Several myths are often perpetuated to convince people that snacking is beneficial. The first myth is that eating frequently will increase your metabolic rate. Your metabolic rate does increase slightly after meals to digest your food—the thermogenic effect of food. However, the overall difference is extremely small.12 Eating six small meals per day causes the metabolic rate to go up six times a day, but only a little. Eating three larger meals per day causes metabolic rate to go up three times a day, but a lot each time. In the end, it’s a wash.
