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2 Meal Solution

Mike O'Donnell The IF Life

Chapter 2 Biggest Weight Loss Myth

What are You Getting Sold on? The weight loss/diet niche is the hottest (and very profitable) industry to be in nowadays. Look around and you will see celebrities writing books about it, new pills from some special berry in Uganda or some crazy ab-contraption. It is a billion dollar market and everyone wants in on the action. With that comes so many myths and misconceptions that have been passed down by word of mouth for so long, that it's now thought of as proven science. No one even questions the things they hear anymore. In fact, many marketers will just continue to exploit those myths for profit knowing you won't even question them. There is one particular myth used by practically everyone nowadays. It fuels a whole complicated eating plan which companies are getting rich off, and you are getting frustrated with! The Myth Revealed Are you ready to hear the biggest myth/misconception that you will hear all the time in mainstream media and from people when talking about how to lose weight? You may not be ready for what I am about to say. I warned you.
2 Meal Solution 2 Mike O'Donnell The IF Life

Ask many trainers, nutritionists, doctors, diet gurus or your overweight neighbor and they will probably all tell you this same statement as a scientifically proven fact: You need to eat smaller and more frequent meals through-out the day in order to increase/speed-up your metabolism What is the real verdict? This statement is not 100% true!! But how can so Many People be Wrong? It's usually the masses that are passing along wrong information in the first place (in an attempt to seem wise to others usually). Well if this is such a well known fact, then why aren't we all slim and fit from following it? OK to be fair, there are plenty of people who can and do lose weight by eating multiple times per day (let's say 6x a day as most modern weight loss diets preach). But also remember the # 1 secret of all diets and how they really work is being a state of calorie deficit. Whether you do that in 3, 6, or 10 meals a day. However you will see there is nothing magical about it when it comes to your metabolism. I'm not saying it Doesn't Work Don't get confused with my message about eating smaller and more meals all day long. I said above I know it can work (because of the calorie deficit it promotes) to eat 6x a day. Eating smaller meals, to keep overeating under control. At the end of the day you have still eaten less than normal, but just spread those calories out more often to keep the total daily number under control. However the real question is, was it because those frequent smaller meals magically sped up your metabolism to burn more calories? The real answer to that assumption is a big fat NO! Turning up the Heat Somehow most people think if you eat more often, then you increase your metabolism with a higher thermogenesis. Thermogenesis is where the body expels energy in the form of heat through what it has to do (and in this case we are
2 Meal Solution 3 Mike O'Donnell The IF Life

talking about the energy of digesting food). But heres the fun sciency part, if you eat the same DAILY amount of food/calories split into either 6 meals or 3 meals, isnt that the same amount of digestive energy required overall?

Isnt 1500 calories still 1500 calories at the end of the day whether you split it 6 times or 3 times? So how is there any real advantage to splitting it up all day long into smaller more frequent meals when the calorie load is the same? Well according to plenty of research (seen below), there is NO such advantage!

Science Agrees there is No Metabolic Advantage to Eating Multiple Meals Since the 1960s, epidemiological studies have reported an inverse relationship between frequency of eating and body weight, suggesting that a "nibbling" pattern could help to prevent obesity. This notion has later been put into question by the recognition of a high level of dietary under-reporting in overweight individuals. In addition, no difference in total daily energy expenditure has been documented as a function of daily meal number. Weight loss is not facilitated by high meal frequency. Source: Impact of the daily meal pattern on energy balance, France Bellisle, Scandinavian Journal of Nutrition, Oct 2004

