Journey, Not A Destination
- Thread starter Steve
- Start date
Hi Steve! I've got a question for you on the 5-6 meals a day vs. 3. What convinced me to go with at least five was a study I found on PubMed (and stupidly forgot to bookmark and can't find now)..anyway, it was really limited in duration (only about 8 weeks) and had some other flaws (all test subjects were athletically active 18 year old males) but basically the set-up was group A was fed 3 meals a day and group B fed 5 meals a day, same calories, no other changes in diet/exercise. At the end of the trial, there was no change in weight in either group, but the group eating 3 meals a day had increased body fat percentage, suggesting that at fewer meals the body elects to partition more calories towards fat storage. I'm still looking for that particular study (and related ones) but wondered if you've come across anything similar...it does seem to make sense though.
steve, thank you for your wise words!
i may try the 5.0 and see how long i can go... i just feel so good for accomplishing 40 minutes. hopefully i can accomplish at least close to that at 5.0!
thanks again, handsome!
You are welcome.
Hey Steve
It's super late and I just got time to read your response. Useful information. I'll keep that in the back of my mind as I keep the current routine. If I do go into a plateau, you'll be hearing from me again.
You know where to find me!
Hey Handsome,
You wrote:
I JUST have to ask...when you go on a date...and you're out to dinner - do you think about all this when you order?
Sweet Dreams,
d
Haha, no. When I go out to eat, I EAT. I don't care about anything else other than being satisfied. Most people though, dates, friends, family... when I am at a public meal.... they end up bringing up nutrition with me. Funny thing is, it never gets old. It is just rare that I see someone take my advice and run with it for any significant length of time. But whatever!
amen to the zig zag dieting.
I do it naturally - i eat more some days, and eat less others.
Id find it hard sticking dead on a set amount of kcal i think.
Have a great weekend Steve
I do a semi-zig-zag myself where my resistance training days contain higher cals than my non training days.
if that's what he's thinking - that would just be so depressing
Bad, mal bad
Hope you have a fun weekend doing... uhh.. fun stuff
Hahaha. This made me LOL. Thanks Mal. Have a great weekend yourself.
M2M
New member
Oh that's so good to hear
And in all honesty, I look forward to getting to that point someday. Right now, even if nothing is said, there is such a torrent of information going through my head when I order - analyzing, calculating, debating...
Now...I have to say, I do like Mal's idea about the Lobster
Venice girl
New member
hahaha! Mal you're unique!
Pubmed is my friend.
I bet for every one study you find I can find 5-10 saying the contrast. Look, I do think that there are benefits of more frequent eating that have not been studied yet, especially as it related to healthy, active populations. However, the signifcance in terms of body composition is extremely small in my opinion. So small that it really does not matter, and it is best to stick with what works for your schedule opposed to trying to make something work that is only going to put you through hell trying to adhere to.
This said, I do eat 6-7 meals per day. But that is mainly b/c of how many cals I eat. It is the only way I can really fit them in.
Some related studies if you are interested:
Spraypainsos
New member
I started a journal. The poll within seems to be a lot more popular than my posts though, haha. I have a quick question though.
You may have mentioned this already (I'm going to go back through the chunk of this thread I hadn't gotten to yet sometime today), but are certain workouts optimum at keeping muscle during a deficit? That includes whether it should be high intensity/low reps or vice versa. This is activity aside from HIIT. Also, though muscle mass will not be gained during a deficit, are the muscles being worked out during this period becoming more "conditioned". Despite my caloric deficit I'm pretty sure I do gain some strength and endurance through these workouts.
Thanks for your input and have a great day.
You may have mentioned this already (I'm going to go back through the chunk of this thread I hadn't gotten to yet sometime today), but are certain workouts optimum at keeping muscle during a deficit? That includes whether it should be high intensity/low reps or vice versa. This is activity aside from HIIT. Also, though muscle mass will not be gained during a deficit, are the muscles being worked out during this period becoming more "conditioned". Despite my caloric deficit I'm pretty sure I do gain some strength and endurance through these workouts.
Thanks for your input and have a great day.
Thanks for the links, I think the second one is similar the the one I was referring to. The problem I have with drawing (and applying) conclusions from a lot, if not most, studies on the subject is the length of duration...what may seem insignificant or significant in a six/eight week trial might well be different after say three months or a year. I'm jaded
There is a lot of talk in this journal about resistance training in a caloric deficit. In general, I recomment a couple of sets of the big compound exercises using heavy weights relative to your strength. This normally translates into 4-6 reps per set.
Also, surely you can get stronger while in a deficit. Muscle growth is not the only contributing factor to increases in strength. In layman's terms, your body learns to get stronger. I don't think I need to get into the science of it unless you want to hear it.
Spraypainsos
New member
I personally try to adhere to eating smaller but more frequent meals, but I agree with Steve when he says it's probably not substantial enough to cause stress or major inconveniences over. I just notice that I feel better when I do it that way, but that's probably got more to do with avoiding long periods of not eating than anything. I think it's a good practice if you can do it easily, since you get in a habit of enjoying smaller portions and making the most of them.
Thanks for the links, I think the second one is similar the the one I was referring to. The problem I have with drawing (and applying) conclusions from a lot, if not most, studies on the subject is the length of duration...what may seem insignificant or significant in a six/eight week trial might well be different after say three months or a year. I'm jaded
Oh I really don't draw much from most studies. I hate most of them as they apply to real world data. My recommendation to eat however many meals as you want is not based on these studies. Sure, they help confirm my recommendation. However, I base my recommendation based on empirical evidence. When I used to train, and on myself, meal frequency really had no impact on physique. Take it for what its worth.
I agree. Working with the number of people I have though, there are many people's whose schedule do not allow for 5+ meals per day. In these circumstances, they are better off eating 3 as optimally as possible. If I forced 5+ on them, chances are they are going to absolutely hate the inconvenience and adherence is not going to last for any appreciable length of time.
I've been eating 5-6 meals a day for so long now that it would be a real effort to actually go back to the "normal" 3......I guess I mentioned it because I'm more interested in the effect (or non effect) of meal frequency as a "concept" than any specific desire to change my own eating patterns. I dunno, I just like to know the "why's" of how stuff works...I was literally the kid who tore apart the radio to find out what was inside. LOL
I am much the same way. But I have found that splitting hairs when it comes to fitness and nutrition just aren't worth the headache. 1) There are not a lot of good studies out there due to lack of funding or interest, that relate to the populations that matter in the context of our discussion. 2) Splitting hairs normally frustrates the "client" to a point where they give up.
For your own piece of mind, if I had a choice of eating fewer or more meals, I would certainly go with more. So, you, personally, shouldn't change a thing with your own diet IMO.
Venice girl
New member
You've got mail, forum hottie.