gym and then bed- what to eat between ????

miller82

i dont get to go to the gym till about 8.15 and workout till about 9.30. i'm normally hungry after but i go to bed about 10.45. what would be good to eat after the gym ????
cheers

Degsy

First off,get a big sticky shake down you,a mixture of whey,glucose and creatine would be good.Scoff a banana as well for simple carbs.Wait a little while and then have a chicken fillet and a peice of steak.Lastly before you go to bed have another shake with whey/cassein mixture or a whey mixture made with milk.A few "one a day" cod liver oil capsules at this time wont hurt either.

Seraphina

degsy i dont think he wants to be eating that much in the hour and 15 mins between the time he finishes in the gym and the time he goes to bed

his suggestions are good but dont go with all of them... you'll probably feel sick and wont be able to sleep!

slicus ricus

Im gonna agree with seraphina here - dont eat all of that - jst eat some of it. A protein shake (2 scoops) or chicken fillet or a tin of tuna or a piece of steak would suffice.

The main thing is to make sure its high in protein and low in carbohydrates because you wont work off carbohydrates while you sleep and they are therefore useless and will turn to fat. Protein (be it in solid or powder form), however, will be absoprbed into your body and aid recovery following the gym session as well as satisfying your hunger.

miller82

thanks all

Easygainer

slicus ricus wrote:

Im gonna agree with seraphina here - dont eat all of that - jst eat some of it. A protein shake (2 scoops) or chicken fillet or a tin of tuna or a piece of steak would suffice.

The main thing is to make sure its high in protein and low in carbohydrates because you wont work off carbohydrates while you sleep and they are therefore useless and will turn to fat. Protein (be it in solid or powder form), however, will be absoprbed into your body and aid recovery following the gym session as well as satisfying your hunger.

I'm not sure about the second part here. There's a definite trade off with training in the evening. If you do resistance training you HAVE to take in carbs and protein after or it is counterproductive. I personally take ON Pro complex (whey/albumin with added bcaa and glutamine) with grape juice and then creatine and raisins. You have expended your muscular stores of glycogen and need to replenish them. Dextrose does this best (hence the raisins and grape juice) but chicken and pasta would be fine.

On the other hand, it is true that unused carbs will likely be converted to fat. Carbs are stored as glycogen in the liver, which, if unused, will be stored as adipose tissue (fat). The exception to the general rule is ectomorphs (naturally skinny, high metabolism). If I absolutely have to work out late (ie after 7pm) I'll take in carbs and just swallow the fact that it could lead to excess fat.

You have to decide where your priorities lie - a shake pwo is good, but you really need the carbs. This was a MAJOR plateau in my old nutritional regime when I started out and I would beseech you not to make the same mistakes if looking to gain muscle.

slicus ricus

I agree with you there Easygainer - I used to train at night a lot myself and would eat high protein and high carbs after. I would have a reasonably fast metabolism but i would still gain some excess fat. Recently, ive started training in the morning and have tailored my diet so my carb intake is early in the day - when possible, i eat nearly all of my carbs by 2pm and just protein at night. Ive lost about 7lbs since i started doing this and havnt lost any noticeable muscle.

As Easygainer says, with this question its all about priorities - whether you prioritise staying/ getting lean or building musclemass at the expense of low body fat %.

miller82

well i want to gain some muscle mass first and then get lean (if that makes sense)

slicus ricus

miller82 wrote:

well i want to gain some muscle mass first and then get lean (if that makes sense)

Yep - that makes sense alright. Jst be careful you dont gain more body fat than you want. Best thing is probably to eat a high protein/ high carb meal after your workout in that case even if it is jst before bed. Again, be careful not to put on too much bodyfat.