Eating Every 1 Hour

If anyone can help me with this: various articles and facts posted on T-Nation and other websites etc. say that eating every 2-3 hours is the best to keep the body in a muscle building and optimal metabolic state. but if you eat every hour will you be better off?

i mean, will that be better than eating every 2-3 hours? obviously managing the caloric intake so you will be eating less calories in every meal but eating more often

It’s a matter of keeping the belly full of the good type of food, so yes you will benefit.

i used to come up with crazy ideas like this, actually I still do. But on the websites i used to frequent, they shot them down, saying that is stupid…

What about training more frequently with the same overall daily or weekly volume?

like 2-3 or maybe even 4 times per day - or on a more real level

instead of lifting 3 times a week lift 7, same amount of volume though, same lifts ect. Maybe do one set of your squat on monday,one on tuesday, one on wednesday ect…?

assuming you had the time - you could train and eat every hour - keeping yourself in the “2 hour window” and able to handle carbs well … all day long…

On top of that you could probably increase your volume and intensity easier - after you got used to that way of training.

[quote]Jagrazor wrote:
i used to come up with crazy ideas like this, actually I still do. But on the websites i used to frequent, they shot them down, saying that is stupid…

What about training more frequently with the same overall daily or weekly volume?

like 2-3 or maybe even 4 times per day - or on a more real level

instead of lifting 3 times a week lift 7, same amount of volume though, same lifts ect. Maybe do one set of your squat on monday,one on tuesday, one on wednesday ect…?

assuming you had the time - you could train and eat every hour - keeping yourself in the “2 hour window” and able to handle carbs well … all day long…

On top of that you could probably increase your volume and intensity easier - after you got used to that way of training.[/quote]

You think too much.

Jagzaor I think it’s a good idea about training more often with the same amount of volume. Increasing frequency.

the thing about carbs,I don’t think it would work don’t know why,just a gut feeling.

I know this sounds good in theory, but realistically, I see no benefit or reason to do so.

If you’re eating every hour, that means each meal is pretty small. Otherwise, you are definitely forcing yourself to eat each hour (and that’s already hard for some people to do every 2-3 hours).

Who has time to eat every hour? Do you have a job? Do you have things to do throughout the day that may keep you away from food every hour on the hour?

How many things are you going to eat in a day before you’re sick of eating? Is one meal a protein shake, the next meal an apple, the next meal a can of tuna, the next meal a salad, the next meal some nuts, the next meal a piece of chicken, the next meal some eggs, etc.???

I would think you’d benefit better by eating every 3-4 hours and eating slightly larger meals, giving your body time to digest the food properly and also having time and energy for work or whatever other activities you have each day.

So, yes, in theory, it sounds cool. In the real world, it seems impractical, and I really see no benefit.

I heard this asked before and I believe the reasoning for every 3 hours was because that was approximatley how long each meal would take to get out of your stomach.

Eating more often would just add food on top of what’s already being digested in the stomach, and should have the same effect as if you ate every 3-4 hours.

Both ways (eating every 3 hours, and eating every hour) would (should) give the benefit of keeping food in your stomach and keeping your metabolism up.

Of course, this depends on what’s eaten, and how fast an individual’s body digests food, and how chewed up the food is before swallowing…

I don’t think there would be enough of a noticeable difference with eating every hour compared to every 3 hours.
Not as much of a difference as eating 6-7 meals a day compared to only 3 large meals.

Sometimes I end up eating every hour if I don’t have time to sit down and have a meal, particularly if I’m on campus somewhere, and food is disallowed. I’ll eat my almonds, then eat some chicken breast, and then eat an apple or something over the course of two hours or so. I don’t see any harm in it, but I don’t make a point of trying to split my meal up like that.

It doesn’t really matter. 2-3 hours is often enough. If it fits into your life to eat every hour, there might be some small added benefit.

Dr. John Berardi had an Appetite for Construction article where he said that when he first started out, he ate a preset number of meals a day and continually snacked between each of his meals. So, essentially, he never stopped eating. If I remember correctly, his “in-between meals” snacks were bagels with peanut butter and protein powders mixed. The daily total was (again, I think, 6 bagels, 6 tbspns of peanut butter, and 5-10 scoops of protein powder).

That’s kind of eating every hour, but like eating every minute.

From a common sense point of view, you won’t last very long on your nutrition program if you eat every hour unless you are extremely motivated; eating 6 well-prepared meals on time requires dedication, let alone eating 15-16 meals a day.

Dude your gonna be best freinds w/ your toilet having a diet like that

[quote]thabigdon24 wrote:
Dude your gonna be best freinds w/ your toilet having a diet like that[/quote]

This is probably true.

[quote]BIGRAGOO wrote:
Jagrazor wrote:
i used to come up with crazy ideas like this, actually I still do. But on the websites i used to frequent, they shot them down, saying that is stupid…

What about training more frequently with the same overall daily or weekly volume?

like 2-3 or maybe even 4 times per day - or on a more real level

instead of lifting 3 times a week lift 7, same amount of volume though, same lifts ect. Maybe do one set of your squat on monday,one on tuesday, one on wednesday ect…?

assuming you had the time - you could train and eat every hour - keeping yourself in the “2 hour window” and able to handle carbs well … all day long…

On top of that you could probably increase your volume and intensity easier - after you got used to that way of training.

