Oats before bed?

Been trying to find out whether oats before bed is a good idea or not. keep finding a lot of contradicting info on this. my main aim is to put on lean mass, with as little fat as possible.

heard that if you need to make up more calories, then oats before bed with a protein shake are a good idea as the oats are relatively low GI and also make the protein more slow-releasing. I've been told that the idea of not taking in carbs after a certain time is wrong as you'd then be going the rest of the evening, then the whole night without carbs which works out at about half a day without carbs, useless for those wanting to put on lean mass.

can anyone help me out on this? cheers

It's an individual thing mate.

If 'making up calories' is an issue I would fist look at increasing the size of your breakfast and meals around training though.

Registered Nutritionist
NSCA Strength & Conditioning Coach

Depends what your goals are, if your on a bulk then no probs, but if your cutting or wanna lose a bit of weight then i wouldnt recommend oats before bed, maybe quark or cottage cheese i prefer pre bed.

AGE: 21     
HEIGHT: 6FT 1"
WEIGHT: 10ST 2LB

STATUS: ON A LEAN CLEAN BULK!!!

to be honest its less for making up calories, and more because i was told that oats were a good thing before bed as it helps with feeding muscles and low GI means it wont end up being stored as fat.

johno - dont bother then :)
If feeding muscle were the aim then a protein source would be the choice.
frankly - I think for an awful lot of people, eating just before bed is a bit of a waste of time because the difference it makes is neglible at their level of development

Les Willis
Nutrition Consultant
Healthy Action

I used to think I knew what busy was - now I am too busy to think about it!

ok cheers for the advice!