IIFYM Interviews Flexible Dieting Coach; Tyler Mayer

1. IIFYM.com interviews Flexible Dieting Contest Prep Coach and Diet Doc Clinician; Tyler Mayer.

IIFYM: For our readers that might not be familiar with you, can you please tell us a bit about yourself?

TNT: I’m Tyler, and I’m a nutrition consultant and strength coach for my company.
Team TNT. I’m also an IFPA pro bodybuilder, competitive powerlifter, and a Diet Doc licensed clinician.

IIFYM: How did you get started in natural bodybuilding?


TNT: I’ve always been an athlete at heart. I was a four-sport athlete (basketball, football, track, and baseball) in high school and eventually played college football. I only played for a year, because I decided to go into the medical field. I had always been active and still hit the gym a lot during my college years, but once I got out of college…I started losing my drive and motivation for working out.

I knew that I wanted to stay in shape to both maintain some athleticism and to look good, but doing the same thing day-in-and-day-out wasn’t getting me anywhere. I realized that if I wanted to take my athleticism and physique to the next level that I needed to set some goals and train like I never have before. That’s when bodybuilding sparked my interest.

In 2007, I dove in headfirst and competed in my first show bodybuilding show…and was hooked! What’s ironic, is that prior to stepping on stage, I actually had never even seen a show before! I kept competing and eventually, I earned my IFPA pro card in 2011, then made my pro debut in 2013.

IIFYM: What about powerlifting. I know that you have been perusing powerlifting the last few years. What is it about powerlifting that you prefer over bodybuilding?


TNT: I love powerlifting. It’s definitely a different world compared to bodybuilding but there are pros and cons to both sides. It’s individualistic, it’s measurable, in some ways it’s predictable and it’s rewarding on multiple levels. There’s nothing better than getting a PR that you’ve been working so hard to get for a period of time.

Additionally, I love powerlifting because you can typically eat more food (assuming you’re not cutting for a weight class) and get stronger at the same time. You don’t have to be stage-lean while prepping for a meet, and because of that, when training for powerlifting, my energy is much higher and I feel a lot better. Don’t get me wrong, I still apply some bodybuilding lifts to my powerlifting programming so I’m not losing progress in that area of my life.

 

IIFYM: What are your numbers on the big 3? (squat, bench press & deadlift for those readers that don’t know about powerlifting)

TNT: My best powerlifting numbers are: 520lb squat in the gym, 380lb bench press at a meet, 600lb deadlift at a meet.

IIFYM: How about coaching?
What got you into helping others achieve their physique goals?

TNT: This might sound cliché but I truly wanted to help people. In Arizona, there were a lot of bad contest prep “diets” floating around and I watched a lot of people get hurt pretty badly. I wanted to spread the word that competitors DON’T have to go to extreme measures to diet for a show and they can STILL come out looking their best ever while enjoying some pleasure foods. Back when the idea of “flexible dieting”/”IIFYM” was still fairly new, the majority of individuals I talked to about it didn’t believe me or the concept.

As a result, I got a lot of criticism for it. I fell in love with coaching pretty hard, particularly when athlete clients would tell me that flexible-dieting changed their lives because of the non-restrictive nature of the process, which aided in developing a better physique than they ever thought possible.

For me, it was never about winning a stack of pro cards, it was about changing lives for the better…about changing minds to become permanently healthier mentally, having bodies heal and develop healthier, and watching clients maintain balance in their lives and in their relationships.

I believe there’s no shame in admitting that even coaches need coaches…Despite being a prep coach for so many others, I HIGHLY recommend all competitors have a trustworthy and quality coach with integrity.

IIFYM: Do you manage your own contest prep diet or do you have a coach?

TNT: I believe there’s no shame in admitting that even coaches need coaches, and I definitely reach out to others when I am prepping for a show, or even for training programs. It’s not a matter of not knowing how to prep a competitor for a show or not knowing how to design a training program, but sometimes I just need to put control in hands I trust so I don’t overthink things.

I also really love the accountability, so when I’m prepping for a show, I have my coach Dr. Joe Klemczewski to guide me to the stage. He’s the one that introduced to me the concept of flexible-dieting a couple of years into my stage career, and he turned things around for me when my contest preps weren’t going well, and I’ve never looked back since. I could diet myself down, without a doubt, but it can become a real psychological battle that’s just exhausting.

