Going to bed hungry. Good thing or bad thing?
SallyKaPow
Posts: 61 Member
In my head, if I go to bed hungry, my body will burn fat for energy all night. What does the panel think? Probably true or a load of nonsense?
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Replies
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Nonsense. Your body burns fat around the clock if you're in a calorie deficit. Doesn't matter when you eat those calories or what they came from when it comes to weight loss. That said it does matter when it comes to how you feel and psychological factors -ie some people have strong night snacking habits and find it easier just not to eat after djnner.9
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What wunderkindking said, with the addition that if going to bed hungry impairs sleep quality, that could be a negative for weight loss.
It's nothing magical: It's that poor or inadequate sleep causes more fatigue (especially in the later part of the next day); fatigue can trigger cravings (the body seeking energy) and reduce ability to resist those cravings.
Same effect, of course, if eating before bed interferes with sleep.
Good sleep, and enough of it, is a plus for weight loss.7 -
I personally space out my food throughout the day and end up eating 3 small meals and 3 snacks between them. My "before bed" snack is pre-logged to fit into my calorie budget. That's because I have a lot less impulse control if I wake up in the middle of the night hungry than if I have a pre-planned snack at 10:30.8
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What wunderkindking said, with the addition that if going to bed hungry impairs sleep quality, that could be a negative for weight loss.
It's nothing magical: It's that poor or inadequate sleep causes more fatigue (especially in the later part of the next day); fatigue can trigger cravings (the body seeking energy) and reduce ability to resist those cravings.
Same effect, of course, if eating before bed interferes with sleep.
Good sleep, and enough of it, is a plus for weight loss.
Yeaaah, I got about 3 hours of sleep last night. I'm forcing myself to stay awake to an hour that means I won't wake up in the middle of the night, but my desire to snack (ie: eat continuously) today is HIGH. Not a 'underage before' thing but eating both provides a quick shot of energy and some sensory input that keeps me from faceplanting into my keyboard.6 -
I find that if I go to bed hungry, I can't sleep. I end up getting up two hours later, reading for a while, and eating something so I can sleep. For me, it's not worth it. A little hunger is okay, but real hunger is not something I can ignore without paying for it.6
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There's a difference between needing more food and having food cravings and hunger pangs.
If you are used to snacking at night and suddenly stop, then you will feel voraciously hungry even if you've eaten double your necessary calories for the day. The sensation of grumbly tummy hunger isnt actually connected to any need for food, it's connected to your eating routine and it's your stomach preparing for an influx of expected food.
When I ate on a predictable schedule for work, I got vicious hunger pangs about 20 minutes before my expected meal, like clockwork every day.
Actual, serious need for calories tends to manifest for as fatigue, sometimes lightheadedness or nausea, and generally feeling crappy.
If you go to bed without enough calories for the day, you won't mega burn calories, your system will just slowly downregulate how much energy it expends and you will burn less and less as you feel less and less energy.
If you do to bed with hunger pangs, but you've eaten enough for the day, then as long as you keep not eating at night, eventually your stomach will stop preparing for snacks at night and you will feel less hungry.
I do IF, so I stop eating most days at 2pm. My body is used to this, so I don't have much hunger in the evening.
You would think because I don't eat at all in the evening that I would be more hungry, but my stomach doesn't expect food, so it doesn't get hungry.
Understanding the difference between feeling "hungry" and actually needing food is a huge cornerstone to understanding eating.
Interesting fact, eating a meal actually triggers hunger. A lot of us IF folks know this, we're usually most hungry just a few hours after eating. If you can get past those few hours of cravings, and you've eaten enough food that day, the hunger and cravings disappear.
So eating actually self perpetuates. Each time you eat, you trigger the brain to eat again in a few hours. It's not because you need more food, it's because the system is programmed that way.
That's why if you have a massive 2000 calorie brunch, you're still famished again by dinner time.
So long story short, no, your sensation of hunger before bed has absolutely no impact on your calories burned. In fact, your hunger has shockingly little relationship to your need for calories.6 -
There's a difference between needing more food and having food cravings and hunger pangs.
If you are used to snacking at night and suddenly stop, then you will feel voraciously hungry even if you've eaten double your necessary calories for the day. The sensation of grumbly tummy hunger isnt actually connected to any need for food, it's connected to your eating routine and it's your stomach preparing for an influx of expected food.
When I ate on a predictable schedule for work, I got vicious hunger pangs about 20 minutes before my expected meal, like clockwork every day.
Actual, serious need for calories tends to manifest for as fatigue, sometimes lightheadedness or nausea, and generally feeling crappy.
If you go to bed without enough calories for the day, you won't mega burn calories, your system will just slowly downregulate how much energy it expends and you will burn less and less as you feel less and less energy.
