Eating three meals a day doesn't automatically make you healthier or leaner — your body can keep building muscle even if you don't eat all day.
Scientific Claim
Muscle protein synthesis remains elevated for several hours post-exercise without requiring frequent meals to maintain muscle mass.
Original Statement
“They basically found that if you ate three meals or more, you would have a better BMI, less central atyposity. People take that to the bank and they said three meals, okay, just going to reinforce this three meals, forgetting about all these other things we know about today, right? We know that protein synthesis stays elevated for a long time after a workout. We know that you don't need to constantly be eating to maintain muscle mass. We know a lot of things.”
Context Details
Domain
nutrition
Population
human
Subject
post-exercise muscle protein synthesis
Action
remains elevated
Target
muscle mass maintenance
Intervention Details
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (2)
Even without eating right after a light workout, older men’s muscles still kept building protein — so meals aren’t needed right away to trigger muscle growth.
Technical explanation
This study finds that muscle protein synthesis increases after exercise regardless of nutrient type or feeding pattern, directly supporting that elevated MPS occurs without needing frequent meals.
Even without eating more protein right after working out, muscles keep building for hours — so you don’t need to snack constantly to keep gaining muscle.
Technical explanation
This paper directly shows that muscle protein synthesis (MPS) remains elevated post-exercise even when additional EAA or carbohydrate is not consumed, indicating that frequent meals are not required to sustain elevated MPS — directly supporting the assertion.
Contradicting (3)
Early Time-Restricted Feeding Reduces Appetite and Increases Fat Oxidation but Does Not Affect Energy Expenditure in Humans
This study looked at when people eat and how it affects hunger and fat burning, but it didn’t check if muscles keep building after exercise without eating often, so it doesn’t tell us anything about the claim.
Eating protein every few hours after working out helps your body keep more muscle — eating just once isn’t enough for the best results.
Technical explanation
This study demonstrates that spreading protein intake in smaller, frequent doses leads to better protein retention than infrequent large doses — directly contradicting the idea that frequent meals are unnecessary.
If you only eat protein once after a workout, your muscles don’t grow as well — you need to eat protein a few times to get the most benefit.
Technical explanation
This paper directly shows that how often you eat protein after exercise significantly impacts muscle anabolic response, implying that frequent meals are needed to maximize MPS — contradicting the assertion.