Eating Late

Frankiestylee

What's the craic with eating late at night? I was always told it was worse for you as you just turned it to fat,didn't digest it etc etc, but as I've so often learned on these boards this is probably just a myth I've bought into.

I noticed when a lot of ye were posting up your 6 meals a day, a lot of the schedules included small meals as late as 1am... so obviously it's not all bad or is it?

ironictoaster

I wonder that too as I don't eat my dinner until around 9

yomchi

Frankiestylee wrote:

What's the craic with eating late at night? I was always told it was worse for you as you just turned it to fat,didn't digest it etc etc, but as I've so often learned on these boards this is probably just a myth I've bought into
I noticed when a lot of ye were posting up your 6 meals a day, a lot of the schedules included small meals as late as 1am... so obviously it's not all bad or is it?

it depends on what your goals are and it depends on what type of food you are digesting.

You will see that the people who will eat 6 meals a day will be taking a high protein meal late at night (before bed normally) this is to keep the body in an anabolic state throughout the night as the body will be starved of nutrients otherwise.

Eating carbohydrate late at night can serve a purpose where carb loading is an issue, if the person has endurance activity the following day etc.

tribulus

It again comes down to what you eat really. Having a bowl of cornflakes at night or toast or [insert some sh1te snack most people eat] is going to be bad.

However having say tuna with a small amount of olive oil is much better.
Generally I'd say if it's lean protein and unsaturated fat you should be ok.

If you are having carbs it should really only be fibrous veg, unless you train late but even then it should be an okay source such as brown rice.

yomchi

^^
Just to clarify, for carbo loading the carb taken is a sugar carb/glycogen replenishment.

cavanmaniac

Like the folks say, the only time I eat any sort of a sizeable meal in late evening is if I'm finishing a workout late, which happens frequently. Then I go for the good carb source as you require this after the stress of a workout, generally brown rice or wholewheat pasta with some teriyaki chicken or something.

If a non-workout evening I eat something light like yoghurt before bed time and have a protein shake before turning in - I always come down on the side of it being worse for your body to have nothing to 'eat' during the night than it is to have a empty stomach and have your body 'eating itself.' That's the way I look at it anyway, other folks may see it different.

I think eating late at night is bad for people who don't take any/enough exercise and therefore don't have a heightened metabolism?

Frankiestylee

Ah so a protein shake before bed is a good idea? Must start trying that.

I went back to the 6 meals a day thread to find the exact thread but I must have been imagining things, I was sure someone had chocolate at 1am... and now that I think about it, I didn't read the rest of the day, maybe they were taking the piss

justsomebloke

I would workout in the evenings finishing at around 7-7.30 and then will eat quite a bit of food between then and going to bed, however if I wasn't training I would more monitor what I was having in the evenings

Dragan

On training days I eat a lot from the end of my workout to bed time, on non training days I limit what I eat in the evenings but still have a very large protein based meal before hitting the hay.

I won't get to eat again for another 6 hours so I make sure I load up on amino acids.

davyjose

Dragan wrote:

I won't get to eat again for another 6 hours so I make sure I load up on amino acids.

Dragan, are you only getting 6 hours sleep? What effect is this having on your workouts?

Dragan

davyjose wrote:

Dragan, are you only getting 6 hours sleep? What effect is this having on your workouts?

About as much as I let it have to be honest. I am working pretty long hours lately, sometimes anywhere from 12 to 14 hours a day and will be for the rest of this week and next week. I will also have my college course starting next week but happily that is just two nights so you can call me on the go from about 5 in the morning till 10 at night on those days!

Anyway, there is no way I would be able to recover from very heavy sessions like I normally train so it has been lots of Crossfit style work for me in the gym here in work! I'm really just looking to maintain for the coming weeks but find my lunch times sessions wake me up for the rest of the day!

This is not something I would like to do indefinitely but it is absolutely managable. To be honest it gives me even less patience with the "I don't have time to eat right/workout" argument.

