How does one start losing weight?

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Sorry, but when you eat your calories does not matter in any significant way. To my knowledge, there has not been a single controlled experiment linking increased meal frequency to increased energy expenditure (but lots showing no statistically significant difference).

Common sense means you eat 3 meals a day, because eating small meals every few hours is way harder to control your calorie intake, and you'll gain weight. You need to know that after a meal you are stuffed, and will not eat for a long time. Otherwise you're tempted to eat food and it's really hard for people not get outa control like that with how much they eat.

You're saying eating 3 meals a day is not right. Look around you.

Also, the poster above me is right. It all comes to the ratio calories in/out. If this ratio is negative you'll lose weight.

No you have to spread the amount through out the day... It doesn't mean three meals... It means spread what you'd eat for those three meals over 5 meals... Reduce fat intake and increase protein intake to keep false hunger pangs at bay... but you should eat healthy or else you could become deficient in some vital nutrients.

Dividing the same food into 5 meals instead of 3 does neither of those things.

Hey, here's a novel idea: Just eat less and exercise more!

It works for me when I spread my meals.. It keeps me from eating junk that I otherwise seem to binge on..

Remember that you also have to spend calories. reducing intake of calories is the easy part. Excercising is the part where most people who wana lose weight fail in. Find a physical activity to do on a regular basis.

Fnord - As I said before losing weight is achieved with a negative calories in\out ratio. Eating less and excersing more is a broad, general statement that doesn't apply to everyone. For example, you can eat the same amount of food, but swap cookies with salad. You get the idea. Also not everyone is fat because they eat alot.

pree10shun - were you in a diet? how would you describe your physical condition based on spreading those meals? I don't say spreading meals is an absolute disaster, but it's for people can take control of their urge to take a snack every hour (which doesn't happen if you have 3 fixed meals a day).

They don't mean six full size meals. Six meals at extremely reduced portions.

I know. Tho most people who do that end up eating more than people who eat 3 meals a day.

Eating until you're stuffed is the worst advice you could give to someone who's on a diet. Not eating for a long time shuts down your metabolism. Eating six meals a day is best because it constantly keeps your metabolism working. Just make sure you don't eat more than 300-400 calories per sitting.

Also, running is very time consuming and relatively ineffective for weight loss. HIIT training with weights takes far less time, is far more effective, less tedious, better for your joints, and tones your muscles on top of losing fat.

Do not take the 'advice' of the poster I've quoted.

Are you daft?

Firstly, long time is relative. Obviously you don't need to stoke up on food, but if you use the 3-meal system you have to be stuffed after you eat each meal, because if you don't eat well, you will be hungry and therefore be tempted to eat more. Get it? If you eat a meal and 1 hour later you feel hungry again then you're in trouble. The advice is obviously not to eat alot, just not too eat TOO MUCH. Also, chew the food you're eating and never swallow it just like that.

Running is VERY effective in weight lose, and not time consuming at all. Running can also be fun, you see the world around you, listening to an mp3 perhaps, you get the idea. Mind if I ask you, do you have any experience? because I have, and I know what I am talking about. I've been training at the gym for years.

Last edited by Chummy on 04 Jul 2011, 12:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Has anyone mentioned eating less and exercising more?

Every nutritionist will tell you that evenly spacing out your meals is best for weight loss. I could cite hundreds of articles on this, but I'm kind of at a loss for words as to why someone would still argue about this. Then again, from someone who'd say "people all around me eat three meals a day, so it must be right" I really couldn't have expected any better.

As for running, it's obvious you don't know anything about the alternative I've laid out, so you're not in a position to comment on running's supposed effectiveness compared to other, better methods. Before engaging in a discussion you should at least have a layman's knowledge of the topic the discussion is about. As for my experience, I've been going to the gym for twelve years, two of which as an instructor during my college days.



Then there's no excuse for your ignorance.

Your metabolic rate does not change enough in a 24 hour period for meal frequency to make any significant difference in weight loss.

If you eat less by spacing out your meals, then that will help you lose weight, but you are still losing weight because you are eating less, not because you are spacing out your meals.

There have been many controlled experiments about this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3592618
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9155494
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1905998

Yeah, that's it.

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Also, there are both articles saying 3 meals are the best and articles saying 6 meals are the best. Nobody agrees 100% on each one, therefore you could do either one on a diet. So this period I was eating 4-5 meals a day and a lot of junk. So I decided let's run, and also eat less meals. Perfectly. Everyone said I got thiner. Everyone. My gym instructor once said that one hour a day walking on a treadmill will make your body really scary. (If you run it's less time), I sure as hell believe a real life gym instructor than some random guy on the interent. Oh, and his body IS scary. Lol.

I am not ignorant, you're just pathetic. I am a living prove you can weight loss with 3 meals a day, and now please explain how could I do it. The buttom line, the number of meals a day has nothing to do with weight loss, you're just plain wrong.

The in/out calories ratio is all what matters. Of course if you want a good body you need a train, but that's another issue, as the OP just wana lose weight.