Features, benefits and contraindications of fractional nutrition for weight loss. Menu compilation rules and examples for one day, three days, a week and a month. Fractional weight loss food is a fun way to lose weight without feeling hungry or drastically changing your lifestyle. You can eat any food, it is only important to observe the amount of servings, the number of calories per day and the frequency of meals.
Description and features of fractional nutrition for weight loss
Another name for fractional nutrition is grazing (English grazing is translated as "graze"). It is supposed to eat like sheep in a pasture - in small portions with short breaks throughout the day. Thus, you have time to completely digest food without getting hungry and without heaviness in the stomach.
And without feeling hungry, your body will not feel stress and will not develop two hormones that interfere with weight loss - ghrelin and cortisone. It is they who change our metabolism and veto the consumption of accumulated fat reserves.
Fractional nutrition has the following features:
- Number of meals … No matter how many calories you calculate for yourself per day, they should be consumed in at least 6 meals. You can split your food even more times - seven, eight, nine. It all depends on the individual characteristics and needs of your body, as well as on your employment. It is best to start a fractional meal on vacation, when you are not dependent on working hours and can slowly determine your eating rhythm without being nervous.
- Intervals between meals … Should be the same and strictly maintained: 2 or 2, 5 hours. Eat breakfast half an hour after waking up, and eat for the last time 3 hours before lights out. So you will not feel hunger, and your hormones will not command the body to form fat reserves.
- Serving size … You can eat everything, but not in any quantity. Large portions are contraindicated. If you see that the food will not fit in the glass or in your palm, remove the excess. When determining the amount of food, also consider what exactly you are eating. If it is fruits, vegetables, kefir, cottage cheese, then you can eat 1-1.5 cups, if it is protein food (meat, fish) or something high-calorie like pasta, bread, eggs, cheese, then half a glass is enough. But cakes, pastries, sweets and desserts should be eaten as much as would fit in a matchbox.
- Calories Per Serving … Consume 1200-1500 kcal per day for the first two weeks. For the next eight weeks, your daily portion should be 1500-1800 calories. Divide the calories by the number of meals that suit you, and you get the calorie content of a single serving, for example, 1200: 6 = 200. Of course, you can vary this figure, focusing on your well-being and needs. For example, making breakfast more nutritious and dinner lighter. Be sure to check with your healthcare professional to see if lowering your daily calorie intake will harm your health.
- Amount of liquid per day … Drink 7-8 glasses of some kind of liquid daily. But remember that a cup of coffee with three tablespoons of sugar and condensed milk contains quite a lot of calories! Therefore, it is better to turn your attention to still mineral water or green tea.
- Blacklist of products … As such, it does not exist. Eating a fractional diet does not prevent you from eating lard, pies with potatoes and cakes, but these addictions will surely prevent you from losing weight. Will a quarter of a bag of potato chips satisfy your hunger? Yes, she will only provoke him. But this is your one-time norm! Eating such foods will keep you hungry, which means your hormones will instruct your body to make strategic fat stores. Therefore, switch to healthy foods - fruits, vegetables, cereals, berries, boiled meat and fish. Of course, it's hard without sweets, so plan 100 calories a day for it.
- Mandatory components of the menu … You should not eat exclusively pasture. Hot food should be present on your table 3 times a day, vegetables - 2 times, fruits - 1 time.
Please note! Fractional nutrition will save you 5-6 extra pounds per month.
The benefits of fractional nutrition
This style of eating can become your way of life, it is so comfortable and easily adaptable to the needs of any person. It will take you about 20 days to develop a persistent habit of eating small meals (vacation is the most convenient time!), And you will feel all its benefits almost immediately:
- Lack of drowsiness and lethargy … This happens from overeating, and with fractional nutrition, you keep the body in good shape. There is no feeling of hunger, but the stomach is not full, food is easily digested and absorbed quickly. Considering that the last time you eat should be 3 hours before bedtime and this food will not overwhelm you to the eyeballs, you will sleep soundly and wake up refreshed and refreshed. This is the quickest effect you will notice when switching to fractional meals.
- Slimming … This positive effect will not become apparent to you as soon as the one described above, but in about a month. Fractional nutrition will allow you to lose weight smoothly and without discomfort by reducing the amount of calories you eat. There will not be a constant feeling of hunger, there will be no wild desire to eat a forbidden piece of chocolate, because there are no prohibited products, there are only quantitative restrictions on their use.
- General improvement of the body … Those people who choose for themselves frequent meals in small portions are forced to slightly change their lifestyle, become more collected, because they have to control and adjust everything (buy healthy foods, cook them correctly, collect thermoses and food containers for work). Having established the desired regime and getting into a rut, you will calm down, relax, and restore your nervous system. A good sleep will make you feel better. And losing weight and the absence of harmful products in the diet will definitely have a positive effect on your health. The blood sugar level is normalized, the metabolism will improve, there will be no overload of the gastrointestinal tract and excretory systems.
