Excerpt from "Running and Fat Burning for Women" by Jeff & Barbara Galloway (Works for guys too BTW) ;)
"If you have not eaten for about 3 hours, your body senses that it is going into a starvation mode and slows down the metabolism rate, while increasing the production of fat-depositing enzymes. This means that you will not be burning as many calories as is normal, that more of your next meal will be stored as fat, and that you probably won’t be as mentally and physically alert as you could be.
Burn more fat by eating more often - what a deal! If the starvation reflex starts working after 3 hours, then think about eating every 2 hours. A person who now eats 2-3 times a day, can burn 8-10 extra pounds a year when she shifts to eating 6-9 times a day. This assumes equal calories are eaten under each meal frequency pattern.
Big meals slow you down
Big meals are a big production for the digestive system. Blood is diverted to the long and winding intestine and the stomach. Because of the workload, the body tends to reduce blood flow to other areas, leaving you feeling more lethargic.
Small meals speed you up
Smaller amounts of food can usually be processed quickly without putting a burden on the digestive system. Each time you eat a small meal or snack, your metabolism revs up. A metabolism increase, several times a day means more calories burned. At the same time, you'll experience more sustained energy for the next hour or two."
So to sum that up, eat smaller meals more often. Take your daily caloric intake goal and divide it up by 5 or 6. Do your best to have each of those meals reflect your nutrient ratio breakdown. If you're eating 40/40/20 (Protein/Carbs/Fat), then do your best to have each of those meals be 40/40/20. If you're not sure what the breakdown is for each meal, use my favorite tracking site: www.myfitnesspal.com to log everything you eat. Best of all it's free!
I have often shared the following analogy comparing your metabolism to a camp fire.
A fire burns best when small amounts of fuel are added regularly. The heat produced will remain more steady. If you start a fire, then throw on a bunch of wood, it will smother it and it will take a long time to get it fired back up again. Same things happens if you wait too long to add the next log. It will take a long time to stoke it back up. The quality of the fuel makes a huge difference as well. If you make a fire with Pine (simple carbs like sugar and white flour), it will burn hot, but very quickly. Then you run out of fuel. If you use a nice hard wood like Oak or Eucalyptus (complex carbs like whole grains and veggies) the fire will burn hot, but will burn for longer periods of time.
Equally with one's body, when you skip breakfast, which most people do, you're starved for lunch, eat a big one, then you have a mid-afternoon crash as your body's trying to digest that fuel. You snack on junk or drink caffeine to stay awake and then go home and eat a big dinner because you're starved again. Then you follow that up with a nice dose of couch and TV and you can guess where those calories are going.
Final Summary: Based on your activity level, your body will only consume so many calories from each meal. For most people, that's around 300-400 calories. Consume more than that per meal and the surplus is stored (fat) for later use. Not good. Instead, spread your 1,500 calories (women) to 2,000 calories (men) into 5-6 meals and those calories get burned during your daily activities. Keep the nutrition (5-6 meals) the same and add more activity, the energy for the increased activity comes from stored fat. Pretty simple, eh?
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