Does eating six meals a day for muscle gain really work? Although you can also build muscle with just three meals a day, but if you increase your food intake to a six day meal, then this will benefit and optimize your muscle gains.
Here are six benefits of eating six meals a day to increase muscle mass:
1. Boost Your Calorie Intake
To be able to gain muscle, it is necessary to increase your daily calorie intake, and an effective way to accomplish this is by eating more meals, such as a 5-6 meals per day. Your meals should be super clean high-protein foods, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats since these are muscle building foods that are essential to muscle mass.
To make sure you are taking the right amount, consume 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. For instance, if you weigh 150 pounds, you will need 150 grams of protein per day. Divide this number by the number of your meals. If you are concentrating on having 6 meals per day, that would be 25 grams of protein per meal.
2. Calorie Absorption
Your body makes use of these calories for energy, and for other purposes when you eat. So it is not practical to consume 3 meals per day because your body can only assimilate a number of calories per meal. The excess calories will just be stored as fat and will not create muscle mass. You do not want to consume 75 grams of protein per meal if you weigh 150 pounds because not all the amino acids will get absorbed into your muscles. It is natural that all excess protein will just get excreted in urine or get stored as fat.
Protein is a macronutrient and contains calories too, so any excess can get stored as adipose tissue or fat deposits. This is the same with any other macronutrient like carbs and fats. Eating 6 meals per day as part of your diet plan is more effective, especially if meals are in small portion and is eaten more frequently like every 2-3 hours.
3. Provides Higher Energy Levels for Training
When you eat 6 meals per day, this provides your body with a constant supply of energy and nutrients, which you can naturally benefit during training. If you had a heavy lunch with no snacks in between, then start training in the evening, you can experience a drop in your energy level since too much time has passed since you ate last. This will eventually result to feeling tired and lethargic. But, if you had a meal like 1.5-2 hours ago, before you start your training, you will be more energized and your performance at the gym will be better.
4. Nourishes Muscle Mass
To maintain your muscle mass once you have built your muscles, you will need sufficient amount of protein daily. If you become lazy with your diet, you will also lose the muscle you gain. While building muscle is your first goal, maintaining it is equally important. Most bodybuilders know this fact, which is why they consume protein every few hours with their consumption of solid foods and whey protein shakes. The 6 meals per day program can sustain your protein needs.
5. Boosting Your Metabolism
When you eat more frequently, your metabolism will ignite because of the thermic effect of the food. Your body naturally needs a substantial amount of calories to break down food and for nutrient absorption purposes, thus speeding your metabolism, which will in turn build muscle and burn fat.
Some challenges may also be present, especially for hardgainers with a naturally fast metabolism since they find it difficult to gain muscle mass. However, it does not necessarily mean that they cannot gain muscle with a fast metabolism. If hardgainers are not feeding their bodies properly, what they eat will just be used up as energy fast because of their quick metabolism, which will just result to not gaining muscle mass. To combat this problem, eat more meals per day.
6. Boosting Testosterone Levels
The 6 meals per day should comprise of balanced meals, such as lean protein, complex carbs, healthy fats that are sure to trigger a surge in testosterone levels. Such meals will make your body more anabolic that will result to muscle mass.
Keep in mind that to gain muscle mass, it is necessary to increase your calorie intake from nutrient-dense foods, continuously performing resistance training, having an adequate and sufficient rest, and stay focused and consistent.
