Timed Nutrition
A super common topic of conversation in the fitness world, as of late, is whether or not it matters when you eat - in order to optimize training and maximize weight and/or fat loss. The short answer is yes and no. If you’ve been eating the “right” things in the right amounts, considering meal timing as an option may help you push past a plateau.
Instead of completely overhauling your entire nutrition regimen, there are new habits you can implement gradually that will help you acclimate to timed nutrition. There are many benefits of timing your meals, but the main thing it does is promote a healthy metabolism and energy levels. By eating every 2-3 hours, your body never goes into starvation mode where it stores unwanted calories for reserve. It also helps better regulate blood sugar by providing glucose over time, resulting in less likelihood of insulin spikes.
A few timed nutrition tips:
Don’t skip breakfast - Providing your brain with fuel when you wake up makes you more efficient. It also kickstarts your metabolism and provides you with more energy.
Eat every 2-3 hours - Doing so will maximize the benefits to your muscles (especially if you’re focusing on 20-30g/protein per meal). It will also keep your metabolism from slowing down on you.
Consider making dinner one of your lighter meals as your body gets ready to slow down for the night. Eating at least 3 hours before bedtime will make your night sleep more consistent, and better quality. If you have to eat closer to bedtime, consider making it high in protein, so that you can maximize muscle protein synthesis gains overnight.
For those of you working on your fitness and looking to see some real gains - either hypertrophy (growing muscle) or endurance, paying attention to the anabolic window can be a game changer.
Anabolic window - When muscles are most receptive to protein - 15-60 minutes post-workout. You should be consuming carbs and protein before AND after your workouts in order to provide your muscles with the optimum nutrition to perform tasks. This could look like a yogurt and a banana, a protein smoothie, fruit and nut butter. Just be sure to choose something that is proportionally dense calorically to the intensity of your workout. For instance, if you’re trying to lose fat, nut butter is probably not the best choice, but if you’re an athlete, your body could probably use the extra fat.
It’s really not any more complicated than that. Being intentional with your meals and planning in advanced will help you crush timed nutrition and bring you even closer to reaching your goals. As always, constantly changing your habits is a good way to become discouraged and never see lasting change. Give things time to run their course before you give up - a lot of times you’re approaching the turning point!