Why is fractional meals good for you? What will happen if you do not eat for a long time: the consequences and recommendations of specialists

Fat people often eat only 2 times a day, and sincerely do not understand why the weight does not move. Some people with this lifestyle even gain weight, especially if the second, last meal is in the evening. Let's look at what the mistake is.

Why is eating rarely harmful?

The secret lies in the fact that the habit of eating less often, but a lot, makes you gain more calories than you would gain from several more frequent snacks, when you manage to maintain a constant feeling of fullness in the body.

It is known that hunger is directly related to blood sugar levels. If you rarely eat, your blood sugar drops, you feel unwell, fatigue and, as soon as the opportunity arises, pounce on food to satisfy your hunger, and besides, you eat quickly enough. Since the feeling of fullness appears only 15-20 minutes after the start of a meal, you eat much more than you should, as you swallow the pieces.

Losing weight needs to try to maintain blood sugar at the same level throughout the day, to prevent severe hunger when sucking in the stomach. The metabolic rate slows down within 4-6 hours after eating. That is why, when losing weight, it is important to eat often and in small portions, at least 4-6 times a day. And it would also be good to count calories while losing weight, so as not to overeat. Food must be chewed thoroughly, trying to eat slowly, this is important so that as little food as possible crawls into you before you feel full.

Which is better than 3 or 7 meals?

What kind of diet suits your lifestyle? Do you eat rarely and thoroughly, or a little, but often?

If you strive to lose weight and are familiar with well-known diets, then you probably know that many of them are designed for three meals a day. American nutritionists conducted an experiment: they offered those who want to lose weight, a seven-meal meal plan. At the same time, the portions were made very small. This method is used by wild animals, which, by the way, do not suffer from excess weight at all.

Of course, eating all day and losing weight at the same time is the dream of any girl. But how effective is it in reality? Below we offer you to compare the pros and cons of 2 food models: meals 7 times a day and meals 3 times a day.

Meals five to seven times a day

Of course, there is often and a little - that's good. This way, you maintain your blood sugar levels and do not overeat from hunger.

Positive sides:

• with such frequent meals, efficiency increases. Your body is constantly energized by 5-7 meals a day. The result of this is cheerfulness, activity and high efficiency;
• with seven meals a day, they do not suffer from bouts of hunger. This regular, short-term food intake throughout the day helps maintain normal blood sugar levels. As a result, there is no feeling of hunger and you will not be able to eat a lot at one time. This principle helps you lose weight if you eat apples as a snack. So you can develop indifference to sweets in your body;
• metabolism improves. This happens because the digestive organs are constantly working. As a result, much more calories are burned.

Negative sides:

• time frame. Sometimes it is difficult to follow such a diet, not every person manages to eat every two hours;
• fats are burned more slowly. Due to the fact that the insulin content in the blood is constantly increased, the process of burning fat in the cells becomes slower or practically stops altogether;
• you can overeat if the stomach is distended.

Meals three to four times a day

You do not starve for more than 3-4 hours, food comes in evenly, there is no overeating. These are pluses, but what about minuses?

Positive sides:

• fats are quickly burned. Insulin is not produced when food is digested. The lack of insulin in the blood leads to the fact that fat is not deposited, the body begins to burn previously accumulated fat deposits;
• good food control. With three meals a day, it's easy to control the amount of calories you eat per day;
• hunger "by the clock". The body gets used to a certain schedule, which is why hunger occurs every day at the same specific time.

Negative sides:

• if you do not eat for about 4 hours, then you suffer from bouts of hunger. You may sometimes want to eat ahead of time. This is due to the fact that when digesting food, a large amount of insulin is spent, therefore, its level in the blood drops;
• nutrients are absorbed worse. In the case when the body with food receives many nutrients and useful substances at once, it often cannot use them in the best possible way.

Summarize

The three- or four-day meal model is suitable for those who are unable to control the amount of portion eaten at one time and cannot eat every 2 hours. The five-, seven-meal food model can be safely recommended to people who have an active lifestyle and who go in for sports. For those who want to constantly eat, you can also try to lose weight like this.

