How long between meals?

[trojan1444]

Can it be counterproductive to try and get in all your needed calories if your meals come too soon after the last one?

If I eat a 400 calorie meal, then have another 300 calorie protein shake or something an hour and a half later, can my body even use those new calories if it hasn't digested the last meal?

In other words, is there a certain amount of time you should wait between meals to ensure that you're not overloading calories?

[RichLockyer]

Take a look at teenagers today.
That 2500 calorie McDonalds meal didn't go directly down the crapper.

I try to space about every 3 hours, but really, when we're dealing with 300 calorie meals, an hour or more is fine. IIRC, the stomach empties roughly every 20 minutes. The intestines are long enough so that it's going to take a LOT more than a couple of extra shakes to actually force material into the colon before it has been digested. You'd be WAY uncomfortably bloated before that would happen.

[Vido]

Your body is very good at using what you provide it with.