Is it okay to go to bed hungry?

00mid

I know that when I wake up I'll have a substantial breakfast.

diannethegeek

It's entirely personal preference. Some people don't sleep well if they're hungry. Some people don't sleep well with food in their stomach. It shouldn't impact your weight loss either way, so choose whichever way is best for you personally.

MarilynMadness

I think it's up to you. I can't eat before bed or else I don't sleep well. For some reason I sleep better when I'm a bit hungry (I know, sounds weird). But if you sleep better on a full stomach, I say go ahead. YMMV.

techgal128

MarilynMadness wrote: »

I think it's up to you. I can't eat before bed or else I don't sleep well. For some reason I sleep better when I'm a bit hungry (I know, sounds weird). But if you sleep bettwe on a full stomach, I say go ahead. YMMV.

I'm opposite. I can't sleep if I go to bed hungry. But really the only reason to avoid eating before bed is if you have issues with GERD or heartburn. Or in this case, you sleep better.

callsitlikeiseeit

you have to do what works best for you.

does eating a larger breakfast make you go over your calories for the day?

How do you sleep 'hungry' as compared to 'full'

i sleep MUCH better with something on my stomach, but thats me.

lemurcat12

If you can sleep, sure.

CrabNebula

90% of the time I go to bed hungry. Being tired always wins over being hungry for me.

It has never made a difference as far as weight loss is concerned, for me anyway.

Asher_Ethan

I have to have something in my stomach in order to sleep. I try to go to bed hungry and I will toss and turn until 3am and that's when I give in and eat. If you can sleep hungry do it!

LAWoman72

I don't go to sleep starving to death with every inch of my body screaming for food, but a little bit hungry? That does happen and I don't mind it. I know I may be weird, but it feels natural to me, because I know I've already eaten what I needed to for the day, and now that's all done and my stomach is emptying (presumably - I know different foods take a different amount of time to leave the stomach). So...isn't it supposed to feel empty? Again, just how I see it; nobody else has to feel this way.

If I'm REALLY hungry, then I'll have a little something. I often have a few calories left over in my day anyway so I can generally do this. Going actually over my calories is more rare for me and I figure if that happens only once in a blue moon, it's not really going to make or break things (for me, anyway).

ETA: One more thing, and again, this is just me...but being afraid to "feel hungry" is what started my journey toward fatness to begin with. I had been chunky as a pre-teen, cut out the snacking and got down to a slim weight, but when I was in my early 20s I bought into "Stop the Insanity!" with Susan Powter and became positively terrified of my stomach ever rumbling, or ever "thinking" I "just needed" something even if I'd already eaten. ZOMG, metabolism about to come to a grinding halt and yadda yadda. I'd gain a few pounds that way, panic, then go way under what was reasonable ( ~800 cals/day), figuring I'd have to go down that far in order to override my "metabolism downshift" that I would surely create by eating less than was reasonable, lose the pounds, be starving (feeling...I wasn't about to die) and then eat in a frightened panic once again so as not to let myself get hungry. Lather, rinse, repeat.

RBfittest

Yes its fine.

Brige2269

If it's after 9pm and I get hungry, I just go to bed so I won't know I'm hungry. I can usually fall asleep pretty quick, so I don't feel that I'm hungry.

beccam83

It might affect you in that you might resent being hungry, if that makes sense??

The best diets don't feel like diets, but lifestyles, so if you feel consciously like your body is being neglected something it might make you not happy with the diet/weightloss.

shannonbun

If you're like super hungry and you feel like you're punishing your body by not eating, I'd say eat something small. Getting into a habit of thinking "go to bed hungry, wake up thinner" is very dangerous. Not saying that's where you are, but I know it's a road a lot of people can head down without realizing what they're doing. I'm a college student, so I usually eat dinner at like 7 or 8, then stay up until 1am. At like 11, if I'm hungry, I usually do a tablespoon or 2 of peanut butter or even a packet of instant oatmeal. Less than 200 calories (oatmeal's 130-160, depending on brand) either way, I know I'll feel better and keep my mindset better if I eat something small.

bainsworth1a

You have to do what works for you

I had a problem when I first started MFP I didn't go to bed hungry but I woke up in the middle of the night hungry and I would sometimes eat and go back to bed. I didn't like that. Now I try to save a snack to have after dinner but not right before going to bed.

orlandodenise

For breakfast I have two gingernut biscuits and a coffee with half fat Carbation milk. Same for bed time - always - I put these in my MPF in the Morning and the rest of my days calories are adjusted accordingly

LoupGarouTFTs

I have a small bedtime snack so that I can take my metformin at night (it upsets my stomach, otherwise). It's not enough to fill me up, but enough to take the edge off any hunger I might have. If you feel comfortable waking up and having a "substantial breakfast," that's great. If I go to bed too hungry, I wake up with the feeling that a breakfast that uses up all my daily calories won't fill me up. As everyone else has said--if it works for you, that's great. And, as others have said, it will not make a bit of difference to your weight loss if you go to bed hungry or not. Just pay attention to what your body is telling you is right for you.

atypicalsmith

I eat an early dinner (aka supper) and then around an hour before going to bed, eat some pistachios, or a Greek yogurt, or something else light. Otherwise, I'll have trouble sleeping. There's always a glass was warm skim milk! (Ugh!)

