What to eat after gym / workout late at night??

zacmorris

I've been back training since Jan and seeing some good results. Piling on muscle but finding it tough to shift the oul bodyfat.
Always been fairly heavy (build-wise). 5 '11 height and weight up / down between 100kgs - 108kgs

Eat well throughout the day, but when I come in from the gym or cycle in the eve at approx 8pm-9pm I never know what to eat.
I always have a protein shake, more for recovery than anything else as I do a lot of cycling 5-6days a week.

diet consits of;
morning- Muesli low fat milk with banana, protein shake

mid morn- piece of fruit (sometimes a boiled egg)

lunch- green, mixed, or 3bean salad (always a salad anyway) w/ chicken or tuna / fish.

mid day- handful of pumpkin seeds or fruit again

dinner- soemtimes I have a protein shake + a banana when in from gym, other times will have salad + meat / fish + veg (courgettes, asparagus, carrots, sweet potatoe depending)

Thing is, I was told not to eat 3 hours before going to bed- but by the time I get in sometimes it's 9pm. Should I be having a meal when I come in or have the meals during the day and sticking to a shake and banana when I come in? Is this affecting my bodyfat buy eating so late?

Finding it tough to shift the weight now...

Maybe I should be trainig in the mornings instead of the evenings?


Cheers.

Z

marathonic

Don't worry about the 'don't eat 3hrs before bed' advice. As long as you're on a calorie deficit, you'll lose weight.

A lot of people also say to avoid carbs late at night but I'd ignore that too - in particular, if you've just worked out.

There's a lot of stuff you could eat post workout. Two options I like would be a slice of brown bread and some peanut butter or an omelet with mushrooms, peppers, onions and tomatoes.

TommyKnocker

The concern I would have about eating too close to bed is that some folks find it hard to sleep with a full stomach.

I workout in the evening and would usually be finishing up around 20:00 ish. I would grab a shake with whey, glucose, creatine & Glutamine straight after the weights workout and would then grab something small around 21:00-21:30 such as some chicken and brocolli or scrambled eggs or cottage cheese and berries. On cardio/Conditioning days I would usually skip the shake and just ahve the meal.

This works for me and I sleep like a baby.

japanesebanana

I'd find it harder to sleep on an empty stomach. One of the best things for your body is a good nights sleep, especially after exercising. I work out late and often have a bowl of porridge or some fruit. If you can train in the mornings, it would be great, kick start you metabolism for the day, wakes you up quicker etc.

cork_buoy

I finish up in the Gym @ 9.30pm. I usually sleep from 1am so I've got a good window to get a decent pwo meal into me. Additionally, I sip BCAA's during my workout and find that this makes a significant positive difference with both gains and recovery.

PWO meal is usually a protein shake with simple carbs. I have real food when I get back to the house. Chicken/Red Meat with some potatoes and veg and a pint of milk. You can't beat proper food! It's about 10.30pm at this stage. Sure it's late but I've got 2.5 hours until I sleep and find that this works best for me.

Slow digesting protein in your pre-bed meal will give you everything you need to recover during the night. If a full meal is a bit much consider a casein based protein - this is low-cal and if you're looking to loose weight it might suit better.

Experiment - I find that everyone's got their 2c so it's down to bit of trial an error to find out what works for you!

Best of luck!