is such complete bollocks. I'm not debating whether people do it (it's clear they do) but my god how?

if i had do six meals counted out calorie and weight wise every day i'd be cooking forever, never leave the house and i'd probably lose my mental health long term.

plus according to NBLM pubmed (biology degree student geek) there's no evidence a bodybuilder on a bulk gets more stable nutrition from 6 meals than 2 or 3. There's evidence more lean muscle is lost on a diet (with boxers not bodybuilders) but I'm talking a bodybuilding market fueled by this whole six meal thing regardless of bulking or dieting. It's the ultimate cash cow. Protein shakes and chicken boiled all night long. Does anyone here do all six meals and work a full time job? I'd love to hear from you.

I decided when my semester starts i'm going on a bulk with 5 meals (3 - breakfast, lunch and dinner and two shakes) and i reckon i can do that cos shakes are just drinks, but i don't think i can hack much more than 3 meals a day. if you do 6 you have to work the meals into weird small portions subsisting of chicken, boiled and pasta and a random bit of fruit. i couldn't do that day in day out for one week (i've actually tried).

i thought the premise of this was basically eating half your dinner, then the other half a few hours later sort of thing.

i would think it would call for mass preparation of food in advance. i always thought the point was just to keep your metabolism up, i didnt know people were doing it specifically to build muscles.
i would hate to have to eat six times a day. i have enough trouble remembering to drink atleast 6 glasses of water a day for fucks sake. WHICH REMINDS ME.

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It works for my friend who swears by it.. and is a total beefcake now from 65 kilos to 110 kilos and muscley. They don't eat 6 normal meals they eat 6 smallish ones with certain stuff. He grills the chicken and eats cans of tuna with brown rice so I guess that isn't really so hard to make in bulk.

Yeah it's not actual full-on meals. It's just not allowing yourself to become hungry.

does he work full time, and do you know what he does when he leaves the house?

I wish I could eat cans of tuna with nothing else in

I thought this at first, but apparently it's making small meals that are a pain in the arse.

I worked with a guy who was into his bodybuilding and he did lots of small meals through the day. It's how I tend to eat as well, I just prefer it and it makes sense for your metabolism to eat like that. I manage to eat like this whilst working a fulltime job, I'm guessing from you using the term 'semester' you're not exactly struggling for breaks? You could take a leap into the 80s and get one of those microwave devices.

(I did actually neck a tin of tuna this morning out of laziness)

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nah i don't have a microwave away from home. breaks are infrequent and random and eating a small box of potatoes and one chicken breast is so much harder than you'd imagine. I know it sounds like i'm making excuses but i really think the way forward is 3 meals 2 shakes. If i can chop out just one meal i might be able to do it. Cos 3 proper meals i can do. I don't mind having curry/bolonaise/random shit for brekkie.

He works full time in an office and then he goes to the gym and goes home and plays videogames/beats off.. eating all the while in between that stuff.

I am really skinny and thin and I was like "ok I'm going to start bodybuilding" and I just bought some small weights, 10 lbs weights(is that pathetic?) and I read about the six meals a day and I read I had to do it.

I started a program and it was a nightmare.

First of all it's impossible TO LIVE and do this. It's impossible to work, go out, and just have a live with this ridiculous six meals a day schedule.

I mean people don't live on schedules, sometimes you have commitments or have to go somewhere and the only restaurant availabe is mcdonald's and you can't eat that and so on, I mean I have no idea how people really do it. The ones who do it don't really have a 9 to 5 job. I don't have either but I don't live on schedule. Sometimes I stay up till 3 am working and sleep till 10 am next day, I mean it's impossible for me.

Other thing is that I WAS STARVING TO DEATH. I mean I was hungry ALL THE FUCKING TIME and I felt HORRIBLE. I couldn't deal with it. I would eat huge amounts of food six times a day and 30 minutes later I would be insanely hungry.