With any eating pattern, it is important to remember that your diet must be balanced. You need to eat often without overeating. Eat often vegetables, moderate amounts of vegetable oils, protein and slow carbs, drink at least 2 liters of water a day, and stay fast for more than 3 hours in a row so that your blood sugar does not rise too much, causing the urge to eat fast carbs. For weight loss, it is much more important not to exceed your calorie content, and to eat 4 or 7 times a day - it's up to you!

Definitely, those who argue that you need to eat food often, but little by little, are right. Eating once a day is a direct path to serious gastrointestinal problems. You will be surprised, but even eating three times a day is also not enough.

How often should you eat

You need to eat 5-6 times a day. This is one of the foundations of dietetics, but the serving size should not exceed approximately 300 grams.

Several arguments:

the gastrointestinal tract works evenly and harmoniously if food enters it regularly. Breaks, of course, are needed (2.5 -3 hours depending on the type of food you have taken), but it is the constant intake of food that stimulates the stomach, forcing it to contract;

our stomach is very small in volume. Do you know why there are so many overweight children now? A significant role here is played not only by modified and high-calorie foods, but also by the parents themselves, who with the words: "eat more", "5 more spoons, otherwise you won't go for a walk," "for mom, for dad, for a dog, etc." elementary stretch the baby's stomach, forcing him to eat more than required. The result is;

It is better to load the stomach a little 6 times, than three times, but a lot. The assertion that "there is no time to be at work" is self-deception. Taking with you fruits, nuts, yogurt and having a snack with them before and after a full meal will help you eat right, and most importantly, do not overeat in the evening;

eating at night in large quantities is harmful not only for the stomach, but also for the figure, therefore, it is recommended to make a late dinner light, a fermented milk product, a baked apple, fruits, and other light options are suitable;

remember that long breaks between meals are perceived by the body as stress. The sugar level drops, the thyroid gland begins to work incorrectly, gastric juice is secreted, which simply has nothing to digest - all this is not very good for the body.

Important: but remember that you need to eat a little 5-6 times a day, otherwise you can gain excess weight.

Important: remember that in the evening you need to eat light meals, and some in general

Little or many are relative and subjective concepts. For example, overweight people often sincerely believe that they eat almost nothing. And the thin people think that they eat a lot. What is not enough for one can be much for another, and vice versa.

Evaluation of the diet of obese and overweight people has revealed the abuse of foods high in sugar, salt and fat as snacks, which negatively affects both the figure and health in general! Eating even small amounts of high-calorie foods with a high glycemic index, such as confectionery, provokes an uncontrollable feeling of hunger and a constant animal desire to eat. It is also necessary to take into account the volume and calorie content of foods and dishes. Even the lowest-calorie food can be eaten in bulk, which can damage your figure!

Metabolism and weight

Depending on changes in the body, the same person at different periods of life may have different metabolic parameters. But the amount of calories consumed should always be in line with the needs. Eating irregularly is very harmful not only for the stomach, but also for the metabolism. When the body receives little energy, it starts to save. Long-term monotonous diets, for example, on kefir or on buckwheat, at first give a quick result, but after completing such a course, the weight increases with even greater force.

Reducing calories below the basal metabolic rate (the amount of calories that the body spends at rest) is possible only when you arrange a fasting day.

If you are advised to stick to 900 or 1200 kcal / day, then this is completely the wrong way. Moreover, you should not starve yourself! Therapeutic fasting is effective only for allergic diseases, asthma and schizophrenia. When a healthy body receives little energy, it begins to "save" it. When you return to the previous power mode, the energy storage process starts. The more restrictions the body experiences, the more it will store energy in the form of fat reserves.

How to determine how much to eat?

Depending on the initial parameters, such as height, weight, sex, age, habitat and level of physical activity, you can roughly determine the required daily calorie intake.

