Nutrient Timing for Optimizing Fat Loss

Nutrient timing is a valuable eating technique to assist you in your fat loss goals. The theory is that by eating certain foods or macronutrients in various quantities at particular times, you can maximize your fat loss. By putting your body in a better hormonal and metabolic state, you give yourself the best chance of being able to release fatty acids.

source

How to Time Your Meals

Everyone’s diet is unique to their own body. The principles stay the same, but the quantities will change based on size and activity levels. I am going to outline a typical 5 meal/day approach to nutrient timing. So let’s look at our mealtimes:

9am

12pm

3pm

6pm

9pm

Five evenly spaced meals, eating every 3 hours. I prefer to work out first thing in the morning for many reasons, but the most important thing when it comes to picking a time, is that you make sure you work out, and do it consistently.

Let’s start with the first meal right after our workout. This is by far the most important meal of the day. Your muscles are exhausted and depleted of fuel, and need the necessary food to start rebuilding. Your insulin sensitivity is at its highest after a workout, so our first meal of the day is an opportune time to ingest our largest portion of carbohydrates for the day.

Protein is the 2nd macronutrient that your muscles are starving for after your workout. Your muscles need protein to start the rebuilding process.

I like to try to get in .8- 1 times my lean body weight in protein a day, split evenly between my meals. A 170lb person with 150lbs of lean body weight would then get (1 x 150 = 150 grams of protein). Divide that by the number of meals (150 / 5 meals = about 30 grams of protein per meal).

I like to have a homemade protein shake immediately after my workout. It usually consists of protein (milk, greek yogurt, etc), a frozen banana,  some oatmeal, a handful of spinach, some ground flaxseed, and lemon-flavored fish oil.

Many hardcore dieters will argue against fruit post workout due to its fructose content, and while their arguments might have some validity to them when you’re trying to get to ultra low body fats, in the end, the most important thing is to get in your nutrients and eat good whole foods. You want a good nutrient dense diet, and loading up your shake with high GI processed sugars works against that goal.

source

I also add a tablespoon of cod liver oil to get in my daily intake of essential fatty acids (EFAs). This meal/shake is packed with vitamins, nutrients, minerals, protein, fiber, and EFAs. It will give your body everything it needs to start the rebuilding process.

If you do your workout first thing in the morning, I recommend that you start to taper your carbohydrate intake down during the next few meals. Remember, eat those carbs while your insulin sensitivity is at its highest. So, let’s look at those meals again and see what our macronutrient breakdown will look like.

TIME      FAT    CARB    PROTEIN        CALORIES

9am        13       60               30                 447

12pm       5        40               30                 325

3pm         9        30               30                 321

6pm         13       20               30                317

9pm        15        10                30                295

TOTAL     54      160           150               1705

Nutrient Timing Principles

As you can see, as the carbohydrates taper off into the evening, I start replacing the calories with fat – healthy fats. Your diet may need more carbohydrates or less depending on your workout intensity, but the idea of tapering off your carbohydrates throughout the day remains the same.

The numbers don’t have to be exact. Just be mindful that you’re tapering off throughout the day. To summarize the principles:

• Time your carbohydrate intake around your workout. This is when your insulin sensitivity is at its highest.
• Taper off your carbohydrates as the day progresses. Your insulin sensitivity is lowered as each meal containing carbohydrates is eaten.
• Little to no carbohydrates in your final meal of the day. Your liver glycogen stores should be full enough from the prior carbohydrate meals to fuel brain and nervous system function without having to break down protein through gluconeogenesis.
• As your carbohydrate intake is tapered off through the day, start replacing calories with healthy fats. Sources include nuts, seeds, avocado, natural fats from meat, eggs, dairy, flax oil, fish oil, etc.
• Taper off your calories throughout the day also. The majority of your calories should be eaten around your workout.

Give nutrient timing a try if you find your progress has stalled. You may just find that putting your body into an optimal fat burning environment is just what you need to get your fat loss going again.

Source

The Best Time to Eat to Lose Weight

When you have your meals is just as important as what you eat if you’re trying to whittle your waist

source

Chances are your schedule is already so loaded that you cringe at the thought of trying to add another item. Having a set meal plan, however, can make it easier to lose or maintain weight. There’s no need to set an alarm, though: Check out these easy-to-follow eating menus to find the one that works best for your goals, lifestyle, and food preferences.

EATING 3 SQUARE MEALS

The classic breakfast, lunch, and dinner routine can be effective for weight loss when each meal is big enough to leave you satiated, but your daily total calorie intake is lower than what you’d eat chowing down five times a day. It’s also important to consume at least 30 grams of protein at each meal to maximize protein synthesis, a key strategy for protecting your hard-earned muscle while dieting. This meal structure can effortlessly translate into weight maintenance, as it follows social norms and is thus easily adoptable.

Works best for: Those who have a rigid work schedule that only allows for breaks at traditional set times, leaving no chance of escaping their desks for a mid-morning protein shake.

EATING 4 TO 5 SMALL MEALS

Very popular with people trying to drop pounds, this dining arrangement calls for reducing the size of the meals that you would normally eat and adding one or two small snacks throughout the day. If you’re looking to maintain the reading on the scale, the multiple meals will help manage satiety and provide a balance of calories throughout the day.

Works best for: This one's for you, snackers, as it transforms your freestyle eating into a plan, helping you better account for calories without drastically changing your way of eating. These “mini meals” are also smart for people with reactive hypoglycemia, a condition where your blood sugar levels drop too low shortly after eating. Munching more frequently helps prevent these dips and the subsequent feelings of shakiness, dizziness, or general brain fog.

EATING AROUND YOUR WORKOUT

Exercise increases insulin sensitivity, enhancing your muscles’ desire and ability to take up carbohydrates. If you want to ensure that your carbs are shuttled to your muscles to fuel recovery, try this agenda, which is one of the more biochemically sound approaches to eating: Consume all your carbs for the day during and after your workout, whenever that is. The rest of the day focus on protein-rich foods, green vegetables, and fat.

source

Works best for: Anyone looking to lose weight or stay lean while still being able to eat larger amounts of healthy starchy and grain-based carbs.

VEGAN BEFORE 6 P.M.

New York Times writer Mark Bittman made this approach popular when he used it to lose 35 pounds. According to Bittman, from the time he woke up until dinner he ate fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes. Then he had whatever he wanted, which, he’s said, was normally “quite indulgent.” Going sans animal products most of the day restricts your food choices to relatively low-calorie options so you can eat fairly freely come dinner and still wind up with a low calorie count overall at the end of the day.

Works best for: People who don’t mind a more-limited food selection during the day and have enough self-control not to overindulge with excessive calories after 6.

FASTING TWICE A WEEK

A straightforward strategy popularized by Brad Pilon’s book Eat, Stop, Eat, all you have to do here is not eat for 24 hours two days a week—then you can eat freely (in moderation, of course) the other five days. Not only for weight loss, this method of fasting can also help you maintain your figure if you adjust the total time you are fasting each week (less fasting for weight maintenance and more for weight loss).

 

source

Works best for: While the idea of having anything you want when you can eat is appealing, be sure you’re also okay not eating for long periods of time.

NO EATING AFTER 8 P.M.

Let’s get one thing straight: Putting the kibosh on noshing past a certain time has nothing to do with some magic fat-burning hour. Establishing a no-food time frame can simply help cut down on late-night mindless calorie consumption. The trick is to be sure your evening meal isn’t the smallest of the day and that it includes adequate protein and fiber to help outwit potential hunger pangs that may arise before bed.

Works best for: Nibblers who can’t stop snacking after dinner has been cleaned up.

Source