Tip Eat Fat Before Going to Bed Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Diet & Fat LossEating Tip Eat Fat Before Going to Bed What you eat before bed makes a big difference in losing body fat Here' s how to handle your carb and fat intake at night by Clay Hyght, DC August 5, 2016November 10, 2021 Tags Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Tips What you eat in the two hours prior to bedtime has an enormous impact on your physique, especially when it comes to fat loss. Here's the rule: Eat for what you re about to do Most of us aren't going to move around much during the two hours before hitting the sack. For that reason, we don't need to eat a traditional bodybuilding meal at that time. Instead, we need to eat for what we're about to do: not move very much. More specifically, your carbohydrate needs are dramatically diminished when you're sleeping. Remember, carbs fuel high-intensity exercise like weight training and sprinting, and there's no such thing as "high-intensity sleeping." Fat, on the other hand, becomes the primary fuel source as the intensity of exercise goes down. In fact, when you're sleeping you're burning almost exclusively fat for fuel. Therefore, feeding your body carbs prior to bed dramatically increases the chance that the carbs are stored as opposed to being burned. And if carbs aren't burned, they're either stored as glycogen or as fat. What If I Lift at Night If you happen to have weight-trained (cardio doesn't count) in the last three or four hours prior to going to bed, then there's very little chance that the carbs you eat at this time will be converted to fat. That's because glycogen stores are low and will hog all the carbs, leaving none needing to be converted to fat. But for those of us who don't train within three or four hours before bed, we should minimize carbs in our pre-bed meal if the main goal is fat loss. (Don't be afraid of low-starch veggies at this time though.) The Fat Factor As for pre-bed fat intake, I stand by the rule of "have fat when you don't have carbs." However, cut your normal portion of fat in half, so for the last meal of the day, limit yourself to 10 or 15 grams of fat. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Eating What Nobody Gets About Vitamin D Take all the vitamin D you want, but it's not going to do a damn thing unless you have sufficient levels of this hard-to-get mineral. Nutrition & Supplements, Super Health TC Luoma August 11 Diet & Fat Loss 12 Overlooked Foods You Should Be Eating What's one overlooked food that all lifters and fitness fanatics should be eating? We ask 12 of our experts. Their answers will surprise you. Diet Strategy, Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Protein, Vitamin D T Nation January 13 Eating Strong Jaw Lean Body Fix your face, help out your gut, decrease your appetite, and get shredded. Here's how. Feeding the Ideal Body, Nutrition & Supplements Arianna Hoffman October 15 Eating This Stuff is Rocket Fuel for the Mind & Body Boost mood and motivation. Increase performance. Heighten concentration. Supercharge the mind-muscle connection Nutrition & Supplements, Workout Nutrition TC Luoma November 29