You decided to start your healthy eating as soon as today. You are so ready to work toward your goal and get back in shape.

You understand you need to cut some calories. A calorie deficit will make your body find the energy it needs from the unwanted fat your body is been saving for energy.

Can’t wait to see your results showing in just few weeks.

But the problem is that you are struggling on how much you should eat. You think that if you eat less meals you should lose the weight fast.

But the truth is that you end up starving all day and craving all the bad food.

I used to have that problem when I was younger. I will skip breakfast but at lunch time I will eat everything that will cross my mind because … I was hungry!!!

In addition, there was no consistency, timing or planning at all.

The problem was that I did not follow a sustainable plan that could become a lifestyle!

What can you do then?

There is a solution to this problem and it is called planning your meals.

Did you know that you can eat has many meals has you want during the day?

Three meals, four meals, five, or six!

It will actually depend on how your daily activities are organized and the time you get up and what time you go to bed.

So, with this said… do you think that a person eating 3 meals can have the same size plate than a person eating six meals?

Absolutely no; for a weight loss or gain goal, the number of calories you need to consume on a day has to stay consistent no matter how many meals you eat.

Basically, if you have 3 meals a day, then your size plates will be bigger. But, if you eat 6 meals a day, then your portions will be smaller. But, the total calories per day will be the same.

Does it matter the number of meals then?

No really, the important lesson here is to do what works for you. Maybe 6 meals are too much for your full day, so you can adjust to 5 or 4 meals a day.

However, I will definitively recommend to eat every 3 hours so it helps to keep your metabolism high, which in turn helps keep your energy levels high all day long.

Let’s find out how many meals you should have:

Your first step will be to look at your schedule and consider the time you wake up till the time you go to sleep.

Decide how many hours apart you would like to eat. Then, if you were to eat every 3 or 4 hours calculate how many meals you can fit into your daily schedule.

Look at your daily activities in order to be able to know when you will have your food breaks.

It is actually very helpful for your body to eat at the same hours every day. Therefore, make a schedule for your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.

It is very important to know how many calories you should consume by the end of the day, that way you can distribute among the quantity of meals you are having.

Normally for a person a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day is enough for weight loss and it won’t affect your level of energy.

Now that you know the hours of your day, the number of meals you could fit in it, and the calorie goal for the day, you just need to do some math to decide how many calories per meal you could have.

Let’s say your calorie goal is 1600 and you are having 5 meals, it could look like this

Having a plan of how many meals and how many calories each meal should have will help you reach your weight loss goal faster, since you will actually ensure you are in a deficit every day.

Now if you want to go a step further and look also at the macro counting take a look at this article.

Did You Get Some Value?

I hope you did, all my tips are from my experience and what has actually worked for me.

If I was able to find a healthy balance in my life I am sure you can too!

Feel free to share my content if you found it valuable. and if you ever have any questions, I will be glad to help CONTACT ME