a goal to fuel and sustain your body. So choose snacks that help you get in more vegetables and or more protein just like you would when choosing your meals.
Similarly, you should plan out and prepare your snacks the same way you would your meals to keep portions low and nutritional value high.
Research has shown that people who eat small meals during the day are more successful in losing and maintaining weight. This doesn’t work, however, if you’re overeating at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Instead of adding snacks to your regular meals, instead, think of every snack as another meal.
You can have several small meals a day to spread out your calories and control your hunger all day long. To do this, just figure out your daily calorie goals, with a help of a nutritionist, trainer or even an app. If you can have 1400 calories a day, plan to have 4 or 5 meals between 350 and 500 calories.
Then all you need is a meal plan to fill up your plate at each meal. Lean meats like chicken and turkey pack a powerful dose of protein without too many calories. Be careful with your starches and carbs, as these come with more calories per serving.
The key to snacking or not snacking is listening to your body. If you have a very active lifestyle, you might need snacks to help you recover and stay energized throughout the day. Or if you’re always starving, snacks can help to balance your appetite so you don’t make unhealthy choices when you sit down to eat.
If you’re good without the snacks, then just stick to three hearty meals and make sure they give you everything you need to feel you through the day and you’ll be on your way to keeping up with your health goals.
Sharita Jennings is a fitness and travel enthusiast and creator of Get Fit Like That, LLC. She is a health policy attorney and ACE certified group fitness instructor and fitness nutrition specialist. She provides online fitness plans and leads group fitness classes in Washington DC. Check out her fitness tips and workouts at GetFitLikeThat.com.