late night munchie advice needed. I’m 41 years old, 5’9″/160lbs and have been working towards a ‘lean look’. I’ve got good definition overall but I want to work on the blob around my belly button and remaining love handles. I bike to work 4x/week total about 60 miles. I also play bike polo which is a pretty intense game lasting a couple of hours at least per session (4x/week) which adds another 60 or 70 miles.
When I get home from polo I’m completely wiped out. It’s usually around 10-10:30 pm and at that point I’m STARVING. I’ve read that it’s not a good idea to eat much after 8pm or so if you’re going to bed near 11-12pm. But what usually ends up happening is I pig out on carbs or junk food (pasta, cereal, ice cream– crap basically)
I do eat a healthy dinner around 5pm before I go to polo, but it’s on the smaller side since I’m about to go work out. I Usually have a pretty big lunch around noon, mostly ‘big salad’ with chicken breast.
So the question- what do people do when they get home from a later night (like after 9pm) workout? Protein shake? Clif bar? I have a really hard time with 10:30-11 pm munchy attack. What should I do to combat this?
Distinguish LN eating and snacking. If your schedule pushes your evening meal time late, so be it.
The invective against late night snacking is just that: mindless eating, usually of high-carb, high-fat (and often salted & sugared) foods which encourage overeating.
The belly fat is mostly genetic (it’s where you’ll hold excess fat), but is also indicative of hyperinsulima (excess insulin) — basically the result of eating too many carbs, and stress (cortisol tends to foster abdominal weight gain). And there’s another exercise trick in the bag.
Post-workout you should be having a shake of roughly 2:1 to 4:1 carb:protein ratio. At your weight, if you’re eating 5-6x daily, shoot for about 32g protein (so 64-128g carb) in that shake. Protein intake is around 1g per pound bodyweight. I’ll do a protein bar in a pinch, but prefer real food.
You give a lot of cardio activity, but nothing about strength training. As you hit your 40s, you’re starting to see significant muscle loss (about 0.5#/yr). This is something which can be stopped/reversed if you engage in strength training 2-3x weekly. It’s done absolute wonders for me.
Another plus to strength training: it burns serious amounts of fat, triggers beneficial hormonal releases (HGH and testosterone especially), which aid in cutting body fat. Bone strength and a host of other benefits also result.
wow!. great info.
I’d always kind of kept away from strength training because I never wanted to get ‘big’. I do sit-ups, push-ups and pull/chin ups- usually post commute while still warm. But not as any kind of structured work out, which to be honest I’ve never been successful at. I’ve mostly gotten my exercise from mountain biking and in the last few years commuting and bike polo.
hey thanks again for the tips. much appreciated!
the most fun on a bike I’ve ever had.
Well, I got bigger …. … but not hyuge. Enough that most people notice (my ex certainly did).
Started lifting a little over 3 years ago. 6’2″, 265#, 38 y.o. male. I’ve been a swimmer, cyclist, hiker, and rower over the years. Bigger guy, in general. Was up to 30%+ body fat.
Dropped 50# body fat, gained 12# of muscle, over the next 9 months, ramping up cardio and doing weights (machines at that point).
For the past year I’ve been doing freeweights, a 5×5 / 3×5 program since June, 2009. Total lean mass gain over 3 years now is about 30#, but I’m actively training and eating for it. Most of it’s gone to legs, glutes, and back, which works well for my main current activity (rowing/sculling).
If you’re looking for a good place to start, Stronglifts 5×5 is a program based on squat, deadlift, OH press, bench press, BB row, pull-up, dips/push-ups, and some core/abs work. Simple but very effective for building strength with a moderate amount of bulk (strength training — 3-6 rep range, tends to keep bulking to a minimum, though you will get bigger, I notice most in my lats and thighs). If you’re going to do this, study the technique guides and videos, and start with light weights. The key is in the progression — 5# per workout for most lifts.
Before lifting I was pretty much just a cardio junkie. Solo century rides, hiking, lap swimming, etc. Now it’s weights + rowing and other stuff (bikes need an upgrade, though I’ve still got ‘em).
losing 50# of blub!. is totally awesome. congrats.
Thanks. And that was confirmed by hydrstatic (“dunk tank”) body fat testing.
Current estimate (eyeball) is about 12% BF at 250#. Funny thing is I’m only 15# below my fat weight, but my waist size is down at least 5 inches (was 40″ – 42″, now 35″). The tough part living in SF is finding non-skinny jeans that actually account for having legs.
From your pics, body fat isn’t much of an issue at all. Your biking will benefit from leg and back strength though.
yep.. yea, I’ve always been on the lean side. I just want to get rid of those little knobs that don’t seem to want to go away. I attributed them to my late night feasts. 1/2 a box of cereal!?! gotta stop that.
No, the really tough part of living in SF is how many amazing restaurants we have. Burritos! I’ve eaten thousands since moving here in 1989.
when you find out let me know I just go to bed… thats probably one of the reasons I wake up with a headache…
Do you like hard boiled eggs?. Protein is what you need after exercise and you can get full with fewer calories that way.
I don’t quite agree with the time of day issue on when you eat. If I am starving and it is late at night, I know I am not going to sleep well if I don’t have a bite or two of something. I think where people get into trouble is when they do late night binges. But a six ounce cup of nonfat yogurt or a hard boiled egg or even a hot chocolate is not that big a deal. Low fat ricotta cheese is another thing you can eat half a cup of and feel pretty full on pretty few calories.