Happy Fall, everyone!

I’ve gotten a couple questions about meal timing – whether or not it matters, and, if so, where it falls in the hierarchy of priorities. As with most things fitness and nutrition related, the answer is, “it depends.”  Rather than use this as a cop out answer, I’m going to break things down into a 2×2 grid. Most people are concerned either with fat loss, or muscle gain. And meal timing can be a tool for both goals. The question is, does meal timing help physiologically, psychologically, or both? Let’s dive in!

Fat Loss – Physiologically

From a physiological perspective, what matters most for fat loss is your daily caloric intake. There is no circumventing the physical laws of the universe, as much as I wish I could fly. The first law of thermodynamics always holds true – we must be in a caloric deficit to lose weight. Whether we accomplish this on a daily or weekly basis doesn’t matter. I know many athletes who practice carb cycling. This is a form of meal timing  in which they eat more carbs and total calories on their training days, and less on recovery days, shooting for a weekly caloric deficit.

Other people I’ve worked with prefer to keep their caloric intake the same each day, as it’s easier for them to manage logistically. They try to stay in a small caloric deficit each day, with the result being a sizable deficit week to week. When they eat during the day doesn’t matter; only the total caloric load does. So, from a physiological perspective, for fat loss, meal timing doesn’t matter.

Fat Loss – Psychologically

From a psychological perspective, meal timing CAN be an effective tool. I’m sure most of our readers are familiar with the practice of restricted feeding windows, which most people refer to as intermittent fasting. There is no real magic with IF; it simply lowers the number of hours during the day in which people allow themselves to eat. The net result? A caloric deficit. But this practice can be a useful tool for people to achieve the caloric deficit because they won’t allow themselves to eat outside of their window.

Some people prefer the opposite approach and eat many, smaller meals throughout the day. When you’re in a caloric deficit, you may experience some hunger pangs. When the pangs are overwhelming is when people struggle with compliance. Spacing meals out throughout the day can help combat this. So that’s another way we can use meal timing as a tool to help us psychologically.

Muscle Gain – Physiologically

If our goal is to gain muscle, once again, we need to focus on calories. AND we need to focus on adequate protein intake. When it comes to muscle mass in the body, we are always in one of two states. We’re either building muscle (muscle protein synthesis, or MPS), or we’re breaking it down (muscle catabolism). Eating protein, and specifically the amino acid leucine, triggers MPS. If we spend more time day to day in MPS than we do in catabolism, we gain muscle mass.

This is where meal timing can be effective. If we space our protein throughout the day, we can ensure we spend most of our time in MPS. Sleep is a restorative process, but it’s also highly catabolic. Having protein before bed, especially a slow digesting protein like casein, can keep us in MPS longer.

We can achieve muscle gain without worrying about meal timing, because again, it’s the net time spent in MPS vs. catabolism that matters. But we can optimize this balance and tilt things in our favor, and gain the most muscle possible, by incorporating meal timing, and specifically, protein timing, as we try to gain muscle.

Muscle gain – Psychologically

Again, we need to ensure we’re eating enough protein and calories in general if we want to gain muscle. For most people, a good goal is 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. This is more protein than most people are used to, and for many who have worked with us in our nutrition practice, it can be extremely daunting.

This is where meal timing can help. I once had a female nutrition client who needed 140 grams of protein. Before working with us, she was usually around 80-90 grams. The idea of adding another 50 grams seemed impossible. So, we broke the 140g into 4 meals throughout the day. Well, really 3 meals and a protein shake. This meant that she needed 35g of protein per meal. Most protein powders are around 20g per scoop, so 2 scoops got her 25% of the way to her goal.

For her other meals, she needed to make sure she had a protein source. While 35g of protein may still seem like a lot, it can be found in 4oz of chicken, 5oz of filet mignon, a can, and a half of tuna, etc. You get the idea – a pretty normal serving size of food.

Since protein can be both filling and sating, trying to shovel too much down your gullet too quickly can be uncomfortable. Breaking up daily requirements into smaller servings makes it much more manageable physically, and easier to tackle psychologically.

So, back to our original question: does meal timing matter? At the end of the day, if you’re not able to get into a regular routine with meals, the first priority is to control your caloric intake. If you can do this, you will make progress toward your goal, whether it’s fat loss or muscle gain. Calories are most important. If you are able to plan your life a bit more, and you make your own meals, meal timing can be a highly effective tool both physiologically and psychologically. So, use it when you can, but don’t sweat it if you can’t. See you in the gym.