Just wondering if any of you guys have had experiance or opinions on middle of the night feedings. I’m thinking of trying it, but I’d like to hear what ya’ll have to say 'bout it first. What type of shake would be optimal? When should I wake to drink it? Would that be a good time for glutamine?
I used to do this all the time (either mrp+milk or just a glass of milk) now that I’ve started on ZMA I sleep thru the whole damn night… I like sleep… mmm… sleep…
I tried this recently and feel better in the morning when I wake up, like more recovered. I think J. Berardi had an article about this a couple issues back. I think he said casein and something like Advanced Protein mixed together.
Low Carb Grow! is very good for nighttime shakes. It’s a blend of casein and whey and it’s low carb. Use with water of course and don’t set an alarm to wake up. Only get a shake at night if you wake up naturally to pee or something. See the “Shake it up” article at T-mag for some recipes.
This concept is not for me. I often don’t sleep that well and take melatonin to help me. I think waking up to eat would be too much of an interuption to my nights sleep. Instead, I try to have a whey & cottage cheese shake before bed or whey and 10 grams glutamine with flax oil.
I did that for 2 years, waking up at 4am, drinking a 0- carb protein shake with added fibre & vitamin C. To my surprise it never went on as fat, but I wouldn’t say it radically changed my body. At the end of the day it just interrupted my sleeping pattern too much. I know where you’re coming from - you daon’ want to go 8 or more hours without some protein, right? Nowadays (just in the last week or two) I eat 400g of cottage cheese (I think that was J Berardi’s idea) and a couple of teaspoons of fish oil right before I go to bed, and I do better at my job for the extra sleep. making good progress in the gym too.
The fish oil and cottage cheese is what I’d recommend. I wouldn’t do 400ml, that seems like too much. Try to get in ~30g of protein. Plus the fish oil. That stuff aids recovery which is what you want to use night-time for!
You need the sleep more than you need the protein. The time you are getting up is right about when you go into deep sleep mode, which your body needs.