How Proper Calorie Fragmentation Improves Body Composition?


It is a well-established fact that calories control everyone's bodyweight. No matter how many meals a day you have, it is the calorie balance in the end of the day that matters. If you eat fewer calories than you are burning, you will lose weight. It won't matter if these calories come from chocolate, bagels, meat, eggs, fruit or whatever else.

Calories control bodyweight.

What about body composition? The two major components of body composition are lean body mass and fat mass. Suppose you just lost 10 pounds of bodyweight. Does it matter how many of those 10 pounds were fat and how many muscle? Sure, it DOES matter. While calorie balance controls bodyweight, other important factors influence the proportions of fat and muscle that you gain or lose! These factors may improve or make worse the way you look naked.

One of those factors is calorie distribution (or calorie fragmentation). Bodybuilders, as the group of people most concerned with their body composition, have been spreading their calorie intake into smaller and more frequent meals for decades. Originally they believed that doing so "raises one's metabolism". Science has never proved this belief. Recent findings reveal that there is no metabolic advantage of eating smaller and more frequent meals.

However recent research has uncovered that spreading your calorie intake into smaller and more frequent meals improves body composition! More calories end up building muscles, and less calories go to your fat deposits. The calorie balance equation still rules, but more calories end up building muscles! That, my friend, means that you will look better!

The most promising research comes from the labs of Georgia State University. Dr. Dan Benardot and colleagues developed a sophisticated computer program that analyzes a person's within-day calorie balance. They named the program - computerized time-line energy assessment (CTLEA). The research team tracked the calorie feeding patterns of 42 gymnasts and 20 runners. The trial found that the athletes with the largest and most frequent energy deficits were the fattest! On the other hand, the athletes with the smallest and least frequent energy deficits were the leanest. The results were equally supportive for both aerobic (runners) and anaerobic (gymnast) athletes.

This research is absolutely fascinating. It irrefutably proves that eating smaller and more frequent meals leads to more muscle and less fat. Whether you are on a 1200 or 4000 calorie diet, it does make sense to spread these calories into more meals. The research suggests that for maximum muscle, we must minimize (if not eliminate) time frames of the day where our calorie balance falls below minus 300 calories.

The most frequent times, a person fails to feed his or her body sufficient calories to keep a (-300;+300) balance are: sleeping and training.

Remember these 4 rules of good calorie distribution

  • Eat before bed.

  • Eat your breakfast.

  • Eat before exercise.

  • Eat after exercise.

    • Hristo Hristov owns X3MSoftware, a company specializing in developing diet and fitness tracking software. Hristo has a degree in Computer Science and passion for strength training. Hristo has designed and written Fitness Assistant, X3MSoftware's leading software product. Download your demo at Download Diet Software and Fitness Software by X3MSoftware

    More Resources

    Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

    More Building Muscle Information:

