purposely going catabolic?

So I have been doing some thinking…

I have been cutting for the past month. I usually eat every 2 hours or so.. never more than 3 hours without food except when I sleep.

But I have been thinking, don’t you think it would make sense to have fewer meals throughout the day so your body would turn to fat stores? I am especially talking about before bedtime…

I typically eat some cottage cheese and peanut butter before bedtime… if instead I ate my last meal at 8:00 then had breakfast again at 7:00, don’t you think that would be better than eating my last meal at 12:00? You would have more time at catabolic where your body would be eating itself… and isn’t this what we want?

Maybe just take some amino acid caps before bed instead of a 400 calorie slow digesting anabolic meal?

Thoughts?
 
My thoughts are that this is the worst idea I've ever heard. :p The only possible difference that it can make is to cannibalize some muscle, decrease your recovery capacity, and teach your body to store more fat: Even if you do burn a little more fat while you're sleeping, if your overall intake remains the same, that just means you're burning more at night and then storing more during the day. This causes you to adapt your body for fat storage, not fat shedding.

Ever heard of something called "aerobics instructor syndrome"? That'd be you, to a lesser extent. (See: fatty.)

Keep your body fed regularly, and it doesn't hoard energy, or cannibalize. Stick with just eating less calories overall than you were before, like you did today. :)
 
You wont go catabolic unless you aren't eating enough. You can be eating 1-2 huge meals a day and still not go into a catabolic state.
 
You wont go catabolic unless you aren't eating enough. You can be eating 1-2 huge meals a day and still not go into a catabolic state.

Yes you will go into a catabolic state, assuming you mean they'll be more catabolism than anabolism metabolic reactions happening.

OP, you're thinking of catabolism as an off/on switch, and this is far from reality. The best way to lose fat is spread out overtime. It's more simple than you think. Think about it, would you lose more muscle if you tried to lose 10lbs of fat in 2 weeks or 10? 2. If you tried to lose 10lbs of fat in 10weeks you'd go into a slight deficit over an extended period of time.
 
Yes you will go into a catabolic state, assuming you mean they'll be more catabolism than anabolism metabolic reactions happening.

OP, you're thinking of catabolism as an off/on switch, and this is far from reality. The best way to lose fat is spread out overtime. It's more simple than you think. Think about it, would you lose more muscle if you tried to lose 10lbs of fat in 2 weeks or 10? 2. If you tried to lose 10lbs of fat in 10weeks you'd go into a slight deficit over an extended period of time.

How can you can into a catabolic state even eating 2 big meals and not go into a catabolic state eating 5 small meals when the calorie total is the same?

Your body learns to adapt to how much food it gets at certain times and learns to faciliate the energy from the food effectively.

I don't buy what your saying Mreik.
 
How can you can into a catabolic state even eating 2 big meals and not go into a catabolic state eating 5 small meals when the calorie total is the same?

Yes you will go into a catabolic state, assuming you mean they'll be more catabolism than anabolism metabolic reactions happening.

Have to agree on the semantics before you can have something to argue about. :)
 
dude, your opinions totally change based on whatever you feel like doing. You decided you like a giant breakfast and read around a little and convinced yourself it makes no difference.

Dude. Don't call me dude. I know my better body and my energy levels better than you.

Thanks. My opinion is based off experience and how my body reacts to different things I do.
 
It might work great for you. I'm not saying that. But you're arguing about something you don't even know about. Just because your doing fine doesn't mean that your body isn't achieving more catabolic procedures than anabolic ones.

Well, then prove me wrong and change my opinion.
 
Yes you will go into a catabolic state, assuming you mean they'll be more catabolism than anabolism metabolic reactions happening.

OP, you're thinking of catabolism as an off/on switch, and this is far from reality. The best way to lose fat is spread out overtime. It's more simple than you think. Think about it, would you lose more muscle if you tried to lose 10lbs of fat in 2 weeks or 10? 2. If you tried to lose 10lbs of fat in 10weeks you'd go into a slight deficit over an extended period of time.

Thanks Mreik, I will just do what I am doing. What you are saying makes sense.

It just seems like my body will adapt to whatever calories I give it and never use fat if I keep feeding it so often... unless I start doing cardio or something.. :eek:
 
Ignorance is bliss isn't it?

I'm just asking, what difference does it make whether you feed your body every 3 hours or every 8 hours? How could you be any more anabolic, or any more catabolic if you are taking in the same amount of calories and macros?

Does the body not learn how to adapt and learn how to use those 2-3 "big meals" efficiently to keep from going catabolic knowing it wont get fed for another 8 hours ?

All I am looking for is a rational explanation.
 
Thanks Mreik, I will just do what I am doing. What you are saying makes sense.

It just seems like my body will adapt to whatever calories I give it and never use fat if I keep feeding it so often... unless I start doing cardio or something.. :eek:

I used to despise cardio like yourself. But let me tell you if you can stay lean without it, you'll look amazing with it. 1hr @ 65%MHR (which for me is walking at the steepest incline) works wonders.
 
I'm just asking, what difference does it make whether you feed your body every 3 hours or every 8 hours? How could you be any more anabolic, or any more catabolic if you are taking in the same amount of calories and macros?

Does the body not learn how to adapt and learn how to use those 2-3 "big meals" efficiently to keep from going catabolic knowing it wont get fed for another 8 hours ?

All I am looking for is a rational explanation.

Do you think you just have an everlasting store of digestive enzymes that will fully utilize 2000calories all at once? Or could you possibly fathom the idea that a constant stream of protein (=constantly high N balance for muscle synthesis), carbs (=steady insulin), and fat (=ready to produce hormones) could be the better option.
 
Do you think you just have an everlasting store of digestive enzymes that will fully utilize 2000calories all at once? Or could you possibly fathom the idea that a constant stream of protein (=constantly high N balance for muscle synthesis), carbs (=steady insulin), and fat (=ready to produce hormones) could be the better option.

Do we have a everlasting store of digestive enzymes?

So if it can't utilize all those calories at once, what happens to the other calories?
 
We have stores, but it takes time to make more. Meaning they won't all be properly utilized (this is still a theory), on top of that if your body doesn't need the calories guess what it will do with them? Store them.
 
We have stores, but it takes time to make more. Meaning they won't all be properly utilized (this is still a theory), on top of that if your body doesn't need the calories guess what it will do with them? Store them.

Are you saying that a person who eats the same calorie intake, but eats 3 meals a day instead of 5-6 meals a day will gain fat while the other doesn't?

Even if the body does store those extra calories, wont it adapt knowing that its going need to use those calories it stored later on in the day?
 
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