Small (and potentially obvious) eating tips aka timing is everything
nkylerich
Posts: 11 Member
This'll be short but I noticed something about the timing of my eating habits versus weight loss and weight gain and it's in-line with what dieticians tell you.
1. Eating Late At Night Leads To Weight Gain: You've probably heard about those people that cave-in to midnight hunger pangs and eat something then gain weight right? What if I told you that it's less about what they ate and more about WHEN they ate? Your body naturally burns more calories during the morning and afternoon hours than it does right before bed. I found this out the hard way by eating two sandwiches later in the day. This caused me to gain over a pound and a half over the course of two days. If I ate those several hours before bed? I actually LOST weight!
2. If You're Going To Indulge Do It Early: Tying into the above, the best time to eat a hearty and maybe calorie full meal is during the early hours right after you wake up or during the afternoon. I went to a party which had all the unhealthy options you could think of yet I didn't gain a pound! Why? For one I limited myself, four pieces of pizza and two square pieces of cake, I had only had one bowl of cereal up to that point and didn't eat anything else over the course of the rest of the day. For two I ate them at midday, I did NOT eat them before bed, after midnight, or in the AM hours, this allowed my body to work through it for as long as I was awake.
So the moral here is probably what your parents typically told you when you were younger, don't eat before bed, have your body work on that meal, otherwise you'll regret it when you get on that scale in the morning.
1. Eating Late At Night Leads To Weight Gain: You've probably heard about those people that cave-in to midnight hunger pangs and eat something then gain weight right? What if I told you that it's less about what they ate and more about WHEN they ate? Your body naturally burns more calories during the morning and afternoon hours than it does right before bed. I found this out the hard way by eating two sandwiches later in the day. This caused me to gain over a pound and a half over the course of two days. If I ate those several hours before bed? I actually LOST weight!
2. If You're Going To Indulge Do It Early: Tying into the above, the best time to eat a hearty and maybe calorie full meal is during the early hours right after you wake up or during the afternoon. I went to a party which had all the unhealthy options you could think of yet I didn't gain a pound! Why? For one I limited myself, four pieces of pizza and two square pieces of cake, I had only had one bowl of cereal up to that point and didn't eat anything else over the course of the rest of the day. For two I ate them at midday, I did NOT eat them before bed, after midnight, or in the AM hours, this allowed my body to work through it for as long as I was awake.
So the moral here is probably what your parents typically told you when you were younger, don't eat before bed, have your body work on that meal, otherwise you'll regret it when you get on that scale in the morning.
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Replies
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Meal timing is irrelevant.27
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No.13
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*holds up hands* I'm just putting up what's happened with me and the results on the scale reflect this.28
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I've been maintaining at goal for several years while eating most of my calories at night, including snacks most nights right before bed. Some people don't sleep well with food in their stomach, but it seems to be helpful for me. I'm also one of those people that can't tolerate a huge meal right after waking up. So I guess it's different for everyone. Timing is more of a preference thing, not a rule. I have absolutely never had any trouble losing or maintaining regardless of meal timing. The only variable that really matters is the calories.
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I think the moral is you need to read a bit more around here before trying to give advice.
MY 125 lbs weight loss when eating the bulk of my calories right before bed says differently.
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Ok, this is more agreeable, in my case I seem to always gain weight if I eat before bed, but if I eat several hours before I either remain steady or lose weight. I also have other problems though and am a guy but those problems are gross and shouldn't be discussed on a public forum.12
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Ok, this is more agreeable, in my case I seem to always gain weight if I eat before bed, but if I eat several hours before I either remain steady or lose weight. I also have other problems though and am a guy but those problems are gross and shouldn't be discussed on a public forum.
LOL. That's OK. We're all a little gross sometimes...
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Yeah but my grossness tends to come at bad times. Anyways I'm actually proud that the way I'm going about this is working to an extent. I just dread my birthday and thanksgiving being back to back......I'm not sure my method will help in that case.2
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Start using a trending weight app and evaluating your weight changes over a substantial period of time. Water weight is not fat. Water weight swings fast. Fat weight doesn't. It is OK to go over your calories once in a while. A year from now what happened on a single day won't matter one bit. What happens on 95% of the days... will.9
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Are you talking weight gain over time, or on the scale the next day? Because of course you will weigh less the next morning if you stopped eating hours before, you've had time to digest.19
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TIming of meals will affect your weight on the scale the next day, but most folks aren't interested in having a couple more/less pounds of water/food in their system at an arbitrary time the next day - they want to lose fat over a period of months. Timing of meals is irrelevant to the latter case!10
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As everyone has said, this is down to preference. You will be most likely to lose weight if you schedule your big meals for the times when you are most likely to be hungry. This is just an issue of adherence. I prefer to eat as you describe but only because I get most hungry in the morning and the early afternoon. At weekends I actually tend to consume fewer calories than in the week when I'm working (if I'm not drinking) by having a large brunch and a small dinner. However, other people do not feel hungry in the morning so it makes more sense for them to wait to eat until later in the day when they feel hungry. Do whatever works best for you. There's no magic involved.4
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165 pounds lost.. all of which were lost by eating at night. Seems you are mixed up between real weight and fluctuations on the scale15
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Literally lost my 23 pounds, eating the majority of my food at night. Talking like 300 calories all day and then a thousand plus in dinner, ice cream, and snacks from 6pm to 10,11,12 at night. And if I’m feeling real hungry, waking up at 2 or 3 am for a nice snack. And have maintained my goal weight range for over a year and a half.