It was a really uncomfortable and stressful feeling and I eventually stopped. Now I work out once in a while, but not all the time or 3 times a week or anything like that.

I think there must be some laxness amongst bodybuilders. I have the feeling they don't weigh their tuna precisely. I figure they must guess it based on experience. I know that when I tried to do it, I felt starving, then almost wretched eating so much chicken and pasta, then felt so full i could barely swallow towards the end, but within ten minutes had the biggest craving for a chocolate bar ever. I think i survived one day of doing it. Plus it took HOURS to put them all in tubs and stuff.

bodybuilders who actually do 6 meals a day don't eat as many carbs and as large a portion of protein as they think they are. I mean a tin of tuna isn't technically 30% protein when mixed with the right amount of potatoes or pasta. There isn't enough protein in a whole can to make up about 30% of 450 ish calories. So bodybuilders doing a can of tuna for one meal, say, aren't doing as much protein as they think (although, lets face it - they're still doing a fuck load).

I think my idea of 3 meals and two shakes would work. It's essentially three normal meals with protein boosted up a tiny bit and 2 shakes pre and post work out. Sounds like I could work that routine. I literally would have to add the tiniest extra bit of meat to each meal.

Don't get my hopes up, Ramon.

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another thing that people fail to realize when going into bodybuilding is body type.

Depending on your body type it's easier or harder for you to build muscle regardless of proteins or whatever.

I am bone thin, like Kate Moss or Amy Winehouse, I have an ectomorphic body I think it's the name and that's the HARDEST BODY to tonoe and build muscle. I mean I rip fast but get bigger?? it's a tough task, so one more thing to discourage me from body building.

I don't know, maybe on the future I'll commit to it, I do like lifting weights but right now I'm like meehhh-

Ok this is nuts. I'm pretty sure the hardest part most people find about bodybuilding is actually regular gym-weights-effort for hours a week, continually, not, y'know, the maybe thinking about splitting your meals down a bit.

Lost Soul (are you someone's alias?), I assume you're fairly new to weightlifting and you've banged right in with some high end nutrition plan? You seem to be pretty muddled up with protein and callories and whatnot. I wouldn't bother too with much detail, the average western omniverous diet already has much more protein than you need and any extra won't make a difference. I'd kick the shakes as well, they're additive-ridden, expensive and surprisingly high in stuff that makes you fat.

I still can't believe it's that hard to split down what you're eating over the course of a day TBH.

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no, i've been weightlifting a while now. About 4 years. Protein intake should be 30% of calories, calories about 2500 to 2900 (i want about 3000 to gain weight). If the diets too heavy in fat you just gain fat not muscle. There's evidence that the body can require up to 60% protein from those 3000 although it's pretty prelim. Shakes are cheap, I like Quark too.

Thanks for the advice!

Take Whey Protein and Brewer's Yeast. You can get those protein bars as well.

i dont know about building muscle, but as it take huge amounts of calories to build muscle, it's certainly better for your beta cells in the pancreas to have a steady influx rather than huge amounts of food to process at once.

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the cave mouth shines
by pure force of will
i look down on the world
from the top of this lonesome hill
and you can run, and run some more
from here all the way to singapore
but i will carry you home in my teeth
-mountain goats

There's so much horribly wrong with that, really - calories are a measurement of energy, not food mass. It's a seperate thing from protein, although your body can use protein heavy sources for energy (somewhat innefficiently). I've no idea where you get these figures from but the highest percentages you'll get of protein in foods you can regularly find is low 20s.

I don't really use shakes but I assumed you were on about the ones you make up with powder? Like I said, they're high in fat and although your body needs some they'll just fill you with blubber. If you're going to take anything you're better off with suppliments that complement sources you can get naturally - creatine, amino acids and the like. Protein shakes are snake oil unless you're training at a very high level.

Indeed. It's generally better all round to eat like this, it keeps your metabolism ticking over more regularly as well.

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His last request was a bulletproof vest or a god