Meal Frequency

[mdoghman]

Why?

I think he is basing it on the fact that some people get trouble digesting a huge meal of 2000 or feel sick ...

but if you can, then it has no effect on muscle building etc.

when i eat more frequent meals i am hungry all the time :S i started eating max of 4 meals a day now

[BakedFresh]

Super interesting and informational guys!
Awesome work

[jcparra]

when i eat more frequent meals i am hungry all the time :S i started eating max of 4 meals a day now

Agree, the same happens to me... now i got used to take 6 o even 7 meals a day, and still feeling hungry.

[CR56BB]

MF is complete bs

[clintster442]

This thread contains so much amazing information but it neglects to make two distinct points.

1. Eating frequent meals ISN'T a bad thing
While all the studies have shown that the popular dogma of eating frequent smaller equally spaced meals does NOT increase metabolism, thermogensis, or lipolysis, it also shows that it does not decrease them either. Since it's a change in thought, it seems many posters ITT seem to be putting an emphasis on the 'new discovery' and emphaszing it on the correct method. This is the same train of thought that led to the multiple meal ideology being excepted at fact. If eating 6 meals works for you, do it. If eating 3 meals works for you, do it. The most important part is the amount that you are eating, not when. Eating six meals won't lean you out or build you up but it's still okay to do so if that's your personal preference and it works for you. Lyle's review is the best 'plain English' summation of this: http://"http://www.bodyrecomposition...ore-1389" Here

2. All of these studies make one very important assumption that has a gross lack of focus in just about every opinion here. Meal frequency is of no consequence IF the subject is taking in sufficient nutrients to sustain mass. The boxer study Lyle mentions bears absolutely zero relevance for it's intended purpose (which was focused on meal frequency) due to poor guidelines and structure. It does, however, highlight the detrimental effect of insufficient feeding and also suggest meal frequncy DOES have a direct effect on loss of LBM in a submaintenance state. Eating more frequently will not do anything to gain mass or loose fat but it will slow muscle loss (emphasis on slow, not stop) in an underfed situation such as cutting. The study referenced has some definite 'holes' but I believe that it furthur emphasizes that frequest smaller meals throughout the day is not a bad thing.

The underlying message being easily summized into one 'to live by' credo: IIFYM... to each his own.

[zoom88]

Great stuff!

[MrWakaMaka]

I'm a skinny guy and I think that eating frequently is easier for lean people who also are trying to bulk/gain mass. Some skinny people have smaller stomachs than others so eating a large meal could be difficult for them. Everyone eats at a different rate and have their own schedules and duties to do. But I agree that the meal frequency thing should not matter as long as you gain all the calories/macros one needs for the day.

[stewy101]

LOL....I just came on the sight as I frequent others as well. I went through every post very thoroughly and came to one conclusion: And follow very carefully if you can....

We ALL strive to eat a certain amount of protein, carbohydrates, fat and fiber a day correct? My program or formula consist of:

Protein: body weight times 1.5 a day

Carbohydrates: 240 grams a day

Fat: 40 grams a day

Fiber: 40 grams a day

I eat 6 meals a day, Why? because I could never eat all the required amount of food I need to maintain my lean muscle mass in 1, 2, 3 or even 4 meals a day. I just cant do it lol. I used to do 5 meals a day and had to change that up to 6 every 3 hours so i could actually get all this food down. NOTE: I eat VERY healthy so the amount of food I take in for the amount of calories in them is a lot more solid food intake than if I went to Mcdonalds and had a couple big macs, large fries, chocolate milkshake in one sitting. Then I would be able to eat enough calories in one sitting for the whole days total #. That being said when you are eating a very lean proteins, fats and slow/fast complexed carbohydrates, the amount of volume can be much higher than not. Spread your meals through out the day people so you don't overeat or bloat yourselves at one sitting. Or if you like pigging out at one or two sittings through out the day go right ahead. I just know I could not do that when eating a healthy diet.

