You've been thinking about eating dinner for the past hour. In fact, you've had very little to eat since waking up at 6:00 this morning. But it won't matter in a few minutes, because you'll finally be able to reward yourself for having very few calories all day, except for diet sodas and some candy.
You have a flashback to a month ago when you started this crazy diet. If only you could lose those 30 pounds, so you could fit in the swimsuit that you wore five years ago. You’ve just got to get into this swimsuit again for that upcoming family vacation.
Earlier this morning you had stepped off the scales, frustrated that you'd only lost two pounds in the last 30 days. After a month of starving yourself, your only reward has been a voracious appetite every evening.
The oven timer begins to beep and you yell at the top of your lungs to tell everyone in the house that dinner is finally ready. You already know you'll need to go back for seconds, and start to plan a midnight meeting with the ice cream in the freezer.
The Vicious Cycle
So what's really happening in this real-life story? From dinner to bedtime many people eat (binge) 3,000 to 5,000 calories. They go to bed on a full stomach (which is very bad news for quality weight loss sleep), and then basically starve themselves for 18 to 20 hours. I call this behavior the Deprivation Cycle.
Many people do this for days, weeks, months—even years—with little or no results. Some actually gain weight during the Deprivation Cycle. Why do people gain weight or lose very little weight eating one long, four-hour meal a day (typically in the evening)?
This behavior causes the body and mind to go into starvation mode. The body panics, retaining every calorie it can, storing these calories in the form of fat cells. Insulin levels go out of whack and energy levels drop for 18 hours. Great, now you're hungry, not losing the weight and on top of that you're exhausted? We've got to change things up.
Eat More to Weigh Less
How can you lose weight, have sustained energy, and have your ideal body shape? Don't starve yourself to lose weight–eat five times a day. This may seem backwards, but almost all current research shows that eating 5 smaller nutritious meals throughout the day, rather than 1 or 2 large ones will actually greatly increase your odds of weight loss success.
How can eating more help you gain less? You can think of your body's metabolism like a furnace. The Deprivation Cycle of starving then feasting is like letting your furnace sputter out, then dumping on an entire day’s worth of fuel before bed. By keeping your metabolism active throughout the day with nutritious meals and healthy snacks, you are fueling those fires steadily and efficiently.
I coach people to start the day with a healthy breakfast or an exante meal replacement shake, healthy mid-morning snack, healthy lunch, mid-afternoon snack, and healthy dinner. exante helps make it easy and convenient to get these 5 meals with the exante Meal Replacement Shake and other products like exante Boost, our weight loss drink. Whether at home or on the go, you can keep up with your goals without starving throughout the day. There will also be less temptation to raid the fridge before bed.
The Benefits of Eating 5 Meals per Day
Once you make the decision to follow this pattern of healthy eating throughout the day, those extra pounds will start to get burned off faster than you might expect. Your mid afternoon "slump" will be replaced by higher and steadier energy levels. I bet you'll be sleeping better too! And of course, you won't need to go hungry ever again.
To get started on this healthy pattern and get back into your favorite swimsuit, check out all the delicious flavors of exante Shakes.
exante Shakes keep you full for up to three hours, taste amazing, and contains essential vitamins and minerals. You'll have everything you need to lose weight without starving yourself.
