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 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 Myth!
The advice is based on studies made around the thermic effect of food (TEF). You see, every time you eat, your body uses approximately 10% of those calories (total) to supply strength 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 pint-sized 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
Thus differentiate that to a normal diet of 3 large meals:
* 3 Heavy Meals of 600 calories (3-600) = 1800 calories total.
* Each meal you burn 10% of calories = 60 calories burned with each 600 cal meal
* Total cals burned because 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 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 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 Fewer Meals Lead To Muscle Loss?
Several guys who lift weights accept as true (and I used to) that not eating 6-8 meals each day will put your body into a catabolic state. Which means since you're not eating lots of food and keeping the levels of amino acids in your blood above average your body will make use of 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
To obtain a LOT of weight " you need to improve your calorie intake to gain weight and put on muscle, therefore if you're a huge 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 group of smaller amount of 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 guess being knowledgeable about this will definitely help you feel enriched in your chase for better fitness, I know I believed this false report for a LONG time because practically the whole world put in a good word for 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.