How many times a day to you have to eat to be big and strong?

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Bubble99, Dec 2, 2015.

  1. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    i will be blunt (although i apologize if i cause offense). you do not know what you are talking about, you are treating a complex subject as if it had simple black and white answers, and you are taking anecdotal data and treating it as said black and white answers, incorrectly, because you have not acquired the relevant basic info that would enable you to form well-informed opinions on the subject.

    while i am not an extremely experienced person in the subject in question, i am not a novice, either, and i have been constantly trying to learn more about it ever since i got seriously involved in fitness about 4 years ago, having multiple training certifications and being in a process of constant update via personal and impersonal contact with high-level experts in the fields of health and fitness. if memory serves, what i do know, i have shared in more than one of your threads, and i have pointed you to resources where you can learn a lot more, from people vastly more qualified. you rebutt this with "eating 2 to 3 times a day and weight training does nothing", while not even addressing the basic fact that caloric input and meal frequency are not directly correlated, and that the former is the one that determines changes in body composition.

    let's try something else: i lift weights, and rarely eat more than 2 proper meals a day, although i will often snack outside of my meals.

    this is my back:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/9KGZqPpApj/

    this is me lifting one and a half times my bodyweight off the floor and putting it overhead:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/-v8GIPpAnM/

    this is me taking my own bodyweight and putting it over my head four times purely on arm strength:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/-hNERKpAjX/

    look at that and tell me if you can honestly say with a straight face "eating 2 to 3 times a day and lifting weights does nothing". it does, if you know what you're doing, which is the reason i linked you to Dr. Israetel's video series in my prior post. Now, the company for which Israetel works, Renaissance Periodization, does, as far as I know, recommend more meals a day, but as I mentioned, and as you will learn if you watch the videos (incidentally, RP has a pair of extremely good sports nutrition ebooks that greatly expand on the same topics in a highly accessible manner, and which i would recommend aqcuiring), that has nothing to do with meal frequency being a make or break aspect, but rather a point of convenience that lets you control your diet better.

    now, as to why you should listen to what Israetel or the RP people say? well, on the one hand, this is Dr. Israetel: https://www.instagram.com/p/8EhKIhrGBK/

    rather big and strong fella.

    on the other hand, Renaissance Periodization handles the nutrition of literally hundreds of the world's strongest elite athletes. these are their results: https://www.instagram.com/p/-l6Py-qvPU/

    if you want big and strong, listen to them ;). and please, do understand this is not an attack against you, but the answers are never black and white, and if they seem simple they are either generalized and leave many things out, or they are wrong. do not settle for the simple answers. raise the bar, and seek to understand the complexities of what you are asking about.
     
  2. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    in this, you're right. lifting consumes energy (but not as much as one might think, per individual workout), and recovering from lifting also does. both of those things have to be accounted for regarding your final calorie balance and whether you want to gain, lose or maintain weight. to gain, you need to train more, and eat enough to account for what you use up training and recovering, plus a little extra to actually grow with.

    regarding protein and carbs, however, it depends. carbs are a source of energy (the body's primary source of it for exercise and for brain activity, in fact, while fats are burned more at rest, generally speaking), and diets often change with time depending on the needs of the trainee. i will say however that bodybuilders who eat low carb diets are extremely rare, because carbs are the main fuel for bodybuilding workouts. except in specific circumstances, a low-carb bodybuilder would literally be unable to train effectively.
     
  3. Bubble99

    Bubble99 Valued Member

    Wow she is awesome and she did this eating two or three times in day?

    https://www.instagram.com/p/-l6Py-qvPU/


    And her too?
    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=356-gdcE1_w"]Female Bodybuilder Looks for Love | Strange Love - YouTube[/ame]


    And her?
    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gh9YUZoY18"]Female Bodybuilder Karolina Borkovcova - How I Do Off Season 2015 - YouTube[/ame]

    [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMmqS2v0864"]Gorgeous Bodybuilder Trains Shoulders Shirtless - YouTube[/ame]

    I'm little confused is it Bodybuilders that have to eat 4 to 8 times in day?

    But power lifters and MMA fighter can eat two or three times in a day?

    What do you mean by caloric input and meal frequency ?
     
  4. Bubble99

    Bubble99 Valued Member

    So how do you know how much you need to eat?

    Most people need 2000 calories a day to stay healthy.

