No carbs in the evening to shift last few pounds?????

Whooooooah! Like erk143 says everyone has different opinions on these things and people have proven that different types of diet work for them. It doesn't mean someone with a different opinion is necessarily wrong. I wondered if anyone had any experience of no carbs in the evening and how it went. Think I'll give it a try over the next couple of weeks to see if it changes anything. Just wanted to try something slightly different as I think my body may be too used to what I'm doing.

Let me make something clear.

You can't have an opinion on whether carbs at night are beneficial or detrimental, or whether eating 6 meals per day is better compared to eating 2 meals per day OUTSIDE OF PEOPLE who have some sort of clinical condition such as insulin resistance or people who are trying to accomplish something specific in training (such as people who are performing multiple glycogen-depleting exercises per day).

There is no opinion. Based on axiom's of nutrition, it's impossible to say that for the standard person who eats healthy and exercises an "average" amount, meal timing matters. It would be similar to saying my body treats 1g carb as 2 calories while yours treats it as 6 calories. No, 1g carb for EVERYONE is 4 calories. You can't argue an opinion that says, "6 meals is better than 2 meals" when scientific evidence states otherwise.

Just because eating 6 meals per day works or reducing carbs at night works does not mean it is necessary and it does not mean doing those things SPECIFICALLY is what elicited change.

If you reduce carbs at night then you may wake up slightly lighter for the first few days because of reduced water intake in the evening as a 1g carb carries 3-5g water. So you may see a fluctuation in water weight, but ZERO change in body fat stores.

I agree with erk143. Just Calorie counting will get the fat off, but nutrient timing is important for maximal results.

I try to get a healthy carb with some protein in me right before bedtime. The body does it's most important work at night. Give it the materials to do the job right. Sleep is not an excuse to starve yourself.

Please explain how nutrient timing is important. And cite your evidence.

I have just cited evidence showing BETTER results by eating less meals per day. Please refute that.

Thank you.

yournameisuntz,

If you believe in Berkham's teachings, then you SHOULD believe that nutrient timing is very important. Isn't that the whole point of IF? Time your nutrients to improve your p-ratio?

Also, your comments on body recomp without weight gain/loss are interesting as well as that goes against what's been demonstrated time and time again by Berkham's clients.

yournameisuntz,

If you believe in Berkham's teachings, then you SHOULD believe that nutrient timing is very important. Isn't that the whole point of IF? Time your nutrients to improve your p-ratio?

Also, your comments on body recomp without weight gain/loss are interesting as well as that goes against what's been demonstrated time and time again by Berkham's clients.

There's not enough evidence to suggest that IF'ing is universally superior in any way to eating more meals per day. Fasting, for the most part, is utilized for convenience and hunger control.

Her degree was based on studying all of this! That's where she learnt about it! My degree was in Spanish. Maybe can't speak it after all!

Here's what I'm trying to tell you as someone who has participated in research studies and is qualified to work for research organizations (and is negotiating terms with one now):

How do you think doctors, researchers, scientists, etc. stay up-to-date on changes in their field? I mean, surely doctors who are 50 years old like my mum have seen some serious changes in the field. That is, what they learned in medical school ~20-30 years ago is different from information available now as their fields have evolved and knowledge has increased. So how do they stay on top of all these changes?

Scientific, peer-reviewed, published research.

If you want to prove something objectively rather than offering your two cents, do what doctors do and look at the research. That's how they make decisions regarding medications, treatments, food, nutrition, exercise, etc.

What I have done in this thread is provided evidence that meal timing is irrelevant to body composition based on the same evidence that responsible doctors would utilize.

Well I've tried eating no carbs in evening past 4 pm, eating complex carbs during day I.e. double the bran flakes for breakfast, brown rice or brown pasta with tuna, mixed beans, chickpeas and fruit for lunch and after 3/4 weeks of reaching a plateau I've lost 3.5 lbs! Soooooooo pleased! 3.5 lbs to go! :happy:

Congratulations on breaking through your plateau!

Now ... do you have a scientific study to back this up?

A friend who teaches science / biology told me the theory behind it but all I could hear was her say " I lost 4 stone doing that"! I reckon that's hgood enough for me! ha ha:laugh:

Sounds like she doesn't know much about how the body metabolizes nutrients, then. Avoiding carbs at night, assuming you don't change your calories/macronutrients, will do NOTHING for your body composition. Period.

Actually she does! I was joking as really didn't want to get into a serious conversation about this again. She explained it perfectly! It all made perfect sense. I did it and lost 3.5lbs when previously just sticking to the calories and not looking at other nutritional content just wasn't shifting the weight for quite a while. Period!

Do you believe in gravity? Because your friend is arguing against a physical law of nature that is as well-known and as valid as the concept of gravity. It's known as the law of thermodynamics.

If you are not changing your calories or macronutrients, and ONLY changing the time at which you eat carbs, you will see no changes in bodycomposition. Timing is irrelevant.

Blah blah blah blah blah! ....... I lost 3.5 lbs. What a coincidence! If having the final say is so important feel free... I have the proof. You have the theory which contradicts the other theory which has in fact been proved by me! Goodnight!

No, what it means is you changed something else which resulted in weight loss. Maybe you dropped calories, increased exercise, dropped carb intake as a whole, etc. That or you can attribute your changes to fluctuations in water weight.

Changing nothing EXCEPT for the time which you eat carbs will not do a thing for body composition. To disagree would be to disagree with gravity. I don't think you understand that it is a PHYSICAL LAW OF NATURE.

p.s. It was a scientist who told me about this in the first place and gave the theory behind it too. She lost 4 stone doing this. Again one scientist's opinion may differ from another's which is maybe why a mountain of health problems have not all been solved and research continues.

Scientists are not infallible. I can promise you she did not lose weight BECAUSE she reduced carbs at night. She lost weight because she ate a hypocaloric diet


Her degree was based on studying all of this! That's where she learnt about it! My degree was in Spanish. Maybe can't speak it after all!

If she were a good scientist, she would know that studies with an n of 1 don't prove anything.

Meal timing and frequency is entirely irrelevant to body composition. What matters is your entire day's worth of calories/macronutrients. Opting out of carbs in the evening will not change anything assuming you are not changing your overall caloric intake.

This.

eta: just realized how old this thread was-oops!