Actually there is none. There is actually more studies disproving that multiple meals a day works worse then doing 3 or less. It really just comes down to bro-science. The bodybuilder community still recommends this day in and day out. I wholeheartedly get it. Because as a bodybuilder you are trying to get as big, or as cut, as possible. It’s pretty hard to get all the calories and protein and supplements in just eating 2 or 3 times a day. That’s another myth we will talk about too— how much protein do you actually need to maintain or even increase lean muscle tissue??? Because it’s pretty hard to get 250-400 grams of protein in just 2 or 3 meals.
'Because the body can only digest 30-50 grams of protein in one sitting’ another myth….
This bro-science has been taken and populated around other communities too. Including the weight loss community. So now we have personal trainers, doctors, nutritionists, moms, dads, high school athletes, diabetics, pretty much everyone talking about eating multiple meals per day.
What is it actually supposed to do?
They say it’s supposed to speed up your metabolism and turn you into a fat burning machine. One major reason they say this is because we don’t have a storage site for protein like we do for carbohydrates and fat, so we need to constantly be putting more protein in in order to not have the muscles eat themselves and maintain strength and lean muscle tissue. Some people went as far as saying protein stores run out every 3-4 hours which is a main reason that we were told 6 meals a day keeps the muscle on.
On the outside it sounds good. And it especially sounds good to someone who is wanting to put on a bunch of muscle like the bodybuilding community.
And when this advice is coming from the likes of Arnold, or one of the most popular diet/fitness books of the 1990’s Bill Phillips’ ‘Body for Life’, or someone gracing the cover of a bodybuilding magazine with ripped muscles and abs, men and women, you start to believe it even more.
However, when you actually look at how the body works then you know this simply isn’t true.
If your last meal was carb heavy or too much protein heavy then once that blood sugar comes back down (about 2-4 hours) then you will likely start to feel those hunger pains again. Then you have to eat again and the cycle continues.
You have to understand that digestion is one of the most metabolically demanding activities our body does. A lot of other systems and activities get turned down or completely turned off when digestion is occurring. This is one reason they say not to eat too close to bed time because it will wreck havoc on your sleep. When you eat multiple meals a day then your body is digesting, digesting, digesting throughout the day. It doesn’t get a break.
When you eat, your blood sugar raises. This happens with any type of food. Carbohydrates will raise it the highest, especially processed carbohydrates and wheat products. Also too much protein will also raise it. Fat has very little impact. High blood sugar levels are a toxic environment to the body; just ask any diabetic.
In order to bring the blood sugar levels back down, insulin is released. As long as insulin is present you cannot be burning fat. The insulin is pushing the blood sugar back down and also helping to escort all the nutrients you just ate into the right cells for either immediate use, later use, or to be removed as waste. .