Meal Timing Important to Healthy Weight Loss

When You Eat is Important

Successful weight loss programs all have several important components in common. If you find yourself having a hard time losing weight, make sure your program isn't missing one or more of those important pieces. Two of the most important and overlooked parts in any healthy weight loss program are meal timing and frequency. If you are not paying close attention to these two modules, they can destroy all the hard work you are putting in at the gym and leave you feeling frustrated and fat.


Meal Timing

Your body responds favorably to consistency especially when it comes to food. So eating on a regular schedule significantly improves your chances of losing and keeping off the weight. Regular meal times help to maintain healthy blood glucose levels that stimulate the burning rather than the storing of calories. When glucose levels are consistent, then insulin and cholesterol levels are in check. Regular meal times also help to control hunger which contributes to overeating; the most common reason for excess weight gain.

Food Frequency

Not only do you need to eat on a consistent schedule but also the timing between meals is important. Most weight loss experts agree that major meals like breakfast, lunch and dinner should be spaced equally throughout the day. In between those meals should be a series of healthy snacks so that 4 hours is the maximum amount of times you go between eating. As an example, let's say you eat breakfast at 6 am, lunch at 12 pm and dinner at 6 pm. That is 6 hours between each major meal. In a well designed eating schedule, a healthy snack should be inserted at 9 am and 3 pm. This schedule will prevent you from overeating at any one meal and help your blood sugar levels remain consistent.

Breakfast is Crucial

The first meal of the day can either start you off right or lead to caloric disaster. Sadly many people skip breakfast in the false hope that they can shave a few extra calories off their daily intake. Breakfast is definitely the wrong time to be skipping a meal. If you finished your last meal of the day at 7 pm then your body has gone for approximately 11 hours without food. You have just completed a mini-fast while you were sleeping. Further restricting your body of important "beginning the day" calories has shown to reduce creative and critical thinking, contribute to lowered concentration and promote later day overeating.

Healthy Snacks Control Overeating

Overeating is the number one cause of weight gain and healthy snacks reduce the urge to overeat by maintaining stable levels of blood glucose. Overeating is an emotional and physical reaction to your body falsely thinking it is starving. Once your brain isn't getting enough blood sugar, it creates a barrage of chemicals to stimulate hunger. If the brain always has a consistent amount of blood glucose, then those hunger signals are greatly reduced. People who overeat actually panic when they feel hungry, creating a rush to overeat. Healthy snacks are the best way to keep your brain adequately fueled and control overeating.

Try adding these healthy weight loss components to your plan and see how much easier it is to lose weight without feeling hungry or deprived.

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