How can you possibly eat more and still strip away fat? No,
bulimia isn’t the answer. It has to do with eating more often—
five to six times a day—and the composition of each of those
meals. Hmm, maybe a diff e rent term is in order because if
y o u ’ re used to gorging on two or three big meals a day, you
w o n ’t really consider these smaller, more frequent feedings
“meals.” They’re more like mini-meals designed to keep your
blood sugar steady (no cravings or energy dips), your muscle
tissue intact (you won’t burn it for energy) and your fat store s
shrinking (Eureka!—I see abs!)
T h a t ’s in direct contrast to how most of us were raised to
eat—the thre e - s q u a re-meals-a-day approach. Take a look at
what happens when you follow that classic American eating
schedule and you’ll see why you can get fatter and fatter if
y o u ’ re not careful. A big part of the problem is insulin, a
hormone that can shuttle excess calories right to your fat cells
(excess energy consumption—eating more calories than you
can burn off—is also a big part of the problem):
•Meal 1:At 7:00 a.m. you eat a big breakfast and trigger
insul in so that excess car bs a nd fat a re store d as
bodyfat; the rest increase your blood sugar to fuel
activity and prevent fat burning for a few hours. (If you
skip breakfast, you begin burning muscle immediately.)
•Three hours later—at 10:00 a.m.—insulin has done its job
and your blood sugar is low. The starvation mechanism
kicks in—ignore that growling stomach; you’re too busy
to eat—and you start burning muscle for energy as your
body conserves fat.
•Meal 2:At noon you eat a big lunch, trigger another
insulin surge, blunt fat burning and store bodyfat—the
same scenario as breakfast.- T h re e ho ur s l at e r— at 3 : 00 p. m .— th e st a rv a t i o n
mechanism kicks in again, and you burn more muscle
and conserve bodyfat.
•Meal 3:At 7:00 p.m. you eat a big dinner, trigger an