My surgeon, among others recommends limiting meals to 3 times per day once you are on solids.

This conflicts with every nutritionist and personal trainers recommendations I've got pre-sleeve- the rule has always been to eat smaller meals (obviously the sleeve takes care of that) consisting mostly of Protein every 3 hours (roughly 5-6x a day), because beyond that point your metabolism can drop.

Is there a reason we are typically recommended to limit our intake of food to 3 "meals" a day and avoid the snacking?

I don't ask this because I wish to nibble throughout the day, but because I'd like to be on a track that will keep my metabolism as high as possible and get me to my goal the quickest.

Obviously, these people with normal size stomachs who adhere to eating 5 small balanced portions get results- I do work with celebrities and people in the fitness community here in LA, and they look great and all adhere to small frequent portions.

So, what is the theory? Are we now wired a bit differently because our body can only take in small portions? Does anyone have a surgeon who encourages eating every 3 hours?

I am at week 3 right now, I've yet to get to the point of "meals" as everything I consume is blended or liquid. The concept of a meal or being full is still foreign to me.

I asked the dietician that in the hospital because I thought it sounded odd too. In fact, the nutritional booklet that they gave all the bariatric patients had meal plans for both 3 and 6 meals a day.

Here was her logic, and after she explained it to me it made sense: since you have to stop drinking 30 minutes before and after each meal and since it should take about 30 minutes to eat a meal, that means you have 90 minutes x number of meals every day that you can't be drinking fluids. For 3 meals a day that's 4 hours off, for 6 meals that's 9. Considering a lot of us have trouble staying hydrated in the beginning I think it's a reasonable concern.

One of the things they pushed hard on during our healthy eating class was breaking the "snack mentality", and there is concern about eating small amounts multiple times a day leading to all-day grazing and never really feeling full.

That being said, the dietician did mention that some of her patients come back after a month or so and complain that they feel hungry all the time, in which case she suggests they add in an additional fourth meal, but just keep track of everything.

I don't know much about the research relating to metabolism -- I know mine is low due to a lifetime of no exercise -- but I've heard that muscle building can help raise it as well, since it takes more calories to maintain a pound of muscle than a pound of adipose tissue. Until I get my asthma under control enough to do cardio I plan to do some light weightlifting to help with muscle toning.

I eat 6 times times a day and im hungry 6 times a day.I asked my surgeon and he said its normal but to.make.sure I stick to mainly protein so I don't risk weight gain after my body has adapted to my sleeve.

My doctor, PA, and nutritionist all said same thing - three regular meals a day avoid snacking to avoid putting weight on. Once I started back at gym/trainer I was put on higher caloric diet to compensate avoid to fast of a weight loss and to keep stamina up.

Prior to surgery you needed the metabolism boost to weight loss, you don't need your metabolism burning all the time now lest you loose to fast.

Oh, I love these answers!

I think I have just been so stuck in the "eat frequently to keep your metabolism high" thing, that it's hard for me to adjust to the idea of it being more productive to actually limit the meal times.

I am eating my first "real food" as we speak- a small filet of tuna I grilled. =0 it feels so exciting to chew again! LOL

My boyfriend is a martial artist, personal trainer and licensed nutritionist. So, he really helps me out a lot with my meal planning (he even does all the cooking, which I love). He feels like I eat so little, it is important for me to have healthy snacks. He packs my lunch for me every day, and always includes a healthy morning and afternoon snack. That is good for me, because it keeps me from hitting the snack machine and munching out on chips and candy bars. I am a snacker, I know that, so if I am going to do it, at least I make sure it is with healthy foods. He also believes that it helps keep my metabolism up as well. And, of course, he makes sure I drink a ton of water too.

Not all surgeons recommend the 3 times a day. Mine recommends 3 small meals of 100-200 calories each plus 2 100 calorie snacks (approx). One of those snacks might be a protein drink.

Good to hear!

I find myself compelled to eat 4 tiny "meals" a day, some days I'll have a bite of something (some Babybell cheese, some cashews etc.) when I'm too busy to sit and eat.

I work out a lot, and I just find it impossible to wait for a "meal" right after. I am still getting under 800 calories a day, 50+ grams of Protein, and all my Water. I'm also 131 lbs according to the scale at my gym...I can't be doing everything wrong!

I eat 5-6 "mini-meals" a day. I don't really count anything as far as calories or Protein or whatever--I guess if I did pay attention to that, I might be losing faster, but I'm pretty cool with things "as is." I do eat a protein food at each mini-meal, sometimes only the protein food, depending on what it is.

This might be one of those things that's pretty individual--but you should follow your doc's instructions. Mine didn't give me any. :-)

Good to hear!

I find myself compelled to eat 4 tiny "meals" a day, some days I'll have a bite of something (some Babybell cheese, some cashews etc.) when I'm too busy to sit and eat.

I work out a lot, and I just find it impossible to wait for a "meal" right after. I am still getting under 800 calories a day, 50+ grams of Protein, and all my Water. I'm also 131 lbs according to the scale at my gym...I can't be doing everything wrong!

this might be a really dumb question, but I have to ask...you were just sleeved 3 weeks ago and you are already 131 pounds....were you not overweight to begin with and just did the sleeve as a precaution? It seems you are already slim....sorry but I"m always a bit interested in why people have done the surgery. Kudos on your workout routine! I so need to get into a better habit with working out!

I had the sleeve 3 weeks ago 4 weeks ago- some time has passed since the original post. Not a dumb question! My surgery was November 7th.

I don't know of a surgeon that would perform it on a non-obese person, but my BMI was 31 at surgery (164 lbs), I was obviously on the lighter side of obese.

I lost about 20 lbs prior to surgery as well, a 31 BMI for me (164 lbs) was me at the lightest I've been. So at 131 lbs with a normal BMI now I'm ecstatic!

Not all surgeons recommend the 3 times a day.

That is correct. I am allowed Snacks.

My NUT says i should only eat 3 meals a day. When i asked her why, she said something like, there trying to break me of old habits of eating constantly. i understand what she means. so i'm going with it. but i understand also why others say otherwise

kathy

I wasn't getting enough calories in with 3 meals per day. I went to 4 after talking with my surgeons office. They agreed I needed more calories or my body was going to stay in starvation mode. Even with 4 meals a day it is still hard to get 1000 calories a day.