Why Eat 6 Meals Per Day?

[Count_Zero]

I'm new to bodybuilding. I've just been reading articles so far (I can't get into the gym at my college untill I get my student ID later this week). In most of the articles I've been reading they tell you that you should eat 5-6 times per day.

Does this work because food is being digested or because the nutrients are being spread out? In other words, do you have to spread out your macronutrients evenly between 5-6 meals per day or can you eat 3 meals that give you most of your nutrients and then eat a small snack like a carrot or a handfull of nuts for the other 3 meals?

To illustrate:

Breakfast:
3 egg whites
slice of ham
hashed browns
2 slices of toast
1 glass orange juice
1 glass milk

Morning Snack
a carrot

Lunch:
turkey sub
tortilla chips
1 glass juice
apple

Afternoon Snack:
half a handfull of peanuts

Dinner:
salmon steak
corn
baked potato
two slices of bread

Evening Snack:
one piece of celery

This diet is just for illustration, I haven't actually come up with a diet yet and I doubt that this diet would be good for bodybuilding. I just wrote it to give an example of how food could be spread out during the day with 3 big meals and 3 small snacks.

If I were to eat or drink something with hardly any calories, like unsweetened iced tea, could that count as a meal? (8 oz of unsweetened Iced tea has 1.7 calories and almost negligable nutrients)

[as0l0]

LOL!

you've misunderstood. a carrot or celery or peanuts is not a meal. a meal consists of protein, carbs and fats and is generally equal in size and value to the other meals of the day.

[NO MERCY]

Originally posted by Count_Zero
I'm new to bodybuilding. I've just been reading articles so far (I can't get into the gym at my college untill I get my student ID later this week). In most of the articles I've been reading they tell you that you should eat 5-6 times per day.

Does this work because food is being digested or because the nutrients are being spread out? In other words, do you have to spread out your macronutrients evenly between 5-6 meals per day or can you eat 3 meals that give you most of your nutrients and then eat a small snack like a carrot or a handfull of nuts for the other 3 meals?

To illustrate:

Breakfast:
3 egg whites
slice of ham
hashed browns
2 slices of toast
1 glass orange juice
1 glass milk

Morning Snack
a carrot

Lunch:
turkey sub
tortilla chips
1 glass juice
apple

Afternoon Snack:
half a handfull of peanuts

Dinner:
salmon steak
corn
baked potato
two slices of bread

Evening Snack:
one piece of celery

This diet is just for illustration, I haven't actually come up with a diet yet and I doubt that this diet would be good for bodybuilding. I just wrote it to give an example of how food could be spread out during the day with 3 big meals and 3 small snacks.

If I were to eat or drink something with hardly any calories, like unsweetened iced tea, could that count as a meal? (8 oz of unsweetened Iced tea has 1.7 calories and almost negligable nutrients)

6 meals are good to keep your metabolism moving and also to keep your body in an anabolic state. I think it is good to get protein into your system every 3 hours.

You do not have to have huge meals just spread out your daily calorie requirements into 6 or 7 meals. Hope this helps.

[swissknife]

Morning Snack
a carrot

Evening Snack:
one piece of celery


lol Ive never heard "carrot" and "bodybuilding" in the same sentence before... lol
Anyways, the other meals are ok BUT you must specify at what time do you work out and organize your meals accordingly. Do some more reading on this site, it will benefit you.

[Liquid]

Originally posted by Count_Zero

Evening Snack:
one piece of celery

Make sure you get the new hollowed out Celery, so you wont get FAT eating that one piece of celery.

[Cardinal]

If you don't want to bother with 5-6 meals a day, don't worry about it. Three will do fine. So long as you can get protein + efa + your other chosen energy substrates, I don't see a problem with this.

Three squares a day is kind of mainstream and works well for a lot of folks. You'll probably find that a lot of us on this site have voracious appetites and our eating patterns reflect this.

[newlifter87]

hehe by eating that celery your burning more calories that you consume eating it...

[guitarguy]

The idea is to spread the macronutrients as evenly as possible (with exception of the right after you wake up) so that your body has a constant influx of what it needs. This keeps you anabolic and increases your chances of building muscle.

[Count_Zero]

Thanks for all the help. I'll try to spread the meals out evenly.

[Plop]

this vaires from person to person........some ppls might eat 10 meals a day that are 350 cals each, while others will just eat 3 meals, but make it 3 massive meals

I go for about 6 meals a day, but yeah, it's a prefrence thing.

As long as you get the claories intake up to an acceptable level in bulking, Your fine !

[littlejohn]

Originally posted by Count_Zero
Thanks for all the help. I'll try to spread the meals out evenly.

Start with losing the hashbrowns and breads.

[Starsky]

Originally posted by Cardinal
If you don't want to bother with 5-6 meals a day, don't worry about it. Three will do fine. So long as you can get protein + efa + your other chosen energy substrates, I don't see a problem with this.

Three squares a day is kind of mainstream and works well for a lot of folks. You'll probably find that a lot of us on this site have voracious appetites and our eating patterns reflect this.

