FAQs
1. WHAT TIMES OF THE DAY SHOULD YOU EAT YOUR MEALS?
Everybody’s schedule is a little different, so obviously there’s no way for us to give exact times of the day that you should be eating each meal. But, there is a simple guideline to follow. Upon waking up for the day, we recommend having your first meal within the first hour that you’re awake. After that, we recommend eating every 3 hours until you’ve had all your meals for the day. This will allow optimal nutrient absorption and keep you full all day. If you cannot eat every 3 hours, try to eat no less than every 4 hours.
2. IF YOU WORKOUT IN THE MORNING, SHOULD YOU EAT BEFORE OR AFTER?
If you’re someone who rolls out of bed and the first thing on your agenda is working out, the decision of eating before or after is going to come down to whatever is the most enjoyable for you and the most convenient for your schedule. Meaning, if you do not get good workouts on an empty stomach and need to eat something, have a small meal or snack right after waking up to fuel your body. But, let’s say you feel a little sick when you eat before, or if you just don’t eat for convenience reasons, have your first meal of the day right after you finish your workout.
3. DO YOU NEED TO EAT BREAKFAST?
Breakfast is the meal that sets the tone for the day. Physically and mentally. Physically, it helps regulate your blood sugar, kicks up your metabolism and provides your body energy to continue burning fat and recover from recent workouts. Mentally, it helps fine tune your brain to make good decisions the rest of the day. If you start your day with a healthy meal, that will more than likely, translate into making healthy choices for the next meal and carry on all day. We recommend eating within an hour upon waking.
4. WHAT IF YOU’RE STILL HUNGRY AFTER EATING AT NIGHT?
More often than not, if you’re feeling hungry even after eating, there’s a few things that could actually be happening and a few fixes. First, your food probably hasn’t digested fully yet. Give your body 30 minutes after eating to let you know that it’s full. Second, you could be dehydrated. Dehydration is one of the most common causes of feelings of hunger. So the next time this happens, drink 8-12 oz of water and wait about 15 minutes to see if it helped. So what if neither of these things work, especially if you’re going to bed hungry? Eat some vegetables or nuts. Yes, all vegetables and all nuts are high in fiber so they will give your body a feeling of fullness by slowing your digestion. But eat in moderation. Don’t pig out because it will raise your calorie count significantly.
5. WHEN SHOULD YOU RECALCULATE YOUR CALORIES?
Generally, you don’t need to change anything unless you stop making progress. But if you do stop making progress, it may be time for a “refeed” day, which is a day of eating whatever you want. This will boost your metabolism and get you back to making progress again. If you start feeling fatigued and light-headed throughout the day from your diet, you may be underfeeding yourself and may need to bump up to the next Daily Calorie Target.
6. SHOULD YOU EAT BEFORE A WORKOUT?
When it comes to eating before a workout, the most important thing to do, is whatever works best for you. With that being said, there are a couple general guidelines to go by:
-
If it’s a big meal, try give your body at least 2-3 hours to digest before exercising. If you eat a lot right before a workout, it is too much of a strain on your body to digest a big meal and exercise at the same time and could result in a poor session.
-
If it’s a small meal or a snack, 1 hour is enough time to let it digest before exercising.
-
If it’s neither of those, a small 50-100 calorie snack would be ideal to fuel you up just long enough for a good workout.
7. DO YOU NEED TO DRINK PROTEIN SHAKES? IF SO, WHEN?
You do not need protein shakes, no. But protein shakes make staying on your diet just a little easier for convenience sakes. While it’s always better to eat real food due to the quality of nutrients being higher than in supplement powders, protein shakes are a quick and easy way to get nutrients in your body when you do not have time to cook or are not prepared with a meal ahead of time.The best times to have proteins shakes are post-workout and whenever you aren’t able to eat a meal.
8. CAN YOU DRINK COFFEE?
Yes. Coffee has many benefits to it, including stimulating your metabolism, increasing your mental clarity, giving you energy, suppressing your appetite, etc. Just be sure not to drink too much at once as the caffeine could make you jittery. Be smart and make good choices with amounts of coffee drank throughout the day.
9. WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU’RE CRAVING SWEETS?
When you get cravings throughout the week, we recommend you write every single one of them down on a notepad. Then once a week, start having one big cheat meal with every food on your list from that week. This will not only reassure you mentally that you do, indeed, still get to eat the foods you love.. But will also act as a “refeed meal”, temporarily boosting your metabolism from the additional calories.