Myth: Eat Small Meals Every 3 Hours - Contrary to Michelle May claim this is not based on any observation of skinny people eating like this. Rightly or wrongly the theory behind this "many small meals idea" is that when you reduce total calorie intake over the day, you can biochemically fool your body into thinking that it is not starving, thus preventing it from going into "famine survival mode" (i.e. ramping down BMR). That is you eat every three hours to let your body know that there is still plenty of food around and that it doesn't need to conserve energy to survive a famine. You eat small meals because many big meals won't exactly help you lose fat.

I agree with you that that is the 'theory' behind the myth but I wouldn't go so far as saying that May's statement is debunking a straw man argument. And to state that Michelle May doesn't understand what she is talking about I don't think is fair.

To say that "thin people eat several small meals" may be erroneous but it is meant as an "observation" that may have lead to a "theory". The statement about thin people is not a straw man argument because it is not an argument at all…it is meant in support of the proposition that many small meals is the key to weight loss.

But is May's USE of the thin people statement a sraw man argument in itself? She would have to be basically "putting words" in the oppositions mouth. But I don't think she has done that. Theories come as a way to explain observations and although you may be able to point to specific observations that lead to the explanation at this point you have simply given the so called "biochemical" theory used to fit an observation. Many, many, "fat loss" experts who continually repeat the "several small meals" myth state that this is the habit of thin people as support for their theory. I don't see much misrepresentation or exaggeration there.

She has not misrepresented any biochemical statements but has simply pointed out, succinctly, that such theories don't really have anything to do with the real word. And she would be right, in my opinion. As you said, "rightly or wrongly" the theory goes….

People's eating habits have as much to do with their head as they do with biochemical pathways. May chooses to help people with their heads and I would choose the same. I don't really think she care's where the theory comes from because she knows that the average person nowadays simply excepts those types of statement as dogma with little regard to it's scientific legitimacy. Once these types of theories become intstitutionalized, watered down and, yes, misrepresented, it is of little use to argue logical fallacies anymore since what once was a theory is not mythos.

It simply would not do her or here clients any good to counter things they've come to believe with tiny physiological details that would do little to undermine their belief system and she knows that the problems they face are more complex than a simple problem in division.

Given that, I happen to think that many of May's statements regarding the habits of thin people have, in the past, been a bit off and I have written about some of that. I actually disagree with her use of the word "instinct" in regards to how "thin people" eat, for instance.

But in all, Michelle May is head and shoulders above those in the industry who think that sustained weight loss is a simple math problem and she is not content with the weak psycho-babble "eat less, move more". That is why her articles appear here because she understands the problems that people actually face…she's been there. Knowledge should never be seen as MORE important than experience. All the biochemical theories in the world will not allow one to help an obese person achieve sustained weight loss. Or fat loss if we want to be semantic.

"Myth: Don’t Let Yourself Get Hungry" and "Myth: Follow Your Diet Six Days a Week Then You Can Have a Cheat Day" are for the same reason as above, i.e. not letting your body go into "survive a famine" mode, by trying to convince it that there is no famine to defend against (by conserving energy).

Same arguments as above.

Thanks again, Rodney for commenting. It's really appreciated and I hope you come back.

Myth: Eat Small Meals Every 3 Hours - Contrary to Michelle May claim this is not based on any observation of skinny people eating like this. Rightly or wrongly the theory behind this "many small meals idea" is that when you reduce total calorie intake over the day, you can biochemically fool your body into thinking that it is not starving, thus preventing it from going into "famine survival mode" (i.e. ramping down BMR). That is you eat every three hours to let your body know that there is still plenty of food around and that it doesn't need to conserve energy to survive a famine. You eat small meals because many big meals won't exactly help you lose fat.

"Myth: Don’t Let Yourself Get Hungry" and "Myth: Follow Your Diet Six Days a Week Then You Can Have a Cheat Day" are for the same reason as above, i.e. not letting your body go into "survive a famine" mode, by trying to convince it that there is no famine to defend against (by conserving energy).