Need To Lose Weight? Eat More

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.

Starvation mode puts you in a survival stage, and your metabolic rate is actually slowed so that you’re sure to burn fat as slowly as possible. In this way, under true famine conditions, for example, you’ll maintain minimum energy levels so that you can survive under harsh conditions. This is also the mode where you preserve the most fat.

During starvation mode, too, insulin and other enzymes that store the food is fat are increased so that when the next meal is eaten, you store more fat than usual from those calories. Finally, when you don’t eat for more than three hours, your appetite can increase. And because of that, you may overeat and feel overly full, just as you might after Christmas dinner. This condition actually discourages fat burning because it decreases your metabolic rate and helps ensure that more fat is stored in your body.

Eat more Frequently To Lose Weight

The fast way to lose weight is to eat smaller portions more frequently. Eating this way every 2 hours,is an ideal way to avoid over-eating and keep the metabolic rate up. Snacking on fruits and vegetables or eating other healthy snacks between meals will keep you satisfied and provide the body with necessary energy so the “fat-storing” mode will not be triggered.

To follow this plan properly, you’re going to have to do a little planning. The next time you go shopping, buy some healthy things for snacks. For example, you could boil an egg and then mash with some cottage cheese or cream cheese on a stick of celery with fresh almonds as one great and healthy, filling snack. Get creative! Eat small snacks of something nutritious regularly so that you don’t get overly hungry and reach for junk food. Be sure you try to eat something small every two hours or so.

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.