Is it OK to eat every 3 hours even if you don't work out that much? Will you still speed up your metabolism?

Answer 1

I have been receiving a lot of e-mail lately about diet. In the past, I was never concerned about what I ate. I just went to the gym, trained hard, and that was the extent of my routine. Not until recently did I realize the power diet has over the way your body looks and performs. I believe that diet is at least 75% of the fitness equation. In this article, I'm going to describe in detail what I have learned about diet during my 12-week transition period.
When to Eat and How Often
This might sound strange, but you have to eat more often to lose fat and gain muscle. During my transition period, I never ate less than 6 meals a day.
• Try to eat every 2 to 3 hours.
• Do not eat complex carbohydrates after 6:00 p.m. or four to five hours before going to bed.
• Try to eat one gram of protein per pound of lean body mass on lifting days and .8 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass on non-lifting days.
• Never eat more than 70 grams of protein in one meal.
Carbohydrates
When I think of carbohydrates, I think of energy. Carbohydrates supply our bodies with the energy it needs to make it through a workout. Without an adequate supply of carbohydrates, the body goes into carbohydrate deprivation. This is called a state of ketosis (meaning our body is using protein as energy). This is not a good state to be in for long because it will rob the body of muscle tissue in an effort to create energy. On the other hand, if too many carbohydrates are consumed, they convert into stored fat. The idea is to consume just enough carbohydrates to make it through our workouts with sufficient energy. I have broken down carbohydrates into these three categories:
• Simple carbs: These are sugars, or quick energy. They are absorbed very quickly into the body. Ex. Anything with sugar, also fruit
• Complex carbs: This is where you get long-term energy for the day. These are long chained carbohydrates that brake down slower, giving us energy over a prolonged period of time. Ex. Oatmeal, potatoes, pasta, rice, breads
• Fibrous carbs: These are things like vegetables. I think of them as roughage in order to stay regular. Make sure you include them in you later meals when you can't eat complex carbs. They are also a good source of vitamins. Ex. Leafy vegetables like lettuce.
Protein
Proteins are the building blocks of our muscles. Without a sufficient amount of protein in our diet, our muscles will not have the raw materials that they need to build up, or even hang on to what is already there.
Net protein utilization: Not all protein is created equal. Different foods are absorbed more than others. For example, egg white protein is absorbed at 88%. That means we get about 9 eggs to our muscles. On the other hand, chicken breast are absorbed at 68%, meaning we get about 7 breasts to our muscles. It is imported to eat a wide verity of protein foods though; no one protein source has all the amino acids we need.
• Whey protein (100%): the best source of whey protein is from protein supplements. It is also absorbed very fast by the body, so it is best to take this when your body needs amino acids quickly: like right after a workout or when you first get up in the morning.
• Egg whites (88%)
• Fish (78%)
• Chicken breast (78%)
• Soy protein: My one bit of advice would be to try and stay away from soy protein. It is not absorbed very well by the body.
Fats
We normally think of fats as being bad. The fact is certain fats are essential to building muscle and carrying out various functions of the body. There are 2 fat types we need to be concerned about:
• Saturated fats: these are the bad fats. Avoid these fats as much as possible. You will find these types of fats mostly in meats
• Unsaturated fats: these are the good fats. They are a good energy source and help us build muscle. You can find from plant oils. Peanuts are also a good source.
Water
Do not under estimate the importance of water! If you are looking to get lean, water will be your best friend. Drink as much as you can and as often as you can. Also, it is very important to drink lots of water when you're eating large amounts of protein to clean urea from the system.
Vitamins & minerals
As resistance training athletes, we have a greater need for vitamins & minerals. When we workout and bring blood to our muscles it is important that our blood is full of those essential vitamins & minerals if we want to grow.
Supplements
Supplements are just that, meaning they are used to supplement your diet, not replace it. Don't ever think of it that way.
Hierarchy of supplements:
I developed this hierarchy of supplements based on what I thought were the most important and also by price.
• 1. Proper diet: Without proper diet you are just wasting money on supplements. Start here! Do not think that supplements are going to do it for you alone.
• 2. Multi-vitamin & mineral: It is very important to have all your vitamins & minerals when resistance training. Most of us are lacking in some areas, make it a priority to make this your first supplement.
• 3. Protein powder: It is usually very hard to get all the protein you need from real foods. Powders make it much easier. Also, these powders are absorbed fast by the body making them ideal after workouts or before and after sleep.
• 4. Creatine: This is great for harder workouts. It also makes you muscles hang on to water, giving them a better environment to grow.
• 5. L-glutamine: This is an important amino acid in muscle recovery
• 6. Branch chained amino acid: These are great before and after workouts along with L-glutamine because it gives your muscles all the amino acids it needs to repair and grow.
• 7. ZMA: This helps you release more growth hormone while you sleep, increasing your size and strength.
• 8. Thermogenic: These really help in the fat loss process. They also help you hang on to more muscle while dieting due to the fact you can eat more.
• 9. Meal replacement: Although very expensive, meal replacements make it much more convenient to get some of your meals in. Also, you can get in more meals than if you were to eat only real foods.
"The golden hour"
Remember "The golden hour" because it will make things so much easier for you. "The golden hour" is a window of opportunity we have to get everything we have depleted in our body back in a short amount of time. Think of your muscles as a gas tank: When you workout, you use gas for energy or in this case glucose. After a workout, our muscles are in a unique state. They are able to fill back up very quickly leaving you full for the next workout. If you wait to long, your muscles don't fill back up as easily and the carbs you eat are more likely to be stored as fat. Doing this will also let you take advantage of insulin's muscle building effects from the simple carbs you have ingested. You want to ingest 50-75 grams of simple carbs right after a workout. Also, this is when you want to take your protein shake because it will absorb quickly and supply your muscles with the amino acids that they need.
Insulin
This is a very complicated subject, but all we need to know is that insulin can help us build muscle or can make us fat depending on the timing. Insulin is released by the pancreas in response to elevated blood sugar levels. We can achieve a high blood sugar level by ingesting simple carbs. Like "the golden hour" we have a window of opportunity to take advantage of the muscle building effects of the insulin without getting fat. We have about 4 or 5 hours after we workout to take advantage of insulin. If we take in too many simple carbs out of this window, we are very likely to store fat.
Cheat day
The theory behind the cheat days is you take one day every 2 weeks to eat anything you want and actually get leaner. It might sound crazy, but it worked for me. When you eat low carbs for a time for body begins to think it is not getting all the food it needs (because your not storing any fat) and begins to slow down your metabolism. When you bombard your body with food on that one day, it tricks your body into thinking it has all it needs and speeds your metabolism back up. I can tell you from experience, every day after a cheat day I felt leaner and looked better.
Ketosis
This is when your body uses protein for energy. This happens when we have too few carbs in the body or when we over train. I went into the state of ketosis for only the last week of my 12-week transition for a couple of reasons: (1) I wanted all of my muscles to shrink down so when I carbed back up, my skin would be tighter. (2) When you go into ketosis it seems to bring the water out from under the skin. Don't go into this state to loose fat. Without carbs your body can not burn fat effectively. You will loose weight rather quickly, but only because you don't have as much glycogen in the muscle. Also, you are simply loosing water. Remember that proteins are the building blocks for muscle and that means they are fair game for energy when in the state of ketosis. I would not recommend going into this state unless you are trying to get into a super ripped state for a short amount of time, like for a bodybuilding contest.

