How many calories should I eat have per meal so that storage of them as fat is minimal?
I know that the body can only use so many calories immediately, and the remainder that you consumed in your meal will go to storage as fat or glycogen. I want to know what the average or estimated number is for calories your body can immediately utilize. Using this information, a dieter can determine how many calories to have per meal, and how many of these small meals to have per day. Naturally, having meals with only this many calories will mean eating numerous such meals at regular intervals throughout the day, not just the tpical breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
October 16th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
It really depends on your activity level. If you calculate how many calories you are burning per day, or even per hour, you can then calculate how many calories to eat at each meal.
October 16th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
animals have to over eat to store fat for the winter. as a human you do not. you have a warm home and clothes to keep you warm.animals wouldnt survive the cold without storing up fat and those that hibernate use the fat to keep warm and it is used for food as they sleep
October 16th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/calories-burned.php
Split how many calories you need on a daily basis into what you’re eating. Say you need 1600 a day…
300 breakfast
300 lunch
200 snacks
800 dinner
That’s just an example. You need to find out what is a good amount for you.
October 16th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
well, let’s see. if you can have 2,400 calories a day, with breakfast, a snack, lunch, dinner, then you divide it. 2,400 divided by 4 = 600 calories per meal and if you want an extra meal [or snack] than it 2,400 divided by 5 = 480 calories per meal……………………………… i hope that helped
October 16th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
It really depends on your activity level, but coming from an athlete, the best advice I can give you is to 5-6 small meals a day, space them 2-3 hours apart. Eating 5-6 smaller meals a day more frequently causes your metabolism to speed up, causing you to burn more calories. For me, I try to eat about 1800-2000(which equals 250-350 calories per meal) calories a day because I train for sports, I’m trying to stay lean and mean.
Eat more whole grain wheats, less white rice or carb loaded past. Oatmeal and whey is always good(without added sugar). Also, eat more proteins(chicken breast, fish, low fat meat, nuts, etc…) (I try to eat 160 grams of protein a day, I weigh 160 lbs). You don’t have to go all out like that, but eat more proteins, it fills you up faster and is burned easier. Vegetable is always good too, but keep fruits in moderation.
Another thing that’ll help tremendously, if for you to do 30 minutes of exercise a day, whether its jogging or whatever.
Hope this helped
October 16th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
As you’ve been told already, it does depend on activity level. In addition, it depends on how much energy your body needs to stay warm and keep functioning.
In other words, we could give you an estimate on how many calories it takes for most people to maintain (see link below) but you’ll need to tweak that total to fit your needs.
In addition, not all calories are created equal. If you have carbs that are tons of simple carbs (sugars) then those will “hit” your system faster than calories that have more fiber, complex carbs, etc. While I don’t advocate the Adkins diet, those people are correct that carb counting is important. Athletes study carbs, and you’ll want to look at some of those charts as well.
October 26th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Dr. Ellington Darden, PhD, notes that no more than 600 calories of (clean) food should be consumed at any one meal. More than that and his research indicates there will be an insulin surge and cause fat storage.
Whether it is carbs or protein, it makes no difference. Dr. Gerald Revan, MD/PhD, and renowned endocrinologist, has confirmed too much protein will cause an insulin spike just like starchy carbs.
But, here’s the secret no one really explains: smaller meals keeps the insulin levels down. The lower the insulin levels, the sooner your glucagon (fat burning) hormones can kick in.
So is a meal frequency/small meal approach a “fat burning” or metabolism boosting approach? Yes–but even the cleaner foods aren’t going to generate that much of caloric burn. The secret is more glucagon to burn fat, less insulin. And bigger meals just delay that process.
Unless you’ve got metabolic issues (thyroid, insulin resistance for example), calories in/calories out is the best place to start. From there, find out the foods and meal frequency that works best.