Eating Frequency Study

20 men and women of healthy weight will participate in this study. The complete study design will be a 2 x 2 mixed factorial design, with the between-subject factor of order and a within-subject factor of eating condition (meal or grazing). Depending upon the eating condition, participants will be provided with a morning meal and an afternoon meal (meal) or two small meals and three snacks to be consumed every 2-3 hours (grazing). The types of foods and amount of foods provided to participants will be identical in each condition; the only difference in the conditions is the time spacing during the day when the foods are consumed. The primary dependent variable will be amount, both grams and energy, of food consumed during an ad libitum meal consumed in the evening at the completion of the meal condition, overall daily energy intake, and ratio of daily energy intake to energy expenditure. It is hypothesized that the grazing condition will produce lower consumption during an evening ad libitum meal, lower daily energy intake, and a lower ratio of energy intake to energy expenditure than the meal condition.

Inclusion criteria

• age between 18 and 35 years
• body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 24.9 kg/m2
• no history of overweight or obesity
• unrestrained eater (<12 on Three Factor Eating Questionnaire [TFEQ])
• regularly participate in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intense physical activity per week over the previous 4 weeks

Exclusion criteria

• currently taking medication that affects appetite or food intake
• have a medical condition affecting eating or currently following a therapeutic diet
• are currently participating in a weight loss program and/or taking weight loss medication
• have gained or lost > 5% of body weight during the past 6 months
• diagnosed with type 1 or 2 diabetes
• have had bariatric surgery
• report disliking foods used in the investigation (scoring a 1 or 2 on a 5-point Likert scale)
• report having allergies to foods used in the investigation
• currently smoke
• report binge eating
• are graduate students in the Department of Nutrition
• are pregnant, lactating, < 6 months post-partum.