Q: I heard about this fat-loss technique of not eating after 6
0 p.m, but it seems like you'd be starving muscles of necessary nutrients like protein. Any advice?
A: Your body does need amino acids at night; in fact, if you're trying to gain muscle or even maintain muscle mass during caloric restriction, you need to eat protein every few hours throughout the day. It's probably not a good idea to go so long without eating. Even if you get up early in the morning and eat, you will still end up spending more than half of your day fasting, which is too much. If you adhere to this practice, your blood amino-acid levels will crash, which paralyzes protein synthesis and increases protein breakdown. A better idea would be to cut back on your carbohydrate intake, but still eat protein after 6
0 p.m., especially if you are trying to get lean. Insulin is more "active" early in the day than it is in the evening. Insulin sensitivity is lowest at night, so if you eat a lot of carbohydrates in the evening, there is a greater chance those carbs will end up being stored as fat.
A: Your body does need amino acids at night; in fact, if you're trying to gain muscle or even maintain muscle mass during caloric restriction, you need to eat protein every few hours throughout the day. It's probably not a good idea to go so long without eating. Even if you get up early in the morning and eat, you will still end up spending more than half of your day fasting, which is too much. If you adhere to this practice, your blood amino-acid levels will crash, which paralyzes protein synthesis and increases protein breakdown. A better idea would be to cut back on your carbohydrate intake, but still eat protein after 6