You think too much.[/quote]

You think too little.

[quote]Jagrazor wrote:
i used to come up with crazy ideas like this, actually I still do. But on the websites i used to frequent, they shot them down, saying that is stupid…

What about training more frequently with the same overall daily or weekly volume?

like 2-3 or maybe even 4 times per day - or on a more real level

instead of lifting 3 times a week lift 7, same amount of volume though, same lifts ect. Maybe do one set of your squat on monday,one on tuesday, one on wednesday ect…?

assuming you had the time - you could train and eat every hour - keeping yourself in the “2 hour window” and able to handle carbs well … all day long…

On top of that you could probably increase your volume and intensity easier - after you got used to that way of training.[/quote]

Considering training, there are different factors which also must be taken in consideration, above all recovery. Therefore, although interesting, I don’t think the idea holds very well as an analogy with regard to eating. On the other hand, I guess some meals necessitate “recovery” after all…

okuma-

I don’t reply all that much to posts here.

To save you a lot of trouble:

-Eating every hour probably would not derive a significant difference in terms of having good nutrition compared to eating every 2-3 hours. In other words, Eating every hour probably would not warrant such an effort.

Why not eat every 30 minutes?

The reason may now seem apparent that in order to have good nutrition and LIFE… It would be nonsensical to explore only ONE facet of life- Be it nutrition, training( health in general) every hour of every day for the rest of your life.

I’m sure you could figure out some other things to take interest in besides eating every hour?

In between all this nutrition and training, LIFE exists. Does it really now make much sense to eat every hour as opposed to a FLEXIBLE window of 2-3 hours?

  • Secondly, How long do you think you could keep this habit LONG TERM? Eating every 2-3 hours is a challenge in itself at times. Set yourself up for better success and eat 6-8 meals a day eating every 2-3 hours. I want to be successful long term and it would make sense to adopt a more flexible approach. no?

-Lastly, It all comes back to moderation. By definition moderation means: Being within reasonable limits; not excessive or extreme. Setting limits empowers you not hinders. Most and I would guess in the limits of 95% in the US and probably farther don’t eat every 2-3 hours. Just a wild as guess though… But How many people do you know besides some of the people here that actually follow this guideline? Within the … let me count how many people I have programmed in my phone… 33 people off the top I come in contact with on a daily basis. Acquaintances and friends and not one of them eats around 42 meals a week or even 4-5 meals a day.

“all things in moderation” -Aristotle…

Some great arguments on this… I agree with Thomas Paine more so than Aristotle. (hey even the brilliant are wrong a lot but we need to stupify ourselves to see just how amazing the thought and theory is… geocentric cosmology the standard at one time)

A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation in principle is always a vice. -Thomas Paine
“The Rights of Man” 1792

Relax, Breathe, Shake, Let it go…

I think…

Eating every 2-3 hours will be more than moderately good and create excellence and yet be less than the impossibility of indulging(eating every hour or 30 minutes) in the joy that is nutrition.-The one facet or joy of life. The concet of trade-off becomes prevalent and the mindless reaction of every pleasurable joy is replaced with… Choice and opportunity…

If it were significantly different in terms of results to eat every hour or every 30 minutes it would be worth considering… but I doubt it is indeed SIGNIFICANT to warrant such a cause.

Before the game too… What am I doing

Enough of this…

We must protect this house…

-Get Lifted

I suggest an IV full of aminos and EFA so you get continuous nutrition.

[quote]TS wrote:
I suggest an IV full of aminos and EFA so you get continuous nutrition.[/quote]

Why do people always take your idea, then bring it to an extreme, then make fun of you with it?

What if you are a professional when the difference between 20 something and 1st is less than 5%

the difference between number 1 and number 2 is separated by seconds or tenths of a point, or a few pounds… or whatever.

Usually when someone comes up with an idea like this they aren’t looking for, hey guy, you are average, why don’t you enjoy something besides eating for training… why don’t you… go golf or something…

Maybe some people exist in this facet, called training and nutrition, maybe that is there life. Maybe you wouldn’t like it, but they didn’t ask you for your opinion on that did they?

Nope

Some people just can’t take any humor. I myself eat every hour or so; many times have I thought how convenient it would be to have an IV like that. A device where you can control nutrient levels with amazing temporal accuracy. I was just spreading the fun ideas I had. It doesn’t seem the experiment (eating every hour) has been done in a controlled setting, and all the useful comments were taken up, so why not have some random fun post.

Anyways, I said IV, not a stick up my @$$. Also, by posting up here, they are asking for opinions; and also try to learn how to spell as well.

[quote]Jagrazor wrote:
TS wrote:
I suggest an IV full of aminos and EFA so you get continuous nutrition.

Why do people always take your idea, then bring it to an extreme, then make fun of you with it?

What if you are a professional when the difference between 20 something and 1st is less than 5%

the difference between number 1 and number 2 is separated by seconds or tenths of a point, or a few pounds… or whatever.

Usually when someone comes up with an idea like this they aren’t looking for, hey guy, you are average, why don’t you enjoy something besides eating for training… why don’t you… go golf or something…

Maybe some people exist in this facet, called training and nutrition, maybe that is there life. Maybe you wouldn’t like it, but they didn’t ask you for your opinion on that did they?

Nope[/quote]

No.Eating on an already full stomach is no a good idea.