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The Statistical Advantage of Eating 6 Times/Daily
Within the bodybuilding community, there are a number of commonly accepted tenets of training and nutrition that nearly all bodybuilders practice. Things like the mind muscle connection, time under tension, hitting the muscle from different angles, eating high protein, the post workout shake, and many others.
Of the many tenets, none is probably more infamous though than the “six small meals a day”. Which in todays age of being scientifically correct, we could call “high frequency” eating.
For decades, even going back a hundred years to the early 1900s scene of Physical Culture, eating small meals or eating multiple times per day has been considered a cornerstone of the “muscle building” diet.
In the last decade or so, this approach has come under fire for being “broscience” and has been criticized as impractical and unnecessary. And while it’s certainly true that the 6 meals a day does not hold up to its purported metabolism boosting claims, it also does not deserve the undue criticism it gets. And truth be told, I find much of the bashing is done by “gurus” whose credentials of actually training people can certainly be called into question.
Criticism aside, eating 6 small meals a day WORKS, and there is a large body of evidence that demonstrates increased protein synthesis, recovery, and muscle gain from eating a high protein diet spaced out into small meals.
Rather than rehash an enormous amount of scientific evidence though, Id like to offer a different perspective on the statistical advantage of eating high frequency.
Let me preface this with the fact that I am speaking to bodybuilders and physique athletes. I am not claiming high frequency eating is a “superior” method for a weekend warrior type. For a physique athlete though, high frequency eating has a number of literal mathematical advantages that go beyond the increased protein synthesis and recovery effects.
Firstly, when on a high frequency eating schedule, you have much larger pool of DATA to design and optimize your diet around.
Eating 6 meals/day = 42 meals a week
Compare that to 3 meals/day = 21 meals a week
So with more frequent eating, you will far more biofeedback on how your body responds to particular food, 100% increase in fact. And you will have the opportunity to introduce a larger variety of food into your diet as well.
Secondly, should you skip a meal at all, statistically this far less significant on 6 meals a day versus 3.
Consider the following premise so you have an idea of the numbers.
Client-200 lb male, consuming 300 grams of protein a day, and 3,000 calories in total.
6 meals/day = 42 total meals consumed
This breaks down to:
Average calories per meal=500 calories
Average grams of protein per meal=50
If missing ONE meal=16.6% of daily calories, or approximately 500 calories missed
As comparison, eats 3/day = 21 times meals consumed
Average calories per meal=1000 calories
Average grams of protein per meal=100 grams
If missing ONE meal=33% of daily calories, or approximately 1,000 calories missed
That’s a big percentage difference, and a big caloric difference. While this might seem like oversimplification, it illustrates why so many people are unable to get their diets under control. If you are missing meals constantly and not eating that often, you are losing out on a lot of calories, and this could cost you muscle gains.
Third, consider if you try to make up for a missed meal
6 meals a day/2 combined meals=1000 calories=33% of daily intake
Which even though it is double the amount of food, is still only 1000 calories. A lot, but doable for most hard training people
3 meals a day/2 combined meals=2000 calories=66% of daily intake
While this might seem awesome, 2000 calories is A LOT of food. We are talking over 2lbs of ground beef and a pound of rice in a single meal. And while that might seem awesome, consider the logistics of cooking that amount of food and eating it all at once.
Going further, lets consider the premise if we are training a really big guy
Client-260 lbs, 350 grams protein, 4000 calories daily
6/day-Average calories per meal=667
3/day-Average calories per meal=1333
Now, I’m not going to run through the example again, but that’s a ton of food. And if you miss ONE meal, you are asking somebody to eat 2,500+ calories at their next meal to make up for it. And unless you’ve been well over 200 lbs, you don’t realize how much of a chore it can become to eat that much in one day, let alone in one sitting.
And fourth and final point, 6 meals allows me to better optimize a diet for my clients. Using the example above, if I have a “big guy” client, one of the difficulties in designing an effective diet is finding how to effectively spread out all the calories. For a guy that size, asking him to eat 1,500 calories in a meal just isn’t feasible. He’ll be taking longer to eat, he’s more likely to psychologically get sick of the diet, and despite how big he might be, 1,500 calories is going to make anyone feel sluggish.
As I said before, the high frequency has built in advantages. With my clients, I can quickly find out how they respond to different food sources, different macronutrient rations, and I can adjust in real time. I can introduce more variety so they don’t get bored. In contest prep, they are less likely to notice caloric reductions, and I have more variability in where I can add or subtract calories.
Additionally, if someone doesn’t like to eat, I can easily insert shakes into the diet and account for calories quite readily. This might not seem like a big deal, but it is not easy to design a 3 meal a day diet plan with two shakes that both needs to be 1,000 calories plus. At that point you might as well eat a meal of real food.
So the next time you hear someone arguing against the 6 meals a day practice, really consider the above points. While 6 meals may not stoke the metabolic fire, numbers don’t lie. For the bodybuilder, 6 meals beats 3 meals any day of the week.