    Related Articles

    Shoulder Exercises For Beginning Bodybuilders
    The main shoulder muscles that concern bodybuilders are the deltoids and although they work closely with the arms and chest muscles, it is possible to isolate the delts in a training session. Unlike other body parts though, the shoulder is not designed for heavy lifting in all directions so beginners need to take care and use lighter weights than usual for shoulder-isolating exercises.
    3 Biggest Benefits of Strength Training
    Strength training is exercise that uses resistance to strengthen and condition the musculoskeletal system, improving muscle tone and endurance. "Strength training" is used as a general term synonymous with other common terms: "weightlifting" and "resistance training.
    Get Rid of Cellulite, Once and For All!
    Get Fit At Home With Ailsa : Get Rid of CelluliteHad it up to here with Cellulite? Want to get rid of it forever, and make your body all lovely and sleek? Yeah, me too, so I when one of my old 'Gym Boys' showed me this Exercise years ago, I started doing it al the time, and changed it up a bit to make it work more effectively for me. This is a great Exercise for Women, but I know for a fact that 'manly men' do it, too! ha,ha! (Oh, and in case you are thinking something 'innaccurate' about the 'Gym Boy' thing, that's just what I used to call all the guys at the gym where I used to work out a lot -- it's a term of endearment, but in no way a reference to anyone I went out with -- I either call those guys "that crazy old jerk" or "one of my great old friends".
    Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (Lose Body Fat) - Product Review
    At first glance, this product manual's title (Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle) was a bit distracting. While the 300+ page manual does a good job of explaining how increased muscle strength helps lose body fat and why its more important to lose body fat versus lose weight; I wasn't sure about the content of the product manual until I read it in its entirety.
    An Amazing Technique That Can Make Your Gains Skyrocket While Others Have Reached A Sticking Point!
    If you clearly understand and apply the principles involved in natural bodybuilding, you will experience very rapid muscle gains. However, over a long term, eventually a 'sticking point' or plateau in your training may be reached.
    Muscle-Building Exercises and Growth-Boosters
    I have 'emerged' some subtle bodybuilding techniques that infuse rapid muscle-growth to any trainee. You see, the "factor of top intensity levels" in combination with "aggressive workouts that expel pure testosterone bursts", is the key to a fantastic muscular development.
    NO2 Muscle Enhancing Hemodialator
    Whenever I go to the gym and tell a friend that I've recently started the supplement, NO2, nobody knows what I'm talking about but I even mention Creatine, and that is well known as a standard for building muscle.Could NO2 be the next Creatine? When Creatine was launched, it was expensive.
    Ab Sculpting Exercise - One Of The Most Productive Exercises For Your Abs That Is Hardly Ever Used
    Before I talk about one of the most productive and forgotten Ab Development exercises ever developed, you will need to know how your abdominal muscles actually work. I know for a fact, if I don't offer some pretty convincing evidence, it will be very difficult for you to believe such a claim so here is where a little education will go a long way to prove my point.
    The Importance Of Sets In Your Muscle Building Program
    In an earlier article we looked at how repetitions contribute to the muscle building process, but is the position regarding sets just as clear cut? Unfortunately, the answer to this is no as some experts feel one set to failure is sufficient, whereas others argue that multiple sets are needed to ensure maximum muscle gains. Research to date suggests that, when using six to eight repetitions to failure at 75-80% 1RM, there is little significant difference between training with single and multiple sets in terms of increasing either strength or muscle size.
    How to Gain Weight and Build More Muscle Mass
    In the health, fitness, and nutrition world, achieving optimal or desired body weight is dominated by a single theme: losing weight. The vast majority of products and services available on the market proclaim to achieve weight loss goals, and even the (often discordant) medical community is in general harmony when it comes to promoting weight loss options, including drugs and some surgeries.
    Barbell Exercises That Suit Beginners
    The aim for beginners to weight training must be to lay the foundations for the intensive workouts that their bodies will eventually be subjected to. Obviously successful bodybuilding involves bringing together disparate elements such as nutrition and rest but choosing the right exercises is crucial.
    Get A Grip! Get More Out Of Your Biceps Curls
    Would you like to know how to get more out of every single dumbell curl you do? Amazingly enough, you can do this simply by changing where you grip the dumbell.First, I'm going to tell you what the trick is, then I'm going to tell you exactly how and why it works.
    Successful Body Building Routine
    There are some major key parts to a successful body building routine. I will go over a routine that was created by a personal trainer for me, and it worked wonderfully.
    Exercise The Right Way - The Lying Triceps Extension
    Other articles in this series looked at a number of exercises, mainly from the perspective of developing a comprehensive muscle building program. Sometimes we take things for granted, especially when it comes to performing the basic exercises that constitute the core of most bodybuilders' training regimes.
    Welcome Back Everyone!
    Ah summer time, it's one of my favorite seasons and it has everything to do with free time, sun and surf. Activities like volleyball, tennis, soccer, swimming, surfing, sprinting after curious children, playing frisbee with the dog, walking a mile to get a frozen yogurt or to find that lost flipper on the beach take precedence.
    Know Your Muscles - The Shoulders And Arms
    Becoming familiar with the muscles that make up your body has more benefits than simply allowing you to talk shop with your training partners. The more familiar you are with the muscles you're working, the better you'll be able to judge what's needed to make improvements.
    How Proper Calorie Fragmentation Improves Body Composition?
    It is a well-established fact that calories control everyone's bodyweight. No matter how many meals a day you have, it is the calorie balance in the end of the day that matters.
    Clothes and Shoes and Stretching
    Now that we have a trainer, our next concern is to be equipped with the proper shoes and clothes, so our training experience can be maximized.If your trying to create a great body you need to start with clothes and shoes that will make you feel good as well as look good! {The reason behind that is if you look and feel good you will tend to be in a motivated state of mind, and in this state we build consistency, this is where results come from.
    Celebrity Personal Trainers
    Personal Trainer to the Stars!!Celebrity Personal Trainers!!Who are these amazing personal trainers that train the stars, professional athletes, celebrities, rock musicians, and the rest of the rich and famous?Well, being a personal trainer and a perfectionist, I did some research to find out who they are and how one becomes a personal trainer to the stars. The research I uncovered about these so-called celebrity personal trainers that charge fees of $300+ per hour for their expertise indicates that, like the rest of the personal training industry, there are no requirements of any sort to become a celebrity trainer.
    Fitness & Muscle Building Know How for Hard Gainers
    Hard gainers are individuals who train equally hard as other people but somehow fail to make any gains comparable to others. They need a lot more than hard training.