Hello I've been eating healthy and working out 5X a week, but for some reason I always get hungry at night. I don't want to kill my calorie intake for the day. What should I eat?
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If I'm drinking a protein shake after I workout, I won't bulk up because I'm a female? If someone could clarify that, that'd be great Thanks!
You might want to save 100-150 calories for just before bedtime so you can eat something high in protein, which sticks with you far longer and satisfies better than carbs or fats. My wife makes low-fat burritos that run about 250 calories apiece, so I might eat 1/2 of one for a snack, and it's hours before I'm really hungry again. Or you could do something like make some stir-fry squash and zucchini, which has almost no calories, so you can eat a lot of it, which will fill your stomach and decrease the rumbling.
I'm not sure what you mean by "bulk up." Do you mean get overly muscular? That only comes with lots of weight training, and for women this only enhances one's physique - it won't make you look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. You won't get freakishly muscular unless you take steroids or spend every waking minute lifting heavy weights. Do you mean put on too much weight? That only happens if your calorie input exceeds your output. I think a protein shake after a workout is great, since it gives your body the protein it needs to rebuild the muscles you just worked; otherwise, you're just flogging your muscles to death. As long as you monitor your calorie intake to accommodate the shake, you should be alright.