Research
Energy balance
Increasing meal frequency (nibbling) does not enhance weight loss or total 24-hour energy expenditure compared to fewer, larger meals (gorging) during energy restriction.
You do not need to eat 6 small meals a day to lose weight. Whether you eat 3 large meals or 6 small ones, your body burns roughly the same amount of energy over 24 hours if the total calories are the same. Choose the meal frequency that helps you stick to your calorie goal and feel satisfied.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
We conclude that, in spite of the seemingly impressive results favouring a nibbling regimen recorded by Debry et al. (1973), most studies find that meal pattern has no significant impact on weight loss during intentional energy restriction.
Why this rating
Based on a review of multiple controlled trials and calorimetry studies, though some individual studies had methodological flaws.
Source
Meal frequency and energy balance
France Bellisle et al. · British Journal Of Nutrition · 1997
DOI 10.1079/bjn19970104
narrative_reviewCited 278×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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