I hear well-meaning people/organizations recommend 1-2 snacks in addition to 3 meals for weight loss.
Lack of Knowledge
The recommendation of between meal snacks continues to exist and be perpetuated due to a lack of knowledge.
The majority of an individual's education on this and other topics comes from something someone told them in the gym, a brief online comment or a sentence uttered on the news.
"No one ever got dumbber from reading..."
The majority of individual are not willing to invest some time in education themselves on any topic.
Ignorance for individual like this is a choice.
they barely eat breakfast (maybe a biscotti with coffee or espresso), one meal with family around 2, one meal with family around 8.
Protein: Are We On Track and On Time?
Dr Donald Layman's presentation on protein, provides some of the information that I posted.
Layman address' the fact that most individual only have one "Anabolic Meal" (my term) per day, rather than three.
It is hard to maintain muscle mass, let alone increase it with only one "Anabolic Meal" a day. It takes two or three meals to maintain and possibly increase muscle mass.
That because the majority, as you noted, "...barely eat breakfast", don't consume enough protein, nor do that consume enough protein for lunch.
Pulse Feeding
Older individual lose muscle mass each year. One of the reason is the majority of individual are not consuming enough protein to maintain muscle mass.
Research has demonstrated that Pulse Feeding with older individual ensure they maintain and possibly are able to increase muscle mass.
Pulse Feeding is a meal with high protein/Leucine intake.
I feel the same exact way about 4-6 small meals advice. I’m sure it works for other people though.
l meals advice. I’m sure it works for other people though.[/QUOTE]
4 - 6 Small Meals Don't Work Well
The foundation of this mentality is based on antiquated information that continues to be perpetuated.
For individual who want to gain weight, consuming more calorie via more meals works; providing the diet plan is well written and executed.
The main factors for increasing muscle mass/weight with a diet is...
1) Refractory Feeding Periods
This means spacing higher protein meals out between 4 - 6 hours rather than 3 hours. The 4 - 6 hour meals ensure greater Muscle Protein Synthesis.
That means had a meal every 4 hours to increase your caloric intake and promotes Muscle Protein Synthesis, meals need to be at let's say: 6 am, 10 am, 2 pm and 6 pm.
2) Between Meals. It appears (meaning it is an educated guess) that taking Leucine about an hour and a half after one meal and an hour and a half before the next meal may promote Muscle Protein Synthesis, via mTOR.
3) 4 - 6 Small Meals/Snacks do not increase your metabolism. They ensure high insulin levels, which shut down body fat being burned for fuel and promotes body fat storage.
"It works for some people..."
Absolutely but not in the way you want...
Researcher And Couch Potatoes
Researcher increased the calorie intake of sedentary individual.
They found the increase in calories for non-active individual increase muscle mass and body weight.
Does life get much better? You get to watch TV, eat junk food and adding muscle mass.
Unfortunately, the increase in body weight produced a 20% gain in muscle mass and 80% gain in body fat; the 80/20 Rule.
That mean if they put on 10 lbs, 8 pounds was fat and 2 pound was muscle.
Kenny Croxdale