Fat Loss 4 Idiots Opinion

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Do You Know The 6 Meals A Day Myth?

By Caleb Lee

Do you actually need to eat 6-8 small meals to keep your metabolism revved up so you shed fat all day and keep a stable stream of nutrients flowing to build strong, massive muscles?

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 False Report!

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 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.

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

* Total cals burned by reason of TEF = 180

So compare that to a normal diet of 3 big meals:

* 3 Large 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 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 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 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 Would 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 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 love it - A number of people may possibly feel more satisfied 6-8 eating lesser meals each day grazing for their food intake. I'm not one of those people but more power to you if you are.

I think knowing this will certainly help you feel better in your quest for better fitness, I know I believed this myth for a LONG time because almost everyone recommends it.

What Do I Do Personally?

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. - 17269

About the Author:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home