How Many Meals Should You Eat per Day?

3. Debunking the myth of eating frequency

The idea that eating more frequently leads to weight loss is one of the longest-lasting nutritional myths. In reality, a person's metabolic rate is largely genetic and only slightly changes due to certain activities. Like most metabolic changes, any change due to meal frequency is temporary and quite minor. Even high-intensity training can only increase the thermic effect of food by about seven to eight calories per hour. Meal frequency has such a small effect that it is measurably negligible. Ultimately, what matters most in weight loss and energy exchange is the amount of food a person eats. Eating two meals of 1000 calories will be functionally identical to eating four meals of 500 calories.