How often do we need calories? Would one 8000 calorie meal every four days replace four 2000 calorie meals every day? Is four 500 calorie meals a day better than one 2000 calorie meal a day?

Question

I was wondering this the other day. It’s similar I think to “How efficient is out digestive system”. Is there an optimal number of calories to take in every X amount of time to maintain a steady…calorie intake? Energy generation?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Generally your digestive system works within a 6-8 hour time frame to go from eating the food to excreting it. It’s not 100% thorough with absorbing all the nutrients, fats and water, though, so if you were to eat 8000 calories at once, your body is only going to absorb a portion of that, pass any excess through without absorbing it, and will need more food several hours later.

tldr- our body is optimised to eat roughly 1500-3000 calories a day, so eating more than that will just pass through your system