Meal-Timing-and-How-Many-Meals-a-Day-to-Lose-Weight

 A lot of people are curious about how many meals a day to lose weight.  Some people claim one meal and others say six meals is best.  So, how often should you eat?  Additionally, does meal timing have any impact on weight loss?  Is it better to eat first thing in the morning instead of late at night?  Is there an optimal time to eat that will give you a better chance of losing weight?  Here are a few things I’ve discovered about meal frequency and weight loss.

How Many Meals a Day to Lose Weight

The biggest challenge in determining how many meals per day you should be eating is the significant amount of conflicting information available.  Some intermittent fasting diets call for only one meal per day to increase HGH levels.  Bodybuilding diets tend to encourage six meals per day to increase your metabolism.  Thankfully, studies have been done on meal frequency and weight loss.

 John Barban explains these a lot better than I ever could so I’d recommend reading his material directly for further information.

Here are some of the results of various studies:

  • The more often you eat, the greater the chance of overeating as evidenced by the fact that people who ate once per day lost more weight than those who ate 3 times per day
  • No difference in energy expenditure when eating 2 vs. 3 meals per day
  • No difference in metabolic rate of people who ate 3 vs. 6 vs. 9 meals per day
  • No difference in body weight, glucose, or insulin for those who ate 3 meals vs. 9 meals

The bottom line here is that the number of meals you eat won’t affect your metabolism significantly enough to increase or decrease weight loss.  That being said, I personally think meal frequency can impact weight loss.  We don’t live in a vacuum where calories are strictly controlled by a study.  Psychological eating can be a reason for weight gain.


How often should you eat then?  You have to find an approach that works best for your body.  Some people prefer grazing and having a few small meals.  Other people prefer one large meal.  I do best with two small meals and one large meal because the more often I eat, the more likely I am to overeat.  For me, it’s unbearable to think of eating nine 200 calorie meals when I could eat one 1,000 calorie meal and two 400 calorie meals.  Other people lose control and binge if they only eat once per day.  Trust what feels right for your body and also be cognizant of what approach gives you enough energy to make it through the day.

Meal Timing

Now that you can see that how many meals a day you eat doesn’t affect weight loss, let’s move on to whether the timing of those meals affects weight loss.  Most people tend to believe that eating late at night leads to weight gain.  I would disagree with this.  Calories are calories.

Again, while the timing of your caloric intake shouldn’t affect weight loss, in the real world it does.  Late night eating tends to be unnecessary snacking consistent of high carb and high fat foods.  These poor habits can in fact lead to weight gain which is why this is the first place a lot of people turn to cut calories.  A hard rule of not eating after 8pm may not be physically necessary, but it can create a psychological edge that will result in weight loss.


One other point of caution about eating late at night.  Ingesting a significant amount of sugar or other high carb foods gives your body a lot of energy.  Your sleep patterns could be affected leading to a lower metabolism and greater appetite, neither of which will help you lose weight.

Aside from your own personal preferences, meal timing shouldn’t be a big deal.  Skip breakfast, eat right before bed, and just do whatever works best for you.  Personally, I try to time my biggest meals after a workout when my body is primed to absorb nutrients.  I’ve had success with carb cycling where most of my daily carbs are eaten in combination with protein after exercising.  In this manner, my body is in muscle building mode after a workout and fat burning mode the rest of the time.

How Often Should You Eat

Ultimately to lose weight you have to create a caloric deficit.  You have to determine on your own how many meals a day you need to lose weight and how meal timing may help or hinder your progress.  The The Spread About Your Diet can definitely serve as a guide.

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