The 6 Meals A Day Myth
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Do you really need to eat 6-8 small meals to keep your metabolism revved up so you burn fat all day and keep a steady stream of nutrients flowing to build lean muscle?
If you’ve been around the fitness scene for any amount of time, or have read some diet books or articles, you would think the solution to this one is a simple yes ” but the reality is
The 6-8 meals a day Advice Is A Cock-and-Bull Story!
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 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 pint-sized 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 by reason of TEF = 180
Therefore weigh that to a normal diet of 3 heavy meals:
* 3 Big 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 because of 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 Often Lead To More Lean Muscle Gain?
The short answer is no. Eating protein constantly actually causes your body not to synthesize it as much. Eating more total calories WILL lead to building more muscle but the meal frequency has little to do with it.
More critical for lean muscle gain is the timing of your meals, specially the post workout meal needs to be first-rate to let people know that you’re getting high-quality 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 nonetheless not as far as you’ve heard. Because although you just eat one large meal each day, it can take up to 12 hours to digest” gradually releasing amino acids into your bloodstream the whole time.
When Would 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 using a ton of energy ” If you’re a high level athlete who burns a ton of energy like Michael Phelps who eats up to 12,000 calories per DAY and eats like an elephant. Also guys in the military in boot camp often eat as much as possible when they get the chance but still end up losing weight
If you enjoy it ” Some people might feel more satiated eating 6-8 smaller meals per day grazing for their food intake. 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 For My Part?
I execute infrequent fasting. And I ENJOY it. I vary between a warrior diet style eating schedule (when I’m keeping my weight) and the lean gains eating style when I’m concentrating on gaining muscle mass.
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