I'm pretty sure I could claim that myself right now should I really want to.

davyjose

Yeah - I work shift, and I find it really tough on the days I'm working. I myself only got 5 hours sleep last night. That pretty much ruled out any exercise today - but I'm starting to think its an excuse.
It's not something I can do every day, but maybe I need to be a little tougher.
Right - an evening session tonight it is then

nesf

Dragan wrote:

This is not something I would like to do indefinitely but it is absolutely managable. To be honest it gives me even less patience with the "I don't have time to eat right/workout" argument.

I'm pretty sure I could claim that myself right now should I really want to.

Not everyone can live on 5 hours sleep though, even over the short term. Plus you don't really know what "not having time for things" means until you have a kid tbh. At least with work you can have sick days and holidays.

Dragan

nesf wrote:

Not everyone can live on 5 hours sleep though, even over the short term. Plus you don't really know what "not having time for things" means until you have a kid tbh. At least with work you can have sick days and holidays.

I'm not missing sleep to workout though. I am working out on my lunch hour because i choose to do so. Am i tired? Sure thing i am, but i am doing it because i want to become physically better.

To tangent i remember when i was posting regularly on Getbig and would talk to some of the better known bodybuilders on there i was originially a bit start struck and told one of them i really respected his work ethic. We got into a big chat about making sacrifices to train and he sent me e-mail he had gotten from this kid in Russia who lost an arm, a hand from his other arm and a leg and was still lifting weights.

When i was very young my dad would be working out after a 12 hour day in work, with at the time 4 young kids. We'd hang off the bars while he lifted us, it was awesome. Long before i was born, when he had his legs badly broken in an accident in work he still worked out the parts that he could.

The take home message is if you want to workout you find a way regardless.

The take home message was if you

Boston

Off Topic: At the moment I'm similar to to Dragan there. I'm up a Six to prepare food for the day, gone from seven, doing 9 hour day at work and hitting the GYM at six 4 times a week (plus whatever on weekends). 2 months ago I wouldn't have been able to do this, but with the new diet I seem to have more energy and able to get by on less sleep (7 hours pretty much max)
On Topic: Given that layout i eat most nights at about 9 pm, broccoli, carrots, Rice and Protein (usually chicken but sometimes home made burger) is this the type of stuff which would be bad to eat late? Its not a snack its a full dinner, and tbh with all the small meals I'm eating during the day I think i need it, but I have been thinking of cutting back portions.

nesf

Dragan wrote:

I'm not missing sleep to workout though. I am working out on my lunch hour because i choose to do so. Am i tired? Sure thing i am, but i am doing it because i want to become physically better.

To tangent i remember when i was posting regularly on Getbig and would talk to some of the better known bodybuilders on there i was originially a bit start struck and told one of them i really respected his work ethic. We got into a big chat about making sacrifices to train and he sent me e-mail he had gotten from this kid in Russia who lost an arm, a hand from his other arm and a leg and was still lifting weights.

When i was very young my dad would be working out after a 12 hour day in work, with at the time 4 young kids. We'd hang off the bars while he lifted us, it was awesome. Long before i was born, when he had his legs badly broken in an accident in work he still worked out the parts that he could.

The take home message is if you want to workout you find a way regardless.

The take home message was if you

It’s a hell of a lot easier to maintain a routine than start one. Would you accept this? It’s one of the major arguments around tackling obesity, get the kids out doing sports early and into the habit of training and they are a lot more likely to keep training as adults. Habits both good and bad are very hard to break. The hard part isn’t finding time to train, it’s getting so into the habit of doing it that not training feels alien and your body starts complaining.

