Several smaller meals a day?
 

One diet idea is that you should eat several small meals a
day...something every 3 hours during the day for example. This
probably regulates blood sugar and keeps you from getting too hungry.
At least, that's the idea.

I'm not at all sure that this works for everyone though. The problem
is that you never get really full either on the small meals, and that
might make you feel a little hungry all the time. It does me anyway.
What I did to counter this, is to eat a small breakfast (150 cal. from
puffed wheat or toast, usually) at about 5 am. before I work out. Then
about 5 hours later I eat a big meal...really big actually.... 1600
calories. I am finished with this by noon or even earlier. Since I am
vegetarian, this takes some time, but it might include beans or
lentils, salad, a baked potato, bread...like 4 slices, a double
serving of oats and a huge serving of puffed wheat (8 cups of wheat,
plus skim milk). That leaves 275 calories which I split up into 2 more
small meals...snacks really later in the day. All that food at about
10-11 am though has one very important effect....it keeps me full
until the next morning. I realize this would not work for lots of
folks, and it may even make them drowsy and uncomfortable, but for
those who may be feeling starved on a diet, it is something to try. It
works for me. It is a little like binging, but binging on food that
your diet allows and staying within your caloric allotment. Being
vegetarian and eating very low fat, 1600 calories is a tremendous
amount of food, too, that is both high fiber and high water. I don't
know if this would even work with higher calorie food.

Here is the typical breakdown of the 1600 cal meal: beans or lentils,
(0.5 cups dry)...125

big tossed salad...................50 cal.

small baked potato...........50 cal.
(1 cup = 60 cal.) 8 cups puffed wheat, 1.5 cups skim
milk............. 600 cal.
4 slices Natures Own bread toasted with Promise
fat free spread....175 cal.
4 servings of steel cut oats (150 cal
per quarter cup dry)......600 cal.

I do often substitute a large apple for a baked potato, or add
blueberries to the oats and eat less puffed wheat, but it is always
about 1600 calories. dkw