I am currently on a low carb diet, and occasionally I wake up in the middle of the night unable to sleep. I feel my stomach growling and was wondering:
Am I better off hitting up some protein (a shake/boiled eggs) at 3am or should I just ignore my hunger and just go back to sleep?
This is “debated” a lot. Some people actually wake themselves up on purpose for a feeding. Some say the uninterrupted sleep is more important. I personally feel the sleep is more important. But I do keep something very handy in case I wake up and feel unable to go right back to sleep, or can feed and go right back to sleep.
Christopher
I used to have this problem over the summer, until I started taking in well over 100 grams of fats everyday, and it never happens. What does your diet look like on training days?
I’d definitly eat if ur trying to gain size and suck it up & go back to sleep if ur trying to get leaner.
Spoonful of Peanut butter, or some carrots.
[quote]dratner wrote:
I used to have this problem over the summer, until I started taking in well over 100 grams of fats everyday, and it never happens. What does your diet look like on training days?[/quote]
To be honest, my diet doesn’t really change on training days. A sample day of eating for me looks like this:
Breakfast
8am 2-3 eggs - boiled or fried (in extra virgin olive oil)
Snack
10:30am - (a few slices of smoked salmon / or piece of cheddar cheese)
Lunch
12:30pm - Green salad + protein (normally seafood) + a spoon of mayo
Snack
3pm - isowhey shake / or spoon of All natural PB /or a few pieces of any leftover protein from previous if there is any
Dinner
6pm- Pan fried in extra virgin olive oil protein (normally chicken or pork) with a little of greens added in not much. I get a good amount of fat normally in this meal.
Snack
9pm -isowhey Shake
11:30pm - Sleep
I have heavy carbs on one weekend meal, but this is normally what my eating looks like while I’m trying to cut fat (BF 17%). I wake up in the middle of the night about 2-3 times a month (not as serious as yours was), I am just curious when this happens will it hurt/help my fat loss to drink a shake?
The only way my diet changes on training days is I throw in another shake prior to workout and post workout.
Well, how much do you weigh? It doesn’t look like your taking in enough protein to be honest. When I cut carbs, I boost my protein to 350 on training days, 300 on off days. But back to your question, I don’t think it will HURT your fat loss efforts…but according to Poliquin, sleep is meant for sleep, so when you wake up to eat more, then go back to bed, your melatonin levels get all wack.
I do know some bodybuilders who are genetic freaks who wake up in the middle of the night to slam a protein shake, but they are a special case. I would just make sure you’re getting enough protein and fat, and yeah, if you’re starving and you can’t ignore it, have one and don’t worry about it.
6 feet - 205lb … that’s quite a bit I normally aim for 200g a day. Alright, I will start ignoring it! Perhaps Ill try double scooping my isowhey shakes to up my protein
few grams of bcaa for me if i wake up more than 2 hrs before i plan to wake up. nothing otherwise.
[quote]elusive wrote:
I’d definitly eat if ur trying to gain size and suck it up & go back to sleep if ur trying to get leaner.[/quote]
this.