What do you eat at night?

itcouldbeme

I am having a hard time keeping on any size when I try to get ripped up. This picture is from a couple months ago and I'm not far off this mark now but what I am wondering is if my muscles are getting eating up a bit at night?

To help combat this I often will drink either a whey shake with fat free milk within an hour of sleep (milk for the Casein since it is supposed to last in your system 7-8 hours).... or a shake with some casein and whey with water. But them I feel I am throwing cals into my body right before bed. It sometimes feels like I have to do one or the other - size or cuts.

Suggestions or help?

I'm pretty new here so I hope you will friend me as well. Thanks!

streicl

Pure casein protein - look for low sugars and things such as lf cottage cheese (which is also a casein), only have a 1/2 cup or so or a shake w water. You wont be adding too many cals while you sleep then.

cmriverside

I'm not a muscle head, so ignore this if it's stoopid, but if you're trying to build muscle, isn't a lot of calories the whole idea? And eating before bed isn't a problem. . .lots of the body beautiful guys eat right before bed.

Voncreepy2

I am lifting light but my husband has been doing some weight training for awhile. He does the whey powder, but we read an article that the optimum time to take proetien is within 15 minutes after your workout. Apparently there is a small window that you have to preserve them. I will post if I can find it. I don't know much about it, but my husband is getting results. He also takes the creatine. He's also been eating a few more carbs. I think this is the article.
There is a lot of good info on this site.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/388768-how-to-take-protein-shakes-after-working-out/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/535101-post-workout-carb-protein-ratio/

itcouldbeme

bump...

itcouldbeme

I am lifting light but my husband has been doing some weight training for awhile. He does the whey powder, but we read an article that the optimum time to take proetien is within 15 minutes after your workout. Apparently there is a small window that you have to preserve them. I will post if I can find it. I don't know much about it, but my husband is getting results. He also takes the creatine. He's also been eating a few more carbs. I think this is the article.
There is a lot of good info on this site.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/388768-how-to-take-protein-shakes-after-working-out/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/535101-post-workout-carb-protein-ratio/

Thanks for the links.

SideSteel

I am having a hard time keeping on any size when I try to get ripped up. This picture is from a couple months ago and I'm not far off this mark now but what I am wondering is if my muscles are getting eating up a bit at night?

To help combat this I often will drink either a whey shake with fat free milk within an hour of sleep (milk for the Casein since it is supposed to last in your system 7-8 hours).... or a shake with some casein and whey with water. But them I feel I am throwing cals into my body right before bed. It sometimes feels like I have to do one or the other - size or cuts.

Suggestions or help?

I'm pretty new here so I hope you will friend me as well. Thanks!

If you're having issues with losing lean mass on a cut, I would first look at:

Size of your calorie deficit
Protein sufficiency in terms of net protein intake for the day
Training protocol


Nutrient timing would rank very far down the list provided you don't use some really f'd up meal protocol.

slkehl

I eat chips, ice cream, cookies. Terrible.

zaph0d

Dinner typically.
Or ice cream or cheesecake if I want a late night snack.

ArroganceInStep

Are you low carb'ing to cut?

After switching to a bulk how long before you notice size increases?

MissAnjy

I eat Doritos. True story.

imanole

I eat Doritos. True story.

LOL.

Feed_the_Bears

1) Awesome muscle definition, you should be proud. I wouldn't cut any more unless you're trying to compete or be in a fat-burner ad :P
2) You can't have your cake and eat it too. Aka you can't go on a fat cut program without losing some muscle. I'm sure you've read tonnes about that in fitness magazines etc. That said, you can do as much as you can to limit the amount of muscle that you lose. So you have to follow the calorie limits given to you in a cut program, but do everything you can to keep your protein grams up to around 1 or 1.5 g of protein per lb of lean body weight (do you have one of those machines at the gym that can measure that?). Nutrient timing is important as well as the body can only use so much protein at a time so spread it out throughout the day i.e. drinking your shakes at night can help you keep feeding while you sleep. Cut calories out of other nutrient groups like carbs and fat, making sure not to nix any nurtrient altogether. Taking BCAAs can help keep muscles growing/maintaining, and making sure you eating your veggies to keep muscle-stressing inflammation down.

I've been reading a lot lately about how the type of cardio you do can help you achieve your goal. Steady-state cardio is notoriously catabolic (muscle eating) and cortisol increasing (stress hormone - fat storage). "They" are recommending HIIT, intervals, plymetrics, tabatta etc as a form of cardio that is less catabolic. Any cardio where your bursting your effort for a short time, resting, bursting etc. ... and that's pretty much all I know on the subject.

Good luck.

Feed_the_Bears

I'm not a muscle head, so ignore this if it's stoopid, but if you're trying to build muscle, isn't a lot of calories the whole idea? And eating before bed isn't a problem. . .lots of the body beautiful guys eat right before bed.

Getting "ripped up" means cutting the fat on top of the muscle that you've already built. So as your eating/working to lose fat you typically can't build more muscle at the same time. You lose a bit of the muscle you worked so hard to build. Muscle builders go through phases: muscle build (which puts on some fat too typically) and then cut the fat and see what awesome muscle you're left with. This is a really strange concept to most girls who are usually just worried about cutting weight no matter where it comes from.