How Many Meals Should You Eat per Day? (2024)

There is a lot of confusing advice about the “optimal” meal frequency.

According to many experts, eating breakfast jump starts fat burning and 5–6 small meals per day prevent your metabolism from slowing down.

But studies actually show mixed results and it is not clear that more frequent meals help you lose weight.

This article explores how many meals you should be eating and discusses the general health relevance of meal frequency.

Do More Frequent Meals Increase Metabolic Rate?

How Many Meals Should You Eat per Day? (1)

Metabolic rate is the number of calories your body burns within a given time period.

The idea that eating more frequent, smaller meals increases metabolic rate is a persistent myth.

It is true that digesting a meal raises metabolism slightly and this phenomenon is known as the thermic effect of food. However, it is the total amount of food consumed that determines the amount of energy expended during digestion.

Eating 3 meals of 800 calories will cause the same thermic effect as eating 6 meals of 400 calories. There is literally no difference.

Multiple studies have compared eating many smaller versus fewer larger meals and concluded that there is no significant effect on either metabolic rate or the total amount of fat lost (1, 2).

Summary
Eating more frequently does not increase your overall metabolic rate, or the numbers of calories you burn over the day.
See Also
The Influence of Meal Frequency and Timing on Health in Humans: The Role of Fasting One Meal a Day Diet: Benefits, Risks, and More This Is The Best Time To Eat Breakfast, According To A Dietitian This is what your breakfast, lunch and dinner calories actually look like - National | Globalnews.ca

Does Eating More Frequently Balance Blood Sugar Levels and Reduce Cravings?

One argument I see a lot is that people should eat often to balance blood sugar levels.

Eating big meals is thought to lead to rapid highs and lows in blood sugar, while eating smaller and more frequent meals should stabilize blood sugar levels throughout the day.

This, however, is not supported by science. Studies show that people who eat fewer, larger meals have lower blood glucose levels, on average (3).

They may have bigger spikes in blood sugar but overall their levels are much lower. This is especially important for people with blood sugar issues since having high blood sugar can cause all sorts of problems.

Less frequent eating has also been shown to improve satiety and reduce hunger compared to more frequent meals (4).

When it comes to blood sugar control, breakfast also seems to play a role. Studies show that eating the largest meal of the day in the morning, or early in the day, lowers average daily blood sugar levels (5).

Summary
Fewer and larger meals lower your average daily blood sugar levels. Getting most of your calories in the morning and eating fewer in the afternoon and evening also seems to reduce average blood sugar levels.

To Eat Breakfast, or Not to Eat Breakfast

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day…” or is it?

Conventional wisdom dictates that breakfast is a necessity, that it jump starts your metabolism for the day and helps you lose weight.

What’s more, observational studies consistently show that breakfast skippers are more likely to be obese than people who eat breakfast (6).

Yet correlation doesn’t equal causation. This data does not prove that breakfast helps you lose weight, just that eating breakfast is associated with a lower risk of being obese.

This is most likely because breakfast skippers tend to be less health-conscious overall, perhaps opting for a doughnut at work and then having a big meal at McDonald’s for lunch.

Everyone “knows” that breakfast is good for you, so people who have healthy habits overall are more likely to eat breakfast.

However, there is no evidence that breakfast “jump starts” metabolism and makes you lose weight.

Nevertheless, eating breakfast may benefit certain aspects of health. It appears that the body’s blood sugar control is better in the morning (7).

Therefore, having a high-calorie breakfast results in lower average daily blood sugar levels compared to eating a high-calorie dinner (5).

Also, one study in people with type 2 diabetes found that fasting until noon increased the rise in blood sugar after lunch and dinner (8).

These effects are mediated by the body clock, also known as the circadian rhythm, but more studies are needed before scientists can fully understand how it works.

People with diabetes and those who are concerned about their blood sugar levels should consider eating a healthy breakfast.

But as general advice: If you are not hungry in the morning, skip breakfast. Just make sure to eat healthy for the rest of the day.

Summary
There is no evidence that skipping breakfast is harmful to healthy people. However, people with diabetes should consider eating a healthy breakfast or getting most of their calories early in the day.

Skipping Meals From Time to Time Has Health Benefits

Intermittent fasting is a trendy topic in nutrition these days.

It means that you strategically abstain from eating at certain times, such as skipping breakfast and lunch each day or doing two longer 24-hour fasts each week.

According to conventional wisdom, this approach would put you in “starvation mode” and make you lose your precious muscle mass.

However, this is not the case.

Studies on short-term fasting show that the metabolic rate may actually increase in the beginning. Only after prolonged fasting does it go down (9, 10).

Additionally, studies in both humans and animals show that intermittent fasting has various health benefits, including improved insulin sensitivity, lower glucose, lower insulin and various other benefits (11).

Intermittent fasting also induces a cellular clean-up process called autophagy, where the body’s cells clear waste products that build up in the cells and contribute to aging and disease (12).

Summary
Skipping meals every now and then helps you lose weight and may improve your blood sugar control over time.

The Bottom Line

There are no health benefits to eating more often. It doesn’t increase the number of calories burned or help you lose weight.

