really it’s quite simple provided that you eat every 3-4 hours throughout the day. I’m not suggesting that you eat a huge sit meal 5 times a day, but rather that you “graze” if you will, more consistently during the day.

Here is a sample of a daily meal plan that will keep your body burning efficiently, and optimally all day long.

7:00 am ½ cup of oatmeal
1/8 cup sliced almonds
½ banana
1-cup skim milk

10:00 am 1 yogurt
¼ cup of grape nuts

1:00 pm 2 slices whole wheat bread
3 ounces turkey breast meat
1 slice fat free cheese singles
6 ounces cantaloupe
Handful of baby carrots

3:30 pm 1 serving pretzels
1 diet soda
6:00 pm 4-ounce chicken breast
Steamed broccoli
½ cup sugar free pudding made with skim milk
5 ounces of fresh strawberries
8:30 pm ½ cup of low fat frozen yogurt

DON’T FORGET YOUR WATER THROUGHOUT THE DAY!!