You are wrong. For bb, 3 meals a day is *not* fine. Stop giving bad advice.

Count Zero, stick with 5-6 meals a day spaced apart every 3 hours or so.

[Shatter]

I've never seen any evidence that 5-6 meals is necessary. Nutritional guru Bradley (over at wbb.com) has even provided a study showing that there is no metabolic effect created by eating 5-6 meals, as opposed to 3. Personally, I think the 5-6 meals is the biggest myth in bodybuilding and is only necessary if you're shooting for 5-6000 calories and can't down 2000 calories a meal.

The whole keeping your body in an anabolic state doesn't really have a basis either. Calories don't get used all at once and your body is quite efficient at spreading it's use throughout the day.

But if anyone has some studies that prove me wrong, I'm all ears....

[guitarguy]

My stomach is all the proof I need. If I don't eat atleast every 3 hours I get hungry. Stuffing myself doesn't help either. If I slack off on the weekend, by Sunday I don't get hungry every 3 hours. So yes, it does have a very large affect on the metabolism.

[Shatter]

Originally posted by guitarguy
My stomach is all the proof I need. If I don't eat atleast every 3 hours I get hungry. Stuffing myself doesn't help either. If I slack off on the weekend, by Sunday I don't get hungry every 3 hours. So yes, it does have a very large affect on the metabolism.

Perhaps. I certainly prefer to have 3 meals a day over 6. I normally have four or five, though.

[warriors]

i can make gains just eating three meals a day but i eat 5 just in case.

[dba]

Personally I've found it's easier to cut eating 5 or 6 meals a day. I'm usually a little hungry most of the time when cutting, but if I know that my next meal is less than a few hours away, then I'm a lot less likely to cheat. Bulking it's easier too because I don't have to stuff as much food in me at each meal as I would with 3.

I just calculate maintenance level (about 3000 for me), find the level I want to use for cutting or bulking (2000 - 2400 is what I've chosen this time), then divide that up into about 5 or 6 meals (about 330 to 400 kcal over 6 meals).

The meals don't always come out even, for example my breakfast was about 530 kCal this morning but mid-morning snack will only be about 250. I always try to get at least 30g of protein with each and will exceed calories before I skimp on protein.

There's more tweaking than this going on, but the general idea is that the calories and nutrients are spread throughout the day in such a way that provides the type of energy you need at the correct time (example: it's generally not adviseable to eat a bunch of sugar before bed).

[elvis aint dead]

If you want to eat 5-6 meals per day, go ahead. If you want to eat 3 meals a day, go ahead.

People eat 5-6 meals a day because it cuts out those snacking times.

If you eat lunch at 12 and then dinner at or around 6pm, thats 6 hours, and if your working or in school, i'm sure you'll have an urge to snack on something. And when most people snack at work or school, they'll go find some candybar or somethign that isn't all that healthy.

But if you eat 5-6 meals, spread out evenly over the day, it cuts out those bad snacks.

But i've done 5-6 meals and i've done 3 meals per day, as long as your getting enough protein,carbs, and everything else, you'll be fine.

Just don't mess your life up beause you need to eat 5-6 meals per day. Most people, Like I, work long hours and sometimes eating 5-6 meals is nearly impossible. So bring some healthy snacks, I make homemade protein bars, cold cutlet sandwiches, tuna, chicken or steak in a can, yogurt, cottage cheese, and so on.

Some people like to eat chicken and steak and all these other things at almost every meal, but for most of the realistic people, we can't COOK that many meals per day, so it's not realistic.

Do what you can do, and see what works for you. Everybody is different.

[italian stallio]

Originally posted by littlejohn
Start with losing the hashbrowns and breads.

Why are so many of you against carbs, I don't get it. I eat carbs all the time, hell, my snacks sometimes consist of half of a baguette. I eat toast with my eggs. Tons of pasta for dinner. And cereal before bed. Carbs have served me well and just because some doctor came up with crap about how not eating carbs burns fat, screw him. There's nothing wrong with carbs, just have to follow the universal rule of moderation. You can't have a diet with only carbs, just like you can't have one with only protein. I'm basing this on personal experience. Eat your carbs.

[Count_Zero]

Originally posted by italian stallio
Tons of pasta for dinner.

Yeah, but judging from your username you're Italian. Isn't pasta a dietary requirement for Italians?

Sorry, I don't mean to bust on Italians. I'm Irish and I know for a fact that Irish people die when we don't get potatos.

I know carbs are important. One of the most interesting things I've figured out from reading bodybuilding information is that no food is really 'bad'. Quantities can be bad, but not foods. Different diets have different quantities of different things, like the 40-30-30 or the 40-40-20 plans but those are all just calorie plans. Calorie plans don't say that I can't have a slice of cheese cake. If I can fit it into my diet with the calorie level and the macronutrients I want, then sure, I can eat that cheese cake.

