Get Big Diet - Eat afet 7:00PM?

Hi,

I am a 33 yr old who is trying to gain lean muscle.

I’ve been trying to follow the “get big diet for bodybuilders” recommendation in the Feb issue and have a question.

Do I eat after 7:00PM?

I am trying to eat 6 smaller meals throughout the day but am concerned about eating after 7:00PM as I am trying to avoid fat. I work out during the lunch hour and eat mainly throughout the day.

I am also having a tough time trying to eat a smaller meal at supper at 6:00PM. I am usually very hungry after work and can easily put away second servings.

Any suggestions?

I just finished doing a modified Get-Big Diet(more protein) for 7 weeks with about 45% of my calories coming after 7:00pm from the 2 post-workout shakes and another meal(almost all protein), and I had no increase in skinfold measurements. Granted, I was taking Tribex(6 caps-2x/day) and ZMA(3 caps/day) for 4 of the weeks, Methoxy-7(6 tsp/day) for 3, and Androsol(70 sprays-2x/day) for 2, so that probably helped.

Unless your taking some sort of anabolics, I think you’re going to have to accept a little fat gain to gain muscle.

I agree with BMU that you’re going to have some fat gain along with your muscle, but I don’t think that eating or not eating after 7PM is gong to make much difference one way or the other. I personally eat three of my meals at 6PM, 9PM and 12AM (right before bed), and haven’t noticed any fat gain compared to when I tried having my last meal around 8PM. I also sleep better and have less catabolism this way.

I think that the whole "don't eat in the evening or you'll get fat" thing is a myth. If you look at a day as a 24-hour unit, and that you need a certain number of calories to get through that 24 hours at a particular bodyweight, it really shouldn't matter when the calories come. Of course, Ian King says differently in his book, and he knows more about this sort of thing than I do, but I've observed empirically both in my own body and others who I've trained that eating times (in terms of time of day) don't really matter much. Eating every three hours while you're awake is a lot more important.

I eat every three hours that I am awake. I eat at 5,8,and 11pm and if I’m still up at 2am, I eat again. As far as a big meal at dinner with second helpings, I don’t think you are supposed to, but I do it all the time. I stay below 10% bf.

I would have to agree with everyone else’s response to this one, it really seems to be in line with my experience. I also can’t imagine eating my last meal at 7 and then going to bed at say 10, eating nothing until the next morning. I like the thought of having some food in me the 8 or so hours that I’m sleeping. Plus if I’m working on gaining I’ll go so far as to drink plenty of water right before bed - that gets me up in the middle of the night so I can have a MRP.