Showdown: 3 Meals Vs. 6 Meals

Eating six meals a day can become monotonous. We fall into a trap of Tupperware, 12 almonds and an apple. Wash rinse repeat. That is conventional wisdom for some. We see it in magazines. "Eat small meals every 2-3 hours to boost metabolism". We do. It's a painstaking process if you're an American working class citizen. Can we really break away from life to eat every three hours. Maybe I'm being dramatic, but it sure is boring and feels too calculated, but its what the research tells us, isn't it?

Not really.

Other professionals agree. There just isn't hard and fast data that has been done to declare this as true. Losing weight ultimately comes down to how many calories you take in and how many you expend, and you can increase your metabolism significantly more just by exercising.

Now, eating six meals a day wont ruin your diet and their are a couple benefits. You stay full throughout the day instead of getting the afternoon hunger pangs. Another benefit is if your a little guy trying to bulk up you may find it easier to take in the 3500-4000 calories a day he needs to get big, same with the competitive athlete. 4000 calories is a lot to squeeze into just three meals.

One thing that may help is to remember to only eat when your hungry. Its obvious, but some people miss it. We tend to fall in this cycle where every meal is scheduled and we eat just because its habit. Ask yourself, "Am I really hungry?" If your not sure, wait 20 minutes and ask again. If your not hungry, don't eat. Simple enough.

Keeping healthy snacks around your office, in your car or at your house can help for those times you are hungry in between meals. Healthy snacks include a piece of fruit or veggies, lean meat or other quality protein source and a healthy fat source such as almonds, avocados, cashew or walnuts. Avoid peanuts, as they are legumes. Keeping these within reach will reduce the likelihood of reaching for a crappy processed snack you'll regret later.


The Winner: 3 Meals a day (with snacks on hand, just in case)

This is a personal choice, but I find it much more convenient to eat just three slightly larger meals a day then six small ones at precise times. Less dishes too, so thats a huge part of this decision. I hate dishes.

WOD:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of this triplet

Burpees

Pull-ups

toes to bar

So..First set is 10 Burpees 10 Pullups 10 toes to bar, Second set is 9 of each then 8 of each. So on and so forth.

Sub for pull-ups is jumping pullups and sub for toes to bar are situps.

Stay Hungry: An Introduction to Intermittent Fasting

You eat 4-6 meals a day, count calories, cut out sugar AND tried the diet pills, but you can't seem to lose that stubborn belly fat. Bummer, because beach season is right around the corner.

One tool you can use to kick start your metabolism and fat loss is Intermittent Fasting or IF. A recent study

(http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/86/1/7) shows that calorie restriction without malnutrition can increase life span and reduce metabolic risk factors for chronic diseases. It makes sense. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors often went days without food and their bodies had to adjust by tapping into fat stores for fuel. I doubt the cavemen were worried about looking good in their loincloth, but in todays culture, a few pounds is the difference between a one piece and a two piece.

Intermittent fasting must be done intelligently to receive optimal benefits. Several different way to fast are:

Skip a meal: After eating planned meals at planned times day after day, you may be eating when you're not even hungry. Listen to your body, and if you're not hungry, miss a meal. Try to keep this unplanned and

natural.

16-24 Hour Fast: A personal choice. It tends to be easier for me to eat dinner on a Tuesday night, and then not eat again until Wednesday afternoon. Keep yourself feeling full with water and coffee. If you eat a healthy diet, fasting this way should not take a serious toll on energy levels. A weekly basis will work well, but I recommend monthly for those people just starting out.

Rise and Fall: Simple enough, balance nutrients between two meals, one early in the morning, another at night. Try to properly balance nutrients between both meals.

Condensed eating window: All your eating is done in a certain time frame. Let's say from 9am-2pm. It goes without saying that you should not binge eat. Eat your normal meals. In this example, you'd have a late breakfast, lunch, and maybe a snack. The fast occurs between the 2pm meal, and breakfast the next day. This is probably the most appealing method for beginners.

There are a few different other ways to do this, and each can be tweaked to better suit your needs. As with any drastic diet change, you should do more research and do it carefully. For more of the benefits of Intermittent Fasting check out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_fasting. See ya at the beach!

WOD

4 rounds

50 Double Unders

30 Situps