I would rather have someone that I trust tell me what to do and take the guess-work out of it for me. I’m sure a lot of people reading this who have prepped themselves can relate to the struggle, and likewise, others can relate to the experience of having a knowledgeable coach by your side and its stress-relieving effects on a prep experience. Despite being a prep coach for so many others, I HIGHLY recommend all competitors have a trustworthy and quality coach with integrity.

 

IIFYM: What role does IIFYM play into your offseason and contest prep diet? Do you keep it clean most of the time or do you allow yourself to indulge?

TNT: I love the IIFYM approach in the off-season! It allows me to experiment with more varieties of foods and also enjoy the seasons of food: holidays, seasonal flavors and fun limited edition goodies.

I typically eat fairly “clean” 70-80% in the off-season (so I’m getting enough micronutrients through whole veggies and meats), but I do enjoy my fun food equally. I’m a huge lover and indulger of ice cream, and I usually work in (usually) daily. I love flexible dieting!

IIFYM: What about your clients? Do you encourage them to keep it clean most of the time or do you see a benefit in allowing some “cheat” type foods in to help?

TNT: I’m a big advocate of eating more whole foods that are nutrient-dense first before deferring automatically to “cheat-type” foods. Those who are dieting-down for competitions or significant fat-loss gravitate towards cleaner and more whole-food-based choices, and as a result, many experience an overall sense of satiety, energy, and fullness.

I do advocate for variety throughout the day and week because balance is healthy and it’s key for a well-rounded diet, but for sanity and saving social graces, I realize and encourage that partaking in pleasure food is important too. The qualifier to that belief, though, is in implementing careful strategy and not falling into “loose-tracking”—that’s the pitfall and often the gateway for over-indulging in craving-based treats that for some can lead to excessive over-indulging and into all-out binging sessions.

It’s been my experience that one has to have a pretty strong mindset, approach and strategy for curbing cravings or lightly indulging within control, and I think every individual can achieve that. But, I am a believer of integrating small portions of pleasure foods to build a more controlling and healthy relationship with trigger foods than all-out restriction. Restriction is a powerful thing, and time and time again it’s proven that saying “NO” causes a tremendous (and sometimes unavoidable) inability to have the off-limits item.

Lastly, I believe the IIFYM concept is often mis-contextualized and misunderstood. A lot of flexible-dieters attempt to make a point to non-flex-dieters that one can make progress while eating designated “bad foods”, and that’s what others come to believe: that the whole IIFYM approach consists of the junk food they’ve been presented in those advocating arguments…and that’s inaccurate.

Having a diet consisting of macro-dense, low-volume pleasure foods can set new flex-dieters up for failure and over-indulging, so I recommend new flex-dieters to really research and seek out a coach that will demonstrate and provide the resources to implement this successfully from square 1.

 

IIFYM: What are your thoughts on refeeds vs. cheat meals?

TNT: I like the idea and term “refeeds” more than “cheat meals”. Refeeds are more controlled, can be explained as purposeful for athletes, whereas “cheat meals” have a negative connotation hovering around “NO-NO foods”, are uninformative about their scientific purpose on the body, and can lead to total destruction.

During the off-season, or for some clients transitioning into a maintenance phase, I also implement “relaxed meals” occasionally that are strategically untracked, SINGULAR meals—typically used in conjunction with family and social events.

There’s a degree of criteria that’s outlined as it’s part of the process of working with my client to build a strong mindset around this untracked eating experience, but it’s also about pushing for growth and release of responsibility, mindfulness, and the power of their learned knowledge to enjoy the meal stress-free but mindfully and balanced, too. Immediately after, we’re right back to tracking so there’s no hope for spinning out of control.

I won’t designate an amount of protein that makes my clients feel like they’re stuffing themselves. That can leadn to discouragement and defeat in my experience.

IIFYM: Let’s talk macros for a minute.
What are your thoughts on protein consumption? Many people subscribe to 1 gram per lb of body weight, while guys like Dr. Joe go closer to .75 grams per lbs of lean mass, as he talked about in this awesome interview. IIFYM interview with Dr. Joe Klemczewski. What is your take on setting protein for your clients?

TNT: Honestly, I don’t really have a specific protocol that I give clients when it comes to protein amounts. I like to evaluate their history and overall goals before determining an amount.

Every EVALUATION is different: sometimes competitors have higher amounts compared to someone just looking for fat-loss, or if someone is used to a higher protein intake by preference, I consider that, likewise if someone explains they’ve always had a hard time getting in adequate amounts of protein, I won’t designate an amount that makes them feel like they’re stuffing themselves with protein: that leads to discouragement and defeat in my experience.

