Freakin' Fitness > Three Squares

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One of the first questions I ask a person who is interested in losing weight is: Do you eat breakfast? And 9 out of 10 times the answer is “no.”

Obviously, they haven’t realized that skipping breakfast isn’t the cure. In fact, it’s probably one of the causes. They’re under the false impression that skipping breakfast is helpful in shaving calories that would otherwise add to their weight gain—when just the opposite is true. A nutritious breakfast—for example, I like a bowl of low-fat yogurt over kashi grains coupled with a hard-boiled egg—provides good carbs and protein that helps to stoke the fires of your metabolism so that the thousands of tiny furnaces in your muscles—called mitochondria— burn more calories than if the mini-furnaces were left cold and void of kindling.

I’m a big believer that you should ingest three “square”—that’s nutritionally balanced—meals a day, starting with breakfast. In this busy era, however, there are those of you who like to split your three squares up into five or six smaller meals. This method of taking your daily bread is called “grazing,” and it has actually been shown to be very effective—that is, as long as your multiple munching doesn’t result in higher caloric intake and your body responds well to the constant inflow of fuel.

Remember, it’s not the minutes spent at the table that results in weight gain, it’s the seconds. Get it?

Personally, I plan my dietary schedule by spacing the three squares at approximately four- to six-hour intervals, with an occasional nutritious snack in between. For example, I usually have breakfast around 7:00 a.m. (after my workout), lunch at noon, and dinner around 6:30 p.m. This provides a continuous influx of necessary, useful calories when I need to be energized the most. It also prevents the cravings, poor snacking habits, and fatigue associated with skipping meals and poorly spaced meal planning. It’s all about managing your glycemic blood level to avoid the all-too-familiar feelings of boom and bust.

Let me be perfectly clear. When I say three squares a day, I’m not talking about a cup of coffee and a donut for breakfast, a can of soda with a hot dog and bag of potato chips for lunch, and a quick stop-over at the nearest fast-food joint for dinner, with a bunch of munchies in between. Like your wise mother once told you: if you cheat, you only cheat yourself. And in terms of proper nutrition, if you indulge in such a diet, you cheat yourself out of the opportunity to properly fuel your system for the day’s goals and accomplishments, a continuous high-energy feeling of success, and a surplus of energy at the end of the day that can be spent on family and fun time.

Unfortunately, too many people think they can get away with skipping meals or substituting empty-calorie meals for a balanced nutritional plan. And they’re probably right, if the goal is mere survival. But I’d wager they’re getting far off track from achieving their dreams as well. Sure they can survive, but they surely won’t thrive. And my goal for you is to thrive on this planet. -- PC