Why 3 meals a day doesn't work...
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gomidas2007
Posts: 25 Member
2-3 meals/day doesnt cut it. This causes metablism to slow and more food to be stored as fat. The body also has a hard time absorbing enough nutrients eating this way. So first off the nutritional value of your food is decreased. Second your body is going to be starving for calories between these meals. This means that your body is going to start eating at your muscle for energy, which will further slow down your metabolism over the longer term by decreasing your ability to burn calories, because muscles are metabolic (meaning they use and burn calories, unlike fat).
Alright, real life situation: you wake up and skip breakfast. At this point lets say you ate supper/dinner the night before at 7pm. So it is now 7am and you get your cup of coffee and go to work. There are not enough calories in coffee to make up for this so we wont worry about that for now. At this point you have not eaten in 12 hours. So, your metabolism is far passed shutting down. Right now your body is quite literally eating itself (it has gone into a catabolic state, and been this way for awhile). It is doing this because it has to eat to stay alive. Your body is going to eat whether you feed it or not, and in a catabolic state the body is going straight for your muscle not for your fat. It will actually be trying to store more fat b/c it is in survival mode and is preparing for the next time you starve it. So now it is Noon and you finally eat, a whole 17 hours later. I think I need to repeat that SEVENTEEN HOURS that you have gone without eating. You are probably not even hungry now, that is how far the body has had to shut down. During prolonged catabolic states it is very common to feel a lack of energy and very stressed. So now you are finally eating, it probably feels great, but now that the body is actually getting food it is going to prepare for the next time you go 17 hours without eating, and it will store as much of that food as fat that it can. This is a problem, we want toned lean muslce that burns calories. Another problem is that our stomachs capacity to eat is going to be very small, so that meal was short on calories and vital nutrients, leading to a whole list of problems.
Actually metabolism will shut down around hour 3-5 after eating. So the whole other 14 hours you were quite literally killing yourself very slowly.
What is this saying?
-Not eating often enough will cause your our metabolism to slow down.
-It will cause our bodies to go catabolic and start eating our muscle tissue instead of using our fat for energy.
-It will cause the body to eat its own muscle tissue, and because muscle is metabolic will further slow down our metabolism.
-It will cause our body to store more fat.
-Decrease our ability to absorb nutrients.
-It can also cause certain gastric problems and irregularity.
Hunger is not a good enough mechanism for telling us when to eat. If you feel thirsty you are already very dehydrated, same with hunger. If you feel hungry you need to eat ASAP cause your metabolism is about to slow way way down in order to protect the body. This is the last thing we want. Eating before you get hungry in this way where you are eating every 2-3 hours will prevent over eating during meals, making hasty and poor eating decisions, it speeds up metabolism, and keeps our bodies burning primarily fat for energy instead of having to eat muscle tissue for energy.
The Solution:
-Eat more often, Every 2-3 hours, plain and simple.
-Stop using the "no food after 7pm rule". It is not conducive to losing or maintaining weight, staying healthy, and it is just uncomfortable to go to sleep hungry and wake up starving.
-Use small meals: 300-500 calories. This helps your body absorb more nutrients, and also is enough to satiate your stomach for the 2-3 hours, and stoke up your metabolism like a log on a fire.
-You should eat: first thing in the morning 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm close to bedtime.
So this means you are eating at least 6x a day.
-Prepare your meals ahead of time. This helps make sure you are making good healthy food choices, lowering the risk of eating something quick and poor. Also, most people dont have time to be cooking 6x a day, so this will save you some time.
What we want is to stay in a state of anabolism (lean tissue growth and fat breakdown). The body is either anabolic or catabolic. When we are anabolic we are in a healthy state, and it is very unhealthy to be in a catabolic state. In order to do this we need to make good nutritious choices, one of which is feeding our bodies often and keeping our bodies' metabolism burning hard. The harder it burns the more fat your body will use, and therefore more fat you will lose.
A few ways to help stay in an anabolic state:
-Eat every 2-3 hours (obviously)
-Eat protein with each meal (protein takes longer to digest, the longer it takes to digest the more affect it has on the metabolism)
-Eat a vegetable everytime you eat a protein (this keeps the pH of your blood basic/alkailine which keeps you in an anabolic state)
-Eat foods very high in fiber (and dont be afraid of adding extra fiber to meals, fiber slows food down in the digestion process)
-Get a generous supply of Good Fats in your diet. (this is an article all in itself, you cant say enough good about getting more good fat in your body.)
-Resistance Exercise (will increase metabolism for up to 36 hours post workout, and by adding muscle you increase ability to burn more calories.)
