Eating three meals a day is quite normal for most of us, but how to turn those meals into a detailed diet plan is still the question. We have changed a lot in the way we eat, from eating 3 meals a day to grazing all day. But don’t worry, we’re here to help you in eating 3 meals a day diet to lose weight.
What is the Three Meals a Day Diet?
The Three Meals a Day Diet is exactly what the name implies. You will eat three meals a day while following this diet. Unlike many other weight loss diets, the Three Meals a Day Diet omits all junk food. The three main meals of this diet plan include breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Instead of eating less but eating all day, this diet suggests we should have a clear start and stop for each meal. Having a clear plan and goal in eating will help participants lose weight more effectively.
Most diets reduce calories in main meals and suggest followers supplement their fitness with snacks. However, that can also bring many side effects. It makes dieters have the habit of wanting to eat every day. The Three Meals a Day Diet was born to put an end to that and help you lose weight effortlessly.
8 reasons three meals a day works for Weight Loss
Usually, the diet plan encourages us to divide the food of the day into 5 to 6 small meals, including 3 main meals and snacks with snacks. However, dividing food into small meals is not the best solution. The 8 reasons that we give below will help you better understand the effects of eating 3 meals a day in weight loss:
Maybe you’ll eat fewer calories
In fact, spreading the same amount of calories over several meals a day is not really as effective as we think. Although the amount of calories does not change in theory and calculation, frequent searching for food will become a bad habit. It causes you to constantly put yourself in eating situations and eat more and more calories without realizing it yourself.
Avoid decision fatigue
When following a certain diet, you not only have to make choices but also have to make decisions. The more meals you eat in a day, the more difficult it is to make decisions. For each meal, you need to decide how to balance nutrition and calories. And you get tired of not knowing whether to eat between meals. You can eliminate decision fatigue when you decide once and eliminate unnecessary meals.
Feel fuller for longer
The key to weight loss is whether you feel full or hungry. Many people love the feeling of ‘full’ after eating. But the condition for feeling full is that you eat enough. You are having many meals a day and cannot give you enough to eat at each meal because it will cause you to overeat calories. Smaller meals just make you want to eat more and consume more calories. Therefore, eating three meals a day and eating just enough will help you lose weight effectively.
Increase insulin sensitivity
Anyone learning about weight loss knows that insulin has the ability to control cell energy use. If insulin levels are too high, it can easily lead to excess storage of the body. We can produce a constant amount of glucose from eating for insulin resistance. Eating three meals of the day helps you limit the time you eat to allow glucose use between meals. At this point, insulin also does its job without creating excess fat.
Easier to pay attention to dishes
The preparation of meals in the diet is quite complicated. You must pay attention to the necessary nutritional content and also the moderate calorie intake. If you have snacks between meals, you can lose focus and not have a perfect meal. The 3 meals a day diet will help you focus more on meals and enjoy the food in the best direction.
Healthier food choices
Most junk food is not good for your health. Even though there are many healthy snacks out there, sometimes you just can’t control your eating behavior. Having too many meals makes choosing food complicated and exhausting. Sometimes you may have the mentality of skipping or choosing a certain food indiscriminately.
Help you stop trying to eat
As noted above, having multiple meals a day can easily trigger your constant cravings. Thinking about food constantly appears in your head like a habit. It stimulates you to go looking for food. And the main result is that you eat more and more. Your life is surrounded by meal problems that make weight loss ineffective or even impossible.
The marvelous benefits of eating 3 meals a day
Eating three meals a day can provide a variety of health benefits, from losing weights to tracking your total calories easily. We have listed 3 main reasons why you should give 3 meal a day diet a try instead of using other diets (one meal a day OMAD or intermittent fasting, etc)
Feeling satiated
Having exactly 3 meals a day and no snacking gives you the feeling of being full. We all have to admit that grazing, snacking and eating mini meals will give us the feeling of wanting to eat more. Eating three meals a day is the best way to reduce food consumption.
Boost the insulin system
One of the most outstanding things about eating three meals a day is that it will improve the sensitivities of the insulin system, which is helpful in losing weight safely. The lower the insulin, which is an important type of hormone that controls your energy cells, the higher weight you will lose.
Easier to track calories
A 3 meals a day diet is probably the easiest way for diet beginners to track their calories. If you are the kind of person who usually grazes, it must be really hard to estimate how much food we’ve eaten, or what we’ve needed. But with 3 small meals a day, you are available to control the portion that you’ve just eaten.
What should you eat for 3 meals a day?
Eating 3 meals a day to lose weight is a great solution. However, to make this diet plan effective, you need to know which foods are likely to appear on your plate.
Knowing how to balance the food groups at each meal will help your body get enough nutrients. If you also apply measures to limit your daily calorie intake to lose weight, you should divide the prescribed calories evenly among three meals. For example, your prescribed calorie intake in a day is 1200 calories, and then you divide it equally among 3 meals; each meal contains about 400 calories is reasonable.
