Problem with eating six small meals a day is that you are more likely to over eat in total for the day.
So eat less than that you think? That makes life even harder for me! FFS! :lol:
snacking isn't actually bad, you can even snack on the "unhealthy" stuff as well. The problem is the amount you eat, while you think it's ok to snack on something healthy too much can actually be bad. If you eat only "healthy meals" but your over your maintenance level of calories by 1000 your still going to put on weight. What you really need to do is work out your maintenance calories and how much your eating a day.
If your having trouble reducing your meal size try drinking a glass of water before each meal. When your hungry drink a glass of water before you eat anything. Put your meals on a smaller plate or bowl. Cut your meal into smaller pieces. And plan your meals ahead and try to eat them at the same time everyday. These will all make it easier to cut down on meal sizes.
Yep your 120% correct.
That's where I have found the protein shakes as a handy snack as I find them quiet filling and it has helped reduce my portion size, plus I was a huge iced coffee fan and it has helped ease that craving.
Please, please, please, please, please don't take this as an attack on your post but me personally (work in a facility that has a health club, not a personal trainer though but does a lot of membership sales, tours etc as part of my role, was 30kg heavier and have now dropped 16% of my body fat and a lot of that is thanks to kickinits advice on lifting, now uses a gym 4 days a week religiously)
I find that a lot of personal trainers, health club professionals, nutritionists etc etc overwhelm people with to much information and make things far to confusing for the 'average person'. Part of the problem is the amount of information that is out there now, with ridiculous shows like biggest loser, websites etc im sure if I went looking on the net now I could info that suggests fruit is bad for you and eating chocolate is beneficial.
I found this to be the case with calorie counting and finding out maintenance levels. Going on different websites, apps or people and you will find a billion and 1 different answers. Calorie counting I found as well was also very hit and miss especially when making your own food, unless your going to weigh every piece you put in it.
I think the most effective lifestyle changes, diets whatever you want to call them are the simplest.
Eat 3 main meals a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner and then stick to 2 snack meals between breakfast and lunch and lunch and dinner. Start by changing to everything low fat (yes they can be full of sugar but generally they are better than the full bodied version) skim milk instead of full cream, wholemeal bread instead of white, pepsi max instead of pepsi, limit use of butter (you wont notice any difference not having butter on a ham and salad sandwich), cut down on sugar in coffee, drink low carb beers rather than full beers over a whole year that's a shit load of calories less than your usual eating etc
I prefer lifting as the best form of calorie burning but if you cant get to a gym aim for twenty minutes of exercise a day and make sure you push yourself even if that means just going for a brisk walk.
And most importantly MAINTAIN and do so CONSISTENTLY.
I lost my first 20 kilos over two years without stepping foot in a gym (I could have lost it quicker no doubt but what I have done is create a maintable lifestyle for me) by purely eating smarter and doing abit of extra exercise. It has now become standard for me and the sight of a whopper or big mac makes me feel ill in the stomach.
Its only in the last 9 months that I have started to take the gym serious and get real in depth with nutrition to the point of working out how much protein, carbs, fats percentage I need per meal.
Start simple and make it a lifestyle change rather than a quick diet. Once you start to get results you will be hooked and never look back.
sorry for the long post just bored at home and got on a roll.