The number of meals: myths and misconceptions.

The notion of eating a little every few hours can be found in countless books, and slimmed-down individuals go to the point of absurdity as they attempt pathologically meticulous adherence to their ideal eating schedule. Everyone has probably heard someone leave the workplace and go to the bathroom to eat a perfectly balanced meal on time, or avoid partying or going to a restaurant for the same reason.

"Boost of matebolism"?

The most common argument is that eating more often and in small portions "boosts the metabolism." It is based on the thermal effect of food, and on the fact that metabolism does increase slightly during digestion. The thermal effect of food (TEF) depends on the amount eaten (and is approximately 10% of the calories ingested). So if you eat 1800 calories a day, your TEF will be 180 calories. If you have 6 meals of 300 kcal each, then each meal will consume 30 kcal, or 180 in total. If you have 3 x 600 kcal meals, the TEF from each meal will be 60 kcal, which is as a result, it will again give 180 per day. In other words, the number of meals per day will not in any way affect the energy expenditure for digestion or the thermal effect of food.

"Fasting mode"?

Another common misconception is that skipping one meal or just a long gap between meals will cause the body to go into "fasting mode", store calories and avoid using fat in every possible way (or even slow down the metabolic rate). Breakfast is especially often mentioned for some reason. Allegedly, the morning meal "starts the metabolism" for the next day, and skipping breakfast makes the body go into a "fasting mode". In fact, this idea is also based on a false understanding of the thermal effect of food.

The idea that skipping a meal reduces the body's energy expenditure, or "triggers a fasting regimen," comes from some fairly old studies in mice and rats, and they certainly have a lower energy expenditure in the absence of food, even for a short period of time. Here it should be borne in mind that small animals have a short lifespan, mice live about two years and rats a little longer.

"Speed up fat burning"?

In addition, these animals do not have very large fat reserves. So that even a slight caloric deficit can be dangerous for them. In the case of very small animals, skipping even one meal can lead to death. This means that skipping one meal or starving during the day in such animals will be a much larger share of their total life span than for humans. One meal for a mouse can be equal to a day or more food for a human; and one day without food is similar to our 4-7 days. Human metabolic rate does not decrease during the first 3-4 days of complete starvation. And some studies show that it even increases slightly. A single meal does not mean anything at all. Remember that it takes your brain 3-4 days to simply notice changes in leptin levels.

It is almost universally believed that eating more frequent meals will speed up fat burning and help maintain lean mass during the dieting period. But this is only true when there is an extreme difference in the number of meals. And even then, only when protein intake is insufficient. When there is a lot of protein, the number of meals is more or less indifferent. The main thing is to take care of the intake of protein in sufficient quantities.

What research says about number of meals?

Research results clearly show that the number of meals (3-4) does not affect either fat loss or maintenance of lean mass. The notion that there is some optimal amount of meals is simply wrong. For some people, especially women with low weight, fewer meals a day may be more optimal.

There are also some other benefits that a fractional diet is said to provide. Such as keeping blood sugar stable or not hungry. The first of these ideas is usually supported by studies with a completely unrealistic scenario. Those that compare, say, 3 meals versus 17 tiny "meals". But this has nothing to do with life. Even with satiety and hunger, a moot point. One recent study found that eating smaller meals more often resulted in people feeling hungrier. And fractional meals do not help burn fat.