Answer 2

Make sure you're eating enough, seriously, if you eat too few calories (you should eat a minimum of 1,400 - more if you're working out lots), otherwise once you start eating 'normally' again, that weight is going straight back on. That being said, weight lift! You WON'T develop muscles like men, but weight training, builds muscle & burns off fat, leaving you nice & toned - combine that with running/jogging/cycling 3 miles (not necessarily all at once), rather than walking. Walking is a good exercise, but there are better forms. Going for a 2 mile run is better than a slow-paced 3 mile walk. Cycling is brilliant, focuses on lots of areas of the body.

Answer 3

You are suppose to eat 6 small portioned meals a day.
Most people think okay eating three times a day is what i'm suppose to do. No that wrong. You want to eat your biggest meal in the morning for breakfast to get you metabolism going. But dont over stuff your self and eat health. then have a small snack before lunch again healthy. then eat a samll lunch a couple hours later eat a small snack then a couple hours after that eat a small dinner and then a couple hours after that eat another small snack. remebr healthy. dont eat any thing after 9 oclock. doing this will cause you to gain weight.

Answer 4

Yes to question 1. You will slowly learn to eat less and less.

Question 2; you need to do aerobics to speed up your metabolism.

Here is a easy one; standing up, shoes on, start walking quickly.
Small and quick steps. Do not move forward. Sort of fast-walking-in-place. Every step down with your right foot, count 1, 2, 3 etc.
Move your arms up and down as you "walk/run". Move in synch with the movement of your feet. No big steps! Small and quick steps. When you reach 100 steps, stop. You SHOULD do this when you wake up and before you go to bed. Takes less than a minute each time. AND if you can; during breaks and lunch.

I do mine in the bathroom at work, once an hour.
Everyone else goes outside for a cigarette break, so I use the bathroom for an exercise break.

Answer 5

I just lost 30 pounds on weight watchers. I used the core system which allows me to eat as much as I want from a certain list of foods. I ate every three hours starting with an orange for breakfast, apple for midmorning, salad with grilled chicken for lunch, cup of grapes for midafternoon, dinner was chicken with asparagus, and a cup of raw baby carrots for an evening snack. It varied from day to day but you get the idea. I was rarely hungry and the weight came off. I would walk a mile at night. Nothing strenuous.

Answer 6

Actually it makes sense to eat very small meals spread out through the day every three hours. Would be easier to digest and less likely to be stored as fat than large meals which strain the system.

Answer 7

is it ok? definetly....will it speed up your metabolism, it might but it definetly won't hurt it.

the body can more efficiently utilize nutrients and calories when they are ingested periodically over the course of the day. it keeps insulin levels stable providing more energy, low stable levels of insulin help to reduce the levels of blood lipids as well.

Answer 8

Yes. And the food you eat has to be in small portions. My coworker did it for a while and he lost a lot of weight.

Answer 9

good foods will speed up your metabolism, however if you excercise if speeds up immensly.

Answer 10

as long as you're not consuming high calories, fattening foods.

Answer 11

you'll get fat