Nutrient Timing for Optimizing Fat Loss

Nutrient timing is a valuable eating technique to assist you in your fat loss goals. The theory is that by eating certain foods or macronutrients in various quantities at particular times, you can maximize your fat loss. By putting your body in a better hormonal and metabolic state, you give yourself the best chance of being able to release fatty acids.

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How to Time Your Meals

Everyone’s diet is unique to their own body. The principles stay the same, but the quantities will change based on size and activity levels. I am going to outline a typical 5 meal/day approach to nutrient timing. So let’s look at our mealtimes:

9am

12pm

3pm

6pm

9pm

Five evenly spaced meals, eating every 3 hours. I prefer to work out first thing in the morning for many reasons, but the most important thing when it comes to picking a time, is that you make sure you work out, and do it consistently.

Let’s start with the first meal right after our workout. This is by far the most important meal of the day. Your muscles are exhausted and depleted of fuel, and need the necessary food to start rebuilding. Your insulin sensitivity is at its highest after a workout, so our first meal of the day is an opportune time to ingest our largest portion of carbohydrates for the day.

Protein is the 2nd macronutrient that your muscles are starving for after your workout. Your muscles need protein to start the rebuilding process.

I like to try to get in .8- 1 times my lean body weight in protein a day, split evenly between my meals. A 170lb person with 150lbs of lean body weight would then get (1 x 150 = 150 grams of protein). Divide that by the number of meals (150 / 5 meals = about 30 grams of protein per meal).

I like to have a homemade protein shake immediately after my workout. It usually consists of protein (milk, greek yogurt, etc), a frozen banana,  some oatmeal, a handful of spinach, some ground flaxseed, and lemon-flavored fish oil.

Many hardcore dieters will argue against fruit post workout due to its fructose content, and while their arguments might have some validity to them when you’re trying to get to ultra low body fats, in the end, the most important thing is to get in your nutrients and eat good whole foods. You want a good nutrient dense diet, and loading up your shake with high GI processed sugars works against that goal.

I also add a tablespoon of cod liver oil to get in my daily intake of essential fatty acids (EFAs). This meal/shake is packed with vitamins, nutrients, minerals, protein, fiber, and EFAs. It will give your body everything it needs to start the rebuilding process.

If you do your workout first thing in the morning, I recommend that you start to taper your carbohydrate intake down during the next few meals. Remember, eat those carbs while your insulin sensitivity is at its highest. So, let’s look at those meals again and see what our macronutrient breakdown will look like.

TIME      FAT    CARB    PROTEIN        CALORIES

9am        13       60               30                 447

12pm       5        40               30                 325

3pm         9        30               30                 321

6pm         13       20               30                317

9pm        15        10                30                295

TOTAL     54      160           150               1705

Nutrient Timing Principles

As you can see, as the carbohydrates taper off into the evening, I start replacing the calories with fat – healthy fats. Your diet may need more carbohydrates or less depending on your workout intensity, but the idea of tapering off your carbohydrates throughout the day remains the same.

The numbers don’t have to be exact. Just be mindful that you’re tapering off throughout the day. To summarize the principles:

• Time your carbohydrate intake around your workout. This is when your insulin sensitivity is at its highest.
• Taper off your carbohydrates as the day progresses. Your insulin sensitivity is lowered as each meal containing carbohydrates is eaten.
• Little to no carbohydrates in your final meal of the day. Your liver glycogen stores should be full enough from the prior carbohydrate meals to fuel brain and nervous system function without having to break down protein through gluconeogenesis.
• As your carbohydrate intake is tapered off through the day, start replacing calories with healthy fats. Sources include nuts, seeds, avocado, natural fats from meat, eggs, dairy, flax oil, fish oil, etc.
• Taper off your calories throughout the day also. The majority of your calories should be eaten around your workout.

Give nutrient timing a try if you find your progress has stalled. You may just find that putting your body into an optimal fat burning environment is just what you need to get your fat loss going again.

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All about nutrient timing

Does when you eat really matter?

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You’ve learned about what to eat to meet your health and body composition goals. But what about when you eat it? 

What is nutrient timing?

Nutrient timing is a planned alteration of macronutrient intake in order to promote health, workout performance, and get/stay lean.

Nutrient timing strategies are based on how the body handles different types of food at different times. One of the most important nutrient timing principles is that it’s best to eat most non-fruit and veggie carbohydrates during and after exercise.

Many factors influence energy balance, with the laws of thermodynamics being the most important determinants of weight gain and weight loss. Yes, this means how much we eat is priority #1 when changing body composition.

But the key here is “body composition.” If we’re losing equal amounts of fat and muscle when losing weight or gaining equal amounts of fat and muscle when gaining weight, we’re not taking advantage of nutrient timing.

Nutrient timing has several important goals:

• Nutrient partitioning (where the nutrients go when you ingest them)
• Improved health
• Improved body composition
• Improved athletic performance
• Enhanced workout recovery

Why is nutrient timing so important?

When you exercise regularly, the body is primed for fat gain or fat loss just as it’s primed for muscle gain or muscle loss during specific times of the day.  The wrong foods at the wrong times sabotage your efforts in the gym. The right foods at the right times enhance those efforts.