2 Meal Solution

Mike O'Donnell The IF Life

More importantly, studies using whole-body calorimetry and doubly-labeled water to assess total 24 h energy expenditure find no difference between nibbling and gorging. Finally, with the exception of a single study, there is no evidence that weight loss on hypoenergetic regimens is altered by meal frequency. We conclude that any effects of meal pattern on the regulation of body weight are likely to be mediated through effects on the food intake side of the energy balance equation. Source: Meal frequency and energy balance; Br J Nutr. 1997 Apr;77 Suppl 1:S57-70. To a group of 8 healthy persons a slightly hypocaloric diet with protein (13% of energy), carbohydrates (46% of energy) and fat (41% of energy) was given as one meal or as five meals in a change-over trial....Changes of body weight were statistically not significant. ..The heat production calculated by indirect calorimetry was not significantly different with either meal frequency. The results demonstrate that the meal frequency did not influence the energy balance. Source: Thermogenesis in humans after varying meal time frequency; Wolfram G, Kirchgessner M, Maller HL, Hollomey S. In the short-term, meal frequency and a period of fasting have no major impact on energy intake or expenditure but energy expenditure is delayed with a lower meal frequency compared with a higher meal frequency. Source: Compared with nibbling, neither gorging nor a morning fast affect short-term energy balance in obese patients in a chamber calorimeter M A Taylor, J S Garrow, International Journal of Obesity (2001) 25, 519-528 There have been reports of an inverse relationship between meal frequency (MF) and adiposity. It has been postulated that this may be explained by favorable effects of increased MF on appetite control and possibly on gut peptides as well...However, there were NS (no significant) differences between the low- and high-MF groups for adiposity indices, appetite measurements or gut peptides (peptide YY and ghrelin) either before or

2 Meal Solution

Mike O'Donnell The IF Life

after the intervention. We conclude that increasing MF does not promote greater body weight loss under the conditions described in the present study. Source: Increased meal frequency does not promote greater weight loss in subjects who were prescribed an 8-week equi-energetic energy-restricted diet., Cameron JD, Cyr MJ, Doucet E. Br J Nutr. 2009 Nov 30:1-4.

The Body Knows What it is Doing Even with all that information above, some people will still stress that eating more often is superior in some way for fat burning. However even with really low meal frequency the body still knows how to self regulate over the long run (which is a fact often left out, as it doesn't help sell any diet plans or supplements). One study (Stote KS et al 2007) compared just 3 meals/day to 1 meal/day on bodyweight regulation mechanisms over the long run. When eating their maintenance calorie load (whether in 3 or 1 meal) per day, over 6 months both groups maintained their body weight (within 2kg of their initial weight). Another study (Verboeket-van de Venne WP 1991) compared 2 meals per day vs 7 meals, with identical calorie load. What they found was no difference in total 24hour energy expenditure and no difference in total protein oxidation. While the 7 meals/day (nibbling) pattern had constant steady fat/carb oxidation (burning for energy) levels, the 2 meals per day had higher initial carb oxidation after meals and higher fat oxidation other times of day. In other words, it all evens out when you look at the bigger picture of 24 hours a day! You Don't Need all those Bars, Shakes and Meal Plans Supplement companies are making a killing in the weight loss world on special snack bars, meal replacement shakes, and prepackaged meals all based around this eat more often to speed up your metabolism myth.

2 Meal Solution

Mike O'Donnell The IF Life

Do you now see why everyone thinks they need to eat more? It is because that myth is constantly being pushed (sold) to the general public as a scientific fact, when it is actually just a great marketing approach!

You will see celebrities on TV getting paid millions to lose weight on those types of programs (when we all should realize now that the real magic is in the total energy calorie deficit, not the amount of meals). Calories are what matter. If you need to eat 6 smaller meals to keep yourself from binging later on (and going overboard on the total daily calories), then this approach may be the best way for you. If you enjoy eating smaller meals and more times each day, that is up to you and I'm not going to stop you. But I personally think it is more dangerous to tell everyone they need to eat/snack all the time, as that is just setting up for some mindless and unhealthy relationships with our food. No good can come from that (or should I say has come from it). Once people tire out of those complicated diets (and most all do), they continue that eating/nibbling pattern and the calories just add right back up again! How is this a real and lasting solution? Time for a better way, and freedom from this obsession.

2 Meal Solution

Mike O'Donnell The IF Life