Fasting for Weight Loss vs Six Meals Per Day
Posted by admin on Sep 15, 2009
If you’ve ever told someone that you’re using fasting to lose weight then you will have likely had people telling you that what you are doing is wrong and that if you really want to lose weight you should be eating six small meals a day. In this article we are going to examine the pro’s and cons of six meals a day versus using fasting for weight loss and come to a consensus on what is the best method for you.
First we need to look at where this whole idea of eating six meals a day came from and it really is a recent phenomenon as over the last 100 or so years in industrialized countries society and working convention is based around breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The idea of six small meals a day first came from the body building fraternity as a way to lose weight, or get ‘cut’ for body building competitions while maintaining or even gaining muscle mass.
This method worked well for bodybuilders as there large size, high metabolism and large energy demand to fuel their training meant that they could easily consume 2500-3000 calories a day and still be in a calorie deficit! This method filtered into the fitness world then into general advice shelled out by well meaning but uninformed individuals who were then telling people that if they wanted to lose weight they should eat more!
Most individuals that want to lose weight for health or image reasons most often are not the size of a bodybuilder nor do they have the same energy demands due to physical activity. Even six meals a day at 400 calories is 2400, 400 calories more than is recommended as the daily intake for women!
When losing weight really just comes down to calories in must be less than calories out we can see how absurd this six small meals a day theory is. By fasting it is easy to achieve a calorie deficit, it just doesn’t seem as tempting to most people as getting to eat six meals a day!
You see it’s in our basic human nature to avoid pain and seek pleasure. The idea of fasting to lose weight may at first seem like a daunting task to most people and it will be a little uncomfortable at first as your body and brain crave the sugar rushes you are accustomed to giving it.
However if give it a try and you will soon see it is not as difficult as you had anticipated and you will actually lose weight with fasting instead of wondering why your putting on weight by eating six meals a day like the grapevine told you.