Once we account for energy balance, timing nutrient intake can up-regulate metabolism, shift hormonal profile, and alter body composition.

Manipulating nutrient intake can also help someone take advantage of certain anabolic hormones, namely insulin.

Insulin

Insulin regulates nutrient entry into muscle cells. If insulin is seldom elevated, the muscle growth related benefits won’t occur. If you plan a higher carbohydrate intake at times when your body is better equipped to handle it, insulin will be under your control, and the body will function better.

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Carbohydrate use

The body handles various types of carbohydrates differently. Generally, carbohydrates that are digested and absorbed slowly can help to control insulin response. These are carbohydrates that are higher in fibre and lower in simple sugars, such as beans/legumes and vegetables.

In contrast, a diet consisting of added sugars and refined carbohydrates (which enter the body rapidly), can elevate blood triglyceride levels and bad cholesterol, and lead to insulin resistance.

The raw materials we give our body through the consumption of food/supplements create the metabolic environment we desire.

What you should know

Regardless of goals and activity, protein and fat intake stay fairly constant. Make sure, as per PN habits, that you consume an appropriately sized portion of lean protein and good fats with every meal. The macronutrient we manipulate most commonly in nutrient timing is carbohydrate.

Carbohydrate tolerance and timing

The body can better handle carbohydrates during and after physical activity, as well as when levels of fitness are high and body fat levels are lower (15% or less for men and 20% or less for women).

Therefore, higher-carb situations include some combination of:

• relatively intense physical activity (such as heavy resistance training or sprinting)
• relatively frequent physical activity (daily workouts, physically active job, lots of daily-life activity such as walking)
• a high level of physical fitness
• a lower level of body fat

Conversely, lower-carb situations include some combination of:

• sedentary or nonactive periods
• lower levels of physical fitness
• higher levels of body fat

Regardless of your body fat and fitness, consuming carbohydrate during this important postworkout period enables us to replace muscle glycogen and improve recovery. Like a sponge, we draw in all that tasty glycogen much more readily immediately after training.

When to consume carbs

After exercise, keep the recovery process moving by controlling carb intake and consuming plenty of protein rich foods.

Dense carb foods are best consumed during and after exercise, for up to about 3 hours. And remember, carbohydrates have a protein sparing effect, so we require less dietary protein when carb intake is higher.

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Before you break out your sun watch and start meticulously timing carb gram intake, the window here depends on many factors, including:

• Intensity of exercise
• Previously fasted/fed
• Body composition
• Medications
• Underlying health conditions
• Sleep schedule
• Length of exercise
• Type of exercise
• Food selection
• Time of day

With so many factors, it’s hard to say exactly how long carb tolerance stays high after exercise.  For most folks, though, assume that carb tolerance is best for approximately 3 hours after exercise.  If you sleep 8 hours per night, then factor in this 3 hour post-workout window, you’re left with about 13 hours of “non sponge-like carb tolerance” living, or 2 to 4 meals.

During the “non sponge-like” period, it’s important to adapt your food intake to what you tolerate.  If you are lean and maintaining your current body composition, you’ll likely do fine with some dense carb foods mixed in (25% of your meal or so). If you have fat to lose, focus more on proteins and fats (with dense carb foods making up less than 25% of your meal).

Types of carbs

To put this in perspective, consider the three main types of carb foods:

1. Fiber-rich carbs

This includes vegetables, fruits and legumes. These foods are absorbed slowly because of their high fiber content and will thus help control blood sugar and hunger. These foods are loaded with nutrients, promote health and are “calorie-dilute”.

Having these foods at the base of your “food pyramid” is a great idea. Eat them anytime.

2. Starchy carbs

Quinoa, amaranth, sprouted grain breads, potatoes, yams, acorn squash, oats, sprouted grain pasta, cereals, and similar foods are very dense sources of carbs. They are a bit lower in nutrients than the fiber-rich carb foods.

These types of starchy carbs are best consumed after exercise. During this time, your muscles are like a big sponge and will use the carbs efficiently. Consume these starchy carbs during the 3 hours or so after exercise.

Remember, energy balance is still important: Keep portion size moderate. Generally a serving is about the size of your fist. That’s a good place to start.

Note: Outside of the 3 hour post-workout window, having a 1/4 cup of sweet potato or wild rice for dinner isn’t going to be a huge carb load for the body to deal with.  If you can meet your compliance goals and keep good eating habits with small amounts of starchy carbs, then go ahead.

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But be aware: the slope can get slippery. 1/4 cup can turn into a big bowl with added butter, which might mean overeating and no fat loss 3 weeks later. Use a strategy that works for you.

3. Refined sugary carbs

If you want to know what foods fall under this category, just follow around most American youth. The majority of these foods are empty calories and don’t do much for health.

Still, eating them during and immediately after exercise may give your body a quick energy boost and accelerate recovery.

Even then, consider the big picture: what is the food going to do for your health? What other substances are in it?

You could take advantage of refined sugary carb foods by using nutrient dense sources like dates, raisins, figs and nutrition bars.  Don’t assume that because you exercised, you can eat as many refined sugary foods as you want.

Eat sugary carbs rarely, and only after exercise.

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