-an overall active lifestyle (get outside and get active, its very therapeutic, and maybe more important than worrying about food intake anyway)
-Laugh more often (laughing has been proved to aid in raising metabolism and overall bodily health)
-Be positive when it comes to your goals (having a positive perspective keeps motivation levels high)
-Take 3 deep breaths each day and relax a little. (stress is killer on your body, that includes the metabolism)
One thing to do is seek out professional assistance and ask questions on this topic. Even if you only employ half of the solutions on this page you will have given yourself a head start on a healthy lifestyle. These are extremely important concepts to employ into your daily life. Ask the 'stupid' questions because they are probably not stupid. See what happens, you might get a whole new perspective. Alright, Good luck with all your endeavors!
Alright, real life situation: you wake up and skip breakfast. At this point lets say you ate supper/dinner the night before at 7pm. So it is now 7am and you get your cup of coffee and go to work. There are not enough calories in coffee to make up for this so we wont worry about that for now. At this point you have not eaten in 12 hours. So, your metabolism is far passed shutting down. Right now your body is quite literally eating itself (it has gone into a catabolic state, and been this way for awhile). It is doing this because it has to eat to stay alive. Your body is going to eat whether you feed it or not, and in a catabolic state the body is going straight for your muscle not for your fat. It will actually be trying to store more fat b/c it is in survival mode and is preparing for the next time you starve it. So now it is Noon and you finally eat, a whole 17 hours later. I think I need to repeat that SEVENTEEN HOURS that you have gone without eating. You are probably not even hungry now, that is how far the body has had to shut down. During prolonged catabolic states it is very common to feel a lack of energy and very stressed. So now you are finally eating, it probably feels great, but now that the body is actually getting food it is going to prepare for the next time you go 17 hours without eating, and it will store as much of that food as fat that it can. This is a problem, we want toned lean muslce that burns calories. Another problem is that our stomachs capacity to eat is going to be very small, so that meal was short on calories and vital nutrients, leading to a whole list of problems.
Actually metabolism will shut down around hour 3-5 after eating. So the whole other 14 hours you were quite literally killing yourself very slowly.
What is this saying?
-Not eating often enough will cause your our metabolism to slow down.
-It will cause our bodies to go catabolic and start eating our muscle tissue instead of using our fat for energy.
-It will cause the body to eat its own muscle tissue, and because muscle is metabolic will further slow down our metabolism.
-It will cause our body to store more fat.
-Decrease our ability to absorb nutrients.
-It can also cause certain gastric problems and irregularity.
Hunger is not a good enough mechanism for telling us when to eat. If you feel thirsty you are already very dehydrated, same with hunger. If you feel hungry you need to eat ASAP cause your metabolism is about to slow way way down in order to protect the body. This is the last thing we want. Eating before you get hungry in this way where you are eating every 2-3 hours will prevent over eating during meals, making hasty and poor eating decisions, it speeds up metabolism, and keeps our bodies burning primarily fat for energy instead of having to eat muscle tissue for energy.
The Solution:
-Eat more often, Every 2-3 hours, plain and simple.
-Stop using the "no food after 7pm rule". It is not conducive to losing or maintaining weight, staying healthy, and it is just uncomfortable to go to sleep hungry and wake up starving.
-Use small meals: 300-500 calories. This helps your body absorb more nutrients, and also is enough to satiate your stomach for the 2-3 hours, and stoke up your metabolism like a log on a fire.
-You should eat: first thing in the morning 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm close to bedtime.
So this means you are eating at least 6x a day.
-Prepare your meals ahead of time. This helps make sure you are making good healthy food choices, lowering the risk of eating something quick and poor. Also, most people dont have time to be cooking 6x a day, so this will save you some time.
What we want is to stay in a state of anabolism (lean tissue growth and fat breakdown). The body is either anabolic or catabolic. When we are anabolic we are in a healthy state, and it is very unhealthy to be in a catabolic state. In order to do this we need to make good nutritious choices, one of which is feeding our bodies often and keeping our bodies' metabolism burning hard. The harder it burns the more fat your body will use, and therefore more fat you will lose.
A few ways to help stay in an anabolic state:
-Eat every 2-3 hours (obviously)
-Eat protein with each meal (protein takes longer to digest, the longer it takes to digest the more affect it has on the metabolism)
-Eat a vegetable everytime you eat a protein (this keeps the pH of your blood basic/alkailine which keeps you in an anabolic state)
-Eat foods very high in fiber (and dont be afraid of adding extra fiber to meals, fiber slows food down in the digestion process)
-Get a generous supply of Good Fats in your diet. (this is an article all in itself, you cant say enough good about getting more good fat in your body.)
-Resistance Exercise (will increase metabolism for up to 36 hours post workout, and by adding muscle you increase ability to burn more calories.)
