Bodybuilders generally can be split into two different groups when it comes to eating just before going to bed. The first group is those bodybuilders who believe that your body does not use energy when it is sleeping so you need to only eat protein before bed to help speed up protein synthesis when you sleep.
The second group is those who believe just as strongly that eating late at night will only result in fat because the body does not need any energy (calories) to sleep. The American Dietetic Association have proven both of these groups wrong as they say the increase in any fat is because of a general increase in calories and they say it is not when you eat but how much you eat the whole day.
Our basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of calories we need to say alive even if we are asleep all day and night. It is just the maintenance amount of calories required to keep you alive and not to do any activity. Any additional calories that you take in will be used for any and all activity that you do during your day.
If you train with a high intensity then you will be increasing the speed of your metabolism and your BMR. If you add that to the extra calories required to perform protein synthesis and repair any muscle damage then every calorie ingested that is over and above that figure will be stored as fat.
It seems that the argument that bodybuilders have been having about whether to eat late at night or not is a mute point, as it does not matter when you eat your food as it is measured as the total ingested over 24 hours. The argument about not having too many carbs late at night because of how it will affect your sugar levels is different to the argument bodybuilders are having.
It is recommended by anyone with a pre-diabetic condition to avoid having any refined sugar late at night because of the reactive hypoglycemia one can get with the pancreas pumping out too much insulin to cope with the refined sugar. This may add some credence to the group of bodybuilders who insist on only protein late at night.
