Eating Frequent Small Meals Throughout The Day Doesn’t Help You Lose Weight

There is a theory that is so prevalent these days that most people assume it is a fact. That is that eating 6-8 small meals a day will speed up your metabolism and help you burn much more fat than if you were to eat 3
bigger meals a day.

It sounds like the information is good – your metabolism is always in action and therefore it must be doing more for your fat loss efforts than if it was only activated when you ate a big meal.

Studies now prove that this belief is wrong.

Just this year a test was conducted in Australia where 179 obese people all put on a healthy diet with the purpose of losing weight. The same amount of food was consumed per day, just in different frequencies and
quantities per sitting. Those who followed the frequent small meal diet experienced no weight loss benefits compared to others who ate less frequently.

Measurements showed that there weren’t any differences in weight, waist measurement, body fat or blood sugar levels when comparing one group to the other.

Michelle Palmer, a dietitian from the University of Newcastle observed the results and commented, “There seems to be little benefit to changing how often or how regularly you eat if you’re trying to lose weight.”
Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23759295-12377,00.html

It’s time to debunk the myth that eating smaller amounts more frequently aids fat loss. The truth is it doesn’t. In fact in my experience and from the little I’ve observed in other people’s experience, changing the way you eat is more likely to have negative effects as far as weight loss is concerned.

Humans, like animals are designed to thrive on eating when we are hungry and continuing to eat until we reach satisfaction. Our metabolism has also been designed to work best in this condition.

Humans are also hard-wired to enjoy eating (as we need it in order to survive). When do we most enjoy eating? Usually it’s when we are hungry and sit down in front of a nice big meal of one of our favorite foods, am I right? This is how humans have eaten for centuries without any problems with obesity.

Eating small meals throughout the day is not only ineffective for reducing one’s body fat percentage, but it is unsustainable. Continuing to snack on small meals throughout the day is impractical most of the time. And don’t forget that it is also unsociable. Meal times are when humans have always enjoyed conversing and getting to know each other more – advising people to forgo this in order to lose more weight can be more harmful than it’s worth.

So rest assured readers – it’s not how often we eat during the day that’s going to help us keep the fat away, but rather it’s what we eat and how much of it that we need to be careful about.

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11 comments so far

Comment by Tommy
17 February 2010

The idea behind eating several small deals a day isn’t to make you lose weight. This is a common misconception, more-so than the actual theory of it working. Eating several small meals a day is a practice of self-control, at which you are meant to ultimately accomplish eating LESS throughout the day than you normally would eating three large meals.

It makes a lot of sense, especially if you have a bad habit of stuffing yourself full at every meal. Instead of making a mad sprint to that large meal, taxing yourself through the day, you instead take healthy snacks with you and munch on them. That way when you arrive at your delicious meal, you can portion it in a way that fits your desire to eat. It doesn’t subtract from any enjoyment, that is unless you were unfortunate enough to look at it from your angle and see it as an unwanted restraint. But that IS what getting fit is about, right? Resonable amounts of exercise along with a resonable amount of restraint towards how much food is consumed all at once.

If you allow your body to catch up and digest the food into the energy you need right now, instead of trying to store it up as fat and never being used, you’ll see definite advantages in NOT fasting between meals.
Comment by Tommy
17 February 2010

Hmm… *REASONABLE. My apologies.
Comment by Neil
9 April 2010

I eat 4-5 small meals per day midweek. Not because I’m trying to loose weight because I’m not over weight, but because I don’t like the extremes of feeling very hungry and then feeling bloated. I simply divide my normal lunch into 3 portions, and being self employed this doesn’t interfere with my work. Some people step outside for a 5 minute cigarette break. I on the other hand step outside for a 5 minute food break. It splits the day up nicely and I have a lot more energy. When I’m hungry I have low energy. When I’m stuffed I feel lethargic. Eating small meals more often is definitely the way forward. It might not help you loose weight, but it does provide a more steady supply of energy into the body.
Comment by Deb
26 July 2010

Eating several small meals throughout the day is not for the purposes of losing weight but to save your pancreas from the extreme highs and lows of blood sugar that easting only a few large meals tends to create. All of the dieticians I know would say that several small meals is leaps and bounds better than a few large meals for your endocrine system and, for diabetics especially, is a better way to ease the load on the pancreas.
Comment by Elliot Wilson
12 January 2011

I suggest reading this article Deb – http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting/

Did you know that eating regularly throughout the day will actually decrease insulin sensitivity?