Yesterday and today I've been trying to space meals out every 2-3 hours. I'm eating a lot of fish and fruit. I've been keeping detailed notes of what I've been doing. I'll post my program soon because I know I'm probably making all kinds of mistakes. I just finally said, '**** it... I'm tired of trying to figure out the perfect combination' so I just did it. I ate a smaller breakfast, got some canned fish and some fruit and finally hit the gym. I know my form is off for some exercises (my left elbow is killing me) but I'll get everything straight soon.

Spreading meals out during the day isn't as hard as I thought it would be.

[Zachary]

Originally posted by italian stallio
Why are so many of you against carbs, I don't get it. I eat carbs all the time, hell, my snacks sometimes consist of half of a baguette. I eat toast with my eggs. Tons of pasta for dinner. And cereal before bed. Carbs have served me well and just because some doctor came up with crap about how not eating carbs burns fat, screw him. There's nothing wrong with carbs, just have to follow the universal rule of moderation. You can't have a diet with only carbs, just like you can't have one with only protein. I'm basing this on personal experience. Eat your carbs.

Just because YOU do fine eating carbs does not mean everyone does. You've been saying the same thing in threads all over here all day. That's GREAT -- you're probably not remotely insulin resistant and your body is probably great at metabolizing carbs.

Well, guess what? I, and many others, believe that low-carb diets can be enormously effective -- moreso than traditional diets -- it just depends on the person.

But the point here was not carbs but more that high-GI carbs, if one is going to eat carbs (which, indeed, is quite fine), are not the best way to go about it. Potatoes are pretty high GI, as are breads.

[Starsky]

Still alot of bad advice here. If you want average or sub-par gains, stick with eating 3 times a day. If you have great genetics, then fine..you may do ok with ****ty diet and ****ty training.

No one is saying you have to make 5-6 huge meals a day, if its a protein shake and some snacks for a few meals, thats fine.. just make sure you are eating.

[Zachary]

Originally posted by Starsky
Still alot of bad advice here. If you want average or sub-par gains, stick with eating 3 times a day. If you have great genetics, then fine..you may do ok with ****ty diet and ****ty training.

No one is saying you have to make 5-6 huge meals a day, if its a protein shake and some snacks for a few meals, thats fine.. just make sure you are eating.

Bull****. 6 meals can make a difference, but for the most part it won't do anything. Lyle (and others) have suggested many times that even if a person ate 2 huge meals (with the right macronutrients to keep insulin level) during the day, they could still accomplish their goals, whether losing fat or gaining muscle.

[Starsky]

Originally posted by Zachary
Bull****. 6 meals can make a difference, but for the most part it won't do anything. Lyle (and others) have suggested many times that even if a person ate 2 huge meals (with the right macronutrients to keep insulin level) during the day, they could still accomplish their goals, whether losing fat or gaining muscle.

Eating every 8-9 hours? Zachary, if you *really* believe that, stop giving advice now. Really. Thats quite possibly some of the worst advice that has ever been given.

[GDI]

Originally posted by Starsky
Eating every 8-9 hours? Zachary, if you *really* believe that, stop giving advice now. Really. Thats quite possibly some of the worst advice that has ever been given.

Bump that.....you are far better off to split your meals up into 5-6 smaller meals and spread them out evenly through out the day.

[Zachary]

Originally posted by Starsky
Eating every 8-9 hours? Zachary, if you *really* believe that, stop giving advice now. Really. Thats quite possibly some of the worst advice that has ever been given.

Want to back that up with some abstracts or shall we call it a day? Lyle et al. have said many times that this is true. I know they cited some pretty solid abstracts, so I'll go look at them.

I'm not advocating that way of eating for a variety of reasons, but the people on these boards vastly overestimate the need to eat so often. It's useful in a lot of ways to keep insulin level and to keep hunger in check, but it's by no means necessary. Gains/losses could definitely be equalled, even eating every 8-9 hours.

Get your facts straight -- just because a majority here believe something doesn't make it true...after all, shall we go back to fructose, carbs + fat, or any of the other absurd myths perpetuated by members of this board (or Berardi...).

EDIT: Here's an excellent discussion of it:

http://forum.avantlabs.com/index.php...meal+frequency

Essentially, I would argue that unless it's just ridiculously difficult, you might as well go with 5-6 meals, but if 3 is just easier or whatnot, it certainly won't have any truly noticable effects. Check the thread for more info.

EDIT AGAIN: Actually, I need to amend that. For cutting and weight loss, the above stands, but for bulking or adding mass, the one exception might depend on the kind of protein eaten. If one were to eat even an extreme 2 meals a day and take casein in significant amounts, one would probably do fine. However, if whey were instead substituted, then muscle catabolism could indeed increase due to whey's speedy rate of digestion. For the most part however, I maintain that it's silly to say that gains will be noticably less eating, say, 3 meals a day, rather than 6.

[Plop]

I don't think there is anything wrong at all eating carbs (as long as they are complex carbs).

Moiral of story is you won't get that fat eating complex carbs......you do need em and remember, your body uses a lot of energy converting complex carbs intio fat, so unless you eat a truck pile, i don't think you will put that much fat.

If you are bulking, no matter how many meals you take, i think it would be impossible not to gain any fat.....thats why we have cutting.