Know! A big plus of fractional nutrition for weight loss is that the kilograms you lost will not return in 2 days, as is the case with hungry diets, when a person quickly loses weight due to the removal of fluid from the body, and then quickly regains its former weight, or even gains more. Fractional nutrition has a long-term effect, because metabolism changes and the body ceases to store fat.
Fractional nutrition contraindications
There are practically none. On the contrary, this method of nutrition is even prescribed by doctors, for example, for diabetes mellitus, gastritis, colitis, ulcers. The fact is that it is easier for the body to digest food served in small portions, in addition, a constant blood sugar level is maintained and there is no feeling of hunger.
While eating at regular intervals is a great healthy eating plan, be sure to check with your doctor before making it a lifestyle choice. For some diseases (for example, the pancreas), low-calorie foods should not be eaten and both fats and carbohydrates are required in large quantities.
But even if you have no contraindications and have received the doctor's permission, starting to eat fractionally, monitor your well-being, especially the state of the gastrointestinal tract. Any discomfort is a reason to stop all innovations.
The disadvantage of fractional nutrition is the need to have constant access to food and strictly adhere to the time scheme. It is difficult for a working person to comply with such conditions. There is a way out: carry food in thermoses and containers, and set reminders on your mobile phone for eating hours. All of the above is not so difficult to do, it just requires desire and willpower.
Rules for compiling a menu for fractional meals
Eating fractionally does not mean that you can eat a cake in a day by simply dividing it into 6 servings. What exactly you will eat should be treated as carefully as the time of meals and the intervals between them. Make for yourself a shopping list of those products that will henceforth become the basis of your diet, and buy only them. We all know what is useful, what is harmful, and what is very high in calories, this, as well as the following rules and should be guided by:
- Restrictions … Yes, it is better not to eat harmful and high-calorie foods like chips, smoked meats, fried potatoes in lard, etc. But a strict ban on all the usual goodies will lead to breakdowns. People with untrained willpower are not able to limit themselves for a long time. Willpower will not awaken instantly, so changes in the diet towards a more correct and healthy diet should be introduced gradually. If you crave nuts and chocolate, eat very little and everything is high quality: dark dark chocolate and fresh nuts, not a cheap bar with filling and a bag of roasted salted peanuts. In the future, gradually remove from your menu (for example, a couple of names of unhealthy foods per week) and avoid eating everything fried, sweet, fatty, sauces, refined sugar, butter, white bread, pastries and pastries, bag juices and carbonated drinks.
- Carbohydrates and Proteins … A great choice for a first breakfast is muesli or a sandwich made with whole grain bread. The carbohydrates in them will provide you with the energy you need for a good start. You can already add proteins to your second breakfast (for example, cottage cheese or boiled poultry and an omelet). Proteins will also provide you with energy and will keep you from feeling hungry for a long time.
- Vegetables, fruits, dairy products … Vegetable soup with meat is a great option for lunch. Eat fruits, berries, jelly, kefir, yogurt, steamed, stewed, fresh vegetables in the afternoon. Eat potatoes and pasta in limited quantities, cereals - unpolished.
- Sweets … Even if you are very fond of sweets, switching to fractional meals, you will notice a decrease in cravings for it over time. This is facilitated by one of the effects of eating small portions - the normalization of blood sugar levels. However, due to the fact that glucose is needed for the brain to function, be sure to diversify your diet with honey, dried fruits or dark chocolate.
- Drink … Eliminating high-calorie and unhealthy drinks like coffee with milk or packaged juice with preservatives, switch to green or herbal teas, still mineral water, and fermented milk drinks. For example, the last meal before bedtime can be a glass of kefir. Of course, occasionally you can afford and coffee, but do not overuse it. Be sure to follow the water regime and drink 30 g of water for every 1 kg of your weight per day. And in order not to dilute the gastric juice and not interfere with digestion, do it 30 minutes before meals.
Remember! Swap out large plates for saucers. When we see a lonely piece on a large dish, it immediately causes a negative, it seems to the subconscious that hungry times have come. And in a small bowl, even a small amount of food will look sufficient. And do not forget to chew food thoroughly and for a long time!
Examples of dishes and menus with fractional nutrition for weight loss
The fractional feeding system has practically no contraindications and is quite easily tolerated. You can even make it your way of life to get significant results in weight loss and consistently maintain the desired weight. You can only be convinced of the comfort of eating in small portions just by trying to switch to it. Here are some options for a suitable menu.
Daily menu for fractional meals
For a good start, arrange yourself a fasting day and eat according to the principles of fractional nutrition:
- Breakfast … Cook oatmeal in water and season it with honey and an apple. Flakes that do not need to be boiled are very popular, just pour water over them. It's convenient - just steep the oatmeal in a glass.
- First snack … Even while at work, you can probably stop and have a glass of yogurt with berries and whole grain toast at the right time.
- Dinner … Vegetable puree soup with boiled meat (about 150 g) fits perfectly in a small thermos, and you can dine on time even at the workplace.
