You can increase your muscle mass and lose fat by doing one simple thing. Stop eating two or three hours before you go to sleep. Going to bed slightly hungry is actually not a bad thing for gaining muscle, losing fat and general health.
Every time you eat a meal your metabolism increases a bit. But this effect is kind of opposite at night. At night your body naturally decreases its metabolic rate. A few hours after dinner the body prepares itself for sleep. The only calories you are going to burn during sleep are the the calories that fuel main body functions such as heart beating, breathing and your eyes movement during the REM phase of sleep.
Eating before you go to sleep, especially starchy carbs will increase sugar levels in your blood.Insulin gets released also in your blood to normalize this spike in blood sugar levels. This is bad because about 80-90% of HGH (the Human Growth Hormone that controls aging, controls metabolism, cell growth and repair, and regulates your lean body mass to fat ratio ) is released while you sleep. High levels of insulin in your blood restrict the quantity of HGH released in your bloodstream.
So what can you do to maximize HGH production?
– Eat about 3 hours before you go to bed. Eat all your calories from carbs during the day.
– Your last meal should be some sort of lean protein and non starchy carbs like vegetables. Avoid starchy carbs like pastas, breads, white rice, cereals, and potatoes. Good sources of lean protein include chicken breast, low fat cottage chease, fish, turkey, and casein if you are trying to build muscle.
Is it good/bad to drink water during those 2-3 hours before bed?
Because i usually do that so that i dont get so hungry.
Drinking water at a certain time maximizes its effectiveness on the body
2 glasses of water after waking up – helps activate internal organs
1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal – helps digestion
1 glass of water before taking a bath – helps lower blood pressure
1 glass of water before going to bed – avoids stroke or heart attack
And what about people training around 7 PM? Assuming you’re having your last meal of the day between 8 and 9 PM, this would necessarily include starchy carbs in it as the post-workout meal has to include carbs and protein for recovery and has to be the most caloric meal of the day.
Yes eat your meal right after the workout. You still have about 2-3 hours to go to bed.
What about eating a piece of salmon. I need to add a meal and after Tae kwon do at 830pm is the only time.
Yes, you can add a piece of oily fish. The important part is to cut the carbs.
What about drinking casein protein before going to sleep? I have increased metabolism rate and I’ve been told that I need to drink casein before sleep not to loose body weight during the sleep.
A dose of casein about 2 hours before bed is fine
What if I am hungry before bed? Is it ok to eat some protein based meal or go to bed hungry?
Yes, you can have some lean protein and fiber about 2 hours before bed.
What about yogurt before bed?
Not exactly a good idea as most of the yogurts have high amount of carbs in them (unless you find one that has very low amount of carbs )
It’s not good to taking too much carb before bed at list 3-4hrs before bed