Buuuuut if youuuu fine better success by eating earlier, I’m happy for you, and by all means do continue to do so. That’s why your journey is yours and mine was mine 4 -
https://examine.com/nutrition/does-eating-at-night-make-it-more-likely-to-gain-weight/"While the evidence is mixed, depending on who was studied and what the diets were, there does not seem to be a major inherent weight-gain effect when eating late at night. Individual results may vary, and other factors such as circadian rhythms should be considered as well."
https://examine.com/nutrition/do-i-need-to-eat-six-times-a-day-to-keep-my-metabolism-high/"Eating food six times a day, or very high meal frequency, does not seem to increase the overall metabolic rate more than simply eating three times a day. If such a meal frequency can help you feel better on a diet then it can be useful but it alone won't cause weight loss or prevent weight gain."
I personally have the most weight loss success when I skip breakfast, eat a small lunch, then eat the majority of my calories at dinner time. It's great that you found something that works for YOU, but your wording makes it sound more "fact" than "anecdotal" - that's why people are disagreeing with you.8 -
Does my 3am(ish) snack class as eating
Late or an early breakfast4 -
Of my daily 2500ish calories, and the 30ish lbs I've lost over the last year. 10 of it I lost twice. 1600 daily calories are eaten between getting home from work and going to bed 3 hours later.0
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Since there is almost no context anywhere in this thread...
- Meal timing is irrelevant in the science of weight loss.
- Meal timing is VERY relevant for someone's ability to succeed.
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I eat most of my calories later into the day and right before bed.
Yea... no regrets here 1 -
I'm going to say calories not meal timing is what is important.
I have not noticed when I eat having an impact on my weight. I weigh myself once a week in the morning after I use the toilet and before I eat or drink anything.
To gain an actual pound of fat you need to eat 3500 calories over your maintenance level. If your food did not do that at 6 pm it isn't going to do it at 10 pm. You might weigh yourself the next day and have undigested food, waste you have not passed, or water retention causing the scale to go up.
If you ate less than you used to at a party and the whole day then you took in fewer calories that day. It wasn't because the party was earlier in the day.
Your body burns calories all day and night. You don't have to burn more calories right after eating something. CICO is everything you consume and burn in the whole day/night.3 -
*holds up hands* I'm just putting up what's happened with me and the results on the scale reflect this.
We are all different. For me, sleeping is very important to overall health, including weight loss, and I absolutely cannot sleep if I'm hungry. (Same goes for having a cold nose or feet, or really any mild discomfort. I am SUPER sensitive at night, lol) So I HAVE to have a premeasured snack ready for bedtime or in csde I wake up hungry. When I try to go without, I don't sleep, I feel like hell, and I often have less weight loss on the scale in the morning. My personal rhythm seems to work best at no or very light breakfast, large late lunch (3-4 preferably), later and substantial dinner (7-8), bedtime snack, and maybe a half fiber bar or some crackers at night if I neef them.0 -
*holds up hands* I'm just putting up what's happened with me and the results on the scale reflect this.
No, you're telling people this is the bottom line. Throwing in your own experience at the bottom of the paragraph doesn't negate the "This is how it works for everybody" aspects.
Your information is incorrect, that's not how your body works. While following these rules works for you (and it's great you found a way of eating you're comfortable with), meal timing is irrelevant for weight loss.8 -
Interesting comments on this thread. Given the discussion about meal timing, what's the general consensus on intermittent fasting (IF)? Specifically:
- Does meal timing have a greater effect on the body's ability to burn fat?
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My understanding of IF is that it's not as important WHEN you fast as it is HOW LONG. It's just that most people preder to sleep through as many of the fasting hours as they can, because it's much easier to deal with that way. Alot of people I've read about eat thier large meal at dinner and before bed, instead of earlier in the day and it seems to work for them. When I tried it, I stopped eating after my 1 am munchie and didn't eat again until after 4pm.Worked out well for me until summer ended and I had to go back to chasing kids around all day. Then I noticed I was feeling really lousy if I didn't have a light breakfast, so IF went bye-bye.3
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chiefwilson wrote: »Interesting comments on this thread. Given the discussion about meal timing, what's the general consensus on intermittent fasting (IF)? Specifically:
- Does meal timing have a greater effect on the body's ability to burn fat?
Yes...but here's that pesky "context" word, during periods of fasting the body is going to be heavily reliant on burning fat as fuel...but that doesn't translate into losing weight any faster or better than not fasting.4 -
chiefwilson wrote: »Interesting comments on this thread. Given the discussion about meal timing, what's the general consensus on intermittent fasting (IF)? Specifically:
- Does meal timing have a greater effect on the body's ability to burn fat?
The overwhelming advice is to not worry about timing, to do what works best for your personal preference, and sets you up best for adherence and consistency.
Personally, I'm willing to accept that there is a minute benefit to some iterations of IF, but those benefits are very, very small, and only apply under very specific circumstances.3 -
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It does but only in the very short term. If you are fasted you are very likely to be utilizing stored glycogen and fat as your primary sources of energy. When you are fed you are more likely to be storing fat. All of this is irrelevant as soon as you stop looking at the short term and look at net fat loss (or gain) for the day/week/month. The longer a block of time you look at, the less relevant timing becomes to the point where it holds virtually no relevance. While it's technically incorrect to say "nutrient timing is irrelevant" it's very much correct to say "Over the course of weeks and months, the time of day you eat and number of times a day you eat are virtually meaningless when it comes to changes in body composition".chiefwilson wrote: »Interesting comments on this thread. Given the discussion about meal timing, what's the general consensus on intermittent fasting (IF)? Specifically:- Does meal timing have a greater effect on the body's ability to burn fat?
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