Effective Weight Loss Plan Includes Three Square Meals, Plenty Of Protein

While some modern weight loss experts recommend eating small, more frequent meals as a strategy to drop pounds, a recent study has shown that reducing body mass may be as simple as following your mother's advice.

Purdue University scientists found that eating three well-balanced, high-protein meals per day helped a group of overweight or obese males feel satiated while losing weight.

Moreover, the researchers found that the three-meal plan was easier to follow than a diet consisting of six daily meals due to busy work schedules. For both plans, the participants consumed about 2,400 calories per day, a 750-calorie decrease on average.

"The larger meals led to reductions in appetite and people felt full. We want to emphasize, though, that these three larger meals were restricted in calories and reflected appropriate portion sizes to be effective in weight loss," said lead author Heather J. Leidy.

The team also tested the effects of protein on a diet by advising half of the participants to eat normal levels of protein — about 14 percent of total calories — and the remaining individuals to consume high-protein diets, which amounted to 25 percent of daily energy intake. Authors noted that participants in the latter group reported feelings of fullness that lasted longer than those eating normal amounts of protein.