Does Eating 6 Meals A Day Help You Lose Weight

Most gym rats think of blood sugar only in one-dimensional terms. They realize that if it gets too high, you invoke a big surge of insulin that can preferentially store energy as body fat. Raise it too high, too often, and you turn into a pudgeball.

But high blood sugar does something else, too. You know how meat turns brown when you apply heat? That happens because of a process called the Malliard Reaction. It's simply the binding of sugars to protein, but it's pretty much identical to what happens to your body when you habitually keep blood sugar levels above approximately 85 dl/mg.

If this Malliard Reaction continues in your body unabated, you're effectively slow-cooking yourself, and I'm not talking cooking yourself into a tasty, succulent, mouth-watering duck, but an overdone piece of chuck steak that no amount of tenderizer can fix.

All You Need To Know About The '6 Meals A Day' Plan For Weight Gain

And, as mentioned, these perpetually high blood-sugar levels in the shorter term can lead to a host of metabolic problems, including, but not limited to, insulin resistance and its hefty partner-in arms, fat-assedness.

The trouble is, just about everybody in the fitness industry has been told to eat 6 times a day, never let him or herself go hungry, and work hard to maintain blood levels steady over the course of several years.

This is a dumb strategy that ironically can lead to the aforementioned problems, in addition to possibly causing Type II diabetes to develop.

How To Eat 6 Times A Day And Lose Weight

I don't have a lot of proof for this. I do, however, have logic, experiential evidence, and at least a study or two on my side, though.

Logic tells me that challenging your system with a perpetual flood of blood sugar, over time, desensitizes the cells to insulin. That's just the way the body works. As far as experiential evidence, I used to eat 6 meals a day for a long time. It worked... until it didn't.

There's not a lot of experimental evidence to back me up, but one study in particular seemed to corroborate my observations. It's titled Effect of meal frequency on glucose and insulin excursions over the course of a day (Holmstrup, et al, 2010).

Calorie Diet Meal Plan

Rather than regurgitate all the particulars of the study, suffice it to say that a group of normal-weight test subjects who ate 6 meals a day exhibited significantly higher blood sugar values than those who ate 3. Despite eating the same amount of calories, the fewer meals group had 30% lower blood sugar values than those who ate 6 meals.

Additionally, there are several studies out there that suggest that fasting, which is, after all, a practice that translates to eating fewer meals, increases insulin sensitivity markedly.

The 6-meal-a-day advocates will burp out the argument that eating that often boosts the metabolism. Yeah, it does, but so does eating 3 or 4 times a day.

Can 6 Meals A Day Plan Help Me Lose Weight?

Let's say you ate one of your 6 daily meals and it had 500 calories. It would take about 50 of those calories to process a mixed nutrient meal (about 10%), but if you ate one of 3 daily meals and it contained 1, 000 calories, it would take about 100 of those calories to process the food. Again, about 10% of the total. That's a wash.

Others will tell you that eating 6 times a day will help you curb hunger, but researchers have concluded that eating that often actually makes you hungrier. So there.

If you're a big guy; if you eat several meals a day; if you eat carbohydrates indiscriminately; if the only veins showing on your body are on your private parts; if the existence of your abs is as dubious and apocryphal as the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, you're probably at least a little glucose intolerant and insulin resistant and potentially on the way to full-blown diabetes.

Are You Eating 6 Small Meals A Day To Lose Weight?

One of the simplest ways to remedy the insulin resistance problem is to change your eating habits. Do a dietary downshift from 6 meals to 4 or even 3. You don't need to necessarily eat less, just less often. You could also follow the recommendations I listed in Increase Insulin Sensitivity, Get Abs.Beginner and intermediate bodybuilders aim to eat six small meals per day to increase muscle mass. There are three reasons why this is preferable to three daily meals.

The main benefit of eating six meals a day is speeding up weight loss. The reason for this is that by eating numerous mini-meals, you get a constant flow of nutrients into your body. This helps maintain healthy insulin levels and reduce cravings.

