<div>
(ryanc @ Jun. 04 2007,15:22)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Mostly because I think people are too worried about getting "fat" to make any significant muscle gains. When people are rejoicing about gaining 5-10 lbs of muscle in a year, there's definitely a problem.
As for the eating every 2.5-3 hours deal, it's common knowledge that there are a multitude of benefits to eating smaller meals more often rather than eating a few larger meals. Do I really need to go into that? Steady stream of aminos = positive nitrogen balance all day long = fuel for your muscles. Take a look at the diet of any serious bodybuilder, he's eating at least that often.
I usually shoot for around 40-50g of protein per meal + carbs, used ever-increasing loads in my workout, kept up with off-day low intensity cardio, cut off carbs 4 hours before my bedtime and yeah, I've gained 25lbs since Nov 06. (185 to 210, 10% BF in 8 months).
But hey, do what you want.</div>
Effect of the pattern of food intake on human energy metabolism.
Verboeket-van de Venne WP, Westerterp KR, Kester AD.
Department of Human Biology, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
The pattern of food intake can affect the regulation of body weight and lipogenesis. We studied the effect of meal frequency on human energy expenditure (EE) and its components. During 1 week ten male adults (age 25-61 years, body mass index 20.7-30.4 kg/m2) were fed to energy balance at two meals/d (gorging pattern) and during another week at seven meals/d (nibbling pattern). For the first 6 d of each week the food was provided at home, followed by a 36 h stay in a respiration chamber. O2 consumption and CO2 production (and hence EE) were calculated over 24 h. EE in free-living conditions was measured over the 2 weeks with doubly-labelled water (average daily metabolic rate, ADMR). The three major components of ADMR are basal metabolic rate (BMR), diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) and EE for physical activity (ACT). There was no significant effect of meal frequency on 24 h EE or ADMR. Furthermore, BMR and ACT did not differ between the two patterns. DIT was significantly elevated in the gorging pattern, but this effect was neutralized by correction for the relevant time interval. With the method used for determination of DIT no significant effect of meal frequency on the contribution of DIT to ADMR could be demonstrated.
And another:
Br J Nutr. 1997 Apr;77 Suppl 1:S57-70. Links
Meal frequency and energy balance.
* Bellisle F,
* McDevitt R,
* Prentice AM.
INSERM U341, Hotel Dieu de Paris, France.
Several epidemiological studies have observed an inverse relationship between people's habitual frequency of eating and body weight, leading to the suggestion that a 'nibbling' meal pattern may help in the avoidance of obesity. A review of all pertinent studies shows that, although many fail to find any significant relationship, the relationship is consistently inverse in those that do observe a relationship. However, this finding is highly vulnerable to the probable confounding effects of post hoc changes in dietary patterns as a consequence of weight gain and to dietary under-reporting which undoubtedly invalidates some of the studies. We conclude that the epidemiological evidence is at best very weak, and almost certainly represents an artefact. A detailed review of the possible mechanistic explanations for a metabolic advantage of nibbling meal patterns failed to reveal significant benefits in respect of energy expenditure. Although some short-term studies suggest that the thermic effect of feeding is higher when an isoenergetic test load is divided into multiple small meals, other studies refute this, and most are neutral. More importantly, studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labelled water to assess total 24 h energy expenditure find no difference between nibbling and gorging. Finally, with the exception of a single study, there is no evidence that weight loss on hypoenergetic regimens is altered by meal frequency. We conclude that any effects of meal pattern on the regulation of body weight are likely to be mediated through effects on the food intake side of the energy balance equation.
