No time to eat? Make time, your body needs food. No time to cook 6x/day? Me neither. That's why you must batch cook 1x/day. But practical things aside, let's see if your body benefits from eating every 3 hours.
Why You Don't Need to Eat Every 3 Hours. Popular myth: your metabolism — how many calories you burn at rest — is faster if you eat more frequent meals. That's how eating every 3 hours would increase fat loss.
Research shows that eating every 3 hours doesn’t increase your metabolism. And less frequent meals or fasting doesn’t decrease your metabolism neither. Forum member Leanstrong posted the studies. Thank him for the info.
Why You Need to Eat Every 3 hours. Eating every day at the same time will make you hungry each day at the same time. More benefits:
- Fat Loss. You'll get hungry if you go without food for more than 3 hours. And this can make you overeat at the next meal, preventing fat loss.
- Weight Gain. Try eating 6000kcal/day in 3 meals. Gaining weight is a lot easier if you spread your calories in 6-7 meals per day.
- Less Hunger. Smaller meals decrease your stomach size over time. Your stomach will feel full sooner. You'll also stabilize blood sugar & insulin.
- More Energy. Eating 3 large meals of 1000kcal will make you sleepy & lethargic. Smaller meals: more energy, better focus, no set stomach.
- Less Cheating. You know you'll have a healthy meal within 3 hours. Psychologically this makes it easier to keep your diet healthy.