Roxiegirl2008

I think it is a personal preference. If I go to be hungry I swear I will dream about food all night long. Then I wake myself up thinking about how much longer until I eat. HA

kindrabbit

I'm hungry right now. I have 42 calories left for the day. I'm going to have a 40 calorie hot chocolate and go to bed.

ryanp_942

Improper feeding time is generally bad for you, especially if you are trying to lose weight (look up night eating syndrome). Appetite, digestion, nutrient absorption, insulin secretion and liver enzyme activity are controlled by your body clock.

Your hormone levels are rhythmic due input from the body clock - as a result cortisol, insulin, leptin etc. naturally peak at certain times of the day/night and eating too late disrupts this. This can lead to pathologies associated with metabolic syndrome, for example diabetes and obesity.

gabrielleelliott90

Eat when you are hungry. If your stomach is rumbling, eat. I eat when I am hungry because I don't want to ignore my body, and it's annoying going to sleep with a rumbling stomach. Not able to sleep with a rumbling stomach.

LoupGarouTFTs

ryanp_942 wrote: »

Improper feeding time is generally bad for you, especially if you are trying to lose weight (look up night eating syndrome). Appetite, digestion, nutrient absorption, insulin secretion and liver enzyme activity are controlled by your body clock.

Your hormone levels are rhythmic due input from the body clock - as a result cortisol, insulin, leptin etc. naturally peak at certain times of the day/night and eating too late disrupts this. This can lead to pathologies associated with metabolic syndrome, for example diabetes and obesity.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating at any time of day, as long as you meet your macros and stay under your calorie limit. I've lost 58 pounds over the last year having a bedtime snack of varying size and nutritional components every single night.

TimothyFish

Sure. Just don't throw any beans out the window before you do.

ryanp_942

LoupGarouTFTs wrote: »

There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating at any time of day, as long as you meet your macros and stay under your calorie limit. I've lost 58 pounds over the last year having a bedtime snack of varying size and nutritional components every single night.

With respect, I was speaking generally from scientific studies across large numbers of people. There is an established link between night time eating and weight gain; that is not to say a late snack will absolutely cause you to gain weight, you are simply more likely to, partly due to disrupting hormone levels. Congratulations on losing 58 pounds.

Wiseandcurious

ryanp_942 wrote: »

LoupGarouTFTs wrote: »

There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating at any time of day, as long as you meet your macros and stay under your calorie limit. I've lost 58 pounds over the last year having a bedtime snack of varying size and nutritional components every single night.

With respect, I was speaking generally from scientific studies across large numbers of people. There is an established link between night time eating and weight gain; that is not to say a late snack will absolutely cause you to gain weight, you are simply more likely to, partly due to disrupting hormone levels. Congratulations on losing 58 pounds.

If you don't mind, could you post any links to the studies you refer to? There is a world of diference between correlation and causality, so I am curious to read more about this link that has been established and see if there is any evidence that it might be a causal link.

ryanp_942

Wiseandcurious wrote: »

If you don't mind, could you post any links to the studies you refer to? There is a world of diference between correlation and causality, so I am curious to read more about this link that has been established and see if there is any evidence that it might be a causal link.

Hopefully the link works (quite a lot of technical language for a non-scientist but the disease section is fairly easy to grasp) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016561471300165X#

If not, it should be easy enough to find on google by searching "How to fix a broken clock" by Schroeder and Colwell, 2013. I'd also recommend http://jbr.sagepub.com/content/26/5/423

Unfortunately many scientific journals have access fees so it may not be possible for you to read this particular review for free beyond the abstract. Some key words to look up if this is the case are 'circadian rhythm + metabolism'

Francl27

I go to bed hungry a lot... because I'm too hungry in the morning and typically end up having a light dinner. But I find it easier to resist hunger at night than during the day.

ndj1979

no, this is horrible. You go into double starvation mode and lose all your progress. Please do not do this….

maxit

The question really is, what is causing the hunger? If there has been excessive calorie deprivation then eat.

Alluminati

You might die of hunger.

ndj1979

I heard that the tooth fairy does not come if you go to bed hungry …..