    To gain weight in form of body muscle not fat what do you have to eat and how much? Say 4000 calories to 8000 calories in day?
     
  5. GoldShifter

    GoldShifter The MachineGun Roundhouse

    Meal frequency = How often you eat. How frequent meals are.

    Caloric input = how many calories you're putting into your body at a given time or in total.


    Christ Jesus, no that is an absurd amount of calories. You could be at 2500 Calories and be okay. 4000 or 8000 a day, you'd probably die really quick. Granted Michael Phelps did eat 12,000 Calories a day, but those were under the supervision of a nutritionist and a large panel of professionals. He also works out an extreme amount. We're normal individuals. Eat normal food, and don't eat too much normal food, you'll be fine.
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2015
  6. Bubble99

    Bubble99 Valued Member

    Americans are known for eating two or three big servings in a day!! Well Europeans eat 4 to 6 small servings in day.
     
  7. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    which americans? which europeans? you are generalizing too much. as for how much each of those specific women eat, i have no bloody clue, as i have no way to know.
    the renaissance one, probably multiple meals as that's what renaissance periodization is known for recommending, as far as i am aware. the thing is, HOW MUCH FOOD is in each meal. 8 meals of 300 calories will make almost on one grow any appreciable amount unless that were extremely light to begin with. 2 meals of 3000 calories each will make almost anyone that's not an elite athlete obese if kept up for long enough.

    as for how many calories, that is individual. for good rates of mass gain without excessive fat gain, 500 calories over what you, personally, need to maintain your weight stable, is a good starting point (your required maintenance calories being how much you burn via all sorts of activity, plus your basal metabolic rate, which is the amount your body uses for its autonomous functions, all the way down to the cellular level). please watch the video series i linked in page one, it explains all this perfectly and features a much more qualified person delivering the information.
     
  8. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    one reason why many elite athletes and bodybuilders eat that often, by the way, is because they have such absurdly high energy demands, and in the case of bodybuilders and heavyweight strength athletes with a lot of mysclez an absurdly hogh amount of mass to maintain, so they eat many meals because it's the only way they have to eat enough for what THEY need. say your maintenance calories are around 2000, you can literally exceed that in a single meal if you eat a lot at once, and it can comfortably be eaten in two, three, four smaller meals. now, say you have years and years of training experience, and can tolerate high-performance training multiple times a week (for example an elite track and field athlete, who runs, jumps, throws, etc at least 5 times a week). your maintenance calories could be way up near 6000 or more. remember that huge 2000 calorie meal? 3 of hose a day have you covered, but it'll be a chore to get it all down, digest properly before training, etc. that is why multiple meals are useful, because you can get the same amount of food in more manageable portions, say, 6 1000 calorie meals. now if we go all the way to the absolute extreme of the genetically gifted athletic elite, many of whom also use anabolic steroids to increase their already high natural physical potential, you get people who are bigger ANd can train harder and for longer than 99% of people. their maintenance calories would go WAAAAAAAAYYYYYY up, and then few meals are literally impossible to use, because the sheer volume if food they need is ridiculous (for example, world class male strongmen can get as heavy as 180kg, which is a LOT of body mass to feed), which is where the whole "must eat many many meals a day" thing comes from. what would turn a normal people obese in a matter of months would make these men lose mass in a matter of days, but it is not something that applies to anyone anywhere under at least 100kg of bodyweight who is not a world-class athlete (less so if one does not use performance enhancing drugs)
     
  9. Latikos

    Latikos Valued Member

    Expert at work, huh?

    You really need to do some more research, if you state your comments as facts.
    (EDIT: To your favor I admit though, that at least in the first quote you claim it was a web site; but still: Not everything in the internet is true and correct. Try checking more then one source)

    Just like in your older threads, by the way.


    If you don't know much about a subject, that's okay - just don't pretend you do, and instead *ask* about it, before coming with "facts".

    I'm from Europe, and most people would be glad, if they'd get to eat actual meals three times a day, let alone 4-6 times.
    Here, like everywhere, they eat when they're hungry and have the time.
    (Unless, maybe, when dieting; but we're talking "normal" eating habits, right?


    Btw - I didn't calculate it lately, but I'm pretty sure, I'd start gaining a little weight, if I were to consume 2000 calories a day.
    Could be wrong, but I think not.
     
