My answer would be, optimal for what?
This tends to be one of those long-held-to beliefs that says that the more often you eat, the more fired up your metabolism is. In that context – no. It’s not.
Metabolism is determined by the total energy intake, not by how many meals you get it in.
2000 in 4 meals vs. 2000 in 8 meals is still 2000 calories and your body still has to spend the energy to process that same 2000 calories.
Myth! Myth! Myth! (and one with much research to show it – 24-hr indirect calorimetry, etc.) Some of the intermittent fasting guys, such as Brad Pilon and his Eat Stop Eat program for example have gone into more scientific detail explaining why meal frequency doesn’t hold any magical fat-loss benefits.
The idea stems from something called the Thermic Effect of Food (one part of total metabolism), which is basically the energy cost to digest incoming energy (this differs for the various macronutrients). So the idea is that the more often you eat, the more TEF goes up and the more the metabolism goes up. The problem with this is that it’s a bit of a misrepresentation as TEF is actually correlated with the amount of calories in the meal, and therefore total calories at the end of the day.
Rather, it seems that an inconsistent meal frequency is what has potential negative effects.
So from a direct fat-loss standpoint, there isn’t really an advantage to 8 meals vs. say 4-5. There are however other advantages you could potentially argue for:
- More stable blood sugar
- Possible health benefits
- Control of hunger
- When calories are very high (easier to get them in with more feedings rather than less)
- And subsequently, dietary compliance, which is the key to any diet.
There’s no disadvantage to a high meal frequency that I can think of, so if you prefer it, stick with it. If you find it hard, you can cut back on the meal number and just make your meals a bit bigger.
(Note – that doesn’t mean all your calories in one meal per day.)
I still eat 6x/day and I use 5-6/day with clients as well. The only time I go lower is if they complain that they can’t eat that often. For me it’s just more convenient to eat frequently. I work from home and have access to food whenever I want, so it’s a no brainer for me. For others, who are very busy, and simply don’t have the same amount of available time, less meals is likely going to mean better dietary compliance.
Meal frequency should be assessed on an individual basis and meal number for the day should be decided based on what best fits into a person’s lifestyle.
By Erik Ledin