Additionally, sometimes medical conditions and circumstances play an important role in those designations—that’s all informed, educated knowledge that I bring to my efforts when calculating.

IIFYM: What about carbs?
Being one of your clients, and because I know many of the people you work with, and though I have to say that I don’t know of many coaches that have a client list that is as shredded as yours is. You seem to have loads of clients that are not only getting diced with IIFYM, but also eat tons of carbs while doing it. Do you think this has more to do with the individuals or your own contest prep system?

TNT: There are a lot of variables for how one intakes, adjusts to, and maintains their general carbohydrate intake. In my experience, a lot of individuals can’t handle a large quantity, some don’t need to, so it’s important to handle that intake carefully. Not all of my clients have a large carb intake, but many start their diets with a higher intake and as they approach and achieve their goal, they are at a relatively low intake.

Others, however, start low and over time are able to progress it upwards. Many initial clients who come to me with existing low-intakes and express a desire to prep for a show, are often turned down and we go through a process of reevaluating wants/desires/dreams versus the absolute need for HEALTH. With that in mind, I’ve had tens and tens of competitors and athletes hold tight to their goals, but defer their competition date in order to rebuild metabolically with a progressive experience of adding in calories while maintaining leanness and conditioning.

This approach allows for them to come in with more preserved muscle-mass, general leanness and conditioning while maintaining a healthier-functioning body, and 100% of the time they place better because of these variables. In my experience of coaching people over the years, those that work with me the longest and do many shows together, typically end up eating a lot more carbs coming into shows.

IIFYM: Let’s talk about reverse dieting and metabolism damage. There are many contest prep coaches that swear by it and many naysayers that hate the concept. What are your thoughts on reverse dieting?

TNT: I’m a fan of reverse-dieting but it really depends on the person too. There are some people that just need to increase food at a slower rate simply because of the psychology aspect of it. Some have a huge panic attack if you tell them to eat at maintenance levels. For someone like that, I’ll give them smaller, gradual increases to prevent rapid weight gain and to let their body adjust to the intake before increasing again.

Other clients can handle more aggressive jumps; I’ll have them go into maintenance much quicker to jump-start their off-season more quickly.
When dieting-down, I believe metabolic adaptation is 100% real.

As one diets down and loses weight, studies have proven the metabolic rate will slow down because of lesser overall mass on the body—because of this decrease in mass, the metabolism naturally doesn’t NEED as much energy to maintain homeostasis…so it adapts. But this adaptation doesn’t last forever, either, it can increase again.

I know research is being done on this topic, specifically, without definitive answers (yet) so I can only speak anecdotally about my experience with clients.
Though I have to admit, initially I WAS skeptical of metabolic “damage” or “adaptation” concept until I worked closely, in person, with a client who was a seasoned bikini competitor. Prior to that when I had had potential clients approach me 1) eating very little and 2) claiming to be unable to lose weight, I’d assume that they were binging or not being truthful.

Before I started working with this experienced bikini competitor, closely, she was eating about 700 calories a day and doing 2-3 hours of cardio a day…she had been doing this for TWO YEARS! (I don’t know how she survived that long!) Because we were working closely in proximity together, I knew she wasn’t binging. Progressively over a 2 year period of time, she did gain about 25 pounds during her reverse.

Now, 3 years later, she’s lost all of that weight-gain, has added muscle mass, and is now eating almost triple her 700-calorie intake. Throughout the reverse process, she rarely had decreases in food and had minimal (almost no) cardio.

IIFYM: Tell us about your approach to cardio. Hiit, LISS or both? How often?

TNT: I like to have my clients do as little cardio as possible while eating the highest macro-intake they possibly can while consistently making progress. I prefer HIIT over LISS cardio but I have them do both, for purposeful reasons.

There are trends that have been true to inform a lot of my process with clients, like, if a competitor trains legs often throughout the week, typically they’re getting beat down pretty badly and adding in large sessions of moderate of LISS leg-based cardio can compound issues for recovery. By adding HIIT, many competitors can take more of a beating on the legs since the HITT session can be close to a leg workout by itself.

I’m also a fan of bringing in LISS to help with recovery–how much depends on the person and the goal. Typically, I have some of my competitors doing more as they get closer to a show, but it’s a process of working the sessions up in quantity over the entire prep process than starting a prep with a ton. I like to keep LISS sessions no longer than about 40 minutes at a time, and I’ll have advanced competitors do as many as 15 intervals in a HIIT session.
Again though, it depends on the competitor, the goals, the timeline, and for most competitors: each prep is different!

