A compliation on meal frequency

Here is a recent review article on the effects of meal frequency on appetite control and energy intake:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21123467

The full text is available for free.

Note that this article addresses a related, but different topic than presented by the OP.

The authors conclude that the effects of increased feeding frequency on appetite control are still unclear, and additional research is needed.

However, there are at least two studies that provide reasonable support for the notion that reduction in meal frequency below 3/day causes an increase in appetite. This seems to depend on which meal is omitted.

Cheers,

Jeff

Intermittent Fasting and 3 meals/day really changed my life so i'm on board!

Oh my god! common sense!??! I thought this kind of post was non-existent on here. I'm a IFer and I prefer eating 2-3 meals a day.

While I don't think eating 1 meal a day is necessarily bad, it can have negative effects on your hormones. I believe Lyle McDonald mentioned this and that it messes with leptin and what not.

Also, Lyle has mentioned an issue with protein absorption @ 1 meal a day, and it seems like 3 is the perfect number.

Edit: Oh crap! I didn't notice it was you SideSteal. I haven't seen you on BB.com for a while.

Is it also a myth that if you eat after 7pm you'll gain weight? Maybe I need to start a new topic for this one...

Bump

Thanks! Let's pin this topic.. oh wait

You know, I can understand why people might think that eating more freqruently might 'stoke' your metabolism (even if it's false), but what amazes me is people who think you need to eat to START your metabolism, and when you don't eat it just stops!

Bump. So very true. Thank you for the links and the very good AM read

I eat bits and pieces throughout the day and one main, well balanced meal in the evening.

bump

Intermittent Fasting is the way, and has been the way for centuries for the preservation of health and keeping weight down...

notice how nutrition companies try and claim to solving the eating problem by recommending what?........eating more often! ludicrous.

fasting intermittently is incredibly refreshing.....

As with this site, the bottom line is this - to lose weight, eat less and exercise more (looks easy, but in principle it's difficult because of the way we have been conditioned in to believing we have to eat 3 square meals, or 5-6 small meals for health, what rubbish, get away from mainstream and use plain common sense).

Great post.

I don't really care if someone eats once a day or 20x a day. But I do knee jerk a bit when I read a post stating something as absolute dogma for everybody.

I ate IF for years. I had always hated breakfast and, for years, was too busy to eat lunch. It was not uncommon for my first food to be at around 2-3pm and then I would eat dinner somewhere around 5-7pm. And that's it. I've never been a night-time snacker so just those two meals (but, also, sometimes a small snack in-between the first meal and dinner).

Yup, ate that way until I got to my max weight of 237#.

Mind you, I've never been a big eater at these meals either. I just can't eat a bunch at any one time. So these two meals were not big, huge meals. For example, I have never been able to eat a Big Mac and my fries (even the small serving) at one sitting. Too much bulk. So, even when I ate two meals a day, if I went to McDonald's, I would eat a Big Mac and a couple of fries. And that would be my main meal of the day.

Sure, I totally trashed my metabolism in the process, too, so I'm not saying eating 1-2 meals/day in a 4-5 hour window was the whole cause of my weight gain but I know for a fact that eating that way didn't help. And my nutrition sucked. But my overall caloric intake was now much different than it is now. (Years of tracking calories.)

In fact, I started losing weight without any feeling of effort or deprivation when I started making myself eat breakfast and lunch on a regular basis. No other real diet change at first, just that, and I started losing. And I felt better in so many ways. More energy, endurance, no afternoon sleepiness, sleep better at night, you name it. I'm now up to 5-6 small meals a day and am thriving on it. It can sometimes be difficult to schedule but I feel better and it just plain works better for me. YMMV, of course.

If IF works for you, great, go for it, you have my blessing. But never assume that all of us will always have the same experience. That's dogmatic, zealot thinking and it doesn't do anybody any good.

I am a type 2 diabetic so meal frequency in my case is important to maintain good blood sugar levels... I skip a meal or a carb snack and my Blood sugar will/can crash and the inevitable blackouts could be on the horizon and let me tell you let that happen when your at the Y on the Elliptical (been there done that) is a very awaking experience. That be said I totally agree there is no set plan to food intake and know some prefer skipping breakfast all together which is perfectly fine but my diabetes has me eating 3 main meals and 3-4 snacks (one of which I take to bed every night, around 500 calories worth) Great post though.....

Good reply Ed.

Look at that ticker ladies and gents. 303lbs down. That right there is impressive, excellent work sir.

yes! Awesome work!! Truly inspiring

Fantastic thread.

All I'm gonna say is: At the moment, it's currently inconclusive as to whether eating 5-6 (or w/e) meals is optimal for MUSCLE GAIN. It's been proven that it doesn't matter for fat loss. According to Alan Aragon, there are short term studies that suggest more doses of protein (spread throughout the day) improve MUSCLE GAIN. However, there are currently no long term studies that prove this.

But yeah, in terms of fat loss (which is the number 1 priority of this site for most people) meal timing isn't important at all.

thanks for this!

I still try and eat frequently not to "increase my weight loss" but because I can't concentrate well and get irritated when I'm hungry. It also helps with cravings.

edit: just to clarify, I eat 3 meals a day (around 400 cal each) then 2-3 snacks.

Or in other words, personal preference.

THANK YOU.

If you are comparing equal calorie intakes in both scenarios then your husband is wrong. I would suggest a sex bet before proving.

Hahaha.... Sneaky Sneaky.

Bump because I can dig it! Thanks again!