By: Sean Nalewanyj
Submitted: 2009-10-31 18:48:18 | Word Count: 883
While it may seem a bit paradoxical at first glance, research has shown that one of the best ways to burn the most fat and build and maintain muscle is to eat smaller meals more often. For long, the most recognized method to burn the most fat was by eating three meals a day, with some people eating two or fewer meals each day.
However, when trying to build muscle and burn the most fat, eating only three meals per day will be detrimental to your results. This is because your body will slow down its fat burning metabolism to conserve energy when there are long gaps of 4 hours or more between meals. This is a simple survival technique used by the body to stay healthy during times of starvation.
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Your body has no idea that there is a fridge full of food 10 feet away from you, and when you go for 4 hours or more without a meal, this natural survival mechanism will be activated.
During this period that the body considers to be a "famine," it will burn less fat as well as break down lean muscle tissue. Since muscle is metabolically active, it can actually burn calories by itself, and so losing muscle tissue can further slow down your metabolism. This is clearly not a good thing if you really want to burn the most fat.
In addition to the decreased fat burning and increased muscle breakdown, taking long breaks between meals will destabilize blood sugar levels, increase hunger pangs, and lower energy levels.
Keep your body's fat burning processes working effectively and efficiently and burn the most fat by eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day. This will entail eating 5–7 small meals every 2–3 hours.
Although it might seem like a lot initially, once you start, you will get used to it.
However, note that this does not suggest that you should eat more calories during the day. Ensure that the caloric content of your small, frequent meals is the same as the two or three big meals you would normally eat during the day.
By following this approach, you will burn the most fat, but just as importantly, the approach in itself is healthier than others. When only two or three meals are consumed each day, the portions of food consumed during these meal times are much larger than they would be if several smaller meals were eaten throughout the day. This type of eating is hard on your body's digestive system as it is forced to absorb many nutrients at one time; also, this type of eating causes your blood sugar levels to skyrocket.
Eating smaller, more frequent meals ensures that the blood sugar levels remain constant (balancing your sugar is a must if you are trying to burn the most fat); moreover, these meals are easily digested by the body.
