The 6 Meals A Day Myth
February 2nd, 2009. Published under Muscle Building. No Comments.
Do you actually need to eat 6-8 small meals to keep your metabolism revved up so you shed fat all day and keep a stable stream of nutrients flowing to build strong, massive muscles?
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 Cock-and-Bull Story!
The advice is based on studies completed around the thermic effect of food (TEF). You see, each time you eat, your body uses more or less 10% of those calories (total) to give power just to digest the food…
When this was realized, people misunderstood the research by saying the more you eat (frequency) the more calories you’ll burn all day but then again this was an error for the reason that the math doesn’t work out.
* Six little meals of 300 calories (6-300) = 1800 calories total.
* Every meal you burn 10% of calories = 30 calories burned with each 300 cal meal
* Total cals burned due to TEF = 180
Therefore weigh that to a normal diet of 3 heavy meals:
* 3 Large Meals of 600 calories (3-600) = 1800 calories total.
* Every meal you burn 10% of calories = 60 calories burned with each 600 cal meal
* Total cals burned as a result of TEF = 180
So you see, if the calories are the same, it doesn’t matter how you break them up ” you’re still burning the same amount of calories and affecting your metabolism the exact same way no matter how often you eat.
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 Less Meals Produce Muscle Loss?
A lot of guys who lift weights consider (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 loads of food and keeping the levels of amino acids in your blood elevated your body will utilize 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 Would You Eat 6-8 Meals
So as to achieve a LOT of weight ” you need to boost your calorie intake to gain weight and put on muscle, thus if you’re an extra-large 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 set of lesser 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 believe being aware of this will surely help you feel improved in your search for better fitness, I know I believed this cock-and-bull story for a LONG time because nearly each and every one suggests it.
What Do I Do For Myself?
I do intermittent fasting. And I LOVE it. I vary between a warrior diet style eating schedule (when I’m maintaining my weight) and the lean gains eating style when I’m focusing on putting on muscle mass.