Does it matter what time you eat?

kellykiana

I am curious if it matters when you eat during the day. I eat normally during the day, but I have a light snack around 7pm go to the gym at 945pm until about 11 or 1130pm. My boyfriend and I don't cook dinner until we get home from the gym, so we eat around 1230am

We usually go to bed within an hour of eating. Do you think that this will affect my weightloss goals?

MikePTY

It does not matter at all. Eat at any time you choose, in as many or as few meals as you choose, as long as you are hitting your calorie goal. That is all that matters.

RelCanonical

Doesn't matter. For reference, a big reason why that whole rule of "don't eat after XXpm" started was to help prevent mindless eating, as mindless snacking occurred most often in the evening hours after dinner. Properly tracking calories prevents mindless eating, so timing doesn't matter. I only avoid foods that give me stomach troubles (heavy foods) but I don't stop eating at night.

sijomial

It will only affect your weight loss goal if eating late means you eat more over the course of the day.
But that's really a "danger" for people not food tracking and calorie counting.

nooshi713

It doesn't matter for weight loss. I work night shift sometimes and it doesnt affect my weight loss.

kizanne2

There was an australian study that showed eating most of your calories early (like for breakfast) and then a medium lunch and small dinner did effect weight loss. I assume that doesn't mean a specific time of day more when you get up versus right before bed. Their number were pretty skewed though. I was like 700 calories for breakfast 500 for lunch and 200 or 250 for breakfast. The ate the same exact foods in reverse order and the large breakfast lots more weight. And the foods they ate weren't exactly health foods.

I've always found that study very interesting but haven't managed to shift my calories that much. I like to eat more in the evening.

AJ_G

kizanne2 wrote: »

There was an australian study that showed eating most of your calories early (like for breakfast) and then a medium lunch and small dinner did effect weight loss. I assume that doesn't mean a specific time of day more when you get up versus right before bed. Their number were pretty skewed though. I was like 700 calories for breakfast 500 for lunch and 200 or 250 for breakfast. The ate the same exact foods in reverse order and the large breakfast lots more weight. And the foods they ate weren't exactly health foods.

I've always found that study very interesting but haven't managed to shift my calories that much. I like to eat more in the evening.

If I'm thinking of the same study that you are, I think they found that people who eat a larger portion of their calories in the morning tended to be at a lower weight than people that eat a larger portion of their calories in the evening. The is a correlation study and doesn't prove causation at all. If I'm thinking of a different study though, please correct me.