Why You Should Eat 2 Meals a Day
Some dieticians suggest that you consume two meals a day for increased metabolism. Others insist that you must eat 2 meals a day with no snacks in between for best results and to achieve and maintain a good weight. Nevertheless, what is clear is that if you want to burn fat and gain muscle, it makes sense to eat your meals at specific times of the day.
If you are not sure about what type of meals to have, let me give you some tips. For building muscle mass, one of the best methods to increase calories and mass is to have more frequent meal frequency. This is because your body always remains in a state of thermogenesis (increased metabolic rate). In other words, you always find yourself in an active metabolic state which results in further calories being burnt off and stored as additional lean body mass. Therefore, if you stay active for long enough, you will reach your desired weight.
One of the most common mistakes people make when trying to eat more frequently is skipping breakfast and lunch. They feel that they can consume larger number of calories later since they will have had a small break during the day. However, the logic behind eating two meals a day is that it will take you more time to digest all the food you have eaten and that consequently will result in less calories being burned. To understand this better, imagine that after running a marathon, the next day you start eating only bananas. You will soon start feeling tired and slow.
However, if you eat twice a day, your body will be able to have a chance to digest all the food you have consumed during the day. This will result in more efficient burning of calories and thus more weight loss if you stick to a sensible eating pattern. The next mistake people make when trying to eat more often is over-loading their stomach with all the food they have taken in. In other words, they stuff themselves up with all kinds of unhealthy snacks like chocolates, chips, fries, etc. The logic behind this is quite simple: if you stuff your face with healthy food, you will not want to get rid of it so fast!
People often argue that the quality of their food will remain the same, regardless of the meal frequency. However, this is not entirely true. As your body will not be able to absorb as many vitamins and minerals as it can when you consume two meals a day, the energy levels in your body will significantly drop. Your metabolism will become sluggish and it will be easier for you to gain weight than to lose it. Therefore, the quality of your meals will also suffer, as you will eat less but fewer nutritious foods, resulting in a poor quality protein, carbohydrates and fats to be absorbed into your body.
This is one reason why people who eat less often still gain weight; because their calorie intake is significantly lower than their calorie output. If you want to eat right, do it consistently and eat only the right kinds of foods. If you eat 2 meals a day, you will be able to keep up with your nutrient requirement without cheating and you will also limit your calorie intake without putting on weight easily.