 

IIFYM: How much time do you usually like to give your clients to diet down for a show?


TNT: In my experience, 100% of the time: the more time that we have, the better the outcome. If they take the time to get ready for a show, their bodies will come in much LEANER, HARDER, and eating MORE food because of it (who wants to starve?) Those that are in panic-mode, are trying to cut a lot of weight to make the stage…typically look flatter, lose more muscle mass, and aren’t as lean.

I use macrotracker.com to track my macros. But when it comes to designating my personal or clients macros: no, I don’t use any website or calculator for that. I like to get a thorough history of the person and use informed knowledge for designating macronutrient numbers.

IIFYM: Do you rely on websites like MacroTracker.com to calculate your macros or can you just eyeball it?

TNT: If you’re referring to tracking MY PERSONAL macros, yes, I use Macrotracker.com to track my macros. But when it comes to designating my personal or clients macros: no, I don’t use any website or calculator for that. I like to get a thorough history of the person and use informed knowledge for designating macronutrient numbers.

IIFYM: What supplements do you encourage your clients to take while dieting? What about offseason?


TNT: I’m a huge fan of the quality and results from Core Nutritionals products. I’ve always firmly believed in the company and the quality of supplements they put out on the market…eventually, I was able to earn sponsorship from them!

The supplements I recommend while dieting are: Core ABC’s (aminos), Core PRO/ISO (protein), Core Fury Extreme (pre-workout), and their creatine monohydrate. In general, to ALL my clients, I recommend a good multivitamin, fish oil, and a fiber supplement (only if they need the added fiber.) In the off-season, add Core Alpha and Core Hard to the mix.

IIFYM: Who are your sponsors and how have they helped you get where you are?

TNT: I have two sponsors that have treated me extremely well, and as the fitness industry has shifted and changed, I can sincerely say it’s an honor to be part of both of their teams.
The first is Core Nutritionals. Doug Miller and the Core team are very respectable in the fitness world and they are growing at an exponential rate. They have always been very helpful with putting the TNT name out there and on social media. Just that support alone goes a long ways with me.

The second is MyOatmeal.com. This one goes out to you personally, Anthony. I don’t think I would be where I am today if it wasn’t for Anthony Collova and MyOatmeal.com. Anthony has helped me tremendously with business mentorship and just being an awesome friend and confidante. By being part of the MyOatmeal.com family, I have learned a thing or two about what quality of service is and how it should be provided to customers, which I’ve in turn provided to my own clients. I can’t thank you enough for everything!

 

IIFYM: These next questions are from our followers on the IIFYM facebook page. We call this part of the interview “rapid fire”. Feel free to be as brief as possible.

-What is your favorite cheat meal?
Sushi or pizza, and on the regular: ice cream

-What are the lowest your calories get while dieting?
Lowest for me, ever, (and about a week in length before an increase) was 2000 calories…not my favorite range of macros!

-What is the most food you have ever consumed in a day?
Years ago, if I had to guess, I probably have put down 10k or so calories in a day before…also, not my favorite experience.

-How do you “grow into a show”?Eat MORE food and keep WATER HIGH!

-How many hours do you spend in the gym each day?
1.5-2 hours tops a session, 4-5 times a week depending on my workout for the day and how much time I need to recover between sets.

-Do you follow a periodized program?
Sure do!

 

-What kind of volume and frequency works best for your body?
High frequency, higher volume over time seems to respond better with my body.

-Does your training change when you start dieting for a show?
Typically not when I start the diet. But changes over the course of my prep.

-What are your thoughts on Crossfit?
When performed appropriately and in a safe manner, I don’t see anything bad with it. But…personally, I don’t have much interest in it; it’s just not for me.

-What is your favorite machine or apparatus at the gym
Squat rack

IIFYM: Thank you for your time and insight Tyler! If someone wants to hire you as a coach, how do they contact you?

Originally posted 2019-01-29 03:44:51.

Tracking Macros While Dining Out: The 3 Best Approaches

Dining Out, If It Fits Your Macros Style

You’ve just been invited out to dinner with your friends on a Friday night and immediately feel some excitement at the thought. Soon after, however, anxiety sets in. What about your macros? You do after all have fat loss goals!

