Quick question on eating times

[sclandes]

How many hours before sleeping should you stop eating?

It says 7, but I don't get up until 1pm as I work nights. That doesn't leave much time to eat and I don't go to bed until 8am.

just curious.

-scl

[Connie Brown]

You sleep from 8 am to 1 pm?

what are your usual meal times?

I think the deal is, you want a "rest" from eating - usually overnight and usually 8 hours of sleep plus the after-dinner and before-breakfast time.

[sclandes]

Wow, that was fast.

Jah, I sleep from 8a to 1p, usually eating at 1p, 6p and 10p.

I usually work all night just drinking water and coffee.

1L water

1-2 12oz coffee

-scl

[Connie Brown]

We must be on at the same time by coincidence.

I think your meal times sound fine as long as you can get enough in (some guys are training so hard that it's just plain hard to get enough food in in 3 meals)

Do you feel good on this? I would notice only 5 hours of sleep more than the meal timing.

When the guidelines say "don't eat after 7", that's assuming a schedule something like, go to bed at 10 pm and wake up at 6 am. Your adjustments look good to me for working graveyard if you don't get just plain hungry during that time.

[sclandes]

I dont' really get hungry often, and I have trained myself away from food late night because all we have are vending machines. Death to any kind of diet regimen.

The 5 hours sleep? Not ideal, however I'm often lucky to get that much.

I have kids, what can I say?

-scl

[Connie Brown]

LOL on the kids. Nuff said. It's really hard on the bod though. When I was being careless about food & sleep I now think it was the sleep deprivation that did the biggest number on my health and took the longest to recover from.

I would do things exactly as you are, specially with the vending machine situation.

[sclandes]

Heh. Sleep deprivation is just a carry-over from college. That and the bright shining faces wanting to see me, no matter how not-ready I am to see them. It will catch up eventually, hopefully after I no longer need to do it.

Glad to see I'm doing something close to right though.

thanks.

-scl

[Jay76]

How many hours before sleeping should you stop eating?

Why? What are your goals with diet?

[sclandes]

Well, I do have about 5-10lbs to knock off...

However, I was primarily trying to better understand the guidelines in relation to my present situation.

-scl

[sheibeck]

I have a similar question about the no eating after 7. I get home from work around 5:30 and have less than half an hour to get around and get to my workout at 6:00. I don't like to eat before I go workout as I always get cramps and have less energy if I eat a meal beforehand, so I usually just take a little fruit with me on the road as a snack. However, this means that after my workout I'm hungry as a horse, but it's well after 7 (usually 9:30).

What kind of effect will this have if I cannot eat my dinner until 9:00 or 9:30 on my big workout evenings. Usually this is only 2 days a week, by the way (Tuesday and Thursday).

Thanks in advance.

[Scott Sonnon]

Sterling,

Giving yourself latitude on those two days to eat later won't impact you too negatively, especially if you shift your food to a heavier breakfast and lunch on those days, eat a lighter dinner. There's a metabolic drift for about 20-40 minutes after a workout where you uptake the nutrients of your food at a higher quality and rate.

[Coach Gostnell]

I get home from work around 5:30 and have less than half an hour to get around and get to my workout at 6:00.

Hi Sterling, I have a similar schedule some nights of the week. I also hate to come home starving after, esp. when my spouse has made himself something great to eat (and enough to share) but it's already 9:30 p.m.

I try to keep stuff on hand at work so I can have a major snack about 4 or 4:30 p.m. to carry me through the evening. Then a baked potato w/ the skin right before I go to bed - which is as soon after I get home as I can manage - to help me sleep & so I don't wake up hungry in the night.

[cbeltrante]

Sterling,

IMHO go ahead and eat and don't worry about it. Like Coach Sonnon has stated, the body utilizes nutrients more effectively right after a workout. I eat every 2 to 3 hours daily, that's even up to bed time and I feel great. The main exception is that I will only eat starchy carbs after a workout only when they can be utilized more effeciently.

Take care,
Chris

[sheibeck]

Thanks for the advice all. I have to do a little mind shift here as I'm used to eating heavy after a workout to rebuild what I breakdown. But, with the stuff I'm learning that is a flawed outlook. I'll make some changes and see what happens!

[wurishi]

Bear in mind coffee stays in the system for... I've heard people quote different times, but usually around 10-12 hours. If you're drinking that in the afternoon (or at night, in your case), it might affect your sleep.

There are different opinions on caffine though, some doctors even recomend it for certain symptoms.

[Dave O]

Steven, Sterling and Jeanne,

I have the same issue on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I have a class from 7:30- 9 or 9:30, and was wondering how to handle my eating times. I tend to eat a snack between 5:30 and 6:30 and eat a small to medium sized meal when I get home.

Thanks for prompting the discussion. It helped reassure me that my intuition was okay.

Cheers,

[Coach Gostnell]

You're welcome, Dave.
What I've noticed is it can be hard to sleep well after working out so late in the day. (only one of 1000 things that seem to make it hard for me to sleep well, but that's another issue) ...a heavy meal on top of it pretty much ruins the night.

[Dave O]

Jeanne,

You said a heavy meal makes it hard for you to sleep. How about meals that contain foods that are less dense, but contain good nutrition?

I guess I am lucky. I neeed to eat, as feelings of hunger wake me up.

Cheers,

[Coach Gostnell]

Definitely, eating poorly and/or as well as too much makes for a bad night.

That's why I like the suggestion in Potatoes Not Prozac about having the baked potato before bedtime cuz I don't like waking hungry at 2 a.m. either. (I used to have ice cream before bed but the last pint of Ben & Jerry's I bought is still sitting, all frostbitten, in the freezer.)

Plus potatoes come in all sizes so you can choose it based on how long since your last meal, how hungry you feel, etc... I do nuke 'em when necessary, although the ones baked in the wood range oven are totally best.