Thread: Eating 6 small meals every 2-3 hours? A BB Myth?

Originally Posted by XFatMan

Aw, looks like my irony was totally undercover, huh?

Haha. either that or my sense of humor is

There is some research out there that says that eating 3 times a day is no worse than 6.

For example, Gary Schwartz, a researcher with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine answered, "There's no strong data supporting either [three meals a day or six meals a day] as being more effective" for losing weight or maintaining lost weight. "Clearly there is an emphasis on reducing caloric intake overall, whether it be by decreasing meal size and/or decreasing meal frequency."

and..."Karen Collins, MS, RD, CDN, with the American Institute for Cancer Research, noted that in a recent study, the baseline metabolic rate (how fast the body burns calories) was unaffected by differences in meal timing. "Other studies also show that eating frequency has no effect on a person's overall metabolic rate," says Collins.

However, most of these studies were not done on people who were weight training. The studies were done with the effect on weight loss in mind. One of the reasons some nutritionists hesitate to recommend 6 meals a day is because of the tendacy to take in too many calories when presented with the opportunity to eat that many times a day.

Most of us, I assume, have good control over our diets and, for me, eating 6 times a day is the only way I can hold enough food to get the proper amount of protein every day.

As with most things based on scientific research, you can find a paper out there somewhere that will back up nearly any viewpoint and present it as the Holy Grail of scientific discoveries. It all comes down to finding what works best for you, at your age, with your physical limitations, and schedule.