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 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 False Report!

The advice is based on studies completed around the thermic effect of food (TEF). You see, each time you eat, your body uses more or less 10% of those calories (total) to give power 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 because of TEF = 180

Thus differentiate that to a normal diet of 3 large meals:

* 3 Big 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 as a result 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 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 Fewer Meals Lead To Muscle Loss?

Lots of guys who lift weights believe (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 a lot of food and keeping the levels of amino acids in your blood high your body will use 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 Must 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 For Myself?

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.