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What does Meal/Nutrient Timing stand for ?
For example, in general, bodybuilders (ex: IFBB Pro level) eat each meal at an interval of 2 to 3 hours, depending of their current phase (bulking or cutting). Other people may like to eat 1 or 2 huge meals per day and don’t eat until the next day. This could mean 14, up to 20 hours without food. It depends on your lifestyle.
I won’t give you a recommendation of how often should you eat, I will only give you a new perspective on how you can approach your meals, in order to achieve your goals, and leave the choice on you.
What does Meal Frequency represent ?
Example: Pro bodybuilders, in general, eat 6 to 8+ meals per day, each at intervals of 2 – 3 hours, depending of their current phase (muscle building or fat loss).
Now, lets go into different ways you can approach Meal Frequency & Timing during a day. Here are some examples:
- Classic: (“Old school”) 6 meals per day
- General: 3 – 4 meals per day
- Intermittent Fasting: 1 – 2 meals per day
The Classic (“Old School”) way
Since Arnold’s days, bodybuilders used this approach of 6 or more meals per day, at intervals of 2 to 3 hours each. Many people plan their meals this way, but I do not recommend it. It will make you think all the time about food, that you have to get all of your meals in. This is a very good approach when it comes to building muscle.
But if you are on a diet (consuming 2000 kcal per day) and split it into 6 meals (each ~300kcal) you will be hungry all the time and only think about food.
The General way
This is the general 3 meals per day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and maybe a snack or two. This is the way I do it. It best suits my lifestyle and this is the best approach for me, at the moment. I am in a lean bulk ( muscle building phase) and eat around 3200kcal. I split this calories in 4 meals (~800kcal each).
This is a good approach when it comes to building muscle (if your calorie intake is around 3500 or less) and for fat loss, you can easily split 2000kcal in 3 to 4 meals (~600kcal / meal).
The Intermittent Fasting way
Intermittent Fasting (IF) involves eating 1 – 2 (up to 3) huge meals per day and not eat for the rest of the day. IF works by having a „fasting window” (14 – 20 h), in which you don’t eat anything, and a „feeding window” (4 – 10 h), in which you have all your meals. In general, people fast for 16 h and have a feeding windows of 8 h (interval where you eat your 1 – 3 meals). Basically, you push your breakfast later in the day (ex: 12 pm or later).
Example: if you start your fast at 9PM on a day, you won’t eat anything until 1PM the next day. Then from 1PM until 9PM you can eat whatever you want, as long as you don’t go over your calories.
Experiment with each of them, and see what works best for you.
There you have it, 3 ways in which you can approach your meal timing and the frequency of the meals. Choose the one that best fits your lifestyle ! If you have any questions E-mail Me !
