When I've been in the weight gain stage, I did better with 3 or 4 big meals instead of 6 meals a day.

Which method do you think works better for most people when it comes to bulking up?

As long as you are doing some high intensity work outs, I think eating as much food, especially beef, chicken, and fish multiple times a day is great (other than the 3 set meals). I'm a pretty big guy, about 220 lbs. so obviously I am a big fan of food, but as long as you're constantly breaking a sweat throughout the day, I say "eat up".

I found when I first started trying to get myself back into shape, the 6 small meals a day helped me eat better, as I knew I was never too far away from my next meal and I could skip junk. It was effective at breaking my junk habit, but it only took a few months before having to eat every 3 or 4 hours became a pain.

Since then, I've found that my body does a fine job of telling me when I need to eat. I do a 24-hour fast every other week, (or whenever I feel I need to) and even with working out, I eat much less over the next few days. I've seen how people say you need dedicate yourself to feeding your muscle, but I figure if my body needs fed, it will tell me.

To answer the "how many meals a day" question, I tend to eat between 1 and 4 not counting snacks. I'm not a big snack-er, though.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but I have found that 3 meals/day works much better than 6+ meals/day

I think those 3 mega meals are more effective than 6 big meals due to the combo of a massive insulin spike and a huge amount of calories

I have never seen research to back this up...it's all just personal & professional experience

Everything you guys have written seems pretty interesting and all, definitely worth a shot at. However, what I have found to be the best for myself is intense workouts that leave me sore everywhere, followed by more intense workouts, and then even more intense workouts, while giving my body absolutely no time to heal. When I used to do these workouts, I would be walking around doing my daily routine in a tremendous amount of pain, but I have never felt as strong as I did when I did those workouts. Also, I am a big fan of the multiple meals a day, apart from the original 3.