The great part about IIFYM and the if it fits your macros approach is that pretty much anything goes provided you hit your fat loss macros. If you want pizza, you can have it. Want some pasta? That’s fine too. While obviously, you should be focusing on nutritious choices as often as possible to promote health as well, the beautiful idea about Flexible Dieting is that you can eat what you crave and desire when you want it.

You have already calculated your macros at the IIFYM Macro Calculator, (if not, click here: IIFYM Macro Calculator) now you just need to ensure that it ‘fits’ into your daily allotment of carbs, protein, and fat.

And that’s where some people struggle as they go about this plan. At home, you have complete control over your food. You can weigh and measure everything, so it makes tracking your macros a breeze.

Less Control, More Room For Error

Unfortunately, at a restaurant, you have less control. This can pose a bit of a problem at times.

Knowing how to go about a restaurant meal out while sticking to your IIFYM Macros can help.

There are a few different levels of commitment to consider here. Which method you use will all depend on just how precise you want to be. Some people who are preparing for contests, for instance, will want the highest level of dedication because there’s not enough room for error.

Those who are using IIFYM simply to look and feel great may be able to use a lower level of commitment because, for them, exact precision every single day is just not required to reach their goals. So first assess yourself, then assess the levels of commitment and choose the one that’s relevant for you.

 

The Ultra Committed IIFYM Approach

The first approach is for the ultra-committed. This is for those who are preparing for a contest, looking to get to the most cut state possible, or for those who simply need to feel in control at all times.

Some people – usually the ‘Type A’ personalities can’t stand if they are not giving 110% effort every single time.

For them, the ultra-committed approach is the only way. Even though they may not theoretically have any reason for going to this level, it’s simply what they prefer.

And that’s fine!

This program is all about doing what makes you happy, so identify that and run with it.

Want an IIFYM Blueprint for only $47? Click here to get started with your Macro Blueprint

So what is the ultra-committed approach all about?

It’s about using the exact sample principles that you’d use at home, in a restaurant while dining out.

What you’re going to need to do is first look at the menu. What types of foods are available?

With any luck, you’ll be able to find some basic dishes. Grilled chicken, grilled steak, or fish that’s been just lightly seared are all fantastic options. If you can find a protein on its own like this, usually you’ll be able to also order some basic steamed vegetables and a side of rice to go with it. Or, perhaps you want a simple baked potato without any butter, cheese, or sour cream added.

“Request that the chef prepare your food without the addition of any butter, oil, or other sauces and bring your food scale along with you to the restaurant.”

Order the basic individual meal components that you’d have at home: a protein source, a healthy fat source, and a vegetable (and possibly a complex carb if you are having a higher carb meal).

Now when your food arrives, bring out your scale, weigh it and track those macros.

A few words on this approach.

First, you’ll want to be dining with friends/individuals who understand and support your goals (or at least be willing to take a few looks if they don’t). Whipping out a food scale in a restaurant setting may cause some comments, so you want to be sure that you can handle and/or are comfortable with this.

Second, even though you may ask your server for the chef not to use butter or oil, be sure to inspect the food a bit when it comes to your plate. While many restaurants will obey entirely, some may still attempt to liven the food up a little by adding certain elements.

Or, if the food was cooked with other foods drenched in butter, for instance, some of that may have rubbed off onto yours.

This isn’t the complete end of the world (and normally would not require you to send your food back), but it does mean that you should be a little more conservative with your macro tracking.

Build a little extra room in for fat and calories in case something was added. When you are seeking fat loss, it’s better to err on the side of caution and come up a little shorter than you thought than be on the other side and go over.

 

The Simplest Choices

Yet, if you want to be truly sure, the best item to order is a salad. Since a salad isn’t cooked in any way (except for the protein source that comes with the salad), you have less to worry about. When you request dressing on the side, there is no reason there should be any dressing on your salad (and if there is, do not feel guilty about sending it back!). Then the only issue may be a slight amount of oil on your chicken if any, which is much less for you to worry about.

Alternatively, for the protein source, if you are keeping everything clean while dining out, then sushi or cocktail shrimp if they offer it will be your best option. As no cooking is involved in either of these, again, you can ensure that it’s a fully clean option before it hits your plate.

A generous high-calorie meal may just do the trick to give you a tiny boost to your metabolic rate so once you do go back to tracking your macros, you start burning up body fat that much faster.

If you use this level of commitment, there’s not much need for anxiety about dining out as you are essentially doing the exact same technics you’d otherwise be doing.

One more note – if you are days away from walking onstage at a contest, the choice is simple: don’t go out at all. At this point, there isn’t any room for error, so your best bet is to simply pass on dining out this time and look forward to treating yourself to a feast once the contest is over.

