Should we eat when hungry or it's better to eat every 2 hours for anabolism?

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As you know, overeating can cause endotoxin and I am thinking if it's fine to eat every 2 hours to keep anabolism up even if hunger is absent. I did that and I became more bloated but I didn't gain any weight.
I also ate when hungry for a week and I felt like my sleep quality was not that great but overall mood was better and surprisingly my strength at the gym increased significantly, but this can be just a coincidence (in that week I drank lots of coffee).

What do you think?
Eat when hungry or every 2 hours?
 

Nomane Euger

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Sep 22, 2020
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As you know, overeating can cause endotoxin and I am thinking if it's fine to eat every 2 hours to keep anabolism up even if hunger is absent. I did that and I became more bloated but I didn't gain any weight.
I also ate when hungry for a week and I felt like my sleep quality was not that great but overall mood was better and surprisingly my strength at the gym increased significantly, but this can be just a coincidence (in that week I drank lots of coffee).

What do you think?
Eat when hungry or every 2 hours?
hi,Eat at the frequency and quantitity that make you feel the best in the aspects you want to.

several factors influence how long it will take before you begin to experience declining wellbeing, so pay attention to when this happens, it is the best indication of when you should re-eat the foods that cultivate the aspects of your well being that you wish to
 

Hans

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As you know, overeating can cause endotoxin and I am thinking if it's fine to eat every 2 hours to keep anabolism up even if hunger is absent. I did that and I became more bloated but I didn't gain any weight.
I also ate when hungry for a week and I felt like my sleep quality was not that great but overall mood was better and surprisingly my strength at the gym increased significantly, but this can be just a coincidence (in that week I drank lots of coffee).

What do you think?
Eat when hungry or every 2 hours?
When it comes to maximizing muscle growth and you want to be elite, about 4-5 meals will do the trick. However, there isn't much of a difference between 3 and 4. 3 meals are better than 1, but it works on an asymptotic exponential curve. 3 is better than 1, but 5 might only be slightly better than 3. 7 will likely not be better than 5 at all.
Just make sure you eat enough calories and the desired protein and other macros per day. That's much more important compared to meal frequency given that it's more than once a day ofc.
 
OP
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When it comes to maximizing muscle growth and you want to be elite, about 4-5 meals will do the trick. However, there isn't much of a difference between 3 and 4. 3 meals are better than 1, but it works on an asymptotic exponential curve. 3 is better than 1, but 5 might only be slightly better than 3. 7 will likely not be better than 5 at all.
Just make sure you eat enough calories and the desired protein and other macros per day. That's much more important compared to meal frequency given that it's more than once a day ofc.
Thanks for this info Hans. But what if you don't have the appetite for 5 meals a day? Is it fine to force yourself when not hungry? Or is it better to eat only when hungry to avoid endotoxin?
 
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I tried eating 5-6 clean meals a day, calories slightly below maintenance in order to lose weight in my late teens years ago. It worked well as for about 2 weeks I lost weight, but then I rather quickly got hungrier and hungrier. My 5-6 small meals became 5-6 regular sized meals and I started eating well above maintenance calories and gained all my weight back and then some.

Some months after that I discovered ghrelin and thought, "Ooooh that's what happened". The hunger hormone Ghrelin is stimulated every time you eat, and what happened to me, eating at specific times in the day, I trained my body to produce the hunger hormone 5-6 times a day. My body learnt it was naturally time to eat, every 2.5-3 hours. After this the frequency didn't increase above 5-6 times, but the amount of hormone produced at each interval definitely did, because oh boy I became ravenous.

Everyone's different, and I'm sure there's plenty of people who wouldn't react to higher meal frequency like I did, but skipping breakfast and sometimes lunch is what works best for me. I'm guessing my body likes to produce more ghrelin than leptin, because my appetite is quite easily kept in check when I do daily intermittent fasting. I've tried the 5-6 meals a day thing a couple times again over the years and I get the same reaction every time. Even tried it on keto once and still, ravenous appetite within a couple weeks.

Oh and I have absolutely no problem gaining weight whether it's muscle or fat. I grow muscle and strength on 1-2 meals a day easy. Best muscle building tip, at least that made a night and day difference for me, and all my friends I trained is to forget lifting heavy, throw your ego out. Get used to lifting pink 4kg/8 pound dumbbells for hundreds of reps. Take 1 muscle you want to bring up, and add one exercise for it to every warmup you do regardless of what training day it is. Say you want 3-D shoulders? Do 100 reps of face pulls or W raises in every warmup for every workout, you'll have 3D shoulders in a few months.

If you lift heavy, only lift heavyish, and do partial reps in the 20+ range as a superset, once you can't go full ROM.

My favorite is what I call the Epic Pyramid, or marathon pyramid sets. Start at something like 2kg, do 50 reps no rest. Take 3 deep breaths, then go up to 4kg for 40 reps. Then 6kg for 30 reps, 8kg for 20 reps, then 10kg for 10 reps.

Then take 30 seconds rest, and go back down the pyramid. 20 reps, 30 reps, 40 reps, 50 reps.

You'll need a bout a week to recover the first couple times you do that. This works for anything that's not too cardio-intensive like squats.
 
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Hans

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Thanks for this info Hans. But what if you don't have the appetite for 5 meals a day? Is it fine to force yourself when not hungry? Or is it better to eat only when hungry to avoid endotoxin?
I personally eat when hungry and I can guarantee you that you won't notice a difference between 2 and 5 meals as long as your calories and protein are in check.
 

