Front-loading vs Backloading Calories

Backloading calories to the later part of the day has been made popular by John Keifer’s Carb Back-Loading, Martin Berkhan’s LeanGains, Greg O’Gallager’s Kinobody protocol and I’m sure tons of others on the internet. Heck, I even backloaded calories for years myself. Basically, you fast or eat light during the earlier part of the day and then get a workout in and eat most of your calories in the latter part of the day.

I think these programs are popular because socially most people eat larger dinners and also love dessert. So under these protocols, you can get away with a larger dinner and dessert and manage to get lean (and jacked). I too spent many years backloading my calories. Wake up with coffee, walk around, not eat till lunch. Eat a light lunch. Workout before dinner, huge dinner, with another bed-time snack or dessert. It definitely worked for getting lean, however, is it really the best way to do things? Here are the advantages of eating more earlier vs later:

Why eating more earlier is better: Studies show that the thermic effect of food is higher in the morning than at dinner time(1). Meaning, if you eat the same exact number of calories, but shift more of those calories to the morning, you’ll lose weight a little bit faster as our bodies heat up more from breakfast then they do from dinner. The internal furnace burns a little hotter in the morning than at night.

Further, you also have to consider nutrient partitioning. During the day time, we are usually more active than at night. So by shifting more calories to the “active phase” we are more likely to burn fat and build muscle. Said differently, eating more at night and less during the day can lead to more stored body fat(2). So this means once again, in an equal calorie scenario you will hold more muscle (and less body fat) due to better partitioning (what you eat is more likely to build strong muscles, instead of body fat during the day, especially if you are active outside in the sun). It just makes logical sense that most people will be more active when the sun is up, and less active when the sun is down.

Why backloading may work better for some: Socially our largest meal is usually dinner so most people usually find this style of eating to be more fun. Skip breakfast, no problem! Light lunch, no problem! Eat light for dinner, and we have a problem! Most people I meet want to eat a bigger dinner with their family or friends at night. Even though this style of eating is less thermic and not as good for body composition (under equal caloric intake), you can’t deny that it can be a fun social way of eating and that means a lot to people.

Although eating earlier is more thermic and has better nutrient partitioning, it can’t overcome huge differences in energy intake. Let’s say, for whatever reason, eating earlier makes you over-eat for the day in total. Some people NEED to only eat one or two large meals a day to control caloric intake. So even though you are eating in a sub-optimal way(in terms of the thermic effect of food), you make up for it by eating way less for the day in total.

My take on it is this..

If you are going to eat about the same amount of food and can shift more of that food to earlier on, you will lose more body fat, and hold more muscle.

If you really struggle with overeating and live for big social dinners, you still can get lean and jacked, it will just take more work and time. Your diet isn’t as thermic and your nutrient partitioning isn’t as good. However, since you are eating only twice a day (even though it’s later on), it really helps you eat ALOT less, so it doesn’t matter a ton that you’re losing out on some of the thermic effects of food. Further, maybe you’re not really into maximizing muscle, so to you holding a little less muscle and backloading calories isn’t a big deal. You also could really help out this partitioning problem by working out really hard before your largest meal, dinner. That would be my biggest tip for those of you who will never give up this style of eating.

So do you.

Under equal caloric intake, eating more earlier wins (it’s more thermic and better nutrient partitioning).

However, later eating has social advantages and some people can only eat less when they only eat in a set window later on in the day. Maybe some people need to eat a light lunch and a big dinner to lose weight. If it works, it works.

You really see how both approaches could work and it comes down to personal preference and goals.

Want to maximize body composition ?- try to shift more of your calories to earlier on without being too restrictive. Workout hard in the morning, eat a big breakfast. Workout again at lunchtime, eat a big lunch. Do a light night walk and eat a lighter dinner and if you do snack before bed, make it small and mostly protein.

Trying to lose weight, but want large social dinners and don’t care a ton about maximizing strength or muscle? skip breakfast, eat a light lunch and have a bigger dinner (ideally after a hard workout).

I’ll also go ahead and say BOTH approaches beat out the standard American lifestyle by a long shot. Anything will beat out overeating all day long, zero minutes of intense exercise and very little spontaneous movement. So if backloading makes you eat less and gets you to WORKOUT before dinner, it will yield great comparative results. If you want to take it a step further, consider front-loading a bit (as long as it doesn’t make you overeat).

Do you front load, back load or just eat evenly throughout the day? What is the most sustainable and enjoyable for you?

John

References:

(1) Richter, Juliane, et al. "Twice as High Diet-Induced Thermogenesis After Breakfast vs Dinner On High-Calorie as Well as Low-Calorie Meals." The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 105.3 (2020): dgz311.

(2) Kelly, Kevin Parsons, et al. "Eating breakfast and avoiding late-evening snacking sustains lipid oxidation." PLOS Biology 18.2 (2020): e3000622.