The Committed Approach

Next, you have the committed approach. This is for those who want to stay committed, want to ensure they see optimal results, but who want to refrain from bringing their food scales with them to the restaurant.

At this level of commitment, you need to do some background work. How many calories are in the dish you want to order? What are the macros?

Often now, restaurants will post this information on their website, so ahead of time, browse the menu online. What looks great and can fit in with your macros?

 

Figure out what you want to eat ahead of time and plan for those macros in your day. This is a rather simple way to make dining out work for you

Just keep in mind that at times, the published nutrition stats and what you actually get may be slightly different, so again, build in some wiggle room. If you’re serious about fat loss, it’s better to be slightly under the estimate than go over.

No Need To Stress

If the nutritional stats are not published online, you might ask your server for them when you are at the restaurant. If that’s still not available, then you’ll simply need to focus on ordering individual food items (again, the grilled chicken breast, the baked potato, the side of steamed vegetables, etc.) and estimate from there.

Ordering these types of items will make estimation smoother than if you were to order say lasagna or a slice of pizza.

Keep in mind that even at this stage, you may st  ill wish to focus on making modifications to your meal.

For instance, if you are ordering a grilled chicken Caesar salad, there’s nothing wrong with asking for light dressing or having it on the side.

Then just estimate your stats accordingly. While this will alter the published stats that you may have seen online, if it’s in the name of making the meal a better macro fit for your diet and you won’t feel that restricted by doing so, it’s a sound adjustment to make.

The basic healthy eating rules and guidelines for restaurant modifications can still apply (unless of course you are going for a cheat meal and want to eat something you’ve really been craving).

The Relaxed Approach

Finally, the last method we have is the relaxed approach. If you’re someone who just wants to go out and have a great time without worrying about nutritional stats or checking the menu online, that’s fine too.

If this is you, then simply cut yourself some slack. Know that if you are ‘on’ plan 90% of the time and 10% of the time you are indulging in foods that you crave without worrying about the nutritional stats, you can still see great results with the If It Fits Your Macros Approach.

It’s all about balance. Some people simply need those few times where they can cut loose and do what they want. For them, it helps them stick to the plan the rest of the time.

If you’re too relaxed with your diet due to its restrictive nature, have one of our coaches build your Macro Blueprint

If you know that’s you, dining out and eating whatever you want may actually do you more good than harm.

Secondly, if you are going to do this and go in eating whatever it is that you want, try your best to do it on a refeed day. If you’ve been low-calorie dieting for quite some time, there’s a real chance that your metabolic rate may be slightly sluggish.

A generous high-calorie meal may just do the trick to give you a tiny boost to your metabolic rate so once you do go back to tracking your macros, you start burning up body fat that much faster.

A well-timed refeed can be a great part of any clever diet plan and truly help you move along to the maximum level of success.

How To Best Utilize Tracking Macros While Eating Out

If you aren’t in need of a refeed (let’s say you did one a few days ago) but still want to go out and enjoy yourself, then you might consider instead, putting this meal immediately following your hardest workout of the week.

Try and hit the gym for an intense legs workout for instance before you go in with this mindset. This will at least help you shuttle the incoming calories and carbs to the muscle cells, prompting you to build some lean muscle mass rather than converting it to body fat stores.

So there you have the main levels of commitment to know about when it comes to dining out If It Fits Your Macros style. This fat loss method is one of the easiest ones to make work while dining out, so the excellent news is that you’re already ahead of the game compared to many of the other diet protocols out there.

With more and more restaurants also catering to those who are eating healthy and being willing to accommodate to modification requests, there should be no issue with forming a healthy meal for yourself using these guidelines.

Then it’s all about you determining just how committed you want to be in sticking with the plan. Remember there is no right or wrong method here, but rather, what works best for you.

Originally posted 2019-01-28 03:28:26.

Carbs at Night: Fat Loss Killer or Imaginary?

1. So where did this ‘no carbs at night’ thing come from?

There are quite a few things that everyone in the fitness industry KNOWS. You have to eat 8 meals per day, consume 400g+ protein per day, do fasted cardio, use heavy weights to bulk up, and light weights wit high reps to tone up… oh wait, those are all BROSCIENCE! Don’t get me wrong, bodybuilding and fitness have been on the cutting edge of many dietary and training interventions that mainstream science is only now catching up.

