Metabolism

By how much does eating every 2-3 hrs. speed up your metabolism?  Can you eat a few more calories doing so? 

If its not such a big % then why bother?

It doesn't 'speed it up' rather 'prevents it slowing down'.   Eating regularly is the key rather than eating big snacks every 2 or 3 hours which is a bit of a fad at the moment.  Three meals a day is fine.  Have a small snack to put you on if you're hungry.   Eating regularly will keep the metabolism lively whereas skipping meals slows it down a little.  Similarly, being active will boost the metabolism more than being sedentary.  Drinking fluids helps the body metabolise a little quicker than being dehydrated.

I also think that you tend to eat less when you don't wait until you are starving to eat.  Thus the 2-3 hours thing.  Its not that you "can" eat more, but that its easier to eat less, because you are eating when you are moderately hungry, not when you are ready to eat anything in sight.

Thanks for responding --

I've been eating regularly, because I feel hungry about every 2 hrs.   Even when I eat oatmeal, which is weird because it has protein and oats are suppose to keep you full longer.  So when I'm hungry in about 2 hrs.  I just eat something light like a banana.  Before I started eating regularly, I weighed a lot, and never felt hungry.  When I did eat, I was never hungry.  So I guess I kind of opened my appetite, although I did lose a ton of weight.  And I do drink about 4 1/2, 20 oz bottles a day.  So maybe that helps.

I agree with that.  Whenever I do eat every 2 hours, I feel hungry, but my stomach is still a little bloated so I eat less.  I guess it works?