Charles Runels, MD

To understand better how to reveal the 6-pack, imagine this fictional scenario:

Imagine if you could hook up an iv that provided you with all the nutrition you need to maintain muscle mass but just an extra 110 calories per day were provided as a bolus once a day.  That extra 110 calories would eventually lead to a 10-pound weight gain (unless you exercised an extra 110 calories).

Now, imagine the iv provided exactly the proper number of calories but it all came over about a 2 or 3 hour period in the evening.  Then you would store the extra calories (more than what's needed during the 2 or 3 hours of infusion) until the next day.   This storage would be accomplished by increasing fat stores in the body (your abdominal musculature is the floor on which the food stores rest...Goodbye six-pack).  Even if you eat the proper number of calories, you'll store fat because of the insulin produced by the extra calories.  If you were careful to not eat any extra calories, the fat would be burned away the next day.  Of course if the number of calories is more than needed the fat storage grows to the tune of 10 pounds for every extra 110 calories that you average over needs for the day.  

Now, imagine that the iv provides just enough calories for use with never an extra bolus.  Imagine further that you could turn the iv back for just a couple of days per week.  You'd maintain weight on the normal days but access fat on the lower days but never experience much hunger because you'd only be getting slightly less than require (you'd still be receiving calories throughout the day).

This last scenario is exactly what happens when you eat carefully planned small meals throughout the day.  It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours to digest a meal.  If you only eat the nutrition required over the next 2.5 to 3 hours, then about the time you finish digesting the food, you've already burned all of it up.  Very little insulin is produced, and no fat storage takes place.  By choosing foods that gradually release the glucose and have adequate protein, muscle mass can be maintained and there is no fat storage.  If the total calories is reduced in each meal, and they're kept of nearly equal amounts, a person can eat 6 times a day and lose weight and experience an increase in energy that must be experienced to be appreciated.