5 to 6 Meals a Day is Not as Hard as it Sounds

When I hear the same excuse over and over, it gets me to questioning why certain things are easy for some and not others. A good amount of the time it comes down to how you look at things, or your perception of the problem.

For example, I have heard several times that eating 6 meals a day is just too hard, it doesn’t fit a person’s lifestyle, and it takes too much time.

What frustrates me about these reasons is that they are really not true. It’s not hard at all, in fact in can be easier than three meals a day. If you eat three meals a day and snack occasionally, it does fit your lifestyle. It takes no more time than fixing and eating three meals a day, and can even take less time. Here’s why:

6 meals a day is easier than 3 meals a day
The key here is to remember that what you are really doing is dividing each of your three meals in half, so it’s actually just 6 half-meals. Instead of eating a sandwich and two pieces of fruit for lunch, eat half of your sandwich and one piece of fruit for lunch, and then have the rest a couple hours later when you are hungry. For breakfast, have a bowl of protein fortified cereal and make a protein shake to save for a mid-morning snack. Have a normal dinner or divide it into two smaller meals. Not hard.

6 meals a day fits most lifestyles
Most people have breakfast, lunch and dinner, and snack a few times during the day. That’s what you’re doing when you eat 6 meals a day. Eating breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacking. At night, you can choose to call it a latenight snack, or make a smoothie and call it dessert! It’s what most people do anyway.

6 meals a day is faster than three meals a day
When you reduce the amount of food you eat during your main three meals, you also reduce the amount of time you spend eating them. This means you save time in the morning, at lunch, and at dinner time if you so choose. You can wake up a few minutes later and go for a walk or get some extra work done during lunch time. You might even be able to squeeze in a workout where you used to be eating! Most snacks take a maximum of ten minutes to consume, and can often be eaten while you are doing something else, like walking, taking a coffee break, etc.

It comes down to perception – if you see a lifestyle change as a struggle, it probably will be. But if you are able to look at eating with a different perspective, you will find that changing your point of view can change your life!