If you do to bed with hunger pangs, but you've eaten enough for the day, then as long as you keep not eating at night, eventually your stomach will stop preparing for snacks at night and you will feel less hungry.
I do IF, so I stop eating most days at 2pm. My body is used to this, so I don't have much hunger in the evening.
You would think because I don't eat at all in the evening that I would be more hungry, but my stomach doesn't expect food, so it doesn't get hungry.
Understanding the difference between feeling "hungry" and actually needing food is a huge cornerstone to understanding eating.
Interesting fact, eating a meal actually triggers hunger. A lot of us IF folks know this, we're usually most hungry just a few hours after eating. If you can get past those few hours of cravings, and you've eaten enough food that day, the hunger and cravings disappear.
So eating actually self perpetuates. Each time you eat, you trigger the brain to eat again in a few hours. It's not because you need more food, it's because the system is programmed that way.
That's why if you have a massive 2000 calorie brunch, you're still famished again by dinner time.
So long story short, no, your sensation of hunger before bed has absolutely no impact on your calories burned. In fact, your hunger has shockingly little relationship to your need for calories.
The bolded things are utterly not at all how I experience hunger, appetite, cravings - not even close
This makes me think these things are not universal.
Will they be true for OP? I have no idea.10 -
There's a difference between needing more food and having food cravings and hunger pangs.
If you are used to snacking at night and suddenly stop, then you will feel voraciously hungry even if you've eaten double your necessary calories for the day. The sensation of grumbly tummy hunger isnt actually connected to any need for food, it's connected to your eating routine and it's your stomach preparing for an influx of expected food.
When I ate on a predictable schedule for work, I got vicious hunger pangs about 20 minutes before my expected meal, like clockwork every day.
Actual, serious need for calories tends to manifest for as fatigue, sometimes lightheadedness or nausea, and generally feeling crappy.
If you go to bed without enough calories for the day, you won't mega burn calories, your system will just slowly downregulate how much energy it expends and you will burn less and less as you feel less and less energy.
If you do to bed with hunger pangs, but you've eaten enough for the day, then as long as you keep not eating at night, eventually your stomach will stop preparing for snacks at night and you will feel less hungry.
I do IF, so I stop eating most days at 2pm. My body is used to this, so I don't have much hunger in the evening.
You would think because I don't eat at all in the evening that I would be more hungry, but my stomach doesn't expect food, so it doesn't get hungry.
Understanding the difference between feeling "hungry" and actually needing food is a huge cornerstone to understanding eating.
Interesting fact, eating a meal actually triggers hunger. A lot of us IF folks know this, we're usually most hungry just a few hours after eating. If you can get past those few hours of cravings, and you've eaten enough food that day, the hunger and cravings disappear.
So eating actually self perpetuates. Each time you eat, you trigger the brain to eat again in a few hours. It's not because you need more food, it's because the system is programmed that way.
That's why if you have a massive 2000 calorie brunch, you're still famished again by dinner time.
So long story short, no, your sensation of hunger before bed has absolutely no impact on your calories burned. In fact, your hunger has shockingly little relationship to your need for calories.
The bolded things are utterly not at all how I experience hunger, appetite, cravings - not even close
This makes me think these things are not universal.
Will they be true for OP? I have no idea.
You're right, everyone is different.
These are common phenomena though triggered by well documented hormonal cascades in response to regular eating. I've given lectures on the signals sent between the neural and hormonal systems in response to eating.
However, not everyone responds the same way. So even if the hormones do generally behave that way, the individual experience can vary.
I should have used less universal sounding language. My mistake.
OP feel free to read my previous post with a bunch of caveats saying "this may be your experience"6 -
Yes it's true that going to bed hungry will have you burning mostly fat overnight.
But it's also true that going to bed not hungry will have you burning mostly fat overnight.
Just like if you take away the hunger aspect and think of recently fed or not instead - still using fat for the vast majority of your energy needs while sleeping.
Because we humans run predominantly on fat while sleeping. The lower your activity level the higher proportion of fat being used. Personally it's not until I'm cycling at a fairly brisk pace that carbs start to overtake fat as the predominant fuel.
You are burning fat all day and all night and the only "forcing" required to have a net loss of body fat is to manage your calorie deficit over time.
No hunger isn't "good", it's making a hard job harder, minimise it rather than seek out ways to suffer.9 -
Yes it's true that going to bed hungry will have you burning mostly fat overnight.
But it's also true that going to bed not hungry will have you burning mostly fat overnight.
Just like if you take away the hunger aspect and think of recently fed or not instead - still using fat for the vast majority of your energy needs while sleeping.
