Hi all…so I’ve seen someone in another group giving advice to eat 6 meals a day, eating every 2 hours. I know I’ve heard that the opposite is desirable on a keto diet, but I’m having trouble pinpointing any articles or info to explain this. (I listen to a few different podcasts and I know I’ve heard it from several sources)
Can anyone help me out with this? Thanks!
You eat fat 6 times a day and you’ll be miserable! Just listen to your body and eat fat when your hungry!
That was the mainstream fitness advice for years, and it’s recently been proven bullshit as of a few years ago. I don’t have any studies to reference, but there’s been multiple books published, include The Warrior Diet, which go into the specifics of why you don’t go into starvation mode if you don’t keep your body constantly digesting.
Big reason: Food of any kind raises blood glucose and causes an insulin response. It takes some time for the spike to taper off, and then if you eat again that spike rises right back up. Basically you’re keeping your insulin high all day, and storing fat (not burning it).
If you have Type 2 you want to avoid raising insulin.
Eating anything causes an insulin response… fats the least… carbs the most.
By eating 6 times a day you are having 6 insulin responses… by eating once per day you are creating only one.
Guess which is better for you?
IMO, the six meals a day concept is rationalized when following a restricted calorie, Carb based diet. It feeds the bloods sugar levels with the hypothetical effect of mitigating lipogenic hormonal resistance withdrawal. There is also the theory of preventing metabolic slowdow.
IMO, it’s basically nonsense, preventing, or certainly postponing, the reduction of lipogenic resistance, which is the whole point of lipolytic nutrition, (Keto) the state of the misnomer usually called “Fat Adapted”.
Fat is such a slow long burn, compared to carbs. I don’t have the math or the times or the studies though I’m sure Phinney and Volek do, but I’d be willing to bet the length of time between (ingestion, digestiion, utilization) and the need to refuel, is easily doubled with fats over carbs. Then add those of us with copious fat stores of our own. Even less need to refuel as often.
I used to do 5-6 meals a day.
It worked really well for me.
Shake - Shake - Lunch - nuts/cheese - Dinner - cheese-berries
Everything that you see reported works for someone and works horribly for someone else.
why would you continually add energy in to the system when you are trying to make it burn your own bodyfat?
how are you going to get rid of fat on your body? where is it going to go? its not going to just fall off/
When i ask the 6 times a day crowd these questions you sometimes see the lightbulb go off in their head. sometimes they are stuck on the “keep your metabolism up” crap though. but again ask them how do you get rid of bodyfat if you constantly fuel yourself? when are you going to burn it?
exercise? the math doesn’t add up, you can’t do enough aerobic exercise to make up for it. the idea of fuelling 6 times a day but with severe calorie restriction and long exercise events is just not sustainable and completely irrational compared to engineering long periods of intermittent fasting and satiety via fat adaptation and high fat/protein eating.
THIS
You literally cannot burn fat while your insulin is up. Eating raises insulin.
Not to mention how Dr Fung explains you can slow your metabolism by eating too frequently. https://idmprogram.com/perils-snacking-hormonal-obesity-xiii/
Eating frequently is a double whammy.
I really enjoy being the devil’s advocate:
Granted, it’s a high carb setup, but my own personal experience (n=1) does not jive with the idea that six mini meals is not a viable path to weight loss.
Again, what works for you (IF/EF/OMAD) is not anymore universally applicable than what a healthy vegan might do is universally applicable.
That’s an issue in itself. Parents are being told to bring snacks for sporting events, everyday school classes. Snacks are being pushed liked nobody’s business. I do well not snacking when I’m at work, but on weekends temptation is hard to fight off.
I just argued the idea of snacking for metabolism boost with a buddy at work.
This is what I cited to him.
https://idmprogram.com/perils-snacking-hormonal-obesity-xiii/
I call bs… Women and body weight remaining stable throughout the day? That… Doesn’t happen 
Given Richard’s theory of stalls (fasting glucose/insulin higher than level of insulin resistance), the linked study finding “six meals decreased significantly fasting insulin (P=0.014) and post-OGTT insulin sensitivity (Matsuda index, P=0.039) vs three meals,” I’d suggest that it’s worthy of investigation for breaking stalls. It was part of a stall solution that I developed on my last major run with LCHF. I say part, because I was working out more intensely, taking green tea regularly, using more spices in cooking, consuming more cinnamon, and started a zinc-magnesium-b6 stack, all things that should also have improved my insulin sensitivity.
I wouldn’t suggest that 6MAD is for everyone, or optimal. It’s a trick to pull out when the normal protocol has stopped working, or isn’t working at the level you expect.
Proceed with extreme caution. 6MAD is one of the factors that put me into this predicament. Reading the bodybuilding mags as a teen athlete, continuing into college athletics, then into powerlifting. Next thing you know you’ve spent 20 years under the assumption that eating every couple hours is the best thing for you, yet you are 100+lbs overweight and cant go an hour without hunger.
Thanks everyone! Your thoughts (and links!! 
). Are much appreciated!
I definately subscribe to the there is no one size fits all theory and would never tell someone they’re “doing it wrong” if it’s working for them. I guess that is why it is tough to watch someone give out advice as if it is gospel.
Thanks again!