To know more clearly what foods to eat in 3 meals a day for weight loss, we will give you a sample table below. It will help you balance the food in each meal more effectively.
| Meal | Food |
| Breakfast | Protein: Foods like Eggs, Greek yogurt, protein powder |
| Grains: Toast, cereal, oatmeal, nuts,… | |
| Fruits/Veggies: Bananas, berries, apples,… | |
| Lunch | Protein: Foods Like Deli meat, chicken, nut butters, fish, eggs. |
| Grains: Bread, rice, pasta, noodles,… | |
| Fruits/Veggies: Carrots, cucumbers, oranges,… | |
| Dinner | Protein: Foods like pork, chicken, steak, beef, fish, tofu |
| Grains: Rice, rolls, pasta, sweet potato,… | |
| Fruits/Veggies: green salad, corn, kiwi, berries, roasted veggies. |
3 meals a day diet plan – What does it look like?
We all agree that having a 3 meals a day diet will be much healthier since it is easier to track calories as well as evaluate the eaten food consumption. Having this type of diet, you must make sure that you’ve taken all the food groups at each meal, and here’s how it works in a week. This following menu is designed for 1200 calories a day, you can adjust your own menu by your needed calorie.
Monday
1. Breakfast
Egg whites and strawberries or bananas with toast.
2. Lunch
Chicken tender for protein
Steamed/ Fried Zucchini or mushrooms for vegetables
Brown rice for grains
3. Dinner
Teriyaki chicken for protein
Green salad for veggies
Strawberries for fruits
Total calorie for a day: 1215
Tuesday
1. Breakfast
Protein: Greek Yogurt
Grains: Pancakes
Fruit: Strawberries/ Raspberries
2. Lunch
Protein: Chicken salad
Fruit: Raspberries
Veggie: Steamed carrots
Grains: A small bun
3. Dinner
Protein: Sweet and sour rib
Veggies: Green salad with corn
Grains: Vegan biscuit
Total calorie for a day: 1118
Wednesday
1. Breakfast
Eggs (1 or 1 ½ )
Avocado and berries with toast
2. Lunch
Chicken for protein
Smashed chicken peas for veggie
Berries or banana for grains
3. Dinner
Shredded chicken for protein
Corn in a cob for vegetable
Fruit: strawberries or an orange
Bread for grains
Total calorie for a day: 1200
Thursday
1. Breakfast
Protein: 2 large eggs
Grains: A slice of whole grain bread
Fruit: A banana
2. Lunch
Grains: 2 slices of brown bread
Protein: Fried tuna with a slice of low-fat cheese
Veggie: Cucumber or carrot
3. Dinner
Protein: Grilled chicken
Grains: Baked potato (1 medium)
Veggie: 1 or 1 and ½ cups of green beans
Snack: 1 cup of skim milk
Total calorie for a day: 1110
Friday
1. Breakfast
Grains: Oatmeal (1 cup)
Fruits: ½ cup blueberries, ½ cup of mashed banana
2. Lunch
Grains: 2 slice of whole grain bread
Protein: Low-sodium turkey (2 oz)
Veggie: Green salad
Snack: 1 cup of skim milk
Related: Salads Diet Plan For 2 Weeks
3. Dinner
Grains: ½ cup of brown rice
Veggie: 1 cup of broccoli
Protein: Grilled salmon (4 oz)
Total calorie for a day: 1215
Saturday
1. Breakfast
1 cup fat-free cottage cheese for protein
½ cup of pineapple for fruits
2. Lunch
Grilled chicken for protein
Summer salad with bell pepper, avocado and shredded lettuce for veggie
A small slice of whole grain bread for grains
3. Dinner
Turkey meatballs with whole wheat pasta and Parmesan cheese
Spring lettuce mix for veggie
Snacks: Dried cranberries
Total calorie for a day: 1232
Sunday
1. Breakfast
Reduced fat yogurt with blueberries
A skim milk or ¼ cup of nuts for snacks
2. Lunch
Almond butter on a whole grain English muffin for grains
Green salad with tomatoes and lettuce for veggie
3. Dinner
Salmon cooked in vegetable oil for protein
½ cup of brown rice for grains
Mashed potato mixed with chicken peas
Total calorie for a day: 1110
Ending
With those detailed 3 meals a day diet plans, Kerri Ann Jennings believes that now you have the most essential tool to start your 3 meals a day diet journey without missing a single important nutrient. Since our menu is designed for approximately 1200 calories, it is necessary for you to combine working out with the dieting plans. Even though three meals a day diets are made for extreme weight loss, it is not crucial for everyone, even you, to lose weight in such a short period. Since losing weight is a long-term process, don’t be harsh on yourself and feel free to let it happen slowly. If our sharing is helpful for you, please get a share for your friends and loved ones about kerriannjennings.com and hit our subscribe button to get the latest notification about 3 meals a day diet and other types of diet.
References links:
1. https://www.mealgarden.com/recipe/greek-yogurt-with-berries-nuts-and-honey/
2. https://realsimplegood.com/healthy-teriyaki-chicken-bowl/
3. https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_grill_juicy_boneless_skinless_chicken_breasts/
Don’t forget to find out more Diet plans and Recipes on Kerriannjennings.com
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7 Day Bright Line Eating Meal Plan
