Does Meal Timing Matter? - Menno Henselmans, Stronger by Science/Danny Lennon & Roberts et al

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great_depression

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The Anabolic Window​


First, let's get rid of the myth of the "Anabolic Window".

Article - Menno Henselmans

What is the Anabolic Window?

There are many studies that show workout nutrition increases protein balance and muscle gains from training. Many studies expose the benefits of post- and pre-workout nutrition and many studies even show that there is an ”˜anabolic window’: a time period around the training session in which consuming protein has extra effect.

Formulated otherwise, the anabolic window theory posits that protein intake in close temporal proximity to training sessions results in more growth than consuming the same amount of protein at other points during the day. The theory is that the training session somehow primes the body for nutrient partitioning to muscle instead of fat.

Conclusion:

The anabolic window is a myth that is easy to fall for due to all the studies that seemingly support its existence. However, a closer look at the methodologies employed in these studies reveals that they do not support the use of workout nutrition at all. They just support the consumption of protein in general.

There is no such thing as a minuscule window around your training sessions where you have to consume protein or lose out on your gains.

But Does Meal Timing Matter at All?​


Although there isn't an "Anabolic Window", there are in fact some benefits to meal timing. Just not the "Eat this asap after your workout or you won't grow" type of significance.

Nutritional Recommendations for Physique Athletes [Roberts et al., 2020]

By: Brandon M Roberts, Eric R Helms, Eric T Trexler, Peter J Fitschen

Discussion Thread So you can see what other users in the sub had to say about it.

Even spread of protein servings over the course of the day is theorized to maximize the 24 hour MPS area under the curve (Atherton et al., 2010).

However, the first protein dosing strategy to appear in the literature was consuming protein shortly following resistance training. This strategy was proposed to improve the efficiency of skeletal muscle repair and remodeling as peak MPS rates are higher when protein is consumed in the post-training period (Tipton et al., 1999); however, a “threshold” leucine dose must be consumed for this to occur (Rieu et al., 2006). Researchers examined around-workout protein boluses in multiple investigations to determine the dose needed to maximize MPS.
Click to expand...

Recommendations:
  • Post-workout protein should start at 20g, plateauing occurred after 40g when doing legs only, but 40g had a greater effect on MPS following a full body workout compared to 20g.
  • 6 meals a day (or frequent leveled amounts of protein) maximizes MPS over a 24 hour period, but be consistent when you eat.
  • Pre-bed protein is better than none, but has little effect vs people who eat a high amount of protein through the day (likely 1.6kg + as it's the minimal really recorded through the study).
In other words, to maximize MPS, space your protein out across 6 meals.

Keep in mind that the benefits are in the context of physique athletes as said in the paper. The goal of the review was to provide an extensive guide for male and female physique athletes in the contest preparation and recovery period.

So while it does have an effect, most don't need to be concerned.

What About Non Competitors?​


Here is a handy chart from Alan Aragon:

Meal Frequency and Body Composition Chart

Article - Menno Henselmans

Tl;dr:
  • If you eat 3 meals a day and pay careful attention to the distribution of your daily protein intake and food quality, you can probably stimulate maximum muscle growth. What matters most is that your body has elevated levels of amino acids in the blood when it needs them for muscle growth, not how many meals you consume per se.
  • If you do not pay attention to your protein distribution or food quality, then consuming 4+ meals a day is the safer course of action. Any benefits of going from 3 or even 2 meals to 4 meals a day will likely be small compared to the effects of total macronutrient intake, however, so for adherence reasons, consuming fewer, bigger meals might be worth it for some people regardless.

Keeping Meal Timing Basic​


A Nutrient Timing Guide To Maximize Fat Loss and Muscle Growth - Andy Morgan
  • Avoid any extremes. Nutrient timing is about doing nothing stupid, first and foremost.
  • Eat 2–3 meals when cutting, 3–4 meals when bulking.
  • Spread your meals evenly across the day.
  • Spread your macros evenly across the day.
  • Feel free to skip breakfast if you prefer to do so and find it easier, but don’t expect different results.
  • Feel free to use calorie cycling, macro cycling, and refeeds if you feel doing so will help you adhere. But don’t expect noticeably different results.
  • If you’re a physique competitor, a slightly higher meal frequency may be to your advantage, so consider it unless it will throw off your adherence.
  • If you are a physique competitor, consider calorie and macro cycling unless it will throw off your adherence.

