Fitness Myths Part 2
Myth #2- Eating every 2-3 hours is optimal for fat loss and muscle gain. Anything over 4 hours is stored as fat, due to “starvation mode”.
Truth- This myth holds a place near and dear to my heart. When I first started to get serious about my health and fitness as a GNC employee I read every magazine I could get my hands on. It seemed in every article I read about buying my ticket to shredsville or building muscle all gave me the same eating suggestion. “Space your meals every 2-3 hours apart. This will stoke your metabolism like a fire, won’t let you overeat and store as much as fat.” It made sense, I even suggested it to customers looking to lose weight. Hell, even the Personal Training certification program I went through gave me this exact suggestion. I’m really glad now that I’m a curious individual, because this is one of the most ass backwards and widespread suggestions you will ever come across.
This suggestion simplifies the mechanism that is our metabolism, and promotes a suggestion that is usually good for Type-2 Diabetics to the widespread public (Type-2’s do well eating small, low carb meals due to keeping blood glucose levels low and regular, minimizing glucose spikes).
However, for the general public who are interested in building muscle and losing fat (all of us, duh) this is hardly the optimal way to get your meals in for a couple of reasons.
1. People have lives. It’s a sad existence you live when you are so obsessed with getting your meals in that you know nothing but tupperware containers and a clock. I for one felt ruled by the clock when I would watch to make sure it was time to eat, otherwise I’d surely go catabolic and start breaking down muscle tissue (another lie that has spread like wildfire).
2. The vicious glucose cycle you initiate when you begin this process. You see when you take in a balanced meal of protein, fat, and carbs the carbs are converted to glucose. Your body secretes insulin to drive this glucose into the cells for energy. When the glucose/insulin cycle has run it’s course (2-3 hours), you’re left with low glucose levels and your body is screaming at you to eat more. Which is no problem if you can carry your tupperware with you everywhere you go, and stop your life to heat up meal #6.
So in your quest for abs King Leonidas would be proud of, you’re cycling between hardly full (due to the 300-360 calorie meals) and hunger pangs that only a hibernating bear are familiar with. Sounds like a really fun way to look good. Sign me up.
Now if you’re someone who likes to constantly carry food with you, watch the clock incessantly, or carry tupperware and a food scale into restaurants (yes, people actually do this) then by all meals eat away every couple of hours. The reality is this is just not a viable way for the average person to live their life, nor is it the optimal way.