How Much to Eat

I recently read an article about metabolism and how to get it revved up. Since my metabolism is about as slow as a grub, I figure it needs some spark to it so I can lose a few more pounds - ok, a bunch of pounds. Let's face it: I'm carrying around the equivalent of two small people.

Anyway, the article said three good ways of energizing that dawdling metabolic rate I have is aerobic exercise (you know, like running around in circles to get your heart beating faster, or some similar activity), strengthening exercises (lifting your hubby above your head 10 times ought to do it), and - get this - eating more frequently. Now, I gotta tell ya, that's more like it! One thing I can do and do well is eat frequently. Apparently it has something to do with keeping your body from going into starvation mode - hoarding the fat in case I'm really going to stop eating for a long time (like that's going to happen). But there's a catch which everytime I read it, I tend to close my eyes to avoid it: it means eat smaller meals more frequently. Hmm, now what does that mean really? What is a smaller meal? Instead of 3 servings of meat, veggies, potatoes, and dessert twice a day, I change it to only 2 servings of meat, veggies, etc. 16 times a day?

Sounds reasonable to me, but I'm thinking whoever wrote the article would say to me, "No, no, no. Small meals, maybe 6 times a day." Again, the word "small" comes up. Is that 1/2 a box of crackers or one cracker? A half-gallon of ice cream or a couple tablespoons? I have a feeling (and it's not good) that my definition of small is way different than the author's definition.

So, my quandary continues but until I find out what "small frequently" means, I think I'll use my definition: eat as much as you want as often as you want. That should rev things up.