How many meals to be eating daily?

another thing to consider is that if you eat a lot of food at 1 time your body will burn a certain amount of it and try to store whats left ( turning into fat ? ) i`m sure i read somewhere that 1 of the reasons was that the body didnt try to store the excess

edit: just read nige`s link and some1 in there mentions the fat storage bit

loz_86


anywhere between 2 and 8 meals

total daily intake is a lot more important than meal frequency

those who say you need to eat 6 meals etc are wrong

WRONG. For example i eat 3400kcals a day. If i eat 2 meals at 1700kcals ( you say this is ok)my body would not be able to absorb all the nutrients from the food and it would be wasted.
 
For example if i had to do a 100 mile car journey and it would take ten litres of petrol to do it, would i put 20 litres in? NO because it would be no point,waste of petrol
Same as if i woz sat in work in an office for 6 hours, would i eat 1700kcals for breakfast?NO because it would be no point, waste of food.

adam_5kids


i thought that link to the post from nigeepoo woz more confusing than this one! just about 3 million different opinions!

Remember food is fuel.just eat what you need!anything more than what your body needs is going to be wasted, so it makes sense to eat less amounts more often.
For keyser soez, how many calories do you eat each day?

To be honest i havent got a clue .This is why ive joined MT so i can get help with the diet pat of BB.I dont really know much about how much carbs/fats i should be eating .Im near sure i have to eat 1.5g protien per lb body weight.
Im 13 stone and starting a bulk again proper ,the last bulk i done i put far too much fat on as i was prob eating too much carbs

i think for bb purposes its recommended you eat 3-4 times the carbs of protein, i.e say 6g per lb of bodyweight? could be wrong though :D 
From what i got off the link the advantage of eating smaller meals would be easier to consume and to keep a steady flow of nutrients through the day, make sure you eat good carbs 1.5 -2 hours before workout

adam_5kids
WRONG. For example i eat 3400kcals a day. If i eat 2 meals at 1700kcals ( you say this is ok)my body would not be able to absorb all the nutrients from the food and it would be wasted.

WRONG! The bigger the meal, the longer it sits in the stomach being digested. Your body can absorb all* of the nutrients in a 1,700kcal meal but it takes longer than absorbing all* of the nutrients in a 850kcal meal.

Go to the last page of the link I posted where there's a review of the studies. This is proper science, not Bro-science.

*Absorption of nutrients isn't 100%. See Nutrient Intake, Nutrient Storage and Nutrient Oxidation

stuckinarut
another thing to consider is that if you eat a lot of food at 1 time your body will burn a certain amount of it and try to store whats left ( turning into fat ? ) i`m sure i read somewhere that 1 of the reasons was that the body didnt try to store the excess.
edit: just read nige`s link and some1 in there mentions the fat storage bit

This happens whenever you eat a meal. When you eat, digest and absorb a meal, you are taking in more kcals than you are burning so the body stores the excess. Once a meal has been absorbed, you are burning more kcals than you are taking in so the body uses its stores.

If you are eating at maintenence kcals, what you take out of your body's stores=what you put in.

Nigeepoo


MEAL FREQUENCY IN THE RANGE 3 TO 6 PER DAY MAKES NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE TO METABOLIC RATE.

READ THE INFORMATION IN THE LINK I POSTED.

Nigel with all due respect the link posted is of no meaning to me. I know what works best for me, and my advice to the op is exactly that, my advice.

don't know why i bother sometimes lol

Nigeepoo


*Absorption of nutrients isn't 100%. See Nutrient Intake, Nutrient Storage and Nutrient Oxidation

 
Yes i do know you cant absorb everything from your food!

As Nige has said meal frequancy (in the ranges discussed) isn't gona have much of an effect on metabolic rates. Neither is there gona be a problem digesting and absorbing the food of a large meal (within reason :)). It's a complete falacy to suggest otherwise. It will not be a 'waste' of food. Further people seem to intuitivly over estimate how quick food is processed anyway. You will still be getting a steady enough flow of nutrients with a large meal.

Further a 'steady flow' of amni acids may not even be optimal for generating the largest rise in protien balance over a day.

However when you need to intake a large amount it's gona be very tough to get that in over 2-3 meals and will simply inconvieniant. This is pretty much the bottom line and a good enough reason to eat 5-6 meals in a day.

bigjack

Nigeepoo


MEAL FREQUENCY IN THE RANGE 3 TO 6 PER DAY MAKES NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE TO METABOLIC RATE.

READ THE INFORMATION IN THE LINK I POSTED.

Nigel with all due respect the link posted is of no meaning to me. I know what works best for me, and my advice to the op is exactly that, my advice.

but you're advising based on one person, yourself, would it not be much more constructive to offer advise based upon scientific findings, collected from a much wider pool of people?