TheCedar1

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Thanks for this info Hans. But what if you don't have the appetite for 5 meals a day? Is it fine to force yourself when not hungry? Or is it better to eat only when hungry to avoid endotoxin?
We are all different, some people feel better and perform well in the gym eating 3 meals/day, some eat 6 meals/day. Try to find the spot where you feel good, build muscle and feel healthy in general. I eat 4 meals a day and it works very good for me.
 

Arlen4458

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As you know, overeating can cause endotoxin and I am thinking if it's fine to eat every 2 hours to keep anabolism up even if hunger is absent. I did that and I became more bloated but I didn't gain any weight.
I also ate when hungry for a week and I felt like my sleep quality was not that great but overall mood was better and surprisingly my strength at the gym increased significantly, but this can be just a coincidence (in that week I drank lots of coffee).

What do you think?
Eat when hungry or every 2 hours?
Ray has even said "IF you have a good diet YOU can get by on 1 to 2 meals a day" IF a person is not a competitive BB or an athlete or has a medical condition THERE is no reason to eat 5 or 6 times a day
 

Nomane Euger

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Ray has even said "IF you have a good diet YOU can get by on 1 to 2 meals a day" IF a person is not a competitive BB or an athlete or has a medical condition THERE is no reason to eat 5 or 6 times a day
pleasure,and feeling good is the good reason
 

Prota

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Jul 17, 2016
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I tried eating 5-6 clean meals a day, calories slightly below maintenance in order to lose weight in my late teens years ago. It worked well as for about 2 weeks I lost weight, but then I rather quickly got hungrier and hungrier. My 5-6 small meals became 5-6 regular sized meals and I started eating well above maintenance calories and gained all my weight back and then some.

Some months after that I discovered ghrelin and thought, "Ooooh that's what happened". The hunger hormone Ghrelin is stimulated every time you eat, and what happened to me, eating at specific times in the day, I trained my body to produce the hunger hormone 5-6 times a day. My body learnt it was naturally time to eat, every 2.5-3 hours. After this the frequency didn't increase above 5-6 times, but the amount of hormone produced at each interval definitely did, because oh boy I became ravenous.

Everyone's different, and I'm sure there's plenty of people who wouldn't react to higher meal frequency like I did, but skipping breakfast and sometimes lunch is what works best for me. I'm guessing my body likes to produce more ghrelin than leptin, because my appetite is quite easily kept in check when I do daily intermittent fasting. I've tried the 5-6 meals a day thing a couple times again over the years and I get the same reaction every time. Even tried it on keto once and still, ravenous appetite within a couple weeks.

Oh and I have absolutely no problem gaining weight whether it's muscle or fat. I grow muscle and strength on 1-2 meals a day easy. Best muscle building tip, at least that made a night and day difference for me, and all my friends I trained is to forget lifting heavy, throw your ego out. Get used to lifting pink 4kg/8 pound dumbbells for hundreds of reps. Take 1 muscle you want to bring up, and add one exercise for it to every warmup you do regardless of what training day it is. Say you want 3-D shoulders? Do 100 reps of face pulls or W raises in every warmup for every workout, you'll have 3D shoulders in a few months.

If you lift heavy, only lift heavyish, and do partial reps in the 20+ range as a superset, once you can't go full ROM.

My favorite is what I call the Epic Pyramid, or marathon pyramid sets. Start at something like 2kg, do 50 reps no rest. Take 3 deep breaths, then go up to 4kg for 40 reps. Then 6kg for 30 reps, 8kg for 20 reps, then 10kg for 10 reps.

Then take 30 seconds rest, and go back down the pyramid. 20 reps, 30 reps, 40 reps, 50 reps.

You'll need a bout a week to recover the first couple times you do that. This works for anything that's not too cardio-intensive like squats.
Regarding high rep training any exercise/reps/frequency suggestions for chest muscles?
 
A

Adf

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Regarding high rep training any exercise/reps/frequency suggestions for chest muscles?

Sure, the marathon pyramid I mentioned can be done with a chest fly movement, presses or both. For example you can start with a fly movement, do the 50/40/30/20/10 reps, then have a short 30-60 second rest, and then do 10/20/30/40/50 reps of a press movement. It might be complicated to do with dumbbells in a public gym, depending how busy it is. Also be very particular and strict with your form for fly's if you choose to do high rep fly's. Don't go too deep.

If you can't/don't have access to all the dumbbells to go up and down in weight, you could instead try a century set. You would use a light-moderate weight, where you fail at 20-30 reps.

For example:
- Incline bench press. Pick a weight you can do for ~20 reps max,
- Lift until complete failure (with proper form, no reps of bad form).
- Strict 30 second rest
- Lift until failure, counting the reps onward from previous number
- Repeat until you have done 100 reps.

Take care to use dumbbells, or safeties on a rack, or have a spotter. With this type of training, it often feels like you can lift 3 more reps but then you just can't.

You pick and choose whatever exercise fits your goals most. You could also do one of these big sets at the end of your usual workout, or swap it out for 1 exercise, if you also want to train for strength.

For myself and the people I've trained, the best exercise for chest is dips. Bodyweight dips until they get too easy, and then weighted dips. My chest day is sometimes 30 minutes of just dips.
 

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