Meal Frequency & Pattern
As many people may claim, eating 6 small meals a day would keep your metabolism high through the day. Also, there are some who claim that we should eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Prince, and dinner like a pauper. Well, these are merely just myths as scientific research has shown that these indeed are inaccurate.
Thermic Effect of Food (TEF)
- Refers to what your body does in response to feeding.
- Every time you eat your body creates energy in the form of heat to digest and absorb as many of the nutrients as possible.
- Additionally, the ‘level’ of heat produced by the body is directly proportional to the amount of energy (calories) included in the meal.
- Eg. a meal containing a small amount of calories will produce a small increase in heat energy, while a meal containing a large amount of calories will produce a large increase in heat energy.
**Through mathematical calculations and research, it has been shown how the calories burnt through TEF is the same for a person eating 6 meals with a total of 1800kcal a day as compared to a person eating 3 meals with a total of 1800kcal a day.**
Therefore, the most important thing to remember from this section is:
As long as the calories consumed at the end of the day is the same, it doesn't matter how many meals you eat throughout the day.
Therefore, the most important thing to remember from this section is:
As long as the calories consumed at the end of the day is the same, it doesn't matter how many meals you eat throughout the day.
Meal Management
A Balanced Diet
Your diet should have a balanced carbohydrates-fat-protein ratio for the benefits each of them give you to power up your day. Read more in Macronutrients
Recommended ratio:
Protein: 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight
Fat: 25% of Daily Caloric Intake
Carb: Remaining calories should come from carbohydrates.
*Note (mentioned earlier in Macronutrients):
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories
As i say again, this is merely an example of a balanced diet as it can vary among people.
ALWAYS Eat your Breakfast
Studies show that eating a healthy breakfast can help give you:
Counting your Calories
To count your calories to achieve your goals, be it weight gain, weight loss or weight maintenance, follow these steps:
Your diet should have a balanced carbohydrates-fat-protein ratio for the benefits each of them give you to power up your day. Read more in Macronutrients
Recommended ratio:
Protein: 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight
Fat: 25% of Daily Caloric Intake
Carb: Remaining calories should come from carbohydrates.
*Note (mentioned earlier in Macronutrients):
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories
As i say again, this is merely an example of a balanced diet as it can vary among people.
ALWAYS Eat your Breakfast
Studies show that eating a healthy breakfast can help give you:
- A more nutritionally complete diet, higher in nutrients, vitamins and minerals
- Improved concentration and performance in the classroom or the boardroom
- More strength and endurance to engage in physical activity
- Lower cholesterol levels
- Reduced hunger throughout the day, so studies shown how breakfast eaters tend to weigh less than breakfast skippers.
Counting your Calories
To count your calories to achieve your goals, be it weight gain, weight loss or weight maintenance, follow these steps:
- Calculate your Basal Metabolism Rate, which is the amount of calories consumed while you're at rest, not doing anything.
You can do it here! (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/) - Calculate the number of calories your body type (everyone varies) requires
You can do it here! (http://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html) - With these, you now have a rough gauge of the amount of calories you need to be consuming to achieve your goals so it will be a good habit to track the amount of calories you eat a day from nutrition facts labels or from an online source