I could though at Mcdonalds or any other fast food joint where you can eat a couple thousand calories at one sitting. And I really do NOT advise anyone going to the gym in the morning without eating breakfast or taking in a protein shake with some oats in them for energy to get through your workout. I tried that once and puked my guts up. Anyways this was very interesting for what it is worth but when doing high caliber workouts, cardio and having a job where your working all day as well, I would highly recommend to eat something spread through out the day so you have the energy to do so. That's why we eat smaller meals to get us through our day and it keeps us full so we don't decide to pig out and over eat at one sitting. Plus who has gone a few hours without putting something in there stomach and has gotten light headed and nauseating feeling? I know I have. Its because your body needs REFUELING people. Can you go all day and not eat then eat all your caloric needs in one sitting to meet your macro-nutrients needs and be fine ? YES, it's common sense and does not take a rocket scientist or even a monkey to figure that out. Though I found this post to be very interesting I personally will eat my breakfast first thing so it fuels me up for the day and I will eat every 3 hours to keep me going till I lay my head down at night. Thanks.........

[QT]

2. All of these studies make one very important assumption that has a gross lack of focus in just about every opinion here. Meal frequency is of no consequence IF the subject is taking in sufficient nutrients to sustain mass. The boxer study Lyle mentions bears absolutely zero relevance for it's intended purpose (which was focused on meal frequency) due to poor guidelines and structure. It does, however, highlight the detrimental effect of insufficient feeding and also suggest meal frequncy DOES have a direct effect on loss of LBM in a submaintenance state. Eating more frequently will not do anything to gain mass or loose fat but it will slow muscle loss (emphasis on slow, not stop) in an underfed situation such as cutting. The study referenced has some definite 'holes' but I believe that it furthur emphasizes that frequest smaller meals throughout the day is not a bad thing.

The underlying message being easily summized into one 'to live by' credo: IIFYM... to each his own.

Wrong.

[hoffmanxtreme]

I'm glad I found this thread.


So we can conclude that eating 6 meals/day while getting all your required macros is not a bad/negative thing......but is not necessary correct?


2nd ?: Eating 3 giant meals per day seems like it would stretch your stomach more so than eating 6 meals a day of the same macros. True/False?

[mrTesto]

Why?

i get the science behind it but for someone trying to pack on as much lean mass as poss or hold onto as much lean mass as poss eating every 2-3 hours will keep you in a positive state of nitrogen retention and will keep your muscles fed for a bodybuilder every ounce of muscle counts and its about maximising gains at every opportunity and eating protein carbs fat every 2-3hours will do that nicely will do that job nicely

[jillyjill]

Really great articles!! Thanks for the information!! Helps a lot

[jnip23141]

Shoot for eating a small meal every 2 - 3 hours, with a balance of Carbohydrates, Proteins, and "Good" Fats

lol what is a "good" fat

[jnip23141]

i get the science behind it but for someone trying to pack on as much lean mass as poss or hold onto as much lean mass as poss eating every 2-3 hours will keep you in a positive state of nitrogen retention and will keep your muscles fed for a bodybuilder every ounce of muscle counts and its about maximising gains at every opportunity and eating protein carbs fat every 2-3hours will do that nicely will do that job nicely

this isn't right man. it seriously doesnt matter AT ALL if you are in a constant "positive N balance" as long as at the END OF THE DAY (ie. over a 24 hour (or even longer) period) you have achieved a NET positive N balance and you could easily do this by eating all your meals in one sitting.

[ScoringThemTDs]

this isn't right man. it seriously doesnt matter AT ALL if you are in a constant "positive N balance" as long as at the END OF THE DAY (ie. over a 24 hour (or even longer) period) you have achieved a NET positive N balance and you could easily do this by eating all your meals in one sitting.

your both right in your own way. I have researched this topic heavily and while you can eat 3000 calories in one sitting, I don't recommend it, being that most people would have a hard time doing that "counting macros to a key and not over or under eating" but I personally like to eat about 800 calories during the day by grazing eating Nuts,an apple, breakfast, post workout shake ect. then I eat at about 5 or 6 pm and go ALLLL OUT. it's much easier on your body. so i basically follow the caveman diet and it's very healthy for you!