Unfortunately, the vetting process for many of these protocols isn’t exactly stringent. Thus, many things become accepted as fact, when in reality they are BROSCIENCE. The debate about whether or not it’s ok to have carbs at night has been all but settled in the fitness industry. You simply can’t consume a shred of carbohydrates at night or you will store fat faster than vampire rises after the sun sets! That is, according to many fitness ‘experts’ out there, most of whose credentials are worth about as much as a thin sheet of slightly used one ply toilet paper.

So Anthony Collova, owner of Broscience.com and IIFYM.com asked me to look into this fitness factoid to determine if eating carbs at night was actually detrimental to your body composition or if it was all bro-science.

In order to properly asses this fitness ‘fact’ we need to understand why limiting carbs at night is recommended in the first place. Most ‘experts’ who recommend limiting carbs at night do so because their assertion is since you will be going to sleep soon, your metabolism will slow down and those carbohydrates will have a greater chance at being stored as fat compared to if they were consumed earlier in the day where they would have a greater probability of being burned. Seems reasonable, but broscience always ‘sounds’ reasonable.

They also often assert that insulin sensitivity is reduced at night, shifting your carb storing directionality towards fat and away from muscle.

Let’s tackle the issue of metabolic rate slowing down at night time first. The logic behind this theory seems reasonable enough: you lie down in a bed and don’t really move, just sleep, so obviously you are burning less calories than if you are awake doing stuff, even if you are just sitting in a chair or couch resting, you have to burn more calories than just sleeping right? At first glance this seems to jive with work from Katoyose et al. which showed that energy expenditure decreased during the first half of sleep approximately 35% (1).

However, these researchers did show that during the latter half of sleep energy expenditure significantly increased associated with REM sleep.

So, there are rises and falls in sleeping metabolic rate (SMR), but what is the overall effect? Interestingly, at the very least it does not appear that the average overall energy expenditure during sleep is any different than resting metabolic rate (RMR) during the day (2, 3). Additionally, it appears that exercise increases sleeping metabolic rate significantly leading to greater fat oxidation during sleep (4).

This seems to be in line with data from Zhang et al. which demonstrated that obese individuals had sleeping metabolic rates lower than their resting metabolic rates, whereas lean individuals had sleeping metabolic rates significantly greater than their resting metabolic rate (3).

So unless you are obese, not only does your metabolism NOT slow down during sleep, it actually increases! The idea that you should avoid carbs at night because your metabolism slows down and you won’t ‘burn them off’ definitely doesn’t pass the litmus test.

2. So the whole ‘don’t eat carbs at night’ thing is definitely broscience right?

So far, the fear of carbs at night certainly smells like broscience, but before we render a verdict, let’s examine things further. There is also the issue of insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance to address. This is where things get interesting. Compared to morning meals, levels of blood glucose and blood insulin definitely remain elevated longer with evening meals (5, 6). Ah ha! There it is, proof, that you shouldn’t consume carbs at night right? Not so fast.

Though insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance appear to be worse at night compared to a morning meal, it is important to keep in mind that a morning meal is after an overnight fast and the fast may improve insulin sensitivity. Perhaps a more fair comparison is a mid day meal vs. a night time meal. In this case there is actually no difference in insulin sensitivity or glucose tolerance (5).

Therefore, it appears that insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance are not necessarily impaired and night, but rather are merely enhanced by an overnight fast.

3. Does any of this science mumbo jumbo actually make a difference?

While it is great to talk about mechanisms and nitpick every intricate detail about metabolism, at the end of the day, we have to examine whether or not any of this stuff makes any difference. Fortunately for us, a recent study published in the Journal of Obesity examined this very question (7). These researchers from Israel put people on a caloric-ally restricted diet for 6 months and split them into two groups, a control group and an experimental group.

Each group consumed the same amount of calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat but they distributed their carbohydrate intake very differently. One group (control) ate carbs throughout the day, whereas the experimental group consumed the majority of their carbohydrate intake (approximately 80% of the total) at the night. What they found after 6 months may shock you. Not only did the experimental group consuming the majority of their carbs at night lose significantly more weight and body fat than the control group, they also were better satiety and less hunger!

4. Whoa hold up… less hunger? I don’t buy it.

You heard me right, they were less hungry. Now I’m sure all of you that have been following typical fitness protocols where you eat 6 times per day and have most of your carbs earlier in the day are thinking “man if I went more than 2-3 hours without carbs I’d be starving!” Well my friends you are buying into a vicious cycle I’m afraid. Let me explain: when you eat small amount of carbs frequently you are basically titrating in glucose to your system.

