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Ideal eating windows to build muscle and lose fat!
If you're already on a fitness-healthy diet, you probably know that it’s best to eat five or six moderate meals per day rather than three large ones. You may also be taking supplements such as creatine and glutamine but there’s a component to diet and supplementation that you may not have considered -timing. What time you take a particular supplement can almost be as crucial as which supplements you choose.
With that in mind i’ve broken down the day to suggest the optimum times to eat and take certain supplements for maximum gains and fat loss. Note this schedule is built around the assumption of a late afternoon workout (5-6PM). Given that you’ll be dividing your nutrition among several meals, you will have ample opportunity for supplementation. The recommended dosages on supplements may be a little high for beginners, so consider working up to them gradually.
BREAKFAST
You should consume your first meal of the day shortly after you wake up. If you are trying to lose body-fat you may want to do 30-45 minutes of cardio before or a HIIT session. Otherwise, you should eat within a half hour of waking up to reinvigorate your body after several hours of fasting. Your breakfast meal should contain ample carbohydrates and protein. For protein you should eat about one fifth, or 20%,of your daily total. In other words a 200-pound athlete should eat about 40 grams of protein at breakfast. You also need plenty of carbohydrates-about 25% of your daily total. If you are trying to getting leaner don’t worry about gaining excess body-fat as this time of the day your body has the highest insulin sensitivity levels which means that it needs to produce very little insulin to get the job of transporting nutrients into appropriate places. And when you have low levels of insulin in your body it is almost impossible to gain excess bodyweight. Besides most of the nutrients consumed this time of the day will be absorbed very efficiently and not be stored as fat. Breakfast is also the time to begin your day’s supplementation and vitamins C and E are a good place to start. These aid the body and promote recovery by destroying free radicals in tissues. Take about 1000mg of vitamin C and 400 IU of vitamin E with your morning meal. Also take your multivitamin, which should include minerals in the morning. Keep in mind that the recommended daily allowances (RDA) refer to the minimums an average person needs for general health. They don’t take into account therapeutic benefits applicable to sports performance and recovery from strenuous activity. So read labels and find a multi-vitamin that has more than the bare minimum RDA.
MIDDAY MEALS
Two to three hours after breakfast, you can supplement with a protein drink. Whey and casein proteins are convenient and they can be consumed every time to fulfill you nutrient demands. These proteins are available in liquid form, or you can mix water, juice or skimmed milk with powders. Protein bars can function as a handy alternative and are available in most convenience stores. You want to consume 30-40g of protein at this point and you should also take in some complex carbohydrates-about 10% of your daily requirement, or 40g (if you weight 200lbs). You can get these carbs from fruits, veggies and wholegrain/wholewheat sources or cereals such as oatmeal. This is an ideal time to take your first dose of glutamine, one of the most important supplements for trainees who weight train. It aids in recovery and also provides benefits in terms of muscular gains. Of course if you are on a fat loss diet it’s anti-catabolic properties can assist you to preserve lean mass. You should take about 20-30g of glutamine over the course of a day and it’s best divided into three doses in order to keep your blood plasma levels consistently high. If it’s more convenient, you can take these supplements with breakfast. Take also two grams of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) when you take Glutamine-they work synergistically and you will get more out of them in combination. Glutamine increases the uptake of the amino acids, so when you take them together you get a slight insulin spike and a better shuttle. Your third meal of the day, two hours later should be a regular lunch, consisting of a quality protein source and an ample serving of complex carbohydrates-25% or more of your daily total. Generally, it’s best to consume the bulk of your carbohydrates early in the day, so by this meal you should have eaten as much as two-thirds of your daily allotment.
PRE-WORKOUT MEAL
You should consume your pre-workout meal 60 to 90 minutes before starting your training in order to give your body sufficient time to digest it. At this point you can also supplement with another protein shake and can take your second dose of Glutamine and two grams of BCAAs. If you are trying to gain lean mass I suggest you eat a small portion of carbs, as in recent studies scientists found that this type of pre-workout meal can assist in rapid protein synthesis by providing a strong anti-catabolic shield. Futhermore, before you workout you can take one or two grams of creatine in water. Creatine has an amazing effect of increasing cell volume; it will work best if you take a small amount in the absence of food. The ideal time to take your creatine is halfway between your pre-workout meal and your workout.
POST-WORKOUT MEAL
Regardless of when you work out, the post-workout meal is-just like breakfast-extremely important. By this time you shouldn’t have eaten any food for a considerable period: two-three hours, which is the longest you should go without eating during your waking hours. This is generally the only time your body needs simple carbs, which get digested very quickly and allow the recovery process to begin without the catabolic process kicking in. Immediately following a workout, you should take in 50-70g of simple carbs, such as glucose or fruit juice. Check labels, a cup of orange juice has about 26g of carbs. Mix in one to two grams of creatine. That simple supplemented carbohydrate intake constitutes the first part of your post-workout nutrition. Next comes your main meal of the day. By this time, you will want to have already consumed the bulk of your carbs. Consuming carbohydrates encourages an insulin response. If you consume your carbohydrates earlier in the day, your body is able to process them so growth isn’t adversely affected. Your last daily meal should therefore be heavy on protein along with some veggies. You should also supplement the post-workout meal with a second dose of vitamins C and E. Splitting the dosage between morning and evening gives your body a steady influx of these important antioxidants so they are present in your system throughout the day.
LATE SUPPER
To top off your daily nutritional intake you should have a protein shake or snack about 30 minutes before retiring. I would suggest you consume a protein shake as it will provide a sustained release of amino acids up to 8 hours and thus the possible catabolism will be prevented. Definately avoid carbs at this point as they are more likely to be converted into body-fat. Finally take your third dose of Glutamine and BCAAs (two grams) before you go to bed to encourage the release of the lipolytic Growth hormone.
If your goals are to get lean and maintain muscle mass you should combine the above written with the following advice:
Believe it or not a well-rounded diet is about 80-90% of your progress in achieving that leaner more muscular body. A high-protein, low carb, moderate-fat diet with good protein sources include fish, eggs, lean meats and chicken. For at least your first three meals, you want to divide your plate in three sections:
1. Protein Source
2. Complex Carbohydrate
3. Fibrous Green Vegetables.
Each time you ingest a solid protein, you will raise your metabolic rate 30% to burn more calories and fat! Also, include some non-fat dairy products in your diet because inadequate calcium intake blunts fat loss.
- Choose only low-glycemic, high-fiber carb sources (vegetables, legumes,etc). However, before and immediately after resistance exercise take a sugar-free low-carb protein drink to boost muscle protein anabolism
- Useful supplements: Multivitamin-mineral complex, pure creatine powder, BCAAs and L-Glutamine.
- Possibly useful supplements: HMB (3 gram/day-which is a good anti-catabolic especially if it combined with creatine), CLA (3-9gr/day-which is a strong anti-catabolic, lipolytic component with also anti-cancerous properties), fish oil (6grams/day- which is responsible for maintenance of healthy metabolism, hormone production as well as nice smooth skin and healthy hair etc.)
- Drink a lot of water and other calorie-free fluids.
- Eat your biggest meal in the morning and slowly taper off the calories as the day moves on
- For your last meal of the day try eating just protein and all the green vegetables you want. Examples are broccoli, green beans, asparagus, zucchini, Brussels sprouts, etc. These vegetables will give you the recommended fibre you need daily and also help speed up your metabolism.
- Don't eat within 2 hours before going to bed. Instead of that try to consume a sustained-released protein formula like casein to promote recovery and the formation of new muscle at sleep time.
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