One question that commonly comes up among those who are trying to learn how to build muscle, is whether they should eat carbohydrates in the late evening hours if this is when they have worked out.

While some people love morning workouts, others prefer to do it late at night, as a way to release the stress that's built up from their day. If this is your case, you may wonder how you should change your nutritional practices to deal with the fact that you are going to be exercising so late.

You already know that eating carbohydrates in your post-workout meal is essential for muscular recovery, but will this put a stop to your fat loss? After all, it's also widely thought that eating carbohydrates at night can lead to fat gain.

What are you to do?

EAT!

It's as simple as that. Whether your main goal is fat loss or muscle building, you need to be replenishing your muscular reserves after your workout. If you don't, not only are you not going to see as good of muscle growth and strength increases from that workout itself, but you will be less prepared when it comes to your next workout as well.

Talk about short-circuiting yourself of results. Don't make this mistake.

The truth is that your body doesn't say to itself, 'Oh no, it's 9pm and those are carbohydrates, I better turn those to body fat immediately!' No, it evaluates what its current need is at this time and then deals accordingly.

Since you would have just worked out, your body will sense that it desperately needs those carbohydrates for recovery and will direct them into the muscle tissue cells and away from the fat stores.

Of course do keep in mind that there are limits to this. How many carbs you need will depend upon your current body weight, the intensity and duration of your workout, and what your current goal is (muscle gain vs. fat loss). Needless to say though, carbohydrates should be consumed in the post-workout period.

The Rest Of The Day

Now, the next thing to factor into this equation is how your eating the rest of the day should change.

Since you are working out later in the evening and are more sedentary during the day (assuming you're a student or work a desk job), you will not need as many carbohydrates during this period. So, to compensate for this factor - eat less of them.

You want your daytime meals to consist of mainly proteins and fats to help keep blood sugar levels under control, with any carbohydrates you do eat, coming from slow digestion sources such as vegetables and whole grains.

Then, just before you workout give yourself a good dose of carbohydrates for energy for the workout, then follow this up with the post-workout meal we just discussed.

If you follow this protocol, you will get the best of both worlds. Not only will you ensure optimal recovery and muscle growth, but you will also not hinder any fat loss process that may be at place (assuming, of course, that you are also eating a hypocalorie diet).