The 6 Meals A Day Myth
Do you certainly have to eat 6-8 small meals to keep your metabolic rate rise so you melt fat all day and keep a constant stream of nutrients flowing to sculpt lean muscle?
If you’ve been around the fitness scene for any amount of time, or have read a few diet books or articles, you would think the key to this one is a plain why not? ” but the fact is
The 6-8 meals a day Advice Is A False Report!
The advice is based on studies done around the thermic effect of food (TEF). You see, whenever you eat, your body uses about 10% of those calories (total) to provide energy just to digest the food
When this was discovered, people misconstrued the research by saying the more you eat (frequency) the more calories you’ll burn all day but then this was a slip since the math doesn’t work out.
* Six small meals of 300 calories (6-300) = 1800 calories total.
* Each meal you burn 10% of calories = 30 calories burned with each 300 cal meal
* Total cals burned because of TEF = 180
So compare that to a normal diet of 3 big meals:
* 3 Large Meals of 600 calories (3-600) = 1800 calories total.
* Every single meal you burn 10% of calories = 60 calories burned with every 600 cal meal
* Total cals burned due to TEF = 180
So you see, if the calories are equal, it doesn’t matter how you cut them up ” you’re still burning the same amount of calories and changing your metabolism the exact same way no matter how you eat frequently.
Will Eating More Frequently Bring About More Lean Muscle Gain?
The quick answer is not at all. Eating protein continuously in reality triggers your body not to produce it as much. Eating more total calories WILL result in building extra muscle but the meal frequency has not much to do with it.
More important for lean muscle gain is the timing of your meals, specifically the post workout meal needs to be high quality to make sure you’re getting good nutrients into your body when it needs them the most.
Will Eating A Smaller Amount of Meals Cause Muscle Loss?
Lots of guys who lift weights believe (and I used to) that not eating 6-8 meals per day will put your body into a catabolic state. Which means because you’re not eating a lot of food and keeping the levels of amino acids in your blood high your body will use your muscle tissue as fat.
This is not true either nevertheless not to the degree that you’ve heard. Because even though you just eat one heavy meal per day, it can take up to 12 hours to digest” increasingly releasing amino acids into your bloodstream the whole time.
When Should You Eat 6-8 Meals
In order to gain a LOT of weight ” you need to increase your calorie consumption to gain weight and put on muscle, so if you’re a big guy and you have to eat 5,000 calories a day to put on mass it might be easier on your stomach and digestive system to consume 5,000 calories broken up into a bunch of smaller meals.
If you’re making use of loads of energy ” If you’re a top athlete who burns a ton of energy like Michael Phelps who consumes to 12,000 calories each DAY and eats like an elephant. Likewise guys in the military in boot camp frequently eat as much as possible when they get the chance but still turn out losing weight
If you have a thing about it – Several people may feel extra full 6-8 eating reduced meals per day grazing for their food consumption. I’m not one of those people but more power to you if you are.
I think knowing this will certainly help you feel better in your quest for better fitness, I know I believed this myth for a LONG time because almost everyone recommends it.
What Do I Do Personally?
I put into practice occasional fasting. And I HAVE A THING ABOUT it. I vary between a warrior diet style eating schedule (when I’m sustaining my weight) and the lean gains eating style when I’m focusing on increasing muscle mass.
Catch Great Bargains On eBay
 |
New Fitness Thigh & Ab Workout Exercise Home Equipment US $4.99 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: Friday Mar-12-2010 8:56:54 PST | Watch this Item |
 |
TRIMLINE TREADMILL cardio equipment exercise inclines US $295.00 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: Friday Mar-12-2010 10:35:38 PST | Watch this Item |
 |
Portable Exercise Equipment..Max Tension With User Book US $61.95 Auction Ends: Friday Mar-12-2010 12:01:26 PST | Watch this Item |
 |
Home Gym Exercise Fitness Equipment Firm Body & DVD US $16.00 (1 Bid) Auction Ends: Friday Mar-12-2010 13:06:11 PST | Watch this Item |
 |
Bally Total Fitness Thigh Toner Gym Exercise Equipment US $5.79 (1 Bid) Auction Ends: Friday Mar-12-2010 14:20:51 PST | Watch this Item |
 |
New Bally Twist Board Gym Exercise Fitness Equipment US $0.99 Auction Ends: Friday Mar-12-2010 15:55:24 PST | Watch this Item |
 |
Exercise & Fitness Equipment Gym Inventory Software US $29.95 Auction Ends: Friday Mar-12-2010 16:48:00 PST | Watch this Item |
 |
40LB WEIGHT VEST EXERCISE EQUIPMENT ATHLETIC WEIGHTED US $41.00 (15 Bids) Auction Ends: Friday Mar-12-2010 17:00:39 PST | Watch this Item |
Related posts
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Disclaimer: Some of the links found in this post and other related posts may be my affiliate links. If you click on one of my affiliate links and purchase the product, I will make a commission for recommending the product. While I may not own the product myself, I will never recommend something that I don't believe in.
One comment
Comment Guidelines: After 3 approved comments - all your links become DoFollow links (controlled by LuciaLinkyLove). No Keywords In Name. No inappropriate or offensive comments. No links to inappropriate or offensive sites. Comments must contribute to the discussion. ALL SPAM DELETED!Comments Manually Approved prior to appearing!
StrongandFit (3 comments.) on February 6, 2009 at 12:49 am
Bodybuilders tend to eat several smaller meals. Sumo wrestlers eat one or two huge meals. Which would you rather more closely resemble?
StrongandFit’s last blog post..This Week’s Health News 2/4/09