Night time refeed

[plornive]

Last night my head hurt from dieting. My lifts yesterday were down and I felt flat.

So, at 11pm I decided to refeed on 3 bowls of wheaties. I feel much better and I plan to lift hard today. Yesterday I cut my workout short.

Anyway, is there any advantage or disadvantage to refeeding at night?

As a side note, I woke up very vascular. My abs were pretty visible. I think it is mainly because of the carbs and that I didn't drink much water last night.

 

[Creatureofnight]

I dont think theres any advantage or disadvantage to nighttime refeeding but one thing i have noticed is that when i would only refeed w/ one meal i would need refeeds more often. Most likely because one meal only can raise leptin levels soo much and then they start to drop again.

 

[Manu]

I also asked that to myself...i thought you might know the aswer...

When a similar situation happened to me i also took a carb meal (just pasta) and some red meat (maybe 150 grs) for dinner.
And then a all day based on carbs.
I usually workout in the afternoon (around 6 P.M) and i do carb days (i don't think i go above mateinance calories) every 3 or 4 days. Usually those carb days are also when i workout in more "demanding" muscles like back or chest...or legs..(i'm doing a 5 days split (i know very discussible)). That is working for me.
I'm also relying on morning cardio on empty stomach.
In low carb days i am now doing a pre-workout meal (i prefer to have the most intense workout i can and pre-workout helps with that)...but most meals are no carbs and moderate fat (crum like) on the low side of calories.
Usually "carbing" just one day (i usually getting the dinner meal still low on carbs but double the carb those post workout (80 grs dextrose)) and because workout is late in the day does the trick for me, but i have also a still a high body fat. ( i don't think i will go above 300/350 grs of carbs on those days, cutting all flax seed.
But when i need to workout on the morning i have the same question: would a might refeed help me the day after?
Maybe MS could give some light on this subject.

 

[=w=]

There may actually be a benefit to late night refeeds. I believe I have heard it said that there is a signifigant drop in leptin overnight. Based on this and the condition you said you were in at the time of your refeed, one can only speculate how low you would have been after such a drop.

 

[Par Deus]

Leptin is highest at night, lowest in the morning. A middle-of-the-night refeed would be beneficial in that regard.

Insulin sensitivity is lower at night, which means more of the glucose flux go through to fat cells, rather than muscle cells -- not good for refilling glycogen, but it is probably better for increasing leptin expression.

 

[LaviathanX]

Dan Duchaine recommends refeeding every 2 hours for 48 hours straight. Which means even when you should be sleeping. So last night I kept a Gatorade bottle next to my bed and just took a big gulp of it whenever I had to get up to pee. Is that bad?

 

[rez]

after training last night i had a massive blow-out on protein powder and cottage cheese mix last night..tasted so good..couldnt be bothered stopping w one serve. i had a shake post training, chicken salad 2 hrs later and protein/cottage cheese after that. Is this a complete waste..ie could I have had carbs as extra protein turns into gluclose anyway? i was .5kg heavier on the scales

 

[plornive]

after training last night i had a massive blow-out on protein powder and cottage cheese mix last night..tasted so good..couldnt be bothered stopping w one serve. i had a shake post training, chicken salad 2 hrs later and protein/cottage cheese after that. Is this a complete waste..ie could I have had carbs as extra protein turns into gluclose anyway? i was .5kg heavier on the scales

I guess that since there is a calorie "leak" with the conversion of protein energy to glucose, eating protein will lead to less weight-gain than eating carbohydrate. Also, if you eat high GI carbs, it is harder to stop than eating protein.

However, I think a little bit of carbs would not have caused any harm as long as you limited the portions.

 

[rez]

However, I think a little bit of carbs would not have caused any harm as long as you limited the portions.

nups - carbs are like pringles.."once you pop..."