Health Network News

If you need to lose weight, it probably seems wrong to eat more. However, it works to eat more simply because doing a starvation diet doesn’t work. That’s because you can damage your body irreparably (including your metabolism, which helps you burn calories), which will actually thwart your weight loss efforts, instead of helping them. And that, in fact, can lead to obesity. However, by following a few simple tips, you can have a healthy body AND metabolism well into your old age.

The reason you need to eat more often to lose weight is because there’s a relationship between your metabolic rate and how frequently you eat. That is, your body functions in a particular way if you don’t eat for three or more hours. When your body doesn’t get the nutrition it needs to function, it begins to go into starvation mode, which is something like hibernation.

This is a mode where starvation trigger is activated. Starvation trigger is a survival instinct that slows down the metabolic rate to ensure that body will burn fat as slow as possible so it will maintain the minimum energy level to survive over a period of time under harsh conditions. Hence this is the mode where fat is preserved.

With this mode, you also produce more insulin and other enzymes that will store your food as fat. That means when you have your next meal you store more fat than usual in your body. Finally, when you don’t eat for more than three hours, your appetite increases markedly. That means you can overeat and end up feeling too full, as you do when you stuff yourself at a holiday meal. This also discourages fat burning. Your metabolic rate has decreased and you’ll store more fat from the calories you eat.

Eat more Frequently To Lose Weight

If you want to lose weight fast, eat smaller portions, more frequently. If you eat every two hours, this is an ideal way to avoid overeating and keep your metabolic rate clipping along. You can snack on fruits and vegetables or other healthy snacks between meals, which will keep you full and satisfied and gave you the energy you need so that you won’t trigger your fat storing mode.

To do this right, you have to plan a little. The next time you go shopping, buy some healthy snack supplies. For example, you could mash a boiled egg with some cottage or cream cheese and put it on a stick of celery or some carrots with fresh almonds. Get creative! Have some small snack available all the time so that you don’t reach for junk food. Try to eat something small every two hours.

Smaller portions for a smaller gut

Another way to help ensure that you keep your fat burning going is to use a small plate for smaller portions. In a restaurant, have a portion divided in half right away and take it home and a doggie bag, or ask for child’s serving. Start your meal with soup. Eat 80% of your food for the day before four o’clock in the afternoon. Drink a glass of water 10 minutes before you have each meal, or snack on a piece of dark chocolate. Both of these things should help appease your appetite ever so slightly before your main meal.

Your body tends to use food as it is eaten and stores it when you do not use it. It’s not how much you eat in the day matters. It is when and how often you eat that does. This is why you should eat more to lose weight. Have a large breakfast, snack through to lunch, snack in the afternoon and have a small meal at night. If you haven’t eaten the last three hours go and nibble on something now.