The 3-Hour Diet

What the Experts Say

Whether you’re eating three meals or six a day, “the only thing that has been consistently shown to increase BMR is exercise,” says Vicki Sullivan, PhD, RD, LD, national lecturer and president of Balance, LLC, when we interviewed her and other experts in 2005.

While Sullivan agrees that some people may feel energized and less hungry eating every three hours, not everyone will.

“I have clients who find that they gain weight when they eat more frequently, or some simply cannot eat every three hours due to job constraints,” Sullivan says.

And in one recent study, baseline metabolic rate was unaffected by meal timing. “Other studies also show that eating frequency has no effect on a person’s overall metabolic rate,” says Karen Collins, MS, RD, CDN, with the American Institute for Cancer Research.

However, Sullivan believes that “getting people to eat breakfast at all would be a great improvement and is a long-standing, well-documented way to help with weight loss and weight management.”

Food for Thought

Overall, with its insistence on portion control, the three-hour diet boils down to a sensible “calories in-calories out” approach — reduce how many calories you consume compared to how many you burn and you will lose weight.

So is this the diet for you?

The plan’s reliance on five to six meals a day gives some experts pause, like Elaine Magee, MPH, RD, nutritionist and “Recipe Doctor” with the WebMD Weight Loss Clinic. “The truth is, the more times a day you sit down to eat a meal or snack, the more opportunities you have to overeat,” she writes in her article 3-Hour Diet or 3 Meals a Day?

“If you are someone who has a difficult time eating a small amount at a meal or snack (you have a hard time stopping once you get started), then it’s quite possible that, for you, eating five or six times a day isn’t the best way to go,” she writes.

Others, like Elisa Zied, RD, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, like the book’s positive approach and see the program as balanced overall. “For those who don’t mind eating by the clock, this book may make losing a few pounds more simple; but it would have been better had it made physical activity an equally important component for long-term weight loss.”

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