If you want to lose weight, then you should consume the number of calories, not higher, but not lower than the level of energy expenditure at rest.

What is rest energy (basal metabolic rate) and how can they be determined?

Resting energy is the amount of energy that is required to maintain the body's vital functions during sleep or without taking into account mental and physical stress. In short, this is your minimum, below which it is undesirable to go down.

There are calculation methods for calculating this parameter using the formulas:

Harris-Benedict:

Women: BOO (basal metabolic rate) = 655.1 + 9.6 * body weight (kg) + 1.85 * height (cm) - 4.68 * age (years)

Men: BOO = 66.47 + 13.75 * body weight (kg) + 5.0 * height (cm) - 6.74 * age (years)

Or Mifflin-San Geora:

For a woman: BOO = 9.99 * weight (kg) + 6.25 * height (cm) - 4.92 * age - 161

For a man: BOO = 9.99 * weight (kg) + 6.25 * height (cm) - 4.92 * age + 5

From the formulas it follows that the more weight and height, the more food the body needs.

If you have determined the required amount for yourself, then you should not be afraid of calories at all. Knowing your daily calorie intake, you can easily manage weight, while not denying yourself small gastronomic pleasures.

In order to maintain the desired weight, it is necessary to multiply the energy expenditure of rest by the coefficient of physical activity.

The diet should be as varied as possible - this will provide the body with all the necessary macro- and microelements. Calorie content is also very individual.

• Thus, a growing young body needs more energy, and energy requirements in old age are significantly reduced.
• Energy requirements are generally higher in males than in females, which is related to the amount of muscle mass and testosterone levels.
• The higher the height and weight, the higher the level of metabolism, which is associated with the high costs of the body for heating and the work of organs and systems. The higher the body surface area, the higher the metabolism!
• Human metabolism can also change during pregnancy, illness, sports and environmental influences.

We are all different and cannot fully correspond to the formulas, therefore, the level of metabolism can be determined more accurately using a special study - indirect calorimetry.

It should be borne in mind that at different stages of weight loss, the calorie content of the diet should also be changed, taking into account the metabolic level changing in the process of losing weight. This is very important if you are actively involved in sports or are rapidly losing weight!

If the metabolism slows down at some point, then it is necessary to increase physical activity, and not sharply reduce the diet!

What you need to eat on fasting days

Fasting days will come to the rescue if the weight “stands” for more than a week and does not respond to sports loads. The number of fasting days should not exceed 1-2 times a week.

So, what fasting days are preferable when, in the process of losing weight, the weight stalled:

Curd-kefir unloading day. Calories: 882 Kcal

"Karel". Caloric value: 1006 Kcal

Fasting day: Meat with fresh vegetables. Caloric value: 910 Kcal

Fasting day: Fish with vegetables. Calories: 731 Kcal

You need to know and remember!

• If the body receives an insufficient amount of protein, then weight loss is due to a decrease in muscle mass, which also negatively affects the intensity of metabolism.
• Deficiency of vitamins in the diet can lead to depression and decreased immunity.
• Racionika bars and cocktails will help you not only optimize your diet in terms of protein content, but also provide you with the necessary vitamins and dietary fiber. One serving can replace one of the meals, which will significantly reduce the daily calorie intake.
• Regular intake of energy in the form of food stimulates metabolism and the consumption of fat stores occurs more evenly.
• When taking Racionika specialized products, in addition to a healthy combination of ingredients, there is also an important advantage, compared to regular food, - it is the long-term compensation of the feeling of hunger.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the "golden rule" when correcting weight - losing weight should be full and be in a good mood! Eat the right foods in the right amount - this will help you achieve your goal and keep your weight in the right range!

There is an excellent article on this topic on the sektascience portal. I will quote it in part. Maybe after reading it you will find the answer to your question.

The most common mistake is to consider the formula of energy balance in the body as a static “eat less - lose weight”. Anyone who has tried to lose weight at least once has encountered the fact that from a certain point it stops losing weight, and additional cuts in calories do not lead to the desired result.

