Can drinking water substitute for eating small meals?

DamePiglet

So the question is, "is water the same as food?"

I have no words

indeed.

deksgrl

Magical beings, yes.


For everyone else, no.

firstsip

Moving increases metabolism. Muscle increases metabolism. How many times you eat does not.

Go ahead and drink the water, it is good to stay hydrated, but don't expect it to increase your metabolism.

^ This.

In all seriousness, OP, I assume you saw the "4-6 meals a day" in some mainstream "diet" source, worried that not doing exactly that would somehow "slow" your metabolism, and didn't want to end up hurting your progress. So you though, "Maybe just putting something in me, even if it's water, will help."

The truth is, meal timing for weight loss is irrelevant. You could eat 1 meal a day. You could eat 10. As long as they were at a moderate deficit (as in, not starving yourself but still below your maintenance calories), you'd be fine.

Also, I still think you're 17 at the most.

BlueBombers

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Tropic Thunder!!

Cliffslosinit

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Tropic Thunder!!
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YES!! Hey come here...

Toblave

I'm trying to boost my metabolism. A lot of the sites say I should eat 4-6 small meals a day, but I'm in school and am often busy afterwards, so this makes eating small meals difficult. I was wondering, If I drink water (or maybe something with a few calories- like adding Mio or something) when I'm not able to eat, would that keep my metabolism running all day?

Eating small meals does not appreciably increase your metabolism. The thought behind it is that the thermic effect of food (TEF), that is the temporary boost that your metabolism gets from eating because digestion requires energy, will increase your overall metabolism. Unfortunately it does really work like that. TEF provides a temporary boost and is proportional to the amount and type of food eaten, in either case it's also not very much.

There are reasons one might eat smaller meals throughout the day that are perfectly valid. Things such as personal preference, help to stave off hunger, some feel bloated when they eat too much at a single meal and some find that it helps keep them on track.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/truth-about-6-meals-day-weight-loss

http://thepeopleschemist.com/stupid-diet-myth-2-eat-4-6-small-meals-per-day/

BlueBombers

Tropic Thunder!!
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YES!! Hey come here...


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Too stinky!