Does this sound crazy?

[AirCartman]

I usually wake up in the morning feeling rather malnourished and i blame my now super fast metabolism. I eat 5 meals a day, and i'm fairly new to the game, so i'm not used to contant cravings for food(every 3 hours at least).

Would it be advisable to wake up in the middle of the night to maybe drink a protein shake?

Or is that nuts?

 

[LAM]

I wouldn't intentionally wake up just to eat. if you happen to wake up and get a bite then no problem. I've never done it but I know tons of people who keep some whey/shaker cup on the nightstand.

getting quality sleep is more important than getting in some extra cals

 

[Emma-Leigh]

I usually wake up in the morning feeling rather malnourished and i blame my now super fast metabolism. I eat 5 meals a day, and i'm fairly new to the game, so i'm not used to contant cravings for food(every 3 hours at least).

Would it be advisable to wake up in the middle of the night to maybe drink a protein shake?

Or is that nuts?

I am with LAM - I would not wake up intentionally, but you can alwayshave something if you do.

Instead, turn your focus to eating correctly during the day.

Ensure you get enough calories and aim to eat 6 or 7 meals a day if you need too. Also, make sure you are having a good pre-bed meal - have something with a good level of carbs, protein, fat and fibre. This will help keep you satisfied.

 

[CowPimp]

I would suggest eating right before you goto sleep. I eat a meal high in fat and protein (PB & cottage cheese). I skip the carbs, but you don't necessarily have to. However, I do recommend a lot of fat to slow down gastric emptying and help streamline your uptake of the nutrients you ingest during that meal.

I also recommend eating cottage cheese or a casein protein supplement to help keep you in a positive nitrogen balance for many hours after you drift off to sleep.

 

[AirCartman]

What type of cottage cheese.

Obviously low salt, but what %.

And Emma, any suggestions for this pre-bed snack?

 

[XcelKrush]

What type of cottage cheese.

Obviously low salt, but what %.

And Emma, any suggestions for this pre-bed snack?

It would be better to get 0 percent and then add fats from a good source such as peanut butter.

 

[Emma-Leigh]

What type of cottage cheese.

Obviously low salt, but what %.

The salt is not too much of a problem if you do not have problems with your kidneys or high blood pressure (personally, I hate the higher salt ones though - it tastes icky).

% - I always suggest 1%. 1% is better than the FF and it is still low enough to mean you can get your healthy fats from elsewhere.

If you are really finding it hard to get in calories then you could do 2 or 4%.

And Emma, any suggestions for this pre-bed snack?

If you are a serious hard-gainer then you want something that is going to give you lots of energy and nutrients before bed. I would also suggest something that has some carbohydrate in it (carbs before bed are actually useful in many situations - ranging from cutting to bulking and anything in between).

If you wanted you could do something like rolled oats with some yoghurt (or milk), cottage cheese, healthy fats (eg: pb, linseeds, walnuts - it would depend on your fat sources over the rest of the day) and some fruit (eg: berries). You could add some psyllium to increase the fibre if you wanted (slow digestion even more).

There is nothing magical about any particular food - I would just ensure you get a good dose of calories with something that is going to be relatively slowly digestion.

 

[cpush]

why is 1% better than FF?

 

[CowPimp]

What type of cottage cheese.

Obviously low salt, but what %.

And Emma, any suggestions for this pre-bed snack?

I eat 1-2%. I don't really think it matters. It would probably be a good idea to get your fats from other sources. However, some fat from cottage cheese won't kill you.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I agree with every one else on not waking up. Before I go to sleep I take one or two of those Dannon Fruzion Smoothies (I like the Strawberry Banana) and put in in the blender with a couple scoops of Chocolate protein powder. it's got like 220 cal 300 some odd mg's of potassium and around 50g's of protein. It really seems to help me sleep, it's also pretty damn tasty.