As with most topics related to sports nutrition, calculating how often you should eat during the day isn’t easy. For as long as we’ve known, eating three square meals a day has always been the gold standard on how to approach the frequency of your meals. But when it comes to properly fuelling every aspect of your life, you may be wondering if it’s time for a change.

To help you figure out what might work best for you and your rides, we spoke with Cara Harbstreet, M.S., R.D., L.D., owner of Street Smart Nutrition about how your meal cadence and size can affect performance and recovery. Here’s what she had to say.

 

How often should you eat?

The most important thing to think about when deciding how to consume your calories is that you’re getting enough of them to keep you moving and help you recover, Harbstreet tells Bicycling.

The practice of eating three meals a day is largely a construct of how we build our lives around a typical nine-to-five job, she says. For example: You eat breakfast before work, you take a lunch break while on the job, and you eat dinner when you get home. And because non-elite endurance cyclists tend to plan their rides and workouts around their jobs and family life, following that schedule might make sense by squeezing in a ride during one of those segments.

But Harbstreet notes that this typical “corporate” structure doesn’t usually allow for much flexibility. Plus, with many working from home these days due to the pandemic, you may find you have a different schedule.

For athletes who have more flexibility with their work or train at a higher level (where cycling is the priority, for example), aiming for six smaller meals throughout the day might make more sense.

“For cyclists with a more amateur status or those who are hobby-riding, [how often you eat] doesn’t matter as much as we’d like to think,” Harbstreet says. “If you’re at a more elite level, following a dedicated and more rigid training plan, meal cadence can support your training efforts.”

That’s because athletes following intense training schedules need more calories than their more casual counterparts, and it can be easier to consume that amount of calories spread out across six smaller meals instead of three larger meals, Harbstreet says.

Plus, your body can only absorb a certain amount of some nutrients at a time, like protein(about 30 grams per sitting). So athletes who need large amounts of protein for muscle recovery, for example, shouldn’t try to cram their needs into one meal. “The reality of that happening during a meal setting is relatively rare,” Harbstreet says.

What’s the perfect meal size?

It’s best to consume a 3:1 ratio of carbs-to-protein within the first half-hour after a hard ride or strength training session. Aim for 0.14 to 0.23 grams of protein per pound of body weight and 0.5 to 0.7 grams of carbs per pound of body weight.

Your next meal, when you get hungry again, should be balanced and include all essential macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals. By spacing your nutrition out in this way, you will be able to better support your recovery and thus, improve your performance.

For goals of weight loss, it doesn’t seem to matter how you’re spacing out your meals: A 2012 study published in the journal Obesity, found that people who ate three meals a day lost the same amount of weight as those who ate smaller meals six times a day. (Each group consumed a similar amount of calories per day—between 1 200 and 1 500—based on their individual needs.) However, the “grazing group” (those who ate six meals) felt less hungry throughout the day. Keep in mind, 1 500 calories is low for most people.

There have been other studies that have found that the amount of meals you eat has no effect on metabolism or fat loss. While more research needs to be done, there’s no harm in shifting to eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day if you find yourself constantly battling hunger pangs.

How do you determine the right meal frequency for you?

In terms of how to spread out your daily meals, whether that’s three or six, the most important thing to consider is fuelling your workout and kick-starting your recovery. That means, before a workout, you’ll want to focus more on fast-digesting (simple) carbohydrates than fat, fiber, or protein. After a workout, emphasise carbohydrates and protein to replenish your stores.

That said, Harbstreet recommends eating every four to five hours if you opt for three large meals, and every two to three hours for six meals.

“You want to avoid going too long without any nutrition,” she says. That’s where snacks come in, with the priority being fuel for a workout or to tide you over before your next meal.

 

If you have the flexibility to prepare six small meals every day, and you’re training at a moderate to an intense level, Harbstreet recommends this approach because you can spread out your required calories.

“With six meals a day, we’re dividing and conquering, in a sense,” Harbstreet says. “You need to include most, if not all, of the food groups.” This means all of your macros: carbs, protein, and fat.

If you choose to eat six meals a day, Harbstreet recommends them being smaller than if you were to eat three meals a day. Think of it this way: If you ate six large meals a day, you’d be stuffed, and if you ate three small meals a day, you’d be starving. One of her favourite “mini-meals” is beef jerky with an apple and peanut butter. It might seem like a snack, she says, but it covers the main food groups and its calorie count moves you into the meal category.

But if the traditional three-meals-a-day route works best for your schedule, make sure you’re still eating enough nutrient-dense calories (think: high-quality protein, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates).

And while, as an athlete, you should be smart about how often you eat throughout the day and in a way that supports your training—like getting enough carbs and protein after a workout to help you recover, for example—it’s worth hammering home that calories are calories at the end of the day. (And whether you get your recovery protein and carbs from a snack or a mini-meal depends on which eating plan you’re following.)

“Our bodies are efficient and intelligent, but they don’t run on a 24-hour clock,” Harbstreet previously told Bicycling. “There’s no reset button at midnight. Your body doesn’t care or know.”

The Bottom Line on How Often to Eat

The best healthy strategy for you is the one that works for you and that you can stick to and enjoy. Choose the meal “plan” that works best for your lifestyle and your training. The most important thing is that you eat nutrient-dense foods that meet your energy needs (and that taste good!) so you can ride hard and recover fast.