How many meals do you have to eat a day? That is a really good question and it is also a question without a straight answer. It is individual how many meals one should eat a day. If your weight is within, what is considered normal, and you are used to eating three meals a day and no snacks in between, then you will probably gain weight if you start to eat snacks three times a day without adjusting your main meals.
Other people can benefit from getting a more structured meal plan that includes planned snacks or in-between meals instead of snacking whatever is available between main meals. When I help a person to either lose or gain weight, I always design a meal plan with a meal pattern that is close to what they are used to. There are so many habits around the way we eat and what we eat. To be successful with a weight loss or a weight gain, the meal plan has to make sense to the person it is designed to. When your meals are spread throughout the day with planned snacks, it is less likely that you increase your eating at the next main meal. I often hear my clients tell that they skip breakfast and are too busy to eat lunch, so they often eat very large loads of food later in the day. The body is not designed to consume large loads of food at one go and especially not at nighttime. Your body needs to recover while sleeping, and not use energy on digesting.
For many years, especially the fitness industry has been maintaining that many meals throughout the day keep the burning of calories high. The burning of calories does not stop and/or slow down if you only eat three meals a day. You can boost your calorie burning by being physically active and increase your muscle mass. It is in your muscles that you burn the calories that are gained through the food you are eating. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn.
If you normally eat in-between meals or snacks in order not to eat too much food at your next main meal, then Nupo has some handy solutions. Nupo makes some snack bars that are called Nupo life. They are made of natural ingredients and they are very tasteful if you ask me. They come in four different flavors and you can use them as a snack for your kids as well. Nupo also produces a protein bar called protein bite. It is a small snack that is great before or after your physical activity to help you maintain or build muscles. It is of course always a great idea to have a healthy snack at hand when you are on the go and you want to maintain or lose weight.
Health consultant, Team Nupo.
