From what I understand, I should try to have 5 to 6 small meals a day for optimal fat loss and metabolic burn.

For the life of me, I cannot seem to get passed 4.

I eat around 9a.m., 1p.m., 4:30p.m., then 7:30 or 8:00....

Is this bad. I awake around 8:00 or 8:30 usually...and go to sleep around 11:00 p.m. or midnight....

I generally do not like to go to sleep right after eating.

Any comments or suggestions?

Eat at 11AM and an hour before you go to bed.
A good rule to follow is just to eat every 2-3 hours.

For the life of me, I cannot seem to get passed 4.


I think you just may need to modify your idea of a "meal" a little bit. To start, take the number of calories you would eat in an entire day, then divide by 6. That's how many calories you want in each "meal".

For practical purposes, I eat a bit less than that for what I call the "in between" meals - the meals that most normal folks don't eat (or binge on junk instead). Let's say you were eating around 2000 calories per day (I have no idea what you weigh, etc so this is just a number to play with)

That's roughly 330 calories per meal.

8am (yes immediately upon waking): 200-300 calories
10am: another 200-300
12:30 (lunch with co-workers, etc): around 400-500 calories
3:30: another 200-300
6:30: around 400-500 calories
9:30: another 200-300

That gets you right around where you need to be.

See? Easy. :tu:

I'm having a similar problem but it's due to fasted cardio. I usually wake @ 10:00am and start my cardio around 10:30-11:00. When cardio is finished (45 mins. later) I have to wait another hour to maximize the results of my cardio session. So, around noon I'll drink a protein shake and then around 2:00 I'll have a turkey sandwich. If I eat again @ 4:00 I'm not hungry when my wife comes home for dinner around 6:00. So, basically I eat 2 closely spaced meals in the morning/early afternoon and then eat 2 more closely spaced meals in the evening. Of course, I've just been on this eating routine for a few weeks now so I'll figure things out as I go .;)

Since I'm so busy and work at a hospital most of the day, mainly night shift, it's pretty easy to stop in at a waffle house or dennys late at night to grab a bite to eat. I have been wanting to try nutrisystem home delivered meals, would provide me with 6 meals a day, no guess work at what my next meal would be, and I can pack a little bag with my planned meals...but I dunno...Id like to think the money is worth it.