The age old, well it works for me is nothing but a get out clause, there's no reasoning behind it, nothing to back it up and it relies on one person having tried other methods too and giving a fair balanced review.

Meal frequency is more down to what is convenient for you.  Personally, I eat between 6 and 7, because it works for me, and I never feel bloated.  But, it often occurs that I skip a meal or two and eat a larger one later.

Think about it, it's far easier to eat frequent meals when doing any form of sport.  How do you fit a pre and post workout meal, together with breakfast, dinner and then something before bed?  That's five already, without a PWO shake.

But, as for not being able to digest a large meal?  You'd know if you unable to digest it due to chronic smelly gas caused by undigested food particles in the lower intestine.

adam_5kids

For example if i had to do a 100 mile car journey and it would take ten litres of petrol to do it, would i put 20 litres in? NO because it would be no point,waste of petrol

I understand the point you are making, but the analogy is nonsense. If you can eat 2000kcal in one sitting, then by definition your stomach is large enough to take it. i.e. the petrol tank is fine.

You are concerned as to whether the fuel pump/carb/injectors are up to the job. Long story short, they are.

Issue comes along when you are someone like Daz Ball, packing in 3 days eating for a normal mortal into 1 day. At this point ability to fill stomach can be an issue.

My take:

1. Big meals have been shown to throw up a bigger anabolic response
2. Feeling full is great
3. You will use whatever you eat (within the boundaries of digestion)

I prefer big meals - I eat 3 times on non-training days, and on training days have a 700kcal PWO shake, in itself no more than about 50 minutes before eating tea, typically 10-30 minutes. Working fine so far.

bigjack

Nigeepoo
MEAL FREQUENCY IN THE RANGE 3 TO 6 PER DAY MAKES NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE TO METABOLIC RATE.

READ THE INFORMATION IN THE LINK I POSTED.

Nigel with all due respect the link posted is of no meaning to me. I know what works best for me, and my advice to the op is exactly that, my advice.

Fair enough. As long as you & the O/P bear in mind that what works best for you won't necessarily work for him. I'm just trying to get people to read the science.

Big D

bigjack

Nigeepoo


MEAL FREQUENCY IN THE RANGE 3 TO 6 PER DAY MAKES NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE TO METABOLIC RATE.

READ THE INFORMATION IN THE LINK I POSTED.

Nigel with all due respect the link posted is of no meaning to me. I know what works best for me, and my advice to the op is exactly that, my advice.

but you're advising based on one person, yourself, would it not be much more constructive to offer advise based upon scientific findings, collected from a much wider pool of people?

The age old, well it works for me is nothing but a get out clause, there's no reasoning behind it, nothing to back it up and it relies on one person having tried other methods too and giving a fair balanced review.

I understand what works for me may not work for him, im simply giving my advice based on my experiences. What else do people do? Base advice they give on something they have no experience with personally? seems a strange thing to say tbh, its all about trial and error.

Nigeepoo

bigjack

Nigeepoo
MEAL FREQUENCY IN THE RANGE 3 TO 6 PER DAY MAKES NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE TO METABOLIC RATE.

READ THE INFORMATION IN THE LINK I POSTED.

Nigel with all due respect the link posted is of no meaning to me. I know what works best for me, and my advice to the op is exactly that, my advice.

Fair enough. As long as you & the O/P bear in mind that what works best for you won't necessarily work for him. I'm just trying to get people to read the science.

No problem mate. I understand there is a scientific side to bodybuilding, but in my experience just try lots of things and see what works best for you.  cheers

Okay so what im getting from the whole post, is it "might" not be more or less beneficial eating 3 or 6 meals a day, so just do whatever your happy with?

Aleexander


Okay so what im getting from the whole post, is it "might" not be more or less beneficial eating 3 or 6 meals a day, so just do whatever your happy with?

Work out how roughly how many kcals you'll need to eat a day (and protein). Then plan how you going to eat or drink it all in a day. Give some thought to food around training and bobs your uncle.
 
If after a couple of months you've not gained weight eat more! Or if you've added more fat than you wanted to eat less and do a bit more CV etc etc
 
Every person I know that has upped their meal frequency has also upped their kcals to go with it. Personally I've never actually met a person that went from the same kcals per diet and saw a greater effect from increased frequency. Maybe they are out there...?

Ah okay i see mate,

I'm not actually trying to heavily bulk/get bigger like alot of the guys been posting on this fourms goals are im guessing.

Rather im after body recomposition after weight loss, so putting on a starting basic muscle frame.  All of what you said will still apply to me or?

loz_86


don't know why i bother sometimes lol

Too true dude, that's why I don't bother frequenting this site/paricipate as much anymore!