Many fitness leaders will recommend eating 5-6 small meals a day and with good reason.

Eating smaller, frequent meals means that your metabolism works more often on less food. This trains your metabolic rate to increase and digest food more quickly, ultimately leading to a faster overall metabolism.

When you eat 2-3 big meals a day you overwhelm your metabolic system. Not eating for more than 4-5 hours at a time slows the metabolism and your body begins to think it is starving. Food gets digested slowly and more fat is stored as an energy source “just in case” no new food comes through for a while.

Eating smaller and more frequent meals through out the day is beneficial for a healthy digestive system, weight loss and having more energy.

There are a few problems with this method as far as maintaining this lifestyle is concerned. The most common complaint seems to be an increased feeling of hunger when you first start out. This is usually the opposite reaction you want to have when trying to lose weight!

The solution to this problem is either having the willpower to not end up eating 5-6 big meals a day or a “weaning phase” to slowly transition. During this phase I recommended that portions are reduced and one extra meal is added a week for 3 weeks. Remember, at the start of a new week and an extra meal, portions have to be reduced.

The goal is to stretch out the same amount of calories of three big meals, in to 6 smaller ones.

Another common problem is that most people are busy and don’t want to carry a bunch of prepared food and snacks to work.

The way around this one is to continue with your usual routine but try to follow the schedule by making simple changes. Instead of eating a wrap and salad for lunch, save the salad for a snack in the late afternoon. Or find snacks and small meals that involve minimal or no preparation and can be easily carried with you to work or while travelling.

This eating schedule definitely works. Try to eat 5-6 small meals a day to push past plateaus, lose weight or simply to feel your best.