The 6 Meals A Day Myth

Do you certainly have to eat 6-8 small meals to keep your metabolic rate rise so you melt fat all day and keep a constant stream of nutrients flowing to sculpt lean muscle?

If you’ve been around the fitness scene for any amount of time, or have read any diet books or articles, you would think the answer to this one is an easy yes ” but the truth 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 found out, people misinterpreted the research by saying the more you eat (frequency) the more calories you’ll burn all day but this was a mistake because the math doesn’t work out.

* Six pint-sized meals of 300 calories (6-300) = 1800 calories total.

* Every single meal you burn 10% of calories = 30 calories burned with every 300 cal meal

* Total cals burned due to TEF = 180

Thus differentiate that to a normal diet of 3 large 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 because of TEF = 180

So you see, if the calories are alike, it doesn’t matter how you divide them up ” you’re still burning the same amount of calories and altering your metabolism the exact same way no matter how you eat regularly.

Will Eating More On A Regular Basis Result In 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 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 A Smaller Amount of Meals Cause 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 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 Must 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 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 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 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.