[Prepbrah]

Thanks for this

[loganhart]

Lots of interesting material here. Good post!

[Cronos1247]

Awesome thread! I actually read the whole thing and am probably about to get in trouble at work for it =P

Out of curiosity, do we know of any successful natural body builders that currently consume 2-3 meals per day during contest prep?

[MMN1125]

Very interesting, make meals regular!

[brain01ford]

Hi All,
For great health everybody requires right nutrition This post will lead awareness toward right way of get food.
i think i am very health conscious ,at least for me this is very important .
Thanks for your great stuff

[Stevehall09]

This is an interesting post. Only having two meals per day actually increases your weight because of overeating. Have a few smaller meals per day to balance the calories in-between.

[TheWill]

My mind is seriously blown by this whole concept. I have been doing 6 meals a day since probably 2006 because i always feared that missing a meal or not hitting the protein window every 3 hours was going to to ruin my day/week. Awesome material and thanks for all of the knowledge!

[joeyddi]

dunno about meal frequency but i try to spread my protein shakes evernly throughout the day

[determined4000]

dunno about meal frequency but i try to spread my protein shakes evernly throughout the day

Then you obviously do care about meal timing

[omnisis]

So I've played with various different timing schedules and here's my opinion after trying everything from 3-8 meals/day and a brief stint with IF. For me personally 4-5 meals/day is ideal. I say that but then I usually throw in an extra after meal on workout days and if I finish my last "big meal" by 5PM (sometimes I eat my last meal early due to family reasons) I'll follow up with another small protein heavy meal. Thanks to the new science on meal frequency, I have "stopped worrying" about missing a meal. Before I would think that if I didn't eat every 3hours I'd start going "catabolic" and lose all my gains. Maybe that's true for pro bbers on gear but for me that just hasn't been the case.

The reason I still do more than 3 meals has more to do with having a feeling of satiety and avoiding pyschological hunger than anything else. Although I have no scientific evidence to offer I will say that after doing smaller meals it also makes me less likely to "binge" at any one meal. This might be totally psychological as well, but I just feel better this way. If I had to bulk on 3 meals a day I might be having 1000+ cals at every meal and honestly it comes down to a matter of logistics at that point and I just wouldn't want to eat meals that big.

[JelaniTheGreat]

Emma, I know meal frequency doesn't matter in terms of diet and body composition. (Lost 30lbs on IF), but what about performance? For instance if I wanted to carb load for peak performance on a leg day would it matter if I do it the day prior or the day of?

[Emma-Leigh]

Emma, I know meal frequency doesn't matter in terms of diet and body composition. (Lost 30lbs on IF), but what about performance? For instance if I wanted to carb load for peak performance on a leg day would it matter if I do it the day prior or the day of?

There is some evidence to suggest that for ATHLETES -- it matters in terms of performance (especially those doing multiple sessions a day / high intensity sessions).
For others - it depends on your own preference, and your own baseline diet, when in the day you train... etc etc.
Generally speaking - if you train earlier in the day, then having more carbs the day before would be better.
If you train later in the day - then you might do better with a moderate load the day of.

[Farnzey]

ok i have a question .....

lets say one day i decide to just have two meals , i eat both in the morning lets say at 6:30am then at 9:00am. so i fit all my calories and macros into it, this is around 300g protein 420 g of carbs 100 g fat, lets note i train at 7:00 pm at night.

question:
so by the time i have finished my workout will the protein that i had earlier still utilze and be there to be used to repair muscle? then the next day i have two meals again but not till late at night like 7:00 then 10:00pm, this day i do not train its a rest day.

it might sound like a stupid question but is there a difference between this and me having a protein shake after the gym which i normally do?

[JHFS1988]

I am new to this forum (this is my very first post) and this is a topic I would like to hear from you all on. It's nice to "shoot for" a certain number of small meals a day but.... How many of you manage to do it? How many meals are you actually able to reasonably break your day into? Thanks!

[sandycooper000]

I take two meals in a day...!!! And love to know others...