Many people mistakenly believe that frequent small meals will help accelerate metabolism and minimize fat accumulation; however, research indicates otherwise.
Consuming fewer meals throughout the day tends to help control blood sugar and may aid weight management, but exactly when should you eat to gain these advantages?
Metabolic Rate
Eating frequency refers to how frequently someone eats during their day. Some studies assess eating speed and rate based on self-reporting; in others, various methods such as timers, videotaping, and direct observation may be used to assess how fast or many bites were eaten [12].
Meal frequency has been proven to have beneficial results on body composition, glycemic control, diet induced thermogenesis (thermic effect of food), and energy expenditure among both athletes and sedentary people alike. When selecting meals or counting calories consumed each day, it’s crucial that individuals choose nutritious and nutrient-rich options while limiting empty calorie consumption.
Your metabolic rate is affected by more than just what you eat; physical activity and sleep play an integral part. Unfortunately, researchers still aren’t completely clear how these factors influence metabolism – though perhaps frequent meal frequency could promote futile cycling while increasing fat and carb breakdown for fuel.
Energy Expenditure
Energy expenditure consists of resting or basal metabolic rate (BMR), food-induced thermogenesis and physical activity-related energy expenditure. BMR accounts for 60-70% of daily energy expenditure.
Studies show that eating multiple small meals throughout the day increases metabolism and burns more calories than three larger ones; however, existing research doesn’t support this claim.
Following meals, your body enters a postprandial “storage” state, with lower metabolic rates than restorative, energy-burning fasted states. Eating multiple small meals throughout the day helps prevent you from entering this postprandial “storage” state and keeps metabolism elevated.
Epidemiological studies analyzing changes to energy intake and expenditure have found that increasing meal frequency was associated with weight loss and lower rates of obesity, even after considering possible underreporting and dieting/restricted eating impacting data. For this reason, many clinical trials lasting at least two months have found no discernible effects between eating more frequent or less frequent meals on weight loss/gain or cardiometabolic health outcomes.
Thermic Effect of Food
The Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) refers to the increase in energy used when digesting and absorbing nutrients from your meal. Different foods have different thermic effects, with proteins having greater energy requirements compared with carbohydrates for making ATP. Furthermore, how a food is prepared may have an impact; for instance rolled oats tend to be easier for digestion than steel-cut oats.
Food’s thermic effect can help with weight loss by temporarily increasing metabolism, yet this contribution only accounts for a very small portion of our total daily energy use. To effectively lose weight through diet and exercise, creating a caloric deficit remains necessary. Furthermore, different factors like age and physical activity impact how quickly and thoroughly our bodies break down nutrients consumed through meals and beverages. Use our calculator below to see exactly what amount your body requires in order to absorb and process their nutrient intake.
Weight Loss
Eating frequency does not appear to play an influential role in weight loss. A study where participants received either two or six meals with identical macronutrient content found no differences in energy expenditure using a whole body calorimeter (which measures carbon dioxide and oxygen consumption for accurate energy output calculations).
This may be due to frequent meals leading to an increase in overall caloric consumption which will likely offset any possible increases in metabolic rate that might come with greater frequency of meals.
Studies that track people over time have revealed that both high and low meal frequency diets can achieve weight loss when following a calorie deficit diet plan. Therefore, the key is prioritizing foods rich in nutrients while planning healthy mini-meals throughout your day to make sure you’re getting all the nourishment your body requires.