To dispose of this glucose your body releases insulin to drive blood glucose into cells. Over-secretion of insulin however may cause hunger to rise (typically about 2-3 hours post meal, the approximate time course of an insulin response), but no problem, you are eating every 2-3 hours anyway right? Just titrate in some more glucose. Unfortunately this makes you crave and consume glucose like clockwork and tricks many people into thinking that they NEED carbs every 2-3 hours or they would be hungry when in fact the opposite is true.

If you ate carbs less frequently with further time between carb dosing, you would be less hungry because your own body would ramp up systems that deal with endogenous glucose production, and keep your blood glucose steady. When you consume carbs every 2-3 hours however this system of glucose production (gluconeogenesis) becomes chronically down regulated and you must rely on exogenous carb intake to maintain your blood glucose levels.

Now if you transition from eating carbs every 2-3 hours to further apart for the first few days you may be hungry until your body has adjusted to using Gluconeogenesis to maintain blood glucose rather than just eating carbs every 2-3 hours, but once you do adjust, you will find that you are far less hungry. Bringing things full circle, this is exactly what the researchers found! These subjects were hungrier in the first week of the diet compared to 90 and 180 days into the diet where they were much more satiated.

So what’s the explanation for the night time carb group losing more body fat and being more satiated than the control group (maybe we should call them the ‘bro’ group)? The researchers postulated that more favorable shifts in hormones may be the difference. The baseline insulin values in the experimental group eating the majority of carbs at night were significantly lower than those eating carbs during the day (7).

So much for carbs at night decreasing insulin sensitivity huh? Additionally, the experimental group had much higher levels of adiponectin, a hormone associated with increased insulin sensitivity and fat burning. They also had a trend for slightly higher leptin levels. Furthermore, the night time carb munchers had lower levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol and higher levels of HDL (good) Cholesterol.

Overall the people eating the majority of their carbs at night lost more body fat and had better markers of health by the end of the study than those who ate more of their carbs during the day time.

5. So what’s the verdict?

I am not ready to say that we should all be eating the majority of our carbs at night. I would like to see this study repeated but with a bolus amount of carbs eaten at one meal in the morning to properly compare it to the single high carb meal at night, whereas the previous study compared a bolus night time carb meal vs. several feedings of carbs throughout the day.

It may very well be that the beneficial effects of the diet in this study was more associated with limiting carb dosing (and insulin secretion) to a single bolus rather than spreading them throughout the day.

However, I think what can be said with relative certainly is the notion that consuming carbohydrates at night will lead to more fat gain, or impair fat loss compared to consuming them at other times of the day. So write it down “Don’t eat carbs at night bro” has officially been BUSTED as BROSCIENCE!

6. Literature Cited

– Katayose Y, Tasaki M, Ogata H, Nakata Y, Tokuyama K, Satoh M. Metabolic rate and fuel utilization during sleep assessed by whole-body indirect calorimetry. Metabolism. 2009 Jul;58(7):920-6.
– Seale JL, Conway JM. Relationship between overnight energy expenditure and BMR measured in a room-sized calorimeter. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1999 Feb;53(2):107-11.

– Zhang K, Sun M, Werner P, Kovera AJ, Albu J, Pi-Sunyer FX, Boozer CN. Sleeping metabolic rate in relation to body mass index and body composition. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2002 Mar;26(3):376-83.
– Mischler I, Vermorel M, Montaurier C, Mounier R, Pialoux V, Pequignot JM, Cottet-Emard JM, Coudert J, Fellmann N. Prolonged daytime exercise repeated over 4 days increases sleeping heart rate and metabolic rate. Can J Appl Physiol. 2003 Aug;28(4):616-29.

– Biston P, Van Cauter E, Ofek G, Linkowski P, Polonsky KS, Degaute JP. Diurnal variations in cardiovascular function and glucose regulation in normotensive humans. Hypertension. 1996 Nov;28(5):863-71.
– Van Cauter E, Shapiro ET, Tillil H, Polonsky KS. Circadian modulation of glucose and insulin responses to meals: Relationship to cortisol rhythm. Am J Physiol. 1992 Apr;262(4 Pt 1):E467-75.- Sofer S, Eliraz A, Kaplan S, Voet H, Fink G, Kima T, Madar Z. Greater weight loss and hormonal changes after 6 months diet with carbohydrates eaten mostly at dinner. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2011 Oct;19(10):2006-14.