Non-Muscle Related Benefits of Meal Timing​


There are other ways meal-timing can have an effect aside from just the context of muscle.

Chrononutrition - Danny Lennon - Stronger By Science

Danny's Credentials

Discussion thread So you can see what other users in the sub had to say about this article.

A sizable amount of research is mounting to suggest that there are very real and important implications for when we eat. In this article, we will explore the intersection of circadian biology and diet (termed “chrononutrition”) and offer some heuristics and guidance for practical application.
Click to expand...

TL;DR
  1. Circadian biology plays a fundamental role in human health.
  2. Research has shown that nutrient ingestion can impact our “body clocks” in peripheral tissues around the body, suggesting that when we eat our meals can have implications for health via influencing circadian rhythms.
  3. In addition, it has been hypothesized that having a restricted feeding window (time-restricted feeding) can have beneficial impacts on body composition and health, likely via circadian effects at least in some part.
  4. A related hypothesis suggests that the distribution of calories over the day (majority eaten early vs. late) can also have health impacts.
  5. My personal interpretation of the current literature available leads me to tentatively conclude that, in general, the following heuristics would be beneficial for many people to follow: 1) avoid eating during biological night, 2) avoid meals, particularly those high in fat and/or carbohydrates, close to DLMO (or say, at least ~2-3 hours pre-sleep), 3) bias more calories to earlier in the day (i.e. don’t eat a high proportion of your daily calories in the late evening), 4) have consistent meal times and meal frequency from day-to-day, 5) have some restricted feeding window (start with
 
@great_depression Personally, I like eating big meals and it fits my schedule. I eat a big breakfast of around 50-60g of protein around 11-12am. Another big pre-workout meal around 4pm with 50-60g of protein again and a large dinner around 9am with another 50-60g of protein.

I weigh around 185lbs so I try to eat 160-200g of protein.

It mostly comes down to what fits your daily schedule and getting adequate protein, calories and micronutrients, IMO.
 
@christianbikerg I find that frontloading calories with a big breakfast makes me more energetic throughout the day and more likely to burn more calories. Why do I want a bolus of energy right before bed?
 
@christianbikerg You can do what works for you

Maybe this method prevents you to becoming hungry frequently or you have a demanding physical job

But in reality there is so much the body can do to shuttle that much protein, so much work the insulin can do, so much extraction of nutrient the body can perform
 
@dawn16 Most of the wiki will be kept simple but provide resources where the reader can read in-depth on the topic. However, for controversial topics like this one, this is what it'll look like.

That's not to say that this topic is really all that controversial because it isn't. Really you could just say "99% of people reading this should eat 3-4 meals a day" (because this is in the context of bodybuilding goals, not general fitness) and "4-6 if you compete" and that would be it.

However, topics like this one where you often have people (mostly beginners-novices) hearing multiple different things can lead them to not be confident in the recommendations they're given and have many questions about the nuances of it.

So I think in this case, providing both a long and short answer backed by multiple sources should allow them to be more confident in their knowledge of the topic and clear up the nuances.
 
@redwolf6 As a side note, making posts like this is a great idea. So when there's a topic in the wiki that may appear to have some controversy surrounding it, or that dispels some persistent myth, you just copy-paste it as a post and add a link to that discussion into the wiki section.
 
@great_depression yet when I posted multiple sources from Jorn Trommelen and Alan Aragon stating that spreading protein over 4 evenly spaced meals, with each meal containing at least 40g was considered "most optimal" a bunch of clowns in here try to shit on my chest
 
@great_depression Wow way to over complicate the eating process... 4-5 meals. 6 is too many. Most of us aren’t going to be Olympian’s. Stay within your calories and get a decent amount of protein and vegetables. Timing doesn’t mean shit. If it’s 5am or 10pm and you still need to get to your caloric intake just eat.

Only time you need restrictions is if it comes from a doctor for medical reasons.
 
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