No fat gain.
Wow, I thought I was the only weirdo who drank a protein shake at 2am. I put a shake with ice cubes in it next to my bed and drink when I wake up to go to the bathroom. It give me an extra 30 grams to grow on.
One thing that is disturbing about this from a health standpoint is that with 5 hours of continuous sleep at night, your adrenal output is a fraction of what it should be. Couple that with life’s usual stresses and any coffee habits and you’ve got adrenal burnout big time. This means disrupted fluid balance in, compromised ability to settle inflammation in the body, and oh yeah energy.
Is that worth possibly saving a fraction of muscle that the debate is still out on whether a bedtime casein shake would do the same? Not in my book
[quote]storey420 wrote:
One thing that is disturbing about this from a health standpoint is that with 5 hours of continuous sleep at night, your adrenal output is a fraction of what it should be. Couple that with life’s usual stresses and any coffee habits and you’ve got adrenal burnout big time. This means disrupted fluid balance in, compromised ability to settle inflammation in the body, and oh yeah energy.
Is that worth possibly saving a fraction of muscle that the debate is still out on whether a bedtime casein shake would do the same? Not in my book[/quote]
I have to wake up to feed my daughter a 2am, so weighing out the cost and benefits is pretty irrelevant.
And, I usually have to take a leak as well. It doesn’t take much for me to squat and drink at the same time. Liquid in - liquid out, and everything stays in balance.
[quote]terribleivan wrote:
storey420 wrote:
One thing that is disturbing about this from a health standpoint is that with 5 hours of continuous sleep at night, your adrenal output is a fraction of what it should be. Couple that with life’s usual stresses and any coffee habits and you’ve got adrenal burnout big time.
This means disrupted fluid balance in, compromised ability to settle inflammation in the body, and oh yeah energy.
Is that worth possibly saving a fraction of muscle that the debate is still out on whether a bedtime casein shake would do the same? Not in my book
I have to wake up to feed my daughter a 2am, so weighing out the cost and benefits is pretty irrelevant.
And, I usually have to take a leak as well. It doesn’t take much for me to squat and drink at the same time. Liquid in - liquid out, and everything stays in balance.[/quote]
Understood–not much you can do about getting up for the child. However once she is grown up, just so’s ya know, its not necessarily normal or healthy to get up and pee during the night. More importantly there are things that you can do to stop that.
[quote]storey420 wrote:
One thing that is disturbing about this from a health standpoint is that with 5 hours of continuous sleep at night, your adrenal output is a fraction of what it should be. Couple that with life’s usual stresses and any coffee habits and you’ve got adrenal burnout big time. This means disrupted fluid balance in, compromised ability to settle inflammation in the body, and oh yeah energy.
Is that worth possibly saving a fraction of muscle that the debate is still out on whether a bedtime casein shake would do the same? Not in my book[/quote]
While there’s no dogma about nocturnal feedings, I have seen great results from them (myself and athletes). Having said that, I also suggest that if you don’t like them, don’t do them.
There needs to be room for experimentation and personal preference.
For those who wake up and fall back to sleep without problem, I can’t imagine that it affects our sleep cycles to any significant extent.
BTW-storey, can you elaborate on the adrenal output theory?
I want to thank everybody for their input. I tried the middle of the night protein drink for 4 nights. I was consuming the drink between 2-3 A.M. I don’t like it at all. I seemed to get back to sleep after drinking the protein but, for the last three days I’ve been dragging my feet. A lazy feeling if you will. I did my workout today and it sucked. My strength was the same as last week but I really had to push myself to train. No motivation and a lazy feeling. Everything in my daily routine has been the same except the middle of the night protein drinks. I’m stopping the middle of the night drinks. Besides I’m 260 lbs. with about 17-18% bodyfat at 5’11". A little chubby but plenty of muscle. Been training for about 16 years. Thanks guys.
[quote]David Barr wrote:
storey420 wrote:
One thing that is disturbing about this from a health standpoint is that with 5 hours of continuous sleep at night, your adrenal output is a fraction of what it should be. Couple that with life’s usual stresses and any coffee habits and you’ve got adrenal burnout big time. This means disrupted fluid balance in, compromised ability to settle inflammation in the body, and oh yeah energy.
Is that worth possibly saving a fraction of muscle that the debate is still out on whether a bedtime casein shake would do the same? Not in my book
While there’s no dogma about nocturnal feedings, I have seen great results from them (myself and athletes). Having said that, I also suggest that if you don’t like them, don’t do them.
There needs to be room for experimentation and personal preference.
For those who wake up and fall back to sleep without problem, I can’t imagine that it affects our sleep cycles to any significant extent.
BTW-storey, can you elaborate on the adrenal output theory?[/quote]
Hey Dave,
The research that documents the need for at least five hours of continuous sleep for the adrenals to produce adequate adrenalin is from the 70’s and 80’s so I can’t just cut and paste it. I’ll have to go to the university medical library and try to dig this up for ya.
i use to do this, not because i wanted to but because even though i ate often and alot(yes, even right before bed), i would just wake up super hungry in the middle of the night…did it help?..well i wasn’t hungry anymore, it took a couple minutes, and it let me fall back asleep…so yes:)
if it comes down to it i rather get my rest in, but if you have something ready that won’t take much thinking or time, than go for it…extra calories are always great when bulking…
Blend some cottage cheese with protein powders and make puddings and thick shakes out of it. Cottage cheese is a great source of casein.
Casein gets props because of its slow digestion and absorption rates. A snack involving cottage cheese will provide a steady, slow paced release of amino acids into the bloodstream. Cottage cheese is also low in carbs. Combine that with its slow digesting protein and it makes an ideal bedtime snack to help prevent any possible nighttime catabolism (muscle wasting caused by an eight hour fast.)
You?ll want to stick to the fat free kind and avoid the creamed varieties because of their “bad” fat content.
This is a nice little trick I use that I got from the editors of T-Nation.
I make a shake right before bed and drink half of it before bed, and save the other half for when I wake up during the night (which never fails!)
It’s made up of:
1/2 cup Lo-fat cottage cheese (casein)
2 cups soy milk
1 serving soy protein powder
1 serving whey powder
1 serving of Splenda (for the bitterness)
Sometimes I throw in fresh fruit or natural PB for a change.
blend
It seems to be working pretty good.