Does eating carbohydrates at night make you fat?

There are many myths surrounding the worlds of bodybuilding and nutrition. Here's one I've been meaning to address for a long time: eat carbohydrates in the evening would make you fat. This is a widely held belief among exercisers, so much so that some forbid themselves to eat foods containing sugars after 6 p.m. to avoid the risk of weight gain. weight gain. Let's find out what's really going on.

What are carbohydrates?

Along with proteins and lipids, carbohydrates are part of the large family of nutrients. macronutrients.

Their role is to supply energy to the body in the form of calories. Once consumed, carbohydrates are converted into glucose. Glycemic index (GI) measures the ability of foods to raise blood sugar levels more or less rapidly.

If you eat too many high-GI foods, your body will produce insulin to regulate the presence of sugar. Instead of using it for energy, your body will transform the surplus into body fat.

There are two main categories of carbohydrates:

• The simple carbohydratesfound in powdered sugar, fruit, sweet drinks and industrial cakes.
• The complex carbohydratesThey can be found in white or wholemeal bread, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice and legumes.

Unlike simple carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates are made up of larger molecules. They promote feeling of fullness and can therefore help you curb snacking cravings.

Can you eat carbohydrates in the evening?

Let's get to the heart of the matter!

No, eating carbohydrates in the evening doesn't make you fat. At least, no more than if you ate them in the morning or at lunchtime.

Your organization doesn't care what time of day you feed it carbohydrates. Of course, I'm not telling you to eat a huge plate of pasta before going to bed, as this could cause problems for your body. digestion. But there's absolutely no need to banish them at dinner.

To illustrate this point, I'd like to share a little personal anecdote with you.

During my first bodybuilding In 2005, I didn't yet have the knowledge of nutrition that I have today. To prepare myself, I blindly trusted my coach at the time.

The latter forbade me to eat carbohydrates in the evening after 6 p.m. ! Worse still, the closer I got to the end of my dry run, the earlier he brought forward the time at which carbohydrates were banned. First 16 hours, then 12 hours, and finally a complete ban when he saw I was stagnating.

In fact, I was no longer making progress, as my metabolism had fallen dramatically.

Why? Quite simply because my carbohydrate and calorie intake had been drastically reduced for too long. This had inevitably caused my metabolism to freeze. Without even mentioning the psychological consequences, everything fat loss had become impossible.

Of course, you may not be a bodybuilder. But when it comes to losing fat, the same principles apply.

And if you're physically active in the evening, it's even essential to eat carbohydrate-rich foods. after training. After a muscle-building session, the body absolutely needs these carbohydrates to recover properly and replenish glycogen stores. It's a good time to eat carbohydrates without fear of storing fat.

Where does the myth that carbohydrates make you fat come from?

As we have seen, consuming carbohydrates provides energy and leads to the insulin secretion by the pancreas. To regulate blood sugar levels, this hormone sometimes stores the excess in the form of fat.

In the evening, your body needs less energy than during the day. Some people therefore felt that the carbohydrates they consumed would inevitably be converted into energy. body fat. In reality, this is not the case.

A study published in 2011 studied the subject, comparing two groups of individuals who had been obese for several months. All had exactly the same food program. The only difference was that one of the two groups consumed more carbohydrates in the evening. It was this group that achieved the best results in terms of weight and fat loss.

Overall, a low-carb (or even no-carb) diet can be very effective. bad for your health. This is the case, for example, of the ketogenic diet. The latter aims to drastically reduce carbohydrates in the diet. But it has been created to meet the specific needs of people suffering from epilepsy or certain cancers.

How can I lose weight?

Losing weight has nothing to do with whether or not you eat carbohydrates in the evening.

It simply depends on your caloric intake.

In concrete terms, every human being expends a specific quantity of calories every day. If we consume more calories than we burn, we gain weight. This is known as caloric surplus. In the opposite case, we're talking about a caloric deficit.

To stay in good health, we obviously need to pay close attention to the quality of the food we eat and to our macronutrient intake.

To find out your calorie and macro requirements in just a few seconds, you can use the free calculator available on my website.

To reach your goal, I recommend using the flexible diet. After 22 years of practice and more than 25 competitions to my credit, I can assure you that this method is the most effective. With it, you won't feel any frustration, which will limit the risk of giving up and the eating disorders.

In fact, you'll find plenty of recipes in my e-book.

In any case, if you don't exceed your daily calorie quota, you won't gain weight, even if you eat carbohydrates in the evening.

Conclusion

As you now know, there's no point in preparing carbohydrate-free meals in the evening. Your body doesn't care what time of day you eat them. All you need to do is adopt a balanced diet and consume the right amount of carbohydrates each day to meet your caloric needs. It's up to you to distribute them throughout the day, as you see fit.

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