Eating after seven??

callsitlikeiseeit

it makes no difference in regards to weight.

cwolfman13

shauna7531 wrote: »

I have been told that you should not eat after seven. Does this really matter as long as you don't go over your assigned calories?? What is your experience with this?

Logically, why would it matter. If you need XXXX calories per day, then you need XXXX calories per day regardless of timing.

The whole don't eat after X time or don't eat carbs or whatever after Y time are just "rules" people use to control calories. For example, I don't usually have starches or grains with my dinner when I'm cutting weight...there's nothing special about it other than I'm not logging and use methods/rules like this to control my calories coming in.

I eat dinner most every night at around 8:30 PM...sometimes I'm not even through my front door at 7.

NadNight

The only thing I've found is that if I start eating after 9 at night I tend to over-eat and just hit the sweet stuff, so I usually have my dessert around 8 ish and don't eat after that unless I get back from a workout late and am very hungry

leggup

Option A- 1,500 cals all at lunch time
Option B- 1,500 cals all at 8 pm
Option C- 500 cals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, adding to 1,500 cals.
Option D- 600 cals for lunch, 700 cals for dinner, 200 cals for late evening snack adding to 1,500 cals.

Which will help you lose more weight? Depends, which are you more likely to stick to? If you have a set number of calories to play with, eat them when you want. I am not as hungry in the morning and like big, early dinners with 100-200 calories to snack on in the late evening. The only magic of "don't eat after X pm" rules is that a lot of people graze/snack/overeat in the evenings plopped in front of the tv.

katnadreau

Eating after 7 can be an issue if you have acid reflux. However, I often eat a little snack before crawling in bed at 9 pm and have lost weight just by making sure that snack doesn't wipe out my deficit.

xvolution

It depends on when bedtime is. I work nights and usually don't get dinner until after midnight, but I also don't get to bed until after 3am. Just don't eat right before bed.

davidylin

One line of reasoning about when you should eat during the day is the idea that the act of ingesting food will alter the mix of metabolic processes occurring in the body in favor of those processes that break down carbohydrates for energy as opposed to those metabolic processes that break down fat for the same. I've read abstracts on a few studies that speak to this and while there appears to be something to that theory, CICO is still the gold standard.

Another line of reasoning is that, for many overweight people, most overeating is done toward the end of the day and heading off that time of the day for eating may be effective in helping people control their calories in.

Additionally, some theorize that calories consumed later in the day are more likely to be converted to fat (storage) because evenings are about winding down and preparing for sleep. I don't have any problems with the reasoning, but I think the overall effect on the average dieter that's tracking on MFP will be marginal or limited.

On a personal note, my advice is not to eat late in the day. Generally speaking, my willpower is lower late in the evening than it is in the day. My food diary bears this out with less nutritious snacks and cravings playing out in the evening after dinner more often than not.