Our weight, like other vital functions, is controlled by the brain, which receives signals from the outside and from the inside (from the intestines, liver, adipose tissue and muscles). Thus, it regulates the expenditure of calories, triggering various processes to optimize body functions. That is why the energy balance formula is very dynamic, and cutting back on the diet does not directly lead to weight loss.

The less a person eats, the more the body tries to optimize processes and more efficiently use the incoming energy.

As a result of the artificially created lack of energy, many physiological mechanisms are activated, the purpose of which is to optimize the functions of the body in new conditions for it. Because of this, the metabolic rate decreases and the body composition changes (the percentage of adipose tissue relative to protein). Moreover, first of all, the body says goodbye to proteins, but not fat.

The human body readily adapts to weight gain or loss in accordance with external factors and the needs of the body.

In fact, the process of losing weight begins with a negative energy balance. This means that during this period, the amount of calories consumed is less than what is needed for the daily functions of the body.

The body perceives such a balance as a signal that “hard times” have come, and starts the mode of optimizing energy expenditure.

When a person limits the amount of incoming energy in the hope of losing weight, the body does not know that there is, in fact, incredible abundance and this limited access to food is created artificially - it is programmed to survive.

Our body is able to incredibly efficiently distribute the available resources to save energy, and when they are abundant, to save reserves for a rainy day.

Weight loss includes the loss of fat and lean mass, which is the sum of proteins (muscle tissue), glycogen, water, minerals, and electrolytes.

Usually the first phase of weight loss is characterized by relatively high protein losses. First of all, the body consumes proteins contained in the gastrointestinal tract and liver, then in skeletal muscles and, to a lesser extent, in internal organs.

An initially thin person who loses 10 kg of fat runs the risk of losing about 15 kg of muscle tissue. With significant obesity, the amount of lost muscle mass decreases. It is important to understand that intense loss of lean mass occurs only in the first phase of weight loss (the first 4 weeks). And only when the body reduces the basic level of metabolism to a minimum and enters the second phase of weight loss, fat becomes the main source of energy.

Basically, the composition of the lost body weight is determined by two factors - the original constitution of the person and the severity of the diet.

With weight loss and negative energy balance, the rate of fat loss will depend on diet and exercise balance.

An overly low-calorie diet suppresses metabolic rate and promotes more protein breakdown than a balanced diet and gradual weight loss.

Fasting as a weight loss technique results in grossly disproportionate protein loss. The rate of weight loss with a low-calorie diet and fasting is almost identical, but the intensity of muscle loss during a low-calorie diet is significantly lower than during a fast.

The rate of fat burning with a balanced diet is significantly higher than with a fast or very low calorie diet.

With a low-calorie diet, metabolism adapts quickly - it slows down, which makes such diets not only dangerous, but also ineffective for losing weight. At some point, weight loss decreases, and the body begins to compensate for the lack of energy in other ways.

There you will also find many, many useful articles about nutrition, physiological processes that occur in the body, information about popular myths and misconceptions about nutrition and weight loss, and so on and so forth.

What is the meaning of human life? Why do we live in this world? In order to eat, or do we eat in order to live? The answer lies in the way of life for each of us. Someone may not eat for weeks and feel great, but for someone a couple of hours without food is already a disaster. And what will happen if you do not eat at all for a long time? Are we going to die? Not at all, experts say. But the result depends on the goals of fasting, the state of health of the person, and many other factors.

How long can we not eat

After the publication of the book "The Miracle of Fasting" by the famous nutritionist and naturopath Paul Brega, therapeutic fasting became especially popular. They are used as short-term fasting, for 2-3 days, and for a longer period. It is believed that for an adult healthy person, they only benefit.

