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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The 6 Meals A Day Myth

By Caleb Lee

Do you really need to eat 6-8 small meals to keep your metabolism revved up so you burn fat all day and keep a steady stream of nutrients flowing to build lean muscle?

If you've been around the fitness scene for any amount of time, or have read a few diet books or articles, you would think the key to this one is a plain why not? " but the fact is

The 6-8 meals a day Advice Is A Cock-and-Bull Story!

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.

* 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 Heavy Meals of 600 calories (3-600) = 1800 calories total.

* Every single meal you burn 10% of calories = 60 calories burned with every 600 cal meal

* Total cals burned as a result of TEF = 180

So you see, if the calories are equal, it doesn't matter how you cut them up " you're still burning the same amount of calories and changing your metabolism the exact same way no matter how you eat frequently.

Will Eating More Frequently Bring About More Lean Muscle Gain?

The brief answer is certainly not. Eating protein continually in point of fact initiates your body not to make it as much. Eating more total calories WILL bring about building additional muscle but the meal frequency has barely 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 Less Meals Produce Muscle Loss?

A lot of guys who lift weights consider (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 loads of food and keeping the levels of amino acids in your blood elevated your body will utilize 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 Would You Eat 6-8 Meals

So as to achieve a LOT of weight " you need to boost your calorie intake to gain weight and put on muscle, thus if you're an extra-large 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 set of lesser meals.

If youre utilizing a lot of energy " If you're an advanced athlete who burns a ton of energy like Michael Phelps who eats up to 12,000 calories per DAY and eats like an elephant. Similarly guys in the military in boot camp regularly eat as much as possible when they get the chance but still result in losing weight

If you have a thing about it - Several people may feel extra full 6-8 eating reduced meals per day grazing for their food consumption. 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.

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