  10. Bubble99

    Bubble99 Valued Member

    Mostly web sites of Europeans that experience culture shock of large plate servings in the US.

    I assume it is American culture of eating two or three big plate serving in a day.

    Where Europeans eat more but smaller plate servings.

    The experience of culture shock of every thing is big in the US.

    One American plate serving be like two European plate serving morning breakfast and lunch.

    I'm sure some Europeans on this web site can explain how many times in day they eat. And can explain the confusion here.

    If Europeans eat breakfast, morning snack, lunch, evening snack dinner that may explain 4 to 6 times a day of eating but smaller plate servings. Than say American two or three times a day but big plate servings.
     
  11. Bubble99

    Bubble99 Valued Member

    For Bodybuilders, power lifters and MMA fighters that say they need x number of calories in a day:eek::eek::eek::eek: they have two choices they can eat two or three big plate servings in a day or eating 5 to 6 smaller plate servings in a day to get that amount. What is more recommended.

    Also if an average built person needs 2000 calories in day to keep the same wight and stay healthy would Bodybuilders, power lifters and MMA fighters need two or three times that amount?:eek:
     
  12. Bubble99

    Bubble99 Valued Member

    So if you need 6000 calories in day it better and easier to eat many times in day than two or three very big plate servings.


    Most Bodybuilders, power lifters and MMA fighters need 4000 to 8000 calories in a day?
     
  13. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    it depends on the person. different people are different in size (so they will need different calories to maintain their weight) and in activity (so they will need different calories to fuel their activity, and to recover from it).

    some may need 4000, some may 3000, some 2500, some (but very few) may even need up to 8000, but in that case we're talking about people who are almost gigantic and who do almost nothing but train all day.

    the more calories you need to eat, the easier it is to eat them over more meals (or rather, the harder it is to eat them over fewer meals). if you CAN comfortably eat your calories in 3 meals (for example, i am so short that even being relatively well-built and lifting 5 times a week, 2500 calories would fatten me, so i need few enough calories that i could probably get them in a single meal), then the amount of meals doesn't matter too much, whereas as the calories go up, the amount of food in each meal would go up, and at certain points it becomes better to just spread it out over an extra meal so you don't end up force-feeding yourself.
     
  14. Bubble99

    Bubble99 Valued Member

    There is chart I don't know where it is base on your age, sex, activity, height what you should weigh being non bodybuilder than being bodybuilder will go up from there.
     
  15. Bubble99

    Bubble99 Valued Member

    Also if you a skinny collage guy or collage girl that your height is at 130 pounds you have to some how bring it up to closer to say 200 pounds may be even more than 200 pounds if you a tall person.
     
  16. Mushroom

    Mushroom De-powered to come back better than before.

    What is it you want to do? Whats your goals?
     
  17. Rebecca_Daw

    Rebecca_Daw New Member

    I ate three times a full meal. I have a good metabolic rate.
     
  18. Bubble99

    Bubble99 Valued Member

    Why is it when I eat only one time in day I feel better? But if I eat two times in day I feel really full and little energy?

    How can I get any where close to bigger look if I eat so little?
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2016
  19. Bubble99

    Bubble99 Valued Member

    Wow you must be really active to eat three meals in a day.

    I'm almost anorexic and scared, if I fell down I could hurt my self really bad or break a bone because I'm way too underweight.

    And I have hardly any body muscle.

    I wonder how the MMA bantamweight and flyweight are? Because these girls are really skinny and you can see their bones.
     
  20. Simon

    Simon Administrator Admin Supporter MAP 2017 Koyo Award

    If this is the case I'd urge you to see a doctor who will be able to refer you to a dietitian.

    They'll be able to put you on a programme that is right for you.

    The problem with advice from internet strangers is they'll often recommend a programme that is right for them.

    An expert will take into account many factors including age, sex, lifestyle, current or past illnesses, physical activity, emotional state and so on.

    In addition if you are of Caribbean decent then a diet rich in animal fats isn't necessarily going to suit you, when a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and nuts is.

    Like wise for someone on the opposite side of the world.

    Someone in Alaska isn't going to be able to get fruit, vegetables and nuts/seeds, so would be looking for more meat and animal fats.

    Please go to your doctor first and get the advice of a professional.

    Good luck and please do let us know how it goes.
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2016

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