Eating more often also doesn’t improve blood sugar control. If anything, eating fewer meals is healthier.

It seems quite clear that the myth of frequent, small meals is just that — a myth.

So I’m going to propose a radical new idea for timing your meals:

When hungry, eat
When full, stop
Repeat indefinitely

FAQs

How Many Meals Should You Eat per Day? ›

The most “common” way of eating is to have 3 meals a day with 1-3 snacks dispersed between meal times. This approach is often suggested because going longer stretches of time without food often leads to feelings of extreme hunger and decreases the ability to regulate intake when around food.

Tell Me More ›

How many meals should you eat a day? ›

In Western culture, it is a common idea that the daily food intake should be divided into three square meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Often dieticians suggest adding two snacks (morning and afternoon) to help appetite control, and indeed the mainstream media message is to eat “five to six times a day”.

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How many meals do you take in a day answer? ›

Answer. We need food to live and to supply energy to the organs by oxidizing the food. We need to eat 3 meals a day.

How much is enough to eat a day? ›

On average, women need about 1,600 to 2,400 calories each day, and men need 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day -- based on age and activity level. If you figure out that you need 2,000 calories per day, then you need to keep your calorie intake about equal with that number.

Do you eat 2 or 3 meals a day? ›

It is widely accepted in modern culture that people should divide their daily diet into three large meals — breakfast, lunch, and dinner — for optimal health.

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Is it good to eat only 1 meal A Day? ›

Eating one meal a day can increase your blood pressure and cholesterol. This occurred in a group of healthy adults who switched to one meal a day to participate in a study. If you already have concerns in either area, eating just once a day might not be safe. Eating one meal late can cause your blood sugar to spike.

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Is it OK to eat 1 or 2 meals A Day? ›

Overall, although there are benefits related to fasting and calorie restriction, research has shown that consuming 2 or 3 meals per day is likely a better option for overall health than eating one meal a day ( 5 ).

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What is the healthiest eating schedule? ›

The goal is to eat every 3 to 4 hours in order to keep your blood sugar consistent and for your stomach to optimally digest. Setting this schedule consistently across days can also help curb overeating which can lead to bloating or indigestion.

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What does 2 meals a day look like? ›

The premise of 2 Meal Day is that by eating just two meals in a day — either breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner, thus introducing a daily 16-hour fasting period — you can retrain your body to become "fat adapted," meaning you burn stored body fat for energy, rather than being dependent on sugars from food.

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What is the most important meal of the day? ›

Breakfast is often called 'the most important meal of the day', and for good reason. As the name suggests, breakfast breaks the overnight fasting period. It replenishes your supply of glucose to boost your energy levels and alertness, while also providing other essential nutrients required for good health.

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How many eggs can you eat a day? ›

A small study in 38 healthy adults found that as many as 3 eggs per day improved LDL and HDL levels and the LDL-to-HDL ratio. Yet, experts might shy away from suggesting more than 2 eggs per day, with many still suggesting that you stick to 1 ( 34 ).

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How much eating is normal? ›

How many calories do you need?

For a Man	Calories
For a Man Not physically active	Calories 2,000-2,200
For a Man Moderately active	Calories 2,200-2,400
For a Man Active lifestyle	Calories 2,400-2,600

Feb 28, 2022

How often should I be eating? ›

Experts suggest aiming for at least three meals a day and then listening to your body's hunger cues from there. While meal timing is an important consideration, the quality and quantity of food you eat matters the most.

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Is it better to eat big meals or snacks? ›

Eat small meals often and your metabolism will increase by small amounts after each one, but feast once or twice a day and it will go into high gear after each meal, meaning that the effect balances out overall. On the flipside, there is no evidence to suggest that eating frequently is bad for health in and of itself.

Is it better to fast or eat small meals? ›

Research Highlights: Eating less overall and fewer large meals may be a more effective weight management strategy than restricting meals to a narrow time window, such as intermittent fasting, according to a study that analyzed the electronic health records of about 550 adults who were followed for six years.

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What is considered a small meal? ›

A mini-meal is just that – a smaller version of a larger meal, not an excuse to eat junk food. Go for things like a bowl of soup, a large rice cake with natural peanut butter, half a sandwich, yogurt and fruit, a hard-boiled egg and raw veggies, or whole-grain crackers and low-fat cheese.

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How many hours apart should you eat? ›

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What is the ideal gap between meals? ›

If your schedule varies every day, have healthy snacks on hand for times when a meal needs to wait. Bring a cooler in the car or store food in the refrigerator at work. If you work the afternoon shift or overnight shift, the same eating routine rules apply — eat your meals between four and five hours apart.

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How far apart should meals be? ›

The human body needs at least 3 to 4 hours to completely digest any meal. Therefore, there must be a minimum of four hours between any two meals. A gap that is both shorter and longer than that will result in overeating and acidity, respectively.

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Is it better to eat 4 or 5 meals A Day? ›

You should eat the number of meals per day that give you the most satisfaction, control of your hunger and best prevent energy losses. Five meals are not scientifically justified. Many people feel best eating three main meals of similar calories and one snack. For others, three meals are fine, and for some even two.

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