The best way to save your pancreas is by minimizing your carbohydrate intake and by having regular periods of fasting throughout the day (I aim for at least 5 hours between meals). Having a single big meal also helps leptin sensitivity.
Comment by Mrs. Isaac
17 January 2011

I am grateful for everyone’s comments. My personal trainer who has won competitions is a stickler about me eating smaller meals or at least adding snacks throughout the day. At my job, we’re having a competition to become the “Biggest Loser” with a serious prize at the end. I’m going to do more research, but I was iffy about whether eating these smaller “smeals” is actually going to jumpstart my BMR. But why not … an added banana and a healthy apple is probably good for me in between the occasion steaks I like to eat!
Comment by Lisa
25 February 2011

My nutritionist recommended the smaller more frequent meals for me but it didn’t work. I found that eating small meals made me obsess over food all day long. I was always hungry and waiting for the next time I would get to eat something. Then if I didn’t have time or if I ran out of snacks I made bad decisions when I did eat.

Eating a large (healthy) breakfast, a smaller lunch and an even smaller dinner seems to work best for me. I have the most “fuel” during peak activity times (at work) and the least during times I will be most inactive (while sleeping). When I wake up in the morning I am hungry for my biggest meal of the day. The worst thing (for me) is to get hungry because my stomach takes over my brain and I make poor food choices. I think what most people believe with the small, frequent meals, is similar in that you shouldn’t get to that hungry point where people make those bad choices.

Remember, everyone’s body is different. There is no “one size fits all” diet. Some people have other factors that will determine whether or not they are successful at losing (and keeping off) excess weight, not just when/how much they eat.
Comment by md
29 April 2011

@ Mrs. Isaac – Although you may think you are ding yourself good by eating fruit (becasue it’s healthy – right?) You actually aren’t. Especially if you are trying to lose weight. When you eat fruit, you are eating fructose. Fructose is not metabolized as other sugars and does not undergo digestion. Fructose passes through the small intestine virtually unchanged, then enters the portal vein and is directed toward the liver. There it is converted first to liver glycogen (if needed) and then to triglyceride (fat). These are the only two possibilities. The amount converted to glycogen is enzyme limited as well as limited by the amount of glycogen needed to fill the liver. Fruit will turn to fat. This is not negotiable. This is not “maybe”. This is not opinion. But then again, not commonly known. It isn’t as if they shout it from the rooftops. A small amount of fruit in the morning every couple days is sufficient to maintain liver glycogen but eating fruit consistantly throughout the days is not a good idea.
Comment by Dee
12 July 2011

From what I’ve read there’s absolutely no evidence that eating regularly has any benefits at all. I’ve got to say I don’t know how this theory came about or why doctors and dieticians are advising people to eat this way.

I agree with this article and with what Elliot says and for anyone requiring a detailed explanation of what happens when you eat regularly should read “Mastering Leptin” by Dr Byron Richards. It’s a fantastic and informative book.

Even though there is a lot of debate about the subject and even dieticians are telling people to eat this way, all I can say is that I have struggled with my weight all my life. I have eaten regularly throughout the day for years trying many diets, none of which worked. Since changing to 3 meals a day after reading Mastering Leptin, I have actually started losing weight consistently. I weighed myself every day for a week and every day my weight decreased. That has never happened when I ate regular small meals. And now that I know what happens to your body when you do eat regularly I will never eat that way again!
Comment by Chloe
23 January 2012

This is why i’m bulimic -.-
Comment by Dee
23 January 2012

You think you’re bulimic, why? Because you eat small frequent meals or you don’t? Not that it matters. I have had an issue with bulimia for 12 years and it’s not even about food – I think you know that. It’s psychological, it generally has nothing to do with food.