number of meals question

[HowBadDoYouWantIt]

hi
first i would like to say that i *strive* to attain 6 meals per day, every 2.5-3 hours.
I am finding this very difficult on lifting days especially...i am topping out at 5 before i have to pass out from the days events. Currently I workout at night.
How detrimental is this really? The only option i see at this point is to set an alarm and wake up in the middle of the night and feed.
I'll do it if that is what it takes. I am torn between needing the uninterrupted sleep for reparation and needing the building blocks for reparation. I am eating prior to bed...just not getting in 6 meals.
I am 5'2", approx 125, 20ish% bf (if you rely on inaccurate tests that is ), and build muscle fairly easily. Mostly i am trying to lean up.
I finally realized after a couple of attempts at metamorphasis that i was NOT eating enough and i dont' want to blow it now over a few hundred calories in the middle of the night.

thanks

 

[Mr.X]

if you are trying to lean out bro, I would reccomend you stay w/ that one single meal before bed and not wake up to eat at night. I've noticed that if I eat at night it slows down my weight loss, now for bulking up this is certaintly a false presumpsion because when I bulk I need the calories at night to be in positive nitrogen balance. Now, since you are trying to lean up..here's the trick I have for you...>
Before bed, mix up a big protein shake...lean protein only... have some whey, casein, egg (egg-whites, or egg protein powder) and soy protein... a good amount is feasible... now what happens here is all these protein are released at different times and should last you through at least 1/2 the night, which is about 4-5 hours...from then on there's very little time left until your morning meal...now one more thing you want to add is BCAA (amino's) + 5 grams of glutamine to your shake before bed.
My 2cents
Mr.X

 

[HowBadDoYouWantIt]

maybe i should have....

mentioned that i was a bra (girl) not a bro
would the advice be different?

thanks

 

[Digital Ronin]

It shouldn't change anything...how many calories are you taking in daily anyhow?

 

[HowBadDoYouWantIt]

I shoot for 1700-1900 at this point.

 

[Digital Ronin]

Depending on your metabolism, you should be between 1250 - 1625 Kcal/day, if you want to just lose body fat. If you're looking at building lean muscle mass and reducing body fat that range changes to 1625 - 1875. Hope that helps...

Btw, if you're having problems getting in 6 meals, go to eating every 2 - 2.5 hours. You'll manage to get them all in.

 

[HowBadDoYouWantIt]

How would going the 1250-1625 calorie route affect muscle retention....meaning if i continued to train and just reduced caloric intake would i lose my existing muscle or just fat?
Also, i have always heard that anything under 1400c/day was counterproductive....
definitely a lot of different "beliefs" out there....confusing at times.

thanks

 

[Dr. E]

In order to retain all lean muscle, a fairly significant part of your caloric intake should be protein (~ 1 gram/lb). If you adhere to that then you shouldn't lose very much.

 

[HowBadDoYouWantIt]

1g/overall pound or 1g/lean mass ?

thanks

 

[Dr. E]

1 g/lb of total body mass

 

[cyberflash]

you can eat 5 meals a day ... just lessen carb after 4 pm .... eat mostly protein at night ...

I drink Isopure (pure protein, 0 carb, 0 fat) at night ...

 

[Rudee34]

Simply put: eating stimulates metabolism. An increase in metabolism over time increases the bodies metabolic setpoint. An increase in metabolic setpoint facilitates the intake of additional calories with a lesser chance those calories will be stored as bodyfat. The meals need to be small in size so as not curb the digestive process. They also need to be of the right macronutrient ratio.