We’ve heard for years that a key to weight loss is dividing a meal into several mini-meals throughout the day. Now, a small but growing body of evidence is suggesting all that “grazing” isn’t necessarily a smart way to control your appetite. In some cases, it may even result in weight gain.
A small study presented this weekend at the American Diabetes Association conference found that people with type 2 diabetes who ate two large meals a day lost more weight than when they consumed six smaller meals with an equivalent amount of calories.
The researchers, led by Hana Kahleova of the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague, instructed the 54 study participants to follow two sorts of eating plans for 12 weeks each: either six small-meals or two larger meals – just breakfast and lunch. Both diet regimens included an equivalent nutrient and caloric content – the daily caloric total reduced each person’s intake by 500 calories. Half of the participants were provided with all of the meals, and registered dietitians regularly met with the volunteers.
The volunteers lost weight under both eating plans. But eating an enormous breakfast and large lunch resulted in additional weight loss – 1.23 points of their body mass index, or BMI. Eating the six smaller meals resulted during a loss of 0.82 BMI points. BMI uses a person’s height and weight to provide a measure of body fat. A person of “normal weight” features a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9; the typical BMI for participants during this study was 32.6.
Though the study was presented at the ADA conference, it’s important to note that it’s not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal — and 54 patients makes for a small sample size. Although eating just twice each day resulted in additional weight loss, is skipping dinner really feasible or sustainable for the typical American — with or without diabetes? Not likely, experts who weren’t involved with this new research say.
“National surveys suggest that the majority Americans, including those with diabetes, eat five or sixfold each day , so to curb eating to only twice each day would be a change that would be drastic and dramatic — and unrealistic for several people,” says Elisa Zied, a registered dietitian from New York.
Madelyn Fernstrom, TODAY’s diet and nutrition editor say that the real-life takeaway here is a smaller amount about skipping dinner, and more about simply eating less frequently. So it’s really lowering how often you eat because you’ll tend to eat less,” Fernstrom told Savannah Guthrie this morning on TODAY.
“Three meals every day goes to be more workable,” Fernstrom says. “When you translate it to world, this could be an honest because of go – hearty breakfast, medium lunch, then a lighter dinner. Or you can mix and match, as long as you retain the calories low.” Because remember, during this study, the dieters’ daily calorie counts were cut by 500 a piece – something that Fernstrom says can translate to a few pounds lost every week.
Because moving far away from “grazing” — constantly grabbing something to eat during the day the minute you are feeling the slightest twinge of hunger? That’s something many dietitians can get behind. And the medical literature supports that concept, too, as past research has suggested that eating more meals throughout the day doesn’t necessarily end in more weight lost.
“A lot of people think, if I might wish to reduce better, I’d better spread my meals out, eat constantly. But the more you graze, the more you tend to eat, for several people.”
“These six mini-meals become six major meals, and people wonder why they’re not losing weight,” she told TODAY. “It’s a little study, that eating less often can really help promote the same weight loss.”
For long-term weight management, it’s important to learn to listen to your body. But perhaps most importantly: know what works for you, and choose an eating strategy that you can really, actually stick to. That’s something Robert Ratner, chief scientific and medical officer for the ADA, says is so important in treating diabetes patients — or anyone interested in losing weight.
“There are some folks that, if you gave them the selection of six meals every day, would overeat within the least six meals. There are others who actually find grazing like that quite easy, so they’re never so hungry that they consume large quantities. On the other hand, we all know people who miss meals,” Ratner told NBCNews.com.
“One of the take-home messages here — a 500-calorie reduction in intake, regardless of how you do it, results in weight loss,” Ratner says, adding that “both groups lost weight. This shows that calorie reduction matters.”
Two meals each day could also be better for weight loss than ‘grazing’
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