Jeremy Buendia credits upping his meal frequency from five to six daily meals with elevating his physique. It’s a common refrain to hear from a competitive bodybuilder, much less a four-time winner of the Men’s Physique Olympia.
- Buendia’s endorsement of higher meal frequencies reads like the kind of advice you’d see in a muscle-building magazine in the 2000s. After almost two decades of online proliferation, bodybuilding advice about meal frequency has largely gone the way of the dodo bird.
So what gives; is Buendia lying? Probably not. While meal frequency may not be as important as he makes it sound, it’s still a knob you should turn from time to time.
Jeremy Buendia on Meal Frequency
“Starting to feel my physique change again. I went from five meals per day to six meals per day this week & it’s made a huge difference! Feeling a lot fuller, tighter & stronger!” Buendia said on social media on Nov. 14, 2024, during a shoulder workout.
Buendia backed his claim by performing a set of dumbbell shoulder presses with the 100s — one heck of a real-world endorsement on meal frequency. He added, “It always blows my mind how much our diet influences our look and performance!”
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Buendia is 100% correct about that.
The necessity of eating six meals a day was once meat-and-potatoes bodybuilding advice. The idea sounds plausible at first. Your body uses energy to digest food, and consuming food spikes your metabolism. The more frequently you eat, the more you stoke your metabolic furnace.
This idea hasn’t held up to modern scientific scrutiny, despite being among the most common pieces of old-school bodybuilding advice.
- A 1993 study observed no changes in fat loss between obese women who consumed their daily calories in two meals or as many as five. (1)
- A 2023 meta-analysis made a stronger claim, saying, “There is no discernible advantage to eating in a high or low-frequency dietary pattern.” (2)
- On protein intake, which permits muscle growth, findings from a 2013 meta-analysis by industry-leading researcher Dr. Brad Schoenfeld “refute the commonly held belief that the timing of protein intake in and around a training session is critical to muscular adaptations.” (3)
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Why Meal Frequency Matters for Bodybuilders
Eating more meals isn’t a biological hack. Most existing literature tells us that your total daily nutritional intake — calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, as well as micronutrients and water — matter much more than the choices you make at each individual meal.
For Buendia, a sixth meal could be synonymous with upping his caloric intake if he’s not in contest prep. More calories, carbs, protein, and water are reliable ways to boost performance in the gym.
While meal frequency and timing don’t seem to be a big deal for overall body composition, when you eat can impact how you feel in the gym, which indirectly affects how much muscle you build or strength you gain.
- A position stand published by the International Society of Sports Nutrition endorsed higher meal frequency for its effect on cardiometabolic health, inflammation, and appetite control, among other factors. (5)
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Eating six meals instead of five isn’t the sort of thing that would make a big difference for the average gymgoer, according to most available scientific research. Buendia is no average gymgoer; peripheral changes often move the needle for the world’s best bodybuilders.
For the rest of us, Buendia’s advice is worth taking with a grain of salt. When it comes to meal frequency, your best bet is to eat as often as allows you to stay on track with your calorie and macronutrient targets — whether that’s across two meals or twelve.
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References
- Verboeket-van de Venne WP, Westerterp KR. Frequency of feeding, weight reduction and energy metabolism. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1993 Jan;17(1):31-6. PMID: 8383639.
- Blazey P, Habibi A, Hassen N, Friedman D, Khan KM, Ardern CL. The effects of eating frequency on changes in body composition and cardiometabolic health in adults: a systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized trials. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2023 Nov 14;20(1):133. doi: 10.1186/s12966-023-01532-z. PMID: 37964316; PMCID: PMC10647044.
- Schoenfeld, B.J., Aragon, A.A. & Krieger, J.W. The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: a meta-analysis. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 10, 53 (2013).
- Kahleova H, Lloren JI, Mashchak A, Hill M, Fraser GE. Meal Frequency and Timing Are Associated with Changes in Body Mass Index in Adventist Health Study 2. J Nutr. 2017 Sep;147(9):1722-1728. doi: 10.3945/jn.116.244749. Epub 2017 Jul 12. PMID: 28701389; PMCID: PMC5572489.
- La Bounty PM, Campbell BI, Wilson J, Galvan E, Berardi J, Kleiner SM, Kreider RB, Stout JR, Ziegenfuss T, Spano M, Smith A, Antonio J. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: meal frequency. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2011 Mar 16;8:4. doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-8-4. PMID: 21410984; PMCID: PMC3070624.
Featured Image: @jeremy_buendia / Instagram
