Get lean for tri: Does it matter what time of day you eat?

When it comes to losing weight and getting lean, your number one priority should be ensuring you’re in a calorie deficit, i.e. you burn more calories than you consume. This is the most important factor when trying to lose weight; if this isn’t achieved, other factors matter little.

While meal timing is currently a topic of debate, the existing evidence suggests no one meal timing strategy is better for weight loss.

However, when you’re restricting calories (to lose weight) as well as training, I’d recommend ingesting the majority of your calories before, during and after training to help fuel and recover from the workout.

This means that more calories are being used as energy and to replenish and repair muscles than being stored as fat.

Another important factor is the balance of protein, fat and carbs, with current evidence suggesting higher protein intakes of 2.0 to 2.2g per kilo body weight per day can help promote higher quality weight loss by supporting the preservation of muscle tissue, meaning more weight is lost from fat rather than muscle.

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• How to reach your optimal bodyweight for triathlon
• Triathletes and eating disorders: what’s the link?

Stephen Smith Performance nutritionist

About

Stephen Smith (PhD, SENr) is performance nutritionist for Red Bull Athlete Performance Centre in Salzburg and tutor at the Institute of Performance Nutrition. He believes in a food first, evidence-informed approach to maximising the health and performance of athletes. He's passionate about providing relevant, easy-to-understand educational support to turn the science into applicable nutrition practice that improves health and performance. He's also committed to developing quality sports science and nutrition research that informs practice and ultimately improves the performance of athletes.