Comments on: Meal Frequency and Energy Balance

By: SJ

SJ — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 02:05:27 +0000

For me changing the eating pattern to smaller meals more frequently over a period resulted into getting the feeling of full stomach with smaller amount of food. It was like my stomach has shrunk. I am not sure what went under the hood but after some time, I was not able to eat as much quantity at any single meal as I used to do before.

I guess once you get to that stage, you can skip one or two of those frequent meals and that will help create a deficit.

By: matt

matt — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 11:20:36 +0000

Sounds interesting, and I am tempted to try going back to a meagre 3 meals a day…however… I was 11 (70) stone 3 years ago, I’m now 15.5 (95kg). I have achieved this eating 6-7 times per day and training heavy and short.

To drop to 3 meals a day would mean… splitting my current caloric/protein/carb/fat into 3 portions….which would be MONSTEROUS. I would need to consume about 1,500 Calories per sitting, 80-100grams of protein…. This is Waaaaaay to much in a sitting no?

All I can comment on is what I have personally experienced. I am a big muscular guy now, which I never was before. In part this is due to the weight work, but as any experienced bodybuilder knows, you don’t grow in the gym, you grow in bed and in the kitchen.

Comments/suggestions?

By: Mordechai Bensonhurst

Mordechai Bensonhurst — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 07:44:10 +0000

Just writing for future visitors @Tim’s comment above about 30g protein per meal. Obviously this is bunk… for those that don’t want to read any more… if you really wanted to hit your protein/ your macros in one meal, you could do it and still build LBM. It is NOT a fact that the body can only absorb <30 g protein per meal.

If it were true then all fairly religious Muslims would be skinny and malnourished, as they only eat for a few hours out of the day for a whole month every year. Back in the day, when we hunted animals and had no meat preservation methods we ate the crap out of some sabretooth tiger and then might not have eaten again for a few days.

I believe Lyle has another article about the study that started this myth, if not I know leangains and A. Aragon do. If memory serves my correctly, one of the studies found no difference in new protein synthesis with ingestion beyond 30g… but these were fasted boxers who didn't train prior, and protein synthesis is meaningless… the indicator we care about is net muscle accretion at the end of the day/week/month (if protein synthesis is high, you can still lose muscle if catabolism is higher). Another found that 30g of whey was fully digested in 3-4 hrs… but it also found that casein was still digesting after like 8 hours.

When you read something like this, think about it from a biological survival point of view… if the 30g per meal thing were true, the human race would be extinct, and hence it's not. Q.E.D.

By: addonis

addonis — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:16:29 +0000

is it considered IF if I eat like this:

meal 1: 2-4pm

post wo meal: 8-9

16-20hour fast then do it again. I doesnt have to be based off of 24 hours does it? like I fast 20 hours then eat 1-2 meals in a 5 hour period

By: mista

mista — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:20:08 +0000

Great article. I have always questioned the logic of eat lots of small meals. But this clarifies why this isn’t true.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 11:50:38 +0000

was asked by someone could a ketagenic diet be utilized while fasting for 30 days there is a window between 3am-9pm where he cant eat or drink but between 3am til 10am he will be sleeping anyway so energy expenditure is minimal in which the fasting window is smaller & due to fasting is body will fatigued similar to a ketosis state, i am wondering if a CKD is something he could utilize to manipulate his weight loss at the same time as fasting & training parameters he would use aerobic activity only or weight training to initially deplete carb stores

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 10 May 2011 07:46:59 +0000

Lyle – wonderful site; just came across it and this particular article.

Question: If it’s a fact that the human body is capable of digesting only 25-30g of protein per meal, then wouldn’t eating only 2 meals be insufficient to spare and sustain lean mass as well as a positive nitrogen balance, and thus result in catabolism? Using the 1.5g/lb of lean body weight, that means a male with 135lbs. of lean BW consuming only 2 meals would need to take in over 100g of protein per meal. What am I missing???

By: Adam K

Adam K — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:08:06 +0000

This article is a breath of fresh air. I have always been scepticle of the eating every 2-3 hours plan. I always feel hungry and dissatisfied after eating and find myself back in the refrigerator an hour later. But when I eat a REAL meal im satisfied for most of the day. Also it is very hard to stick to a frequent meal plan with work, school, family , training and social time. Eating 2-3 larger meals is easy. So thank you putting evidence based scientific information into basic common sense to dispell the current ( commercially driven) mythe to rest. Not to mention I can train like an animal with the 2-3 meals, and feel weak when comsuming smaller meals. I think I will stick with 3 squares a day. Thanks again, really love the article

By: Fredrik Gyllensten

Fredrik Gyllensten — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:34:42 +0000

Great article, Lyle!

An orange is orange, btw 😛

By: muscle building supplements

muscle building supplements — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:42:49 +0000

Great to receive intelligent information. Just one thing. I have tried the bromocriptine and as suggested it made me feel lethargic and slightly disorientated. Is there anything else that you can suggest to replace.