Telling someone who has never trained, who has eaten like crap for most of their life and whose idea of hard work is sitting at a chair and typing that they should just “find time” misses the point imho and does nothing to help them. One of my friends is like this and it’s frustrating as hell because he has gotten to the point he needs to fix things or his health is going to be permanently ****ed but simply pointing out I can find time to cook for myself despite having a toddler tying both myself and herself up 24/7 or our other friend finds time to get a run in every second day despite working long hours or that you don’t have to go out drinking three nights a week and always drink pints doesn’t help him in the slightest. It’s not knowledge or examples he lacks, it’s the habits that have become ingrained in him that need to changed and that is very hard to help someone with.

Telling him to get off his fat ass and actually do something about it doesn't achieve anything but vent our frustrations. Can you see what I mean? The problem isn't "potential" to get the work done because we all can, it's getting someone to the point where it no longer feels alien to be doing so.

Boston

You make a solid point about maintain over start. I'll say one thing though, people won't change until they see it themselves as a problem.

nesf

Boston wrote:

You make a solid point about maintain over start. I'll say one thing though, people won't change until they see it themselves as a problem.

Even that isn't enough sometimes. What they need to see is the habits and things they feel that they have to do to have fun but which are ****ing them up is the problem. Just reaching the conclusion that you need to lose weight or get healthier is the "easy" part.

Boston

nesf wrote:

Even that isn't enough sometimes. What they need to see is the habits and things they feel that they have to do to have fun but which are ****ing them up is the problem. Just reaching the conclusion that you need to lose weight or get healthier is the "easy" part.

Nah, I think people say alot of "pre-programmed" bull****. Like you say "you need to loose weight" and the response is "yes, yes I do". I was talking to some recently that is a fair amounth under weight by any measure, which he acknowledges, but at the same time see nothing wrong with his diet. I guess what I'm saying is theres a difference between just saying something and meaning it.

nesf

Boston wrote:

Nah, I think people say alot of "pre-programmed" bull****. Like you say "you need to loose weight" and the response is "yes, yes I do". I was talking to some recently that is a fair amounth under weight by any measure, which he acknowledges, but at the same time see nothing wrong with his diet. I guess what I'm saying is theres a difference between just saying something and meaning it.

There's the converse issue of where people (and their body) is happy at with regard to weight. People's tendency to comment on other's appearance can be a mixed blessing, assuming it's well meaning. Stuff like the BMI and "ideal weights" can be a very negative thing when applied incorrectly.

Sangre

To the OP I wouldn't stress too much about eating late as long as its part of a solid diet and workout. It should only really become an issue when you're optimising an already farily solid routine imo.

Frankiestylee

At the moment I really just want to lose fat, ideally without losing muscle.
Would taking a protein shake before bed and staying anabolic (?) be a hinderance in losing wait yet a plus in maintaining muscle? I know the protein shake doesn't contain any (or any noticeable) carbs, so it's not going to add weight, but, if I want to lose fat do I infact want my body to "eat itself" as I sleep?

davyjose

Frankiestylee wrote:

I know the protein shake doesn't contain any (or any noticeable) carbs, so it's not going to add weight

Explain???

Frankiestylee

Ok, maybe I'm completely wrong, but the protein shakes I take don't have any carbs in them... well that's what I was told. Now that I've taken a look there's 120 calories in a serving. Hmmm... learning something new everyday.
I could possibly be hugely confused about this whole nutrition thing.

tribulus

Eh look at the back and they'll tell you if there's carbs in them!

120 calories could broken down to protein 23g x 4 = 92cals, fat 3g = 27cals

~120cals

ali.c

Frankiestylee wrote:

Ok, maybe I'm completely wrong, but the protein shakes I take don't have any carbs in them... well that's what I was told. Now that I've taken a look there's 120 calories in a serving. Hmmm... learning something new everyday.
I could possibly be hugely confused about this whole nutrition thing.

okay so i think his point was its still kcals, so if the rest of your diet is over maintenance theoretically you will still gain weight. This would be excluding all the macro-nutrient timing stuff though. Protein is a better choice in the evening time AFAIK