How often do you need to eat per day to build muscle?
How often do you need to eat per day to build muscle? Can you build muscle with just two meals? Or are six smaller portions spread throughout the day better? This is the ideal meal frequency if you want to build muscle.
When it comes to building muscle, it all depends on what and how much you eat. You need to adjust these two things to finally get closer to your goal of a muscular body:
1. Calorie surplus: If you want to build muscle, you need more calories every day than you use. It’s up to you whether you achieve a positive calorie balance through the classic dirty bulk (mass and definition phase) or the “clean” way, the so-called lean bulk. You can read here the top 13 foods high in protein
2. Protein-rich diet: According to expert recommendations, 1.4 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day is ideal for building muscle. If you currently weigh around 85 kilograms, this results in a need of 120 to 170 grams of protein per day.
But how often should you actually eat if you want to build muscle? Three large meals a day or are five (or even six) small portions better? We reveal how (un)important meal frequency is for building muscle.
Are 3 meals or several small meals better for building muscle?
Based on the current state of research, the question cannot be answered in general terms, because scientists disagree on whether it is better to eat several small meals or a few large ones.
But what is much more important for building muscle than the frequency of meals is the frequency of protein intake and that you definitely cover your personal daily protein requirement. According to a study , it is ideal if you split your total protein requirement into 4 meals throughout the day, each containing 0.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, in order to achieve a minimum of 1.6 g/kg/day.
It also depends on whether you are in the mass building phase or already in the definition phase. In the building phase, it is less important how often or regularly you eat, but more importantly that you reach your total calories.
In the subsequent reduction diet, you have to stay in a calorie deficit and the main goal is to maintain lean muscle mass. And this is where science comes into play again: Studies have shown that increasing the frequency of meals during such a weight loss phase can help maintain muscle mass – especially if the meals are geared towards protein intake.
This means that there is no clear or uniform recommendation as to how many meals you should eat to build muscle. Studies show that it is much more important to focus on achieving a positive protein balance – especially during the definition phase in order to protect your muscle mass.
Can you build muscle with 1 or 2 meals a day?
Yes, theoretically it is possible to build muscle mass with just one or two main meals. However, this is on the condition that you still reach your total calories at the end of the day. Because building muscle without a calorie surplus will not work.
If you decide to go for a classic mass phase, your daily needs may be around 3000 calories, depending on your starting weight. Consuming that many calories in just two or even just one meal can be quite challenging (for your gastrointestinal tract). You can easily manage that with fast food and other cheats, but that has nothing to do with healthy and targeted sports nutrition.
Another disadvantage: If you eat too much unhealthy stuff during the mass phase, you will put on a lot of fat and it will be even more difficult for you to eat in a deficit during the definition phase.
To keep portion sizes in moderation, it is best to distribute calories across several snacks and one or two main meals a day.
Depending on which (optional) main meal you skip, your meal plan could look like this:
- optional: breakfast
- Snack 1
- optional: lunch
- Snack 2
- Snack 3
- optional: dinner
- Protein-rich snack before bed
Ultimately, the decision is yours as to how you best get your calories in your day-to-day life. If you only have time to eat a main meal once or twice a day, then that’s your way and perfectly fine.
Conclusion: Meal frequency is not crucial for muscle building
It doesn’t really matter whether you eat one, two or three large meals a day or six or even small portions. The key to your success and achieving your goal is that you:
- eat enough during the build-up phase (calorie surplus),
- always consume enough protein,
- provides the right training stimuli
- and regenerate sufficiently.