6 meals a day

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  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    Are you hungry every three hours? Do you need to eat that often in a day or are you fine with less? Eating more often won't cause more weight loss.

    If you do want to eat that often, break up your meals or add in snacks to add more meals in a day like the above poster mentioned.

    Eating more often will aid in weight loss. If you are only eating two to three meals a day, your body thinks "Oh, I'm not going to get more food for another 6 hours, I better store this food for energy." Food get stored as fat. If you are eating every 2-3 hours, your body thinks, "I know I'll be getting more fuel in a couple hours, I can go ahead and use this food for energy now". This increases your metabolism, which in turns helps burn fat.
    Here's a link to a thread referencing plenty of peer-reviewed scientific studies which prove otherwise:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/820577-meal-frequency-rev-up-that-furnace-lol

    Additionally, here's a review/analysis by Lyle McDonald (who is a respected author/trainer, in case you've never heard of him):

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html

    Bottom line: 6 meals a day is broscience. It's been scientifically proven that there is no metabolic advantage to it. Nothing wrong with it if it works for you in terms of satiety/adherence, but it has zero effect upon "stoking the metabolism".

    Thanks for posting for me. :smile:

    P.S also PT certified. That doesn't really mean a lot in the nutrition world.
  • CrankMeUp
    CrankMeUp Posts: 2,860 Member
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    Are you hungry every three hours? Do you need to eat that often in a day or are you fine with less? Eating more often won't cause more weight loss.

    If you do want to eat that often, break up your meals or add in snacks to add more meals in a day like the above poster mentioned.

    Eating more often will aid in weight loss. If you are only eating two to three meals a day, your body thinks "Oh, I'm not going to get more food for another 6 hours, I better store this food for energy." Food get stored as fat. If you are eating every 2-3 hours, your body thinks, "I know I'll be getting more fuel in a couple hours, I can go ahead and use this food for energy now". This increases your metabolism, which in turns helps burn fat.

    ^^ This!

    lolno.
  • Marley2310
    Marley2310 Posts: 304
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    Simply Trial & error ..try the 6 meals if ur not happy try 3 etc
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    Are you hungry every three hours? Do you need to eat that often in a day or are you fine with less? Eating more often won't cause more weight loss.

    If you do want to eat that often, break up your meals or add in snacks to add more meals in a day like the above poster mentioned.

    Eating more often will aid in weight loss. If you are only eating two to three meals a day, your body thinks "Oh, I'm not going to get more food for another 6 hours, I better store this food for energy." Food get stored as fat. If you are eating every 2-3 hours, your body thinks, "I know I'll be getting more fuel in a couple hours, I can go ahead and use this food for energy now". This increases your metabolism, which in turns helps burn fat.

    Probably why this guy is so fat...

    http://www.leangains.com/

    I don't practice this and I actually do eat 5-6 times per day, but the whole speeding up your metabolism thing is just a bunch of bro-science.

    Um, you obviously have no idea what you are talking about. First, I'm 6'0" and 180 lbs, so, not so fat. Second, I'm a certified personal trainer, so it's not "bro-science", its real science. Maybe you should do your research before you try to insult people on a weight loss help website.

    In for an eventual mea culpa or digging deeper.

    My money is on the always-popular-on-MFP approach of digging deeper.

    I believe this has been thoroughly and definitively debunked for some time now.
  • thephysiquemechanic
    thephysiquemechanic Posts: 44 Member
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    Eating 6 small meals a day compared to eating 1 large meal a day has no special effect on increased weight loss.

    absolutely right. But eating just 2 meals a day and trying to fit all your important macros in is not Optimal.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    ...My money is on the always-popular-on-MFP approach of digging deeper....
    I'll hedge that bet. Dogma and bluster is often more popular here than eating a little crow and being willing to further one's education.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    Are you hungry every three hours? Do you need to eat that often in a day or are you fine with less? Eating more often won't cause more weight loss.

    If you do want to eat that often, break up your meals or add in snacks to add more meals in a day like the above poster mentioned.

