Last meal of the day

[CLM]

What's the latest you should eat before going to bed, or basicaly how many hours before going to bed should you last meal be. I've been eat 4 times a day with my last meal being at 10, 2-3 hours before I goto bed. That alright or should I try to minimize that to a lite snack?

[The Munster]

It depends on a lot of things. Are you currently tying to gain weight (muscle) or lose weight (fat)?

What is that last meal look like typically?


Personally, I eat 5-6 times per day, whether I'm trying to gain or lose (gaining or losing, I just adjust food amounts accordingly). No matter what, the last 2 meals of my day are low-to-no carb. My second to last meal is typically a protein shake (because I'm at work and it's easiest) and my last meal of the day is some sort of lean meat and a large salad or lots of veggies. This works for me because all of my training (MA, weights, conditioning) is during the day, about mid morning. So the 2 meals following my workouts have carbs in them for glycogen replenishment. But the last 2 meals of the day have no carbs, but lots of protein.

Munster

[CLM]

Guess you could say I'm trying to gain muscle. At the moment I'm working out Mon-Fri. generaly I eat in the morning before I goto school, around 7ish. Then I eat a lite lunch around 11:30. Then I usualy eat at 2-2:30, agian at around 5:30-6, work out from 7-8:30/9 (depends on if I goto the gym) then agian about 9:30 and I'm in bed around 12:30. Breakfast and lunch are pretty much set in time because I'm in school. Maybe I should try to eat more at lunch (usualy I just have a sandwich and some fruit to hold me over till I get home) and push my 2:30 meal to maybe 4? Then I could eat something lite at 9 after my workout. Not sure...

[The Munster]

Originally Posted by CLM

Guess you could say I'm trying to gain muscle. At the moment I'm working out Mon-Fri. generaly I eat in the morning before I goto school, around 7ish. Then I eat a lite lunch around 11:30. Then I usualy eat at 2-2:30, agian at around 5:30-6, work out from 7-8:30/9 (depends on if I goto the gym) then agian about 9:30 and I'm in bed around 12:30. Breakfast and lunch are pretty much set in time because I'm in school. Maybe I should try to eat more at lunch (usualy I just have a sandwich and some fruit to hold me over till I get home) and push my 2:30 meal to maybe 4? Then I could eat something lite at 9 after my workout. Not sure...

Base on your schedule and the fact that you are trying to gain some muscle, here's what I would do:

7:30 Breakfast-This should not be a small meal. Quite a bit of protein and clean carbs. Eggs (with some yolks removed if you like), chicken, beef or ham, protein shake, or any combination of the like. Don't be afraid of some fats here too. Bacon, sausage are ok so long as they are not the bulk of your meal. Despite what most of society thinks, you do need some fats in your diet. Oatmeal, healthy grained cereals, fruits.
11:30 Lunch-Light meal. The sandwhich and piece of fruit are fine here. Just make sure the sandwhich has some good protein in it and use whole wheat bread.
2:30-Another fairly large meal. High in protein and high in carbs. Lean meats. Rice, pasta, potatoes, etc.
5:30-6:00. Snack size meal. Small piece of fruit and a couple eggs, small piece of lean meat or a small protein shake.
7:30-9:00 Workout.
9:00-9:15 Post workout. I would assume you are drinking water or gatorade or something of the like at this point for fluid, electrolyte and glycogen replenishment. Go ahead and make it a gatorade/powerade drink with some protein powder added to it. Whey or whey + egg white.
10:00-10:30 Dinner-Your last large dose of protein for the day. Chicken, tuna, salmon, beef, turkey, etc. Lots of salad and/or fresh veggies (broccoli, green beans, carrots, etc. A little bit (not a lot) of carbs, rice, corn, pasta, etc (just enough to top off the glycogen stores).

If you take supplements:
Multi vit/min with breakfast and dinner. Extra C and E with dinner (postworkout meal). Fish Oil caps with breakfast and dinner.

Again, this is just my opinion and it's very vague since I don't know exactly what your workouts look like or what your stats are right now.

Hope it helps.

Munster