Protein? Eating 6-8 times a day?

Juz to share on tne 2nd point, te gym down my office also recommends eating more frequently ie 6 times a day in smaller portions rather than 3 main meals. I've seen the difference in some colleagues who practise it. I go to a diff gym & my trainer's recommendation differs, but I saw results too hence I'd suggest u give it a shot and see what works for u. Good luck!

The real advantage to eating more frequently is that you can feel less hungry throughout the day so that when you do eat you can control your portions more and not over eat.

I personally try to eat small portions about 5 - 7 times a day.

But like somebody else said it pretty much comes down to personal preference.

Well, there are SOME advantages to more frequent, smaller meals...only in that after a certain calorie limit (which varies from person to person, but let's say between 400-800), your body will just convert the extra to fat because it exceeds what is useable at the time.

So if you are eating three big meals, like 800-1000 calories each (which I'm guessing you aren't, since you're on this site), then switching to the six small meals would be better. For some people who tend to eat two tiny meals and a huge dinner, that's why they see weight loss when they switch to six smaller meals.

If you are spreading out your calories more or less evenly and eating what MFP (or another site or a dcotor) has calculated as the right amount of total calories per day for your height/weight, then you should be fine, whether it's three meals or six or ten.

Eating several times a day helps your body avoid insulin spikes due to having depleted all of the glucose in your system, and waiting for a meal. If you are working out regularly, and adding weight training, your body will consume more calories (obviously). In order to avoid fatigue and reduce the natural tendency for your body to start breaking down your newly gained muscle, you should eat something every few hours.

I target 5-6 meals a day (every three hours or as hungry) Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner...and another snack if Im still hungry (or havent met my caloric intake). Agreed it doesnt matter when you eat for weight loss, but by helping your body to burn fat vs. muscle is a much better choice for sustainable weighloss and increasing your metabolism.

Note on the protien, if you are taking powder (I do in small amounts to compensate for what I dont get in my diet otherwise), make sure you are drinking plenty of water...all that additional protien can be brutal on your kidneys.

Yep. In my personal experience I am much more hungry eating small meals as opposed to two large meals, but that is just personal experience. Recent studies actually show a decrease in hunger by eating larger, more infrequent meals, but again it comes down to personal preference.

Your trainer’s protein recommendation sounds about right if you are exercising regularly and strenuously. As for the 6 to 8 meals, I'm sure your trainer means that eating six small meals instead of three large ones with the sum of all the small meals calories coming in at your daily goal. That is where MFP helps! You can track it as you go through the day. I agree with your trainer. The typical American diet of three large meals a day is very inefficient. The body just can't process that much food efficiently at one time. Breaking your meals up into smaller meals fuels your system all day as you need it rather than storing it as fat to be called on latter. The science is more complicated than this, but this works for a common “man on the street” understanding.

Science does not show in any instances that the body will process, store, or oxidize more nutrients by eating smaller, more frequent meals. It is by no meals "inefficient" to eat larger, more infrequent meals.

My nutritionist also recommended 6 small meals a day because it keeps your blood sugar level stable and keeps your metabolism amped up. You're less likely to overeat due to being famished. But you know what's best for you. I know if I eat 6 meals a day I end up noshing all day long and overeating. To each his own!

As for the protein, many of my friends have had much success with high protein, but I'm one that believes that balance is key. Make sure you choose an eating lifestyle that you can stick with even after your weight loss. Protein coupled with fiber and complex carbs works best for me. I stay full longer.

Good luck!

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty certain the suggestion is to spread your meals accross the day, not actually eat more calories. Spreading them helps you to get the nutrients you need w/out overeating because of glucose fluctuations. 100g protien is not really that much and you won't go over your calories if you take away from carbs via dropping starches and sugary drinks if you partake of them.

Someone may have said this, but one reason why they suggested eating more times and smaller meals per day is to keep your metabolism going. When you get to the point when you haven't eaten for a while and are starving your metabolism has slowed down. I have not heard of 6-8 times per day, but have heard of 5 (maybe 6).

Meal frequency, timing, and size have no effect on metabolic rate. Your metabolism doesn't "slow down" when you don't eat. Some studies have shown around an 8% decline after 60 hours of fasting. I assume you eat more frequently than that.

Nutritionist and renowned health and fitness speaker Dr Ann Kulze begs to differ! I listened to her on NPR yesterday, 6/07/11, and virtually everything I wrote came from her. She used protein as an example, stating that the human body can only process 20 to 25 grams at one time so we need our protein intake spread throughout the day so the body can handle it efficiently. She said her own sons are body builders and drink protein drinks with up to 70 grams of protein per drink and she constantly tells them that all over 20 to 25 grams goes straight to fat, but being boys they don't listen! She states that protein spread thru the day will keep us feeling full and allows the body to process it. Eating large meals containing large amounts of protein is inefficient and contributes to obesity and other issues. I have Dr Ann's books and listen to her weekly. She is one of the foremost nutritionist and highly respected medical doctors in the country. I'm going with her advice myself.

I'm not sure if you're serious. If you aren't, I laughed, if you are, I'm slightly concerned. Lol.



Edit: Reason being, I can not think of a time that I've seen more information contained in one post. Again, comical if using sarcasm, concering if you think that it's true.

Someone may have said this, but one reason why they suggested eating more times and smaller meals per day is to keep your metabolism going. When you get to the point when you haven't eaten for a while and are starving your metabolism has slowed down. I have not heard of 6-8 times per day, but have heard of 5 (maybe 6).

Meal frequency, timing, and size have no effect on metabolic rate. Your metabolism doesn't "slow down" when you don't eat. Some studies have shown around an 8% decline after 60 hours of fasting. I assume you eat more frequently than that.