    Eating more often will aid in weight loss. If you are only eating two to three meals a day, your body thinks "Oh, I'm not going to get more food for another 6 hours, I better store this food for energy." Food get stored as fat. If you are eating every 2-3 hours, your body thinks, "I know I'll be getting more fuel in a couple hours, I can go ahead and use this food for energy now". This increases your metabolism, which in turns helps burn fat.

    Probably why this guy is so fat...

    http://www.leangains.com/

    I don't practice this and I actually do eat 5-6 times per day, but the whole speeding up your metabolism thing is just a bunch of bro-science.

    Um, you obviously have no idea what you are talking about. First, I'm 6'0" and 180 lbs, so, not so fat. Second, I'm a certified personal trainer, so it's not "bro-science", its real science. Maybe you should do your research before you try to insult people on a weight loss help website.

    he meant the lean gains guy you jabroni.

    meal timing will not "trick" you body into consuming the food in the stomach before any other energy source... it doesn't work like that. the food in your stomach has to be digested first, which can take hours!!!

    intermittent fasting can make your body draw on it's energy reserves.

    multiple meals a day can be good for beginners because it forces them to eat less, and more often, as many people have problems with portion control. they go from lunch to the evening without eating, and are starving, and have three helpings of dinner.
  • thephysiquemechanic
    thephysiquemechanic Posts: 44 Member
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    Are you hungry every three hours? Do you need to eat that often in a day or are you fine with less? Eating more often won't cause more weight loss.

    If you do want to eat that often, break up your meals or add in snacks to add more meals in a day like the above poster mentioned.

    Eating more often will aid in weight loss. If you are only eating two to three meals a day, your body thinks "Oh, I'm not going to get more food for another 6 hours, I better store this food for energy." Food get stored as fat. If you are eating every 2-3 hours, your body thinks, "I know I'll be getting more fuel in a couple hours, I can go ahead and use this food for energy now". This increases your metabolism, which in turns helps burn fat.
    Here's a link to a thread referencing plenty of peer-reviewed scientific studies which prove otherwise:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/820577-meal-frequency-rev-up-that-furnace-lol

    Additionally, here's a review/analysis by Lyle McDonald (who is a respected author/trainer, in case you've never heard of him):

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-frequency-and-energy-balance-research-review.html

    Bottom line: 6 meals a day is broscience. It's been scientifically proven that there is no metabolic advantage to it. Nothing wrong with it if it works for you in terms of satiety/adherence, but it has zero effect upon "stoking the metabolism".

    Someones done there homework!

    Only thing 5 or 6 meals is good for is spreading out your macros needed for the day as 1-2 meals a day and trying to fit in all your macros is not optimal.
  • AlyssaJoJo
    AlyssaJoJo Posts: 449 Member
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    I do six meals. Not because I feel like there's this scientific reason to it - but because it helps me from binging. A day could easily look like this.

    Meal One- Normally just coffee. I'm not a morning eater and can do just find with just some iced coffee - sometimes I add in a banana or some fruit
    Meal Two - Eggs or Oatmeal
    Meal Three - Cucumber, Green pepper, baby carrots, and some celery with some veggie dip
    Meal Four - Sandwich with some home made chex mix
    Meal Five - Smoothie with a salad or left overs from the night before
    Meal Six - small snack before bed - mostly something sweet.

    It changes up a lot but normally is the same week by week due to left overs. I also eat anywhere between 1500 - 1900 calories so this is easily done for me. I could never do this if I did it on a lower calorie diet. I couldn't live off of ave 200 calorie meals.
  • AlyssaJoJo
    AlyssaJoJo Posts: 449 Member
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    Also I don't feel like this is a diet scheme. There are people out there who eat one meal a day, people who do three, and some people who eat through out the day. Don't let anyone discourage YOU from what you want to do. Try it out and if it doesn't work it doesn't. One trick I've found eating this way is I do my largest meal in meal four or five. Otherwise I'm finding around that time I'm STARVING and when I eat something small, continuing to be hungry, again I binge later on in the night when I sit down for dinner.
  • wswilliams67
    wswilliams67 Posts: 938 Member
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    Your daily caloric burn (TDEE) is determined by your body composition. The more lean muscle you have the more calories you will burn.

