Nocturnal Metabolic Phase




Skipping breakfast is good for you because of autophagy. Autophagy is triggered by a lack of energy in cells. That stimulates cells to use garbage for energy instead.
A lack of energy is evoked by intermittent fasting, or skipping breakfast.

The energy that you are missing out in the morning, needs to be compensated for in the afternoon and/or evening, to prevent weightloss (including loss of muscle volume).
Thus there will be a shift in energy intake; energy not consumed in the morning, will be consumed in addition to your normal energy intake during the afternoon and evening. This will result in more energy abundance in the evening, which will create a 'metabolic phase' (as opposed to the 'catabolic phase' in the morning). During a metabolic phase, cells are repaired and replaced, and, in response to exercise, muscle volume is expanded. A strong metabolic phase stimulates muscle growth.
Most muscle growth is achieved during the night, as one particular purpose of sleep is the repair, replacement and expansion of cells, including muscle cells. By shifting your energy intake towards the night, you are stimulating muscle growth during sleep.

Isn't a heavy meal bad for your night rest?
If that food contains a lot of fiber, or other hard to digest molecules, yes.
If that food is easily digested, low in fiber, high in energy and low in anti-nutrients, no.
The latter will actually improve your sleep, as it will provide more serotonin (->melatonin) to the brain. Many people wake up in the middle of the night solely due to a lack of readily available energy. Just think about how easy it is to doze off after a big meal.
So, no beans, pasta or veggies late at night, but easy to digest foods high in energy, such as juices, creamcake, chocolate etc., within 2 hours after exercise.

Cant i just take carbs right before exercise?
Glycogen repletion is essential to muscle growth/maintenance. Depending on how well trained you are, you may store 300 to 700 grams of glycogen in your muscles (100 to 120 grams in your liver). One gram of glycogen is stored in muscle with 3 to 5 g of water. Thats how you grow your muscles.
Postexercise carb intake is the most important determinant of muscle (and liver) glycogen synthesis, with the highest rates of resynthesis when large amounts of carbs are consumed soon after the completion of the exercise bout. Several factors contribute to the enhanced synthesis rates during the first 2 h after exercise.JA Hawley et al The time course of transcriptional activation for many exercise-induced genes occurs during the first few hours of recovery (DJ Mahoney et al) which is predominantly linked to glycogen restoration. EA Richter et al Full Free Article

How much carbs do i need?
Initial guidelines recommended 1 g/kg body mass of carbs every 2 hours, but more recent studies (Gonzalez, Piehl Aulin, van Hall, van Loon) show 30 to 50% higher rates of glycogen synthesis over the first 4 h of recovery with larger carb intakes, consumed as repeated small feedings.JA Hawley et al
During the first 4 hours after exhaustive exercise, there is a threefold difference in the net rate of proglycogen synthesis between the high-carb and low-carb conditions. Between trials, the net rate of macroglycogen synthesis was fivefold greater during the high carb trial. Glycogen supercompensation is due to increased synthesis of macroglycogen.KB Adamo et al

Is glucose better than fructose?
Traditionally, it was thought that glucose is superior over fructose for glycogen repletion. Yes, if you mix protein and fat meals with sugars, more liver-glycogen will be repleted when that sugar is only glucose vs only fructose, but repletion of muscle glycogen does not differ. R Rosset et al
Short-term recovery of endurance capacity is better with fructose + maltose vs glucose + maltose. E Maunder et al
When sucrose and glucose are compared, this results in similar muscle glycogen concentrations (140 vs 136 mmol/L). Sucrose yields more liver-glycogen than glucose alone. (87 g vs 54 g) CJ Fuchs et al
Furthermore, glucose plus fructose ingestion alleviates gastrointestinal distress when the ingestion rate approaches or exceeds the capacity for intestinal glucose absorption. JT Gonzalez et al