Depends on what you mean by meabolisim. If we use the street level understanding to simply mean burning calories, then small frequent meals do affect metabolism. According to Covert Bailey in his book "Smart Exercise" it takes energy to digest food, so eating frequent small meals keeps the body burning more calories throughout the day. As he points out, this does not mean that eating is exercise nor should we eat all day just to burn more calories! But there is value in eating several small meals throughout the day rather than larger less frequent meals. Bailey is a nutritionist degreed in biochemistry from MIT and author of numerous books on nutrition, fitness, and the human body so I think he knows what he is talking about.

Someone may have said this, but one reason why they suggested eating more times and smaller meals per day is to keep your metabolism going. When you get to the point when you haven't eaten for a while and are starving your metabolism has slowed down. I have not heard of 6-8 times per day, but have heard of 5 (maybe 6).

Meal frequency, timing, and size have no effect on metabolic rate. Your metabolism doesn't "slow down" when you don't eat. Some studies have shown around an 8% decline after 60 hours of fasting. I assume you eat more frequently than that.
Depends on what you mean by meabolisim. If we use the street level understanding to simply mean burning calories, then small frequent meals do affect metabolism. According to Covert Bailey in his book "Smart Exercise" it takes energy to digest food, so eating frequent small meals keeps the body burning more calories throughout the day. As he points out, this does not mean that eating is exercise nor should we eat all day just to burn more calories! But there is value in eating several small meals throughout the day rather than larger less frequent meals. Bailey is a nutritionist degreed in biochemistry from MIT and author of numerous books on nutrition, fitness, and the human body so I think he knows what he is talking about.

I am now under the impression you are completely serious and just extremely misinformed.

@mapexdrummer69 - Sent you a PM to avoid overloading the topic with our disagreement.

Nutritionist and renowned health and fitness speaker Dr Ann Kulze begs to differ! I listened to her on NPR yesterday, 6/07/11, and virtually everything I wrote came from her. She used protein as an example, stating that the human body can only process 20 to 25 grams at one time so we need our protein intake spread throughout the day so the body can handle it efficiently. She said her own sons are body builders and drink protein drinks with up to 70 grams of protein per drink and she constantly tells them that all over 20 to 25 grams goes straight to fat, but being boys they don't listen! She states that protein spread thru the day will keep us feeling full and allows the body to process it. Eating large meals containing large amounts of protein is inefficient and contributes to obesity and other issues. I have Dr Ann's books and listen to her weekly. She is one of the foremost nutritionist and highly respected medical doctors in the country. I'm going with her advice myself.

I'm not sure if you're serious. If you aren't, I laughed, if you are, I'm slightly concerned. Lol.



Edit: Reason being, I can not think of a time that I've seen more information contained in one post. Again, comical if using sarcasm, concering if you think that it's true.

I have cited names and statistics from experts in the field. Of course I believe it, Dr Ann Kulze and Covert Bailey are two of the country’s foremost nutritionist. They are highly respected experts with degrees from MIT and USC and decades of research and published works in medical journals to back them up. They are just two of many that advance the health and fitness of the world with sound medical advice. I could name many others who are on the same page but that seems overkill. Should I believe you or the experts?

You are letting their credentials blind you from critical thought. Rather than asking for their sources or WHY they believe what they do, you are too busy being awed by their educational background. Let me post some other perspectives based on empirical study:

People got that idea from a study that stated the following: “…we speculate that no more than 5-6 times daily could one ingest this amount (~20 g) of protein and expect muscle protein synthesis to be maximally stimulated.”

Read the following two studies which contradict the findings of that study and show a poor research design: Campbell B, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2007 Sep 26;4:8. // Tipton KD, Wolfe RR. Protein and amino acids for athletes. J Sports Sci. 2004 Jan;22(1):65-79.

Furthermore:

"Arnal and colleagues found no difference in fat-free mass or nitrogen retention between consuming 79% of the day’s protein needs (roughly 54 g) in one meal, versus the same amount spread across four meals" See: Arnal MA, et al. Protein feeding pattern does not affect protein retention in young women. J Nutr. 2000 Jul;130(7):1700-4.

"When Arnal and colleagues applied the same protocol to the elderly population, the single-dose treatment actually caused better muscle protein retention than the multiple-dose treatment" See: rnal MA, et al. Protein pulse feeding improves protein retention in elderly women. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999 Jun;69(6):1202-8.

"For example, Soeters and colleagues compared two weeks of IF involving 20-hour fasting cycles with a conventional diet. Despite the IF group’s consumption of an average of 101 g protein in a 4-hour window, there was no difference in preservation of lean mass and muscle protein between groups." See: Soeters MR, et al. Intermittent fasting does not affect whole-body glucose, lipid, or protein metabolism. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Nov;90(5):1244-51.

"So, is there a limit to how much protein per meal can be effectively used? Yes there is, but this limit is likely similar to the amount that’s maximally effective in an entire day. What’s the most protein that the body can effectively use in an entire day? The short answer is, a lot more than 20-30 g. The long answer is, it depends on several factors. In most cases it’s not too far from a gram per pound in drug-free trainees, given that adequate total calories are provided" - Alan Aragon, nutritionist.

Ask that nutritionist for sources. This is a field of science, and as such all opinions must stem from empirical research. Post some evidence that supports the idea that the body can only absorb 20-30g protein per sitting. And even more importantly, post evidence stating the circumstances when amino acids are converted to lipids. Much like glucose, this is a relatively rare process.

So, out of all of this, I think it's safe to gather that meal timing, size, and frequency have no metabolic advantages.


All comes to personal preference.