- Second snack … Satisfy your hunger with a small amount of nuts or dried fruits (about 20 g).
- Dinner … Eat 200 g of cottage cheese and vegetable salad (excluding potatoes).
- Third snack … Drink a kefir camp three hours before bedtime.
Remember! Ideally, salt can be eliminated from the diet, but such a diet will be difficult to tolerate. A more acceptable option is to replace table salt with sea salt.
Weekly menu for fractional meals
Here are seven options for 6 meals. From the proposed dishes, you can create a menu for yourself for the whole week:
- Breakfast … Vegetable salad and scrambled eggs with croutons; oatmeal on the water, seasoned with honey and grated apple; baked fish with boiled vegetables and croutons; vinaigrette and a piece of fish (boiled or cooked in the microwave); lean ham with buckwheat porridge; vegetable salad and a slice of steamed fish; 2 boiled eggs and tea sweetened with honey.
- First snack … Half a glass of yogurt and 5 slices of orange; half a banana and half a glass of kefir; half a glass of cottage cheese and half a green apple; vegetable soup with rice and meatballs; cottage cheese casserole with grated carrots; cottage cheese casserole with grated apple; fruit salad dressed with yogurt.
- Dinner … Fish baked with vegetables, thin toast; vegetable salad with crackers and boiled veal; ear and whole grain loaf; vegetable salad, thin toast and steamed chicken breast; chicken broth and vegetable salad without potatoes with croutons and feta cheese; vegetable soup with croutons and a slice of boiled meat; vegetable salad drizzled with olive oil, croutons, a slice of steamed beef and some stewed vegetables.
- Second snack … Half a glass of kefir and 1/2 banana; yogurt and pear and apple salad; cottage cheese with banana; green apple baked with cottage cheese and honey; boiled fish and stewed or oven-baked vegetables; grated apple and carrot, seasoned with olive oil; fruit salad of apple, banana, orange and pear, seasoned with yogurt.
- Dinner … Chicken breast baked with vegetables; steamed vegetable salad and turkey meatballs; fish baked with vegetables (excluding potatoes); pea porridge and steamed beef; stewed cabbage and boiled beef; pancake with onion and egg filling and vegetable salad; omelet and vegetable salad.
- Third snack … A choice of a glass of yogurt, freshly squeezed juice, berry fruit drink, compote, kefir, vegetable juice, such as tomato or any fruit.
Please note! If you cannot live without sweets, then replace bread or crackers with some kind of sweetness for lunch. For example, two spoons of jam, a piece of chocolate, marmalade, a small marshmallow.
Menu for a month for fractional meals
If you live for a month, observing the rules of fractional nutrition, then it will become a habit and will cease to be a problem. You will remember the foods you want to eat, get used to the regimen, and get the hang of planning your day by adjusting to your meals. To facilitate adaptation, we offer you a hint menu for a month.
First decade
- Breakfasts: all kinds of cereals (oatmeal, rice, corn, buckwheat, millet), a glass of juice (apple, orange), a piece of hard cheese.
- First snack: raw vegetables (carrots, daikon, turnips).
- Lunch: all kinds of soups in meat or fish broth with pieces of meat (fish) and croutons.
- Second snacks: alternate dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, prunes, dried apples, pears and cherries).
- Dinner: Take turns eating boiled or steamed fish with boiled, steamed or baked meat (veal, poultry) plus boiled or baked vegetables.
- Third snacks: a glass of any low-fat fermented milk drink (kefir, yogurt).
Second decade
:
- Breakfasts: alternate vegetable salads (from fresh or cooked vegetables, for example, vinaigrette) plus eggs cooked in different ways (boiled, in the form of an omelet), drink green tea.
- First snacks: raw fruits (banana, orange, apple, pear, persimmon, pomegranate).
- Lunches: alternate lean borscht, fish soup, puree soup plus a piece of meat or fish (boiled, steamed) and a slice of feta cheese.
- Second snacks: not salty and preferably raw nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashews).
- Dinners: a variety of vegetable salads made from boiled products, plus a slice of boiled meat or fresh vegetable salads plus a slice of fish (baked, cooked in a double boiler or microwave), wash down with half a glass of juice (apple, orange, tomato) or a fermented milk drink (yogurt, kefir).
- Third snacks: a glass of berry juice or compote sweetened with honey (honey can be eaten separately).
Third decade
: alternate dishes from the first and second decade menus.
Know! All vegetable salads must be free of mayonnaise. Can be seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.
Menu for 3 days for fractional meals in the table
This is an example menu for three days for a fractional meal. In the form of a table, it is better perceived, so it is very convenient to print it, hang it on the refrigerator and navigate when preparing food.
Important! Keep in mind that all servings should be small and contain no more than 200 calories. Watch a video about fractional nutrition:
Fractional food for weight loss is a simple and effective diet that is good for your health. It may well develop into a habit and become your eating system for life.
