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I am starting an exercise regimen in combination of counting calories to get back to my ideal weight. I am focusing more on cardiovascular exercises to shed the weight. It basically consists of taking in 1500 net calories, in which I run/exercise off the additional calories I consume in a day.

I have heard that eating cottage cheese and almonds (or other nuts) within 1 hour of going to bed gives you the right amount of protein/monounsaturated fats so your body does not go into 'fasting mode' while you sleep. However I'm wondering if this would be beneficial to someone who is doing mostly cardio without much weight training.

Are these 400 some calories before bedtime going to work against me? Are there benefits of eating this before bedtime, other than making sure you don't consume the muscle protein while you sleep?

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I think that is the benefit, although it's primarily the casein (a slowly-digested protein) that's beneficial. IMO any nut would do if you were interested in the additional calories or a small amount of fiber.

If you're eating enough food during the day you're not likely to become overly-catabolic during the night. The type of training doesn't have a huge impact on your body's nighttime caloric needs.

400 calories worth? That's almost a quarter of your daily calories, which already seems low. Assuming you weigh 150-175, you'd need 1500-2000 calories just to maintain weight, assuming low activity levels.

I don't know your specifics, but 1500 cals/day plus an amount of cardio sounds like a bit much.

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  • My net is 1500 after cardio. Im 6'0" and 215. My goal is 2 lbs per week so it doesnt take 10 months to shed the 45 lbs I want to shed. I'm finding that 1500 is achievable if I consume 2000 and work off about 500, however consuming only 1500 seems to be a bit of a mental challenge so I usually end up at or slightly over 2000 on my off days. This will put me at around a compromising 1.5lbs/week which is enough for me.. as long as I don't blow it with the nuts and curds.
    – Tyler
    Nov 15, 2011 at 5:53

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