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Ask Shannon: Fitness and Nutrition Q&A

Posted April 14, 2008 at 03:00 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Her Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Weight Control, Workout Fuel

With years of training under her belt, resident fitness and nutrition expert Shannon Clark is ready to help you on your way to a healthy, informed lifestyle. Got a question? her your inquiries, and be sure to check back every week for the latest Q&A.

Q: I typically do my workouts during the evening and have heard that it’s important to consume carbohydrates during the post-workout period.  I’m trying to lose weight, however, and am worried that consuming these carbohydrates will cause any weight loss that would have happened to be negated.  Do I have to sacrifice one over the other? What’s the best solution here? Help!

A: Thanks for writing in! Again, this is a terrific question because so many people are working out in the evenings, but are conflicted since they typically hear the rule they should not be eating past a certain time (6 pm is the usual standard).

The first thing you must consider is: Does your body stop running just because the clock says it’s midnight? Nope. Sorry, it keeps on going. Sure, you may be a little less active, but your metabolism is still hard at work, repairing your body’s tissues after all the stress you placed on it during the day.

So, as you can just see from this, depriving your body of food when it needs it during the evening hours is not a smart move.

Now, to compound this effect you are exercising! When you exercise, you are actually breaking down your muscle tissues. If they are not built back up, you will be weaker during your workout. It is during this rest period that the body will assimilate the amino acids you consumed (from protein) using the energy from carbohydrates and dietary fats consumed to rebuild this muscle tissue and make it stronger.

Again, depriving yourself of the carbohydrates during this time, leaves less energy for it to use the amino acids you are feeding it (hopefully you are at least eating some protein during this time!). If you are looking to optimize performance, you must include those carbs.

Now, that said, if you overdo it, most definitely - it will stop weight loss.

The thing for you to do in this situation is to reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat (and therefore your total calories consumed) during the earlier portion of the day. This will ‘leave room’ for these additional calories during your post-workout evening portion of the day.

By doing so, you are giving your body the energy it needs, when it needs it. Just because you are eating these calories at night does not mean it will turn to fat.  It would turn to fat during the day too if you consumed excess. Your body does not run by the clock on the wall and knows no different.

The real reason why it’s often recommended to stop eating carbs after a certain time at night is because if you look at the types of carbs that are consumed, you can see why this could lead to weight gain. Popcorn, candy, ice cream, chips, crackers, granola bars, and so on; all are very easy to overeat in, thus leading to more total calories. It’s not the carbs, in particular, that cause you to gain weight, it’s that they cause you to eat more than you need and these calories make the scale number increase.

To sum up, yes, it is possible to have both. Be sure to allow for these additional calories after your workout by making your earlier meals (aside from the one right before the workout – you need energy for your workout, after all) more protein- and fat-based.

Not only should your physical performance improve by doing so, but you might even find the process of weight loss gets easier!

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Tags: calories, carbohydrates, clark, diet, evening workouts, healthy weight loss, late night eating, myths, post-workout meals, timing, weight loss

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