Eating six mini-meals can also help prevent overeating. Trying to get all of your daily calories into 2 or 3 meals often will lead to hunger before the next meal and frequent snacking. Increasing the number of meals but maintaining your daily intake of calories can help reduce cravings and help with weight loss.

Meal A Day Planner: Here's How

Always include the macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fats) evenly for each meal. For example, 20g of protein and 25g of carbs is a good balance, while 30g of protein and only 10g of carbs is not ideal.

Keeping an eye on macronutrients will ensure that you get enough protein without overdoing carbohydrates or getting too many calories from fats (which are essential but shouldn’t be overdone.) The protein should come first, so keep it above 10g per meal and add carbohydrates depending on how much energy you want.

Six meals a day is essential because it ensures that your body has constant access to nutrients. As a result, you are constantly giving your body energy so you can perform at your best and, most importantly, remain healthy.

Meals A Day Eating Plan Template In Pages, Ms Word, Portable Documents, Gdocslink

Eating six small meals will help keep blood sugar levels even and help you burn fat rather than carbohydrates during exercise. In addition, eating smaller meals more often encourages your metabolism to run faster, helps maintain insulin sensitivity, and keeps those nasty cravings at bay. Planning for meals throughout the day is also a great way to make sure you can fit in exercise, whether a quick walk around the office or an intense cardio session.

By planning your meals ahead of time, you are more likely to stick with them and not get thrown off by minor schedule changes. If you find that one day is busier than planned, you can permanently alter your meal plan. Try and move some calories around so that there is always food prepared and ready to snack on throughout the day. It’s about finding balance. Eat enough calories to sustain your activity level but don’t overeat just because those fries looked oh so good!

If your primary goal is to lose weight, the good idea is to eat six small meals or snacks per day. This can help you control your appetite better and keep insulin levels steady.

Tip: Don't Eat 6 Meals A Day

– Your energy level will stay high throughout the day. This means that you won’t overeat at lunchtime out of boredom or fatigue.

– You’ll be less likely to resort to vending machine snacks, fast food, and other unhealthy treats. With shorter gaps between meals, you won’t have the time!

Breakfast helps regulate blood sugar levels from morning lows around 8 am. It also reduces feelings of hunger up until lunchtime, when we’re most prone to overeating.

Why Six Meals A Day Is Killing Your Gains

Having a mid-morning snack will help you stay on top of your hunger cues throughout the day, control how much calorie intake you have for lunchtime, and provide some much-needed energy when blood sugar levels may be dipping.

If you have a busy schedule, making a smoothie or veggie juice is a great light lunch packed with vitamins and energy!

Save on meal prep time by munching on some dried fruit and nuts for your in-between meals. This will help with food cravings, is excellent if you’re on the go, and gives you a natural sugar boost.

How To Eat 6 Meals A Day [without Gaining Weight]

The dinner can be anything you would like! Some people want to end their days with a protein shake, soup, or fruit, while others prefer ramen noodles and steak. Regardless of your preference, remember that it is best to stay away from food high in fried foods as this tends to lead to sleep issues. This is because your body will be using more energy to digest the food.

I’m sorry to say that we live in a society where the standard American diet consists heavily of meat and processed food. With meats filled with antibiotics, hormones, and artificial preservatives, it’s best as a general rule to avoid them altogether. And sugars are more addicting than cocaine. Ultimately this combination is devastating for your health down the line, from weight gain to heart disease. The good news is that there are plenty of easy ways to make healthy recipes like pasta tossed in olive oil with sundried tomatoes or grilled fish marinated with paprika and black pepper that will satisfy both your taste buds and your body! Try one out today.

Include whole-grain (complex) carbohydrates, protein (a healthy lean source), high-quality fats (nuts & seeds), fresh fruit or berries, with a glass of water/tea/coffee.

Eat All Day Diet

Egg-white omelet with vegetables and cheese, fruit and nuts, yogurt mixed with granola or other breakfast cereal, and apple slices