Big breakfast, small breakfast, or no breakfast?

dillmilk

I read that you should skip breakfast to burn fat in the morning and eat your other meals post-workout between 11 and 8 to build muscle. Is this true? Would it be better to have a small snack in the morning like Greek yogurt or a banana, or should you have a big breakfast with carbs so you have energy to burn off at the gym? I've been bulking for a while now but I want to look for ways to gain less fat and build more muscle.

Hornsby

Doesn't matter at all. Focus on finding the right energy balance and keeping yourself satiated as well as fueled for your energy expenditure. Whatever meal timing works best for that for you, is the optimal meal timing for you.

SideSteel

dylan_mazur wrote: »

I read that you should skip breakfast to burn fat in the morning and eat your other meals post-workout between 11 and 8 to build muscle. Is this true? Would it be better to have a small snack in the morning like Greek yogurt or a banana, or should you have a big breakfast with carbs so you have energy to burn off at the gym? I've been bulking for a while now but I want to look for ways to gain less fat and build more muscle.

Here are some vague recommendations:

1) Make sure your total calorie (and macronutrient) intake is appropriate for your goals. For example, gaining too fast = excess fat gain. Gaining too slow = possibly not maximizing muscle gain. See here for details: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/general-philosophies-of-muscle-mass-gain.html/

2) Focus on training performance. It's very important, and I'd argue that any theoretical benefit to precise nutrient timing as a way to try and manipulate nutrient partitioning will be completely futile if that method of eating doesn't optimize training performance.

3) ASSUMING it doesn't negatively impact performance or adherence, I'd also make sure that you're getting somewhere in the ballpark of 3 to 5 servings of protein to potentially maximize the frequency with which you're upregulating protein synthesis. In my opinion this is secondary to the previously mentioned items.

If you think you're gaining too much fat or gaining fat too fast, then I'd FIRST look at #1 on the above list because it's possible that you're just gaining at too fast of a rate.

jgnatca

If you are in bulk mode you are gaining both. Make sure you are making your reps every day.

You'll see the fruits of your labour when you get to your cut.

Breakfast and its composition has nothing to do with it.