In home personal training services and personal trainers all over realize that eating & trying to schedule meals into their client’s busy everyday lives is probably the single hardest part for people to do. One of the most important things that people have to realize is that you have to eat, and eat often. This can be accomplished by eating five to six meals each day, rather than the more conservative approach of two or three meals each day. So, that brings us back to the original problem scheduling!
I’m here to tell you it doesn’t take a rocket scientist. Pay attention to your blood sugar levels. Following a meal, your blood sugar will be elevated. This will allow you to perform physical activity without the loss of energy. Of course the more intense your activity, the more you will reduce these levels. But when your blood sugar level gets low, you will feel tired and weak. If you learn to listen to your body, you will realize that your blood sugar is low and replenishment is needed. This is the time to eat again. A meal every three or so hours is now recommended.
Rather than eat by the clock or simply when you are hungry, you should attempt to consume all five daily meals in a 15 to 18 hour period. Now, a simple good quality whey protein shake, a piece of fruit with a few peanut butter crackers can all be considered a meal. I’m not talking about a sit down three course meal here. The content and size of your next meal is what is important. Simply ask yourself, “What am I going to do in the next three hours?” By carefully evaluating your next three hours of activity, you can determine approximately how many calories to consume at the present meal. For instance, your daily caloric requirement might be 3,000 calories. Broken down into five meals, you can see that you would need 600 calories in each meal. But since each three-hour period is not identical in energy expenditure, you must act accordingly.
When you wake ask yourself what you will do for the next three hours. If it’s driving to work and having a sit down business meeting make your breakfast slight 400 – 500 calories. Break your day into every three hours ask yourself the magic question and adjust that meals calories according to your activity level. By doing this it makes the task of fitting meals into your busy life more manageable & easier to stay on track with your fitness goals.
Eric J. Collier
Cronus Health & Fitness
