Do not skip meals - eat steadily all day for optimal results
- if you skip meals, especially breakfast, you are running on empty. Your brain needs energy just as much as your body. Eating constantly throughout the day keeps a steadily available source of energy available for burning.
The data that article refers to is correlative in nature. To really make blanket recommendations like this (the kind that states, EVERYONE SHOULD DO THIS), you need to present causative data. And you'll be hard pressed to find it.
The bottom line with regards to meal frequency is simple:
If calories and nutrients are matched... eat the meal frequency that suits you (the individual) best. For some this might mean 2 meals per day. For others this might mean 7 meals per day. We've seen enough anecdotal data to suggest that asking, "what's the best meal frequency?" is beyond a loaded question as what's best for me may not be best for you.
We've got a huge camp of people following intermittent fasting, for example, who are doing extremely well in many metrics including level of content, productivity, body composition, strength, etc. For these folks, loading up their calorie/nutrient intake, all of it, around their training and fasting the remaining hours of the day works well.
I work with many folks and over the years it has become abundantly clear that, especially when comparing 3 vs. 6 feedings per day, it simply doesn't matter much.
I hate relying on appeals to authority, so let me just say if you're interested in some links to research debunking this... I'll gladly forward it along to ya.
And Sean, the only reason I speak up regarding this is simple:
The 6 meals per day myth has been perpetuated over and over and over to a point where we have "dieters" stressing the hell out because they're having troubles fitting their 6 feedings per day into their schedules.
a) If it's not going to make a difference in terms of results, why stress over something if it's not working for YOU. I'd rather have them worrying about the fundamentals that do in fact make a significant difference in their results.
b) We are beginning to see clearly via research the role systemic stress plays in causing bad things to happen overall so avoiding adding unnecessary stress (mental or physiological) is paramount when it comes to dieting.
your body does not burn fat by default as it is not a readily available energy source.
Can you explain this a bit?
Muscle is much more accessible as energy than fat
And this?
Bioenergetics is a heavily studied field and we know quite a bit about it. Outside starvation... muscle is the least likely tissue to be oxidized and used for fuel.
Also, in most of the stickies around here you'll see recommendations for eating adequate amounts of protein and performing some resistance training while you diet.
These two measures minimize the chances of losing significant amounts of muscle.
But even without that... I'm interested in hearing further explanation from you about what exactly you mean.
, so if you let all your food turn to fat, then you will be burning muscle.
Let your food turn to fat?
Genetics primarily dictate calorie partitioning... that is where calories are stored and pulled from. By and large, you aren't going to have a say in the matter.
That's why even obese folks carrying around 100s of extra pounds have a significant amount of lean body mass. They were more than likely entirely sedentary yet every pound they gained from their unhealthy lifestyles had a significant portion going toward lean body mass.
Genetics are the primary driver of partitioning.
eating a lot of carbs at night is wasted carbs. You might as well just eat the same amount of calories in fat. Your body doesn't need those calories while sleeping, so the majority of those get turned to fat
Timing of nutrients matters pretty little in the grand scheme. There are certain "windows of opportunities" that working out provides where calories are more likely to positively impact body composition and partitioning.
However, by and large,
assuming calories and nutrients are accounted for... when you eat your allotted nutrients isn't going to matter much if at all.
Now looking specifically at what you said here:
"Your body doesn't need those calories while sleeping, so the majority of those get turned to fat"
Do you realize that the largest component of caloric need is basal functions, otherwise referred to as BMR? Total caloric needs can be summed up as:
BMR + TEA + TEF + SPA
BMR = basal metabolic rate
TEA = Thermic effect of activity
TEF = Thermic effect of feeding
SPA = Spontaneous physical activity
BMR is by far the most significant or largest component of this equation. And while you're sleeping, your body still has basal functions to ensure survival.
And calories only get turned to fat (permanently) if you're eating hypercalorically. By that, I'm saying if you're in a net calorie deficit, even if you ate all of your allotted carbs during the evening... you're not going to store net fat since you're body doesn't have adequate energy coming in the door to maintain the tissues it currently has. It's not going to bend the rules and create something out of nothing.
I'm rambling quite a bit here. And I very well could be misunderstanding some of what you're suggesting. If that's the case, hopefully you can clarify some of your statements. I was simply somewhat confused by this new sticky given the fact that we have stickies on this board that directly refute some of the claims being made here.
I don't want members being anymore confused than they already are given that crappy state this industry is already in.
So hopefully us hashing out the details will lead to more clarity for all.