Regards
The Statistical Advantage of Eating 6 Times/Daily
Within the bodybuilding community, there are a number of commonly accepted tenets of training and nutrition that nearly all bodybuilders practice. Things like the mind muscle connection, time under tension, hitting the muscle from different angles, eating high protein, the post workout shake, and many others.
Of the many tenets, none is probably more infamous though than the “six small meals a day”. Which in todays age of being scientifically correct, we could call “high frequency” eating.
For decades, even going back a hundred years to the early 1900s scene of Physical Culture, eating small meals or eating multiple times per day has been considered a cornerstone of the “muscle building” diet.
In the last decade or so, this approach has come under fire for being “broscience” and has been criticized as impractical and unnecessary. And while it’s certainly true that the 6 meals a day does not hold up to its purported metabolism boosting claims, it also does not deserve the undue criticism it gets. And truth be told, I find much of the bashing is done by “gurus” whose credentials of actually training people can certainly be called into question.
Criticism aside, eating 6 small meals a day WORKS, and there is a large body of evidence that demonstrates increased protein synthesis, recovery, and muscle gain from eating a high protein diet spaced out into small meals.
Rather than rehash an enormous amount of scientific evidence though, Id like to offer a different perspective on the statistical advantage of eating high frequency.
Let me preface this with the fact that I am speaking to bodybuilders and physique athletes. I am not claiming high frequency eating is a “superior” method for a weekend warrior type. For a physique athlete though, high frequency eating has a number of literal mathematical advantages that go beyond the increased protein synthesis and recovery effects.
Firstly, when on a high frequency eating schedule, you have much larger pool of DATA to design and optimize your diet around.
Eating 6 meals/day = 42 meals a week
Compare that to 3 meals/day = 21 meals a week
So with more frequent eating, you will far more biofeedback on how your body responds to particular food, 100% increase in fact. And you will have the opportunity to introduce a larger variety of food into your diet as well.
Secondly, should you skip a meal at all, statistically this far less significant on 6 meals a day versus 3.
Consider the following premise so you have an idea of the numbers.
Client-200 lb male, consuming 300 grams of protein a day, and 3,000 calories in total.
6 meals/day = 42 total meals consumed
This breaks down to:
Average calories per meal=500 calories
Average grams of protein per meal=50
If missing ONE meal=16.6% of daily calories, or approximately 500 calories missed
As comparison, eats 3/day = 21 times meals consumed
Average calories per meal=1000 calories
Average grams of protein per meal=100 grams
If missing ONE meal=33% of daily calories, or approximately 1,000 calories missed
That’s a big percentage difference, and a big caloric difference. While this might seem like oversimplification, it illustrates why so many people are unable to get their diets under control. If you are missing meals constantly and not eating that often, you are losing out on a lot of calories, and this could cost you muscle gains.
Third, consider if you try to make up for a missed meal
6 meals a day/2 combined meals=1000 calories=33% of daily intake
Which even though it is double the amount of food, is still only 1000 calories. A lot, but doable for most hard training people
3 meals a day/2 combined meals=2000 calories=66% of daily intake
While this might seem awesome, 2000 calories is A LOT of food. We are talking over 2lbs of ground beef and a pound of rice in a single meal. And while that might seem awesome, consider the logistics of cooking that amount of food and eating it all at once.
Going further, lets consider the premise if we are training a really big guy
Client-260 lbs, 350 grams protein, 4000 calories daily
6/day-Average calories per meal=667
3/day-Average calories per meal=1333
Now, I’m not going to run through the example again, but that’s a ton of food. And if you miss ONE meal, you are asking somebody to eat 2,500+ calories at their next meal to make up for it. And unless you’ve been well over 200 lbs, you don’t realize how much of a chore it can become to eat that much in one day, let alone in one sitting.
And fourth and final point, 6 meals allows me to better optimize a diet for my clients. Using the example above, if I have a “big guy” client, one of the difficulties in designing an effective diet is finding how to effectively spread out all the calories. For a guy that size, asking him to eat 1,500 calories in a meal just isn’t feasible. He’ll be taking longer to eat, he’s more likely to psychologically get sick of the diet, and despite how big he might be, 1,500 calories is going to make anyone feel sluggish.
As I said before, the high frequency has built in advantages. With my clients, I can quickly find out how they respond to different food sources, different macronutrient rations, and I can adjust in real time. I can introduce more variety so they don’t get bored. In contest prep, they are less likely to notice caloric reductions, and I have more variability in where I can add or subtract calories.
Additionally, if someone doesn’t like to eat, I can easily insert shakes into the diet and account for calories quite readily. This might not seem like a big deal, but it is not easy to design a 3 meal a day diet plan with two shakes that both needs to be 1,000 calories plus. At that point you might as well eat a meal of real food.
So the next time you hear someone arguing against the 6 meals a day practice, really consider the above points. While 6 meals may not stoke the metabolic fire, numbers don’t lie. For the bodybuilder, 6 meals beats 3 meals any day of the week.
Regards
)
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