Going to bed without eating after workouts

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baylie1114
baylie1114 Posts: 33 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I feel like I know what the answer is going to be, but I'm wondering how important it is to eat between working out and going to bed. The best time for me to work out is around 8pm when my kids are in bed. Sometimes I have some calories saved up for a snack after my workout, but sometimes I don't so I go to bed without eating. I'm not doing really intense lifting or anything. Usually 30-45 minutes of strength training and/or cardio. I usually burn 250-450 calories per workout. I generally feel pretty good and I've been losing about 1 to 1.5 pounds per week, but are my muscles seriously atrophying from this routine?

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  • albertabeefy
    albertabeefy Posts: 1,169 Member
    edited January 2017
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    Nope, no different than if you did your cardio at noon and ate thereafter.

    For those engaging in more strenuous workouts or strength training, some studies show benefit to post-exercise protein consumption ... but many studies also show no difference.

    Alan Aragon, one of the most prolific writers and researchers on the subject has this to say:
    Despite claims that immediate post-exercise nutritional intake is essential to maximize hypertrophic gains, evidence-based support for such an “anabolic window of opportunity” is far from definitive.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    Generally speaking; meal timing is not important especially when trying to lose weight. However I have always found that eating post workout helps with my recovery but that may not be the case for all.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    doesn't matter as long as you have fueled yourself properly throughout the day
  • tiny_clanger
    tiny_clanger Posts: 301 Member
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    I'd monitor how you sleep and how you feel in the morning. Your body still burns glycogen in your sleep to fuel essential functions. If the stores are depleted by doing strenuous exercise immediately before resting, you may have trouble sleeping or feel rough on waking (dehydrated, headachy, sore, that sort of thing). If you feel like that, try having just a banana or a couple of rice cakes.
    However, if you're not too strenuous, your body might be fine with it, in which case don't worry about eating.

    If you are feeling ill in the mornings or having problems sleeping, I would take the small snack approach regardless of whether you "have any calories left". 100 cal out of your deficit will not hamper your progress in the long term.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Unless it's a really long duration (multi hour) and intense it really doesn't matter to any significant degree for the vast majority of people. No your muscles won't atrophy from using them and you have a reserve of amino acids anyway.

    I often finish a workout at 10pm and sleep really well afterwards. I just make sure I've rehydrated before bedtime.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,391 MFP Moderator
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    albertabeefy wrote: »
    Nope, no different than if you did your cardio at noon and ate thereafter.

    For those engaging in more strenuous workouts or strength training, some studies show benefit to post-exercise protein consumption ... but many studies also show no difference.

    Alan Aragon, one of the most prolific writers and researchers on the subject has this to say:
    Despite claims that immediate post-exercise nutritional intake is essential to maximize hypertrophic gains, evidence-based support for such an “anabolic window of opportunity” is far from definitive.


    here is the study that is referencing.

    https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-5


    And ultimately, timing is less important than many other factors.

    The-Pyramid-Of-Nutritional-importance.png

    If your goal is to maintain muscle mass, the bigger question is total protein intake and training.
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,757 Member
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    Much documentation out there saying its important to consume protein and carbs within an hour to aid in muscle repair and to replace glycogen and glucose.

    It is one of those things that I tend to do, but just because it fits my life (I usually workout mid-day). I never really gave it much thought, as I thought proper nutrition throughout the day was more important than the specific timing.

    Being late at night, and having specific goals (building muscle vs pure weight loss) might change the answer a bit.

    Its a good discussion, so I hope people keep piping in.
  • baylie1114
    baylie1114 Posts: 33 Member
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    Thanks everyone! I'm glad I asked! I definitely thought everyone would say "yeah, duh, you need to eat after a workout, ya dummy! Save some calories!" Relieved to hear that any negative effects are likely minimal.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I would die if I didn't eat after my workout/dance classes.

    You certainly do not NEED to- but I personally would die if I didn't. So- I think this is very much "listen to your body" situation.

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