True or False: Eating Frequent Meals Boost Your Metabolism….

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Have you been told that eating 5-6 mini meals throughout the day will boost your metabolism? Let's look at the truth about meal frequency. 

If you've ever tried to get leaner (whether that's to make racing weight or to shave a few minutes off your bike time) you might have come across this common piece of advice:

Eat 5-6 meals and snacks a day (rather than 3 meals). It will boost your metabolism, burn more calories, and lead to less stored body fat. 

For endurance athletes, fuelling the body is an important issue which we need to get right.

So, what's the truth? Should we eat 5-6 times a day, or stick to 3 square meals (and the occasional snack)?

The idea of "grazing" on meals every 2 hours or so is popular with athletes across all sports, not just triathlon and endurance events. The theory is that eating more frequently means your body burns more calories (due to the thermic effect of food), and you only ever take in the energy your body and muscles needs. So you store fewer calories as fat, and keep topping up your energy reserves, revving up the metabolism.

The truth? It doesn't quite work that way.

Various recent studies have shown that there is no difference in metabolic rate between people who eat just twice a day, or more often. In fact, studies show no correlation between eating frequency habits and metabolic rate.

So should we all switch to eating three larger meals a day? Not necessarily.

Eating more often throughout the day does have some benefits to endurance athletes:

  • it has been shown to reduce appetite, meaning you may lose excess body fat and weights
  • you are likely to eat fewer total calories than if you ate three larger meals
  • eating more frequently has a positive effect on energy partitioning (where the calories go once they are digested)
  • frequent mini meals are likely to correspond to your immediate energy needs rather than being stored as fat

As a coach, I would urge you to consider several things when choosing a meal frequency. What kind of meal timing and pattern is convenient for your lifestyle, your working day, your available cooking time, your family? How do you prefer to eat: more often or at breakfast, lunch and dinner? Do you feel better on smaller meals, or do you like the feeling of large meals? What satisfies your hunger, your cravings and your energy levels? 

Personally, I like to have three meals a day, with a snack either before or after training. But I also keep my meal pattern flexible, to correspond with family meals, social occasions, and fluctuations in my hunger and energy. I'm not a slave to food timing, and I don't think you should be either.

Ultimately, the quality of the food you eat is important, whether you choose to split it into six meals or three. And the food you eat needs to support your lifestyle, your training, your social life and family time. Make your food choices work for you (not the other way around!).