Eating
6 meals a day for muscle gain? Is that a myth or does it really
work? I'll be frank with you. You can still build muscle with
just 3 meals a day but increasing your meal intake to 6 a day
will offer you more benefits and optimize your muscle gains as
well. Here are the benefits of eating 6 meals a day for muscle
gain:
(1)
Increasing Your Calorie Intake
To
gain muscle, you need to increase your daily calorie intake and
a good way to do that is to eat more meals talk about 5-6 meals
a day. Am not talking about junk foods here but super clean high-protein
foods in every meal as well as complex carbohydrates and healthy
fats. These are muscle building foods that you'll need to grow.
As a rule of thumb, consume 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight,
for example if you weigh 150 pounds, you'll need 150 grams of
protein per day. Now, divide this number by your amount of meals,
so if you have 6 meals a day, that would be 25 grams of protein
per meal.
(2)
Calorie Assimilation
When
you eat, your body makes use of these calories for energy and
for other purposes like nutrient absorption. Consuming 3 big meals
a day is not ideal for muscle building as your body can only assimilate
a number of calories per meal and the excess calories will get
stored as fat. You don't want to consume 75 grams of protein per
sitting if you weigh 150 pounds, it's pointless as not all the
amino acids will get absorbed into your muscles. Excess protein
can get excreted in urine or get stored as fat. Protein is a macronutrient
and has calories too so any excess can get stored as adipose tissue(fat
deposits) same as with any other macronutrient like carbs and
fats. This is why the 6 meals a day diet plan is recommended as
these are small meals but eaten more frequently like every 2-3
hours or so.
(3)
Higher Energy Levels For Training
Eating
6 meals a day provides your body with a constant supply of energy
and nutrients which your body will be thankful during training.
If you had a heavy lunch at noon but starts training in the evening,
you can experience a drop in energy levels as too much time has
passed since your last meal. You can feel tired and lethargic.
On the other hand, if you had a meal like 1.5-2 hours ago before
your training, your performance at the gym will be better so will
be your muscle gains.
(4)
Sustaining Muscle Mass
Once
you build muscles, you need an adequate amount of protein daily
to maintain your muscle mass. If you start slacking in your diet,
you'll lose your muscles with time. While building muscle is the
first step, maintaining it is also important. This is why you'll
see bodybuilders having protein every few hours via solid foods
and whey protein shakes. 6 meals a day is a great way to sustain
your protein needs. Tupperware will be your best friend as you
might need to prepare and carry your foods.
(5)
Speeding Your Metabolism
Eating
more frequently will ignite your metabolism due to the thermic
effect of food. To break down food and for nutrient absorption
purposes, your body requires a substantial amount of calories,
hereby boosting your metabolism, building muscle and burning fat.
While
it's true some hardgainers with a naturally fast metabolism find
it difficult to gain muscle mass, it doesn't necessarily mean
you can't gain muscle with a fast metabolism. These hardgainers
might not be eating like they should, hence if they are not feeding
their bodies properly, what they eat will be used up as energy
fast due to their quick metabolism and the end result is they
won't gain muscle mass. The trick here is to eat more meals per
day. I still remember what Dennis Wolf IFFB Pro Bodybuilder said
"My metabolism is too fast, if I don't eat for 4 hours, I
lose 2 kilos". That was a pretty funny statement but it can
be true.
(6)
Boosting Your Testosterone Levels
Eating
6 balanced meals a day comprised of lean protein/complex carbs/healthy
fats will trigger a surge in testosterone levels and make your
body more anabolic which means making you more prone to gain muscle
mass. Testosterone is a male hormone and eating more muscle building
foods will definitely increase its levels.
Gaining muscle mass is all about increasing your calorie intake
from nutrient-dense foods, performing resistance training, having
adequate rest and be consistent. For more tips and tricks on gaining
muscle, check out Muscle
Gaining Secrets.