The whole body is cleansed, metabolism is normalized, weight is reduced, immunity is strengthened and life expectancy is increased. And what will happen if you do not eat for a long time, is it dangerous? It has been proven that a person can easily do without any food for up to 40 days. We are talking about therapeutic fasting. It should only be performed under medical supervision and only if there is a serious medical condition. In this case, in addition to refusing to take any food, adherence to the drinking regime and daily cleansing procedures are also mandatory. They starve not for the sake of beauty and banal weight loss, but in order to improve their health. As the experience of many years has shown, medical fasting really helps to cure many serious diseases. However, starving on your own for so long is dangerous to human health and life. When asked what will happen if you do not eat for a long time, we can say with confidence: nothing good. It is extremely dangerous to starve for an unprepared person - against the background of hunger, various diseases can aggravate.

Effects of hunger on the body

If the human body ceases to receive food, and with it the nutrients necessary for the normal functioning of all systems, it is rebuilt and begins to use internal resources. For this, the liver contains a certain reserve of glycogen, which will become "fuel" on the first day of fasting. But its supply is small, and the next day fats will be used.

But the problem is that in the absence of food, the body does not receive the carbohydrates needed to break down fats. According to experts, due to incomplete oxidation of fats, toxic products (ketones) accumulate in the body, the acid-base balance is disturbed: it shifts to the acid side. The so-called acidosis occurs, the main symptoms of which are muscle weakness, headache and a strong odor of acetone from the mouth. And what next, what will happen if you don't have a week? Can a person die? No. After 5-7 days of fasting, the condition can worsen sharply, an acidotic crisis sets in. It forces the body to completely rebuild and adjust its work. People begin to feel much better, their hunger completely disappears. The digestive system rests and the body uses up its internal resources. Sick and damaged cells are eaten first. The organism, being saturated, is thus renewed. The body is cleansed of many ailments. This is one of the options for what will happen if you do not eat for a long time. You can stay in this position for about 30-40 days. Then comes the second acidotic crisis. This serves as a signal to the body that it is time to end fasting and gently return to eating. This should be done gradually, adhering to the basic rules of therapeutic fasting.

A little about the benefits of fasting

According to experts, fasting is useful for those people who want to cleanse themselves of toxins, rejuvenate the body, and defeat the disease. If everything is done correctly, then subsequently comes a feeling of extraordinary lightness, the person feels new strength, looks renewed, changes dramatically.

Among the diseases for which fasting is useful and often necessary are the following:

Overweight and obesity;

Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;

Diseases of the skin;

Allergy;

Phlebeurysm;

High blood pressure.

Drinking is good

As practice shows, abstinence from food is beneficial for the body only when drinking enough water.

When asked what will happen if you do not eat for a week, but only drink, you can say with confidence: only benefit. When hungry, we must not forget that toxins accumulate in the body, which must be disposed of. Daily enemas and drinking plenty of fluids help to cope with the problem and get rid of intoxication. Otherwise, there will be only harm from starvation.

Headache

Fasting is a big stress for the body. In order to rebuild, he needs time and enormous resources. Many systems can crash. It is necessary to take into account many factors, first of all, the age and condition of the organism as a whole. And what will happen if you do not eat for a long time, what consequences will the refusal of food have on the body? Often hungry people complain of constant headaches. A headache can be provoked by low blood pressure, intoxication of the body, and a decrease in blood glucose levels.

Fasting is contraindicated

Fasting is contraindicated in children and adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, the elderly, and those with diabetes mellitus. Contraindications are various diseases of the blood, psyche, metabolism, cardiovascular system. Diseases in acute form only worsen, and the load on the heart during fasting increases several times. Therefore, fasting must be abandoned, otherwise the sad consequences cannot be avoided.

Any business is good if you know when to stop and be approached wisely. Fasting therapy should heal, not destroy the body. And if you do not know what will happen if you do not eat for a long time, it is better not to risk it. There are other ways to reduce weight. A healthy lifestyle, sports and proper nutrition can work wonders. With their help, you can not only lose weight, but also improve the quality of life, make new friends, find an interesting hobby and increase self-esteem. But this, you see, is worth a lot.