    If you can hit your macros in 3 meals great. if not try 4-5 or even 6-7 if you have to. What's important is the macros, not how many times you eat.

    DISCLAIMER: of course if you have a medical condition like Diabetes your doctor or endocrinologist/nutritionist may Rx a different eating schedule. Please follow their advice.
  • GlassslippersAndFairyDust
    GlassslippersAndFairyDust Posts: 518 Member
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    Im pretty sure that eating smaller meals actually does result in more calories burned, however, the increase is next to nothing and would maybe be a few pounds a YEAR. Furthermore, more meals means more chances to underestimate your calories, which many people do. Meal frequency and timing is irrelevant. Calories and overall deficit are infinitely more important.

    OP

    Id focus on your workout regimen rather than focusing on silly dieting schemes. Eat your calories and thats that.

    ETA: many people actually feel hungrier when they eat smaller meals and eating larger meals allows you a hell of a lot more freedom in food choices


    ^^^ this
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
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    I est 4 or 5.
  • Roll_Tide_Meg
    Roll_Tide_Meg Posts: 255 Member
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    Are you hungry every three hours? Do you need to eat that often in a day or are you fine with less? Eating more often won't cause more weight loss.

    If you do want to eat that often, break up your meals or add in snacks to add more meals in a day like the above poster mentioned.

    Eating more often will aid in weight loss. If you are only eating two to three meals a day, your body thinks "Oh, I'm not going to get more food for another 6 hours, I better store this food for energy." Food get stored as fat. If you are eating every 2-3 hours, your body thinks, "I know I'll be getting more fuel in a couple hours, I can go ahead and use this food for energy now". This increases your metabolism, which in turns helps burn fat.


    This is exactly what the program said!!!
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    Options
    Are you hungry every three hours? Do you need to eat that often in a day or are you fine with less? Eating more often won't cause more weight loss.

    If you do want to eat that often, break up your meals or add in snacks to add more meals in a day like the above poster mentioned.

    Eating more often will aid in weight loss. If you are only eating two to three meals a day, your body thinks "Oh, I'm not going to get more food for another 6 hours, I better store this food for energy." Food get stored as fat. If you are eating every 2-3 hours, your body thinks, "I know I'll be getting more fuel in a couple hours, I can go ahead and use this food for energy now". This increases your metabolism, which in turns helps burn fat.


    This is exactly what the program said!!!

    Then the "program" is wrong...

    ...at least about the "increases your metabolism" part.
  • Roll_Tide_Meg
    Roll_Tide_Meg Posts: 255 Member
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    Meh whatevs...this has created a huge hoopla for nothing. People get so crazy. Haha! Did my question say "Do you believe this will work?" No...it said that I wanted to see people's diary who eat 6 meals a day. I appreciate the ones who showed me. :)

    The program is Fitnessblender.
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
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    Meh whatevs...this has created a huge hoopla for nothing. People get so crazy. Haha! Did my question say "Do you believe this will work?" No...it said that I wanted to see people's diary who eat 6 meals a day. I appreciate the ones who showed me. :)

    The program is Fitnessblender.

    Often, on the MFP forums, *how* the question is phrased affects the direction the thread goes...

    ...and admittedly other times, it really doesn't matter and it will end the same regardless.

    Perhaps try a new thread (without the bogus "increased metabolism" part) and you'll receive more of the answers you want...(or more likely, you'll receive fewer responses you want because the "hoopla" often increases visibility which drives more traffic...which leads to more relevant responses). As you've seen, the MFP forums can be a little...how you say?...volatile.
  • phyllisgehrke
    phyllisgehrke Posts: 238 Member
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    Not Necessarity.

    I am retired and cannot eat large meals.
    So my doctor told me to eat 6 smaller meals and it is working for me.

    I have lost 10 pounds doing this

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