First off, this post I'm about to type may incite a lot of flaming; especially from "bro's" who have followed all these rules for many years. After all, I used to be a "bro" too, lol.
Myth 1 - You need to eat 6-8 meals a day spaced out every 2-3hours to "stoke your metabolism".
Research has shown that meal frequency does not matter. The fact is that your TEF (Thermal Effect of Food) is in proportion to your caloric intake for each meal.
So for eg. your caloric intake for the day is 2,400 kcals, it doesnt matter if you were to eat 2 meals of 1200kcals, or 6 meals of 400kcals.
Assuming a TEF of 10%, you would raise your metabolism to burn off 120kcals twice for the first scenario and 40kcals 6 times for the second scenario. They both add up to a total of 240kcals burned for TEF assuming macros are kept constant.
Myth 2 - Meal Timing is important.
Many people, including myself in the past, have indulged in the idea that right after working out, we have to take a high GI carb and fast acting protein source after workout to spike our insulin levels and promote protein synthesis. That is proper bullshit actually. Post workout, protein synthesis levels actually stay elevated and peak at the 24hr mark before declining back to baseline levels at around 36hrs. So as long as you ingest some form of protein within that 24hrs, you'll still be reaping the benefits of your workout.
PS: btw, carbs before bed won't make you fat. Like I said, if you hit your macros, meal timing is of little to no importance.
Myth 3 - Eating "Clean"
I am sure many of you have seen some of your friends wolfing down mac's double cheeseburger and eating bak kut teh after a Zouk session. I'm willing to bet that some of these friends are still ripped as hell.
Wtf. It must be their genetics. How can they eat "dirty" foods and still look so good.
Well, actually, it isn't. The reason why some people can eat all that junk and still get jacked, is because they are eating enough calories + protein, and doing ample resistance training to build muscles.
Your body doesn't know the difference between a lollipop vs oats. It only recognises a gram of protein, fat or carbohydrate. As long as you take in enough protein (approx 1g/lb of bw) and essential fats and couple that with resistance training, you will be able to maintain/gain muscle mass. Bulking/cutting will depend on your caloric intake - whether you are in a caloric surplus or deficit. Anything else is moot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These are a few myths I can think of the top of my head and hope to clear. Knowing this will allow you guys to be less anal about the mini stuff. The important thing here is to hit your macros, and progressively improve on your lifts consistently. This will result in you having the body that you desire, not some magical supplement or meal timing hocus pocus.
Hope this post helped. Anyone with questions and queries, feel free to ask.
Myth 1 - You need to eat 6-8 meals a day spaced out every 2-3hours to "stoke your metabolism".
Research has shown that meal frequency does not matter. The fact is that your TEF (Thermal Effect of Food) is in proportion to your caloric intake for each meal.
So for eg. your caloric intake for the day is 2,400 kcals, it doesnt matter if you were to eat 2 meals of 1200kcals, or 6 meals of 400kcals.
Assuming a TEF of 10%, you would raise your metabolism to burn off 120kcals twice for the first scenario and 40kcals 6 times for the second scenario. They both add up to a total of 240kcals burned for TEF assuming macros are kept constant.
Myth 2 - Meal Timing is important.
Many people, including myself in the past, have indulged in the idea that right after working out, we have to take a high GI carb and fast acting protein source after workout to spike our insulin levels and promote protein synthesis. That is proper bullshit actually. Post workout, protein synthesis levels actually stay elevated and peak at the 24hr mark before declining back to baseline levels at around 36hrs. So as long as you ingest some form of protein within that 24hrs, you'll still be reaping the benefits of your workout.
PS: btw, carbs before bed won't make you fat. Like I said, if you hit your macros, meal timing is of little to no importance.
Myth 3 - Eating "Clean"
I am sure many of you have seen some of your friends wolfing down mac's double cheeseburger and eating bak kut teh after a Zouk session. I'm willing to bet that some of these friends are still ripped as hell.
Wtf. It must be their genetics. How can they eat "dirty" foods and still look so good.
Well, actually, it isn't. The reason why some people can eat all that junk and still get jacked, is because they are eating enough calories + protein, and doing ample resistance training to build muscles.
Your body doesn't know the difference between a lollipop vs oats. It only recognises a gram of protein, fat or carbohydrate. As long as you take in enough protein (approx 1g/lb of bw) and essential fats and couple that with resistance training, you will be able to maintain/gain muscle mass. Bulking/cutting will depend on your caloric intake - whether you are in a caloric surplus or deficit. Anything else is moot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These are a few myths I can think of the top of my head and hope to clear. Knowing this will allow you guys to be less anal about the mini stuff. The important thing here is to hit your macros, and progressively improve on your lifts consistently. This will result in you having the body that you desire, not some magical supplement or meal timing hocus pocus.
Hope this post helped. Anyone with questions and queries, feel free to ask.
