As part of daily nutrition plan at University of Dayton, we are constantly stressing to our atheltes the importance of meal frequency & planning in an effort to optimize their health, performance and recovery. Every athlete for that matter, regardless of their sport, should eat a minimum of 5-7 times per day (planning), every 2-4 hours (frequency). Why you ask? By adopting this type of eating pattern and nutritional habit, an athlete will...

• Experience a 10-20% increase in metabolic rate (ability to burn calories at rest)
• Maintain blood sugar levels and insulin levels
• Have increased energy levels throughout the day
• Avoid hunger-pains which lead to over-eating
• Provide small “packets” of nutrients throughout the day
• Maximize digestion and absorption of nutrients
• Limit fat storage from excess calories and
• Create an anabolic (growth) bodily environment to build lean muscle tissue

Smaller more frequent meals provide more nutrients to the body more often and enhance the body’s ability to absorb, digest and utilize these nutrients. This enhanced and frequent delivery of nutrients will result in greater recovery and tissue repair between workouts and competition while decreasing the likelihood of fat storage. However, limit yourself to eating the traditional 3 square meals a day and it’s impossible to get the nutrients you need to be your best, much less, lose or avoid the accumulation of body fat.

Still having trouble understanding the importance of meal planning and frequency? Lets try an approach of comparisons. Look at the athlete’s body as an empty glass of water with a 20-ounce capacity. Now, associate water as food. What do you think would happen if the athlete tried to put 25+ ounces of water (food) in a 20-ounce glass (body)? It would over-flow, right? Well, think of the water overflow as nutrient loss and fat storage in the body.

When you consume to many calories in one setting, the body is unable to utilize all the nutrients causing the excess to be passed through the body or dumped into fat storage. By eating small frequent meals throughout the entire day at a frequency of every 3-4 hours, your are constantly refueling your body, never over filling, but rather peaking energy stores for proper energy metabolism, sustained performance while facilitating muscle protein synthesis (muscle growth) and recovery.

On the other hand, when you limit yourself to just 3-meals per day, your body is forced to go long periods without food. When your body is forced to go with out food for long periods of time it goes into ‘starvation mode.’ Starvation mode results when there are not enough calories to support daily activity levels. Such carelessness causes the body to be thrown into a “catabolic state” (eating itself) in which the body is forced to sacrifice lean muscle tissue for energy in an effort to support energy metabolism. The loss of lean muscle tissue will results in:

• Increase in fat mass
• Reduced speed, strength & power
• Lowering of the body’s basal metabolic rate (ability to burn calories at rest)
• Diminish performance capability and
• Lead to over-training and possible injury

Understand, when you exercise, you get WEAKER, NOT STRONGER! The reason is when you exercise, you are depleting energy systems and breaking down muscle tissue through repetitive muscle contraction (i.e., running, jumping, sprinting). If this were not true, then at the end of a training session you would be able to start over and perform the same volume of work and at the same intensity as before with little or no change in performance.

Not until after you train and you begin refueling the body with the proper nutrients can optimal performance and recovery be facilitated. This is referred to as ‘training adaptation’ and allows for the greatest degree of speed, strength and power development, resulting in a greater training effect and enhanced performance. If the athlete fails to accomplish this, the lack of nutrients, combined with day-to-day training, will prevent the body from recovering fully. This can also lead to overtraining and likeliness of non-contact related injury.

To summarize, eating more frequently is something many of you have probably read about and hopefully practice. While there is a limited amount of research in this area, the few studies that are out there favor smaller, more consistent meal consumption. This is of particular importance for athletes whose hopes are to preserve as much lean body mass as possible while attempting to lose fat and/or minimize fat accumulation. By adopting a daily meal frequency range of 5-7 meals per day, you ensure yourself a readily available supply of energy and nutrients that will help optimize performance and recovery throughout the day.

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You should not use the information on this site for diagnosis or treatment of any health problem or for prescription of any medication or other treatment. You should consult with a healthcare professional before starting any diet, exercise or supplementation program, before taking any medication, or if you have or suspect you might have a health problem. The information provided on this site is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your physician or other health care professional.