-an overall active lifestyle (get outside and get active, its very therapeutic, and maybe more important than worrying about food intake anyway)
-Laugh more often (laughing has been proved to aid in raising metabolism and overall bodily health)
-Be positive when it comes to your goals (having a positive perspective keeps motivation levels high)
-Take 3 deep breaths each day and relax a little. (stress is killer on your body, that includes the metabolism)
One thing to do is seek out professional assistance and ask questions on this topic. Even if you only employ half of the solutions on this page you will have given yourself a head start on a healthy lifestyle. These are extremely important concepts to employ into your daily life. Ask the 'stupid' questions because they are probably not stupid. See what happens, you might get a whole new perspective. Alright, Good luck with all your endeavors!
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Replies
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I have a question. Is it okay to wake up east breakfast and then return to bed? I do this often and people say it is bad for digestion but it makes it easier for me to get in 6 small meals a day.0
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lol0
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Total broscience. Your metabolism doesn't "shut down" after a given time of not eating. Your metabolism only "shuts down" when you're dead.0
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False.
Meal frequency does not increase or decrease metabolism.0 -
-Laugh more often (laughing has been proved to aid in raising metabolism and overall bodily health)
My fav line there.0 -
What if I want to eat one meal, or maybe 8 meals? Would 8 meals give me the metabolism of a humming bird?0
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Love it when newbies tell us how it is done
Too bad I do intermittent fasting.... I will probably die soon0 -
3 meals works just fine
Most people don't have jobs where they can snack all day long. Eat every 2 hours? I have things to do with my life.0 -
false
3 meals a day is perfect for me and I`m looseing just fine
I get in my macro`s and my cals and thats all the matters the # of meals has nothing to do with it 0 -
Lollercoaster.0
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You sure about that? Try telling that to the thousands of inmates that build phenomenal prison bodies eating only three times a day. I myself typically eat 3 times a day, doesn't seem to be hindering my progress.0
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Myth. If you eat all your food 6 times a day you get 6 small spikes in metabolism. If you eat all your food in one meal you get one big spike. The 6 small spikes are equivalent to the one big.
http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/#metabolismFads tend to develop and grow in the fitness industry more-so and at faster rates than in any other. One such fad states that in order to “stoke your metabolic furnace” and keep it burning hot, you need to eat many small meals each day. Quite often we hear clients say something like, “Man! I’m so frustrated. I simply can’t stick to eating 6 meals per day and I know it’s hindering my fat loss.”
Unfortunately for the individuals who fall victim to this myth, it’s not something that’s supported scientifically.
So where does this myth come from?
To answer that question, we need to recall what we discussed above about metabolic rate. The core components of what makes up your metabolism and thus your calorie needs are Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), Thermic Effect of Activity (TEA), and Thermic Effect of Food (TEF).
Total Energy Expenditure = RMR + TEA + TEF
TEF is what we’re really interested in with regards to this concept of meal frequency. TEF is simply the energy required to breakdown, process, and digest the foods we eat. TEF increases after each meal, obviously, as your body works to handle the foods you recently consumed.
Thus, the myth was born. People took this increase in TEF post-eating to mean, “Eat more frequently to boost your metabolism.”
The problem with this logic is this: if we eat fewer, larger meals… the thermic effect per meal is going to be larger as our bodies “work harder” to breakdown and utilize the larger quantity of food per meal. Compare this with more frequent, smaller meals. Sure, you’re getting more spikes in TEF per day, but compared to the former approach, each spike is smaller since there’s less food for the body to handle each meal.
Thus, we’re left with a neutral impact between the two meal plans in terms of metabolic rate.
Same calories/nutrients spread over more, smaller meals = more frequent, yet smaller TEF per day
Same calories/nutrients spread over less, larger meals = less frequent, yet larger TEF per day
The primary reason we take issue with the incessant need to perpetuate this myth is that it tends to make people anxious. The more rigidity you add to a nutrition plan, the less likely people are going to stick to it over the long-term. For those who have busy schedules, aren’t satiated by eating more frequently, or simply don’t feel like eating 6 times per day… DON’T!
That’s not to say that I’m against frequent feedings. If it’s your cup of tea… drink up. In fact, in my experience smaller folks who are having trouble packing on muscle are best served by eating many small meals per day in order to get the required calories needed to support growth.0 -
oh christ0
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OP, how come one of your arms is way more muscular than the other? Also your photo background is warped. Gotta watch those straight lines when photoshopping.0
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oh christ
how YOU doin?0 -
You post a bunch of untruths and fearmongering and then tell us to take deep breaths and relax?
Forget that, I'm in full panic mode. I just ordered five pizzas to make sure I don't go into starvation mode. I should be skinny by tonight.0 -
You sure about that? Try telling that to the thousands of inmates that build phenomenal prison bodies eating only three times a day.
^^^That's an excellent point that that definitely repudiates this.0 -
The wall of text just caused me to squint and get a ****ing headache.
OP....T L D R0 -
You used a lot of words to be incorrect.0
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