Because we humans run predominantly on fat while sleeping. The lower your activity level the higher proportion of fat being used. Personally it's not until I'm cycling at a fairly brisk pace that carbs start to overtake fat as the predominant fuel.
You are burning fat all day and all night and the only "forcing" required to have a net loss of body fat is to manage your calorie deficit over time.
No hunger isn't "good", it's making a hard job harder, minimise it rather than seek out ways to suffer.
I like this. And totally agree with your point about fat burning and when your body switches to burning more glycogen rather than body fat.
I guess the nuance here is that going to bed hungry for me doesn't feel like suffering, it makes me feel good, because it reinforces in my head, that I've not gone over my target TDEE for the day.
I'll have to monitor my sleep, because I'm definitely someone who will overeat when tired, and that's the potential negative here for me.
Thanks everyone! Interesting points made
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SallyKaPow wrote: »In my head, if I go to bed hungry, my body will burn fat for energy all night. What does the panel think? Probably true or a load of nonsense?
Load of nonsense. Whether you go to bed hungry or not is totally a personal decision based on comfort and only affects quality of sleep, not how much energy you burn. In other words, if you like going to bed hungry and can sleep better that way, go for it. It just does not affect how much fat you burn.
I cannot go to bed hungry so I have a bedtime snack. I have found that I sleep better if my snack is higher in protein than carbs so I typically have some cheese and yogurt, and maybe some nuts. Carb heavy snacks seem to keep me awake longer.2 -
What wunderkindking said, with the addition that if going to bed hungry impairs sleep quality, that could be a negative for weight loss.
It's nothing magical: It's that poor or inadequate sleep causes more fatigue (especially in the later part of the next day); fatigue can trigger cravings (the body seeking energy) and reduce ability to resist those cravings.
Same effect, of course, if eating before bed interferes with sleep.
Good sleep, and enough of it, is a plus for weight loss.
I went to bed hungry last night, like I really wanted to eat something but I actually slept sooo good then I have in a while!
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What wunderkindking said, with the addition that if going to bed hungry impairs sleep quality, that could be a negative for weight loss.
It's nothing magical: It's that poor or inadequate sleep causes more fatigue (especially in the later part of the next day); fatigue can trigger cravings (the body seeking energy) and reduce ability to resist those cravings.
Same effect, of course, if eating before bed interferes with sleep.
Good sleep, and enough of it, is a plus for weight loss.
I went to bed hungry last night, like I really wanted to eat something but I actually slept sooo good then I have in a while!
I'm the same way. I usually just go to bed hungry when I don't want to cook and I always sleep better on those nights!0 -
SallyKaPow wrote: »In my head, if I go to bed hungry, my body will burn fat for energy all night. What does the panel think? Probably true or a load of nonsense?
Your body's primary fuel source at rest is fat...so you burn fat during the night for fuel regardless of whether or not you go to bed hungry. You burn fat in a calorie deficit in order to make up for the energy deficiency and reconcile your body's needs vs what you're taking in. Timing is irrelevant...going to bed hungry or not is irrelevant, but in my experience going to bed hungry is pretty uncomfortable. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to torture yourself to lose weight.7 -
What wunderkindking said, with the addition that if going to bed hungry impairs sleep quality, that could be a negative for weight loss.
It's nothing magical: It's that poor or inadequate sleep causes more fatigue (especially in the later part of the next day); fatigue can trigger cravings (the body seeking energy) and reduce ability to resist those cravings.
Same effect, of course, if eating before bed interferes with sleep.
Good sleep, and enough of it, is a plus for weight loss.
I went to bed hungry last night, like I really wanted to eat something but I actually slept sooo good then I have in a while!
Yup. It's really individual. Different things work for different people, for better sleep quality. Good, sufficient sleep is a useful adjunct to weight loss, for most people. Experiments are good.
What sijomial said about fat burning in sleep is what I also understand to be true. I'd suggest people pick a strategy (night eating or no) for reasons that are personal and individual, and effect on sleep is one factor. There's no good evidence that we burn more/less fat in total when eating calorie-equal foods on any of various eating schedules.
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Load of nonsense. It's okay to go to bed hungry, and it's okay to eat before bed, but it has nothing to do with weight loss. Burning fat is about eating fewer calories than your body needs, the rest is details that don't affect weight loss outside of personal preference and sustainability. If going to bed hungry makes dieting harder and more stressful, this may even be sabotaging your efforts.There's a difference between needing more food and having food cravings and hunger pangs.
If you are used to snacking at night and suddenly stop, then you will feel voraciously hungry even if you've eaten double your necessary calories for the day. The sensation of grumbly tummy hunger isnt actually connected to any need for food, it's connected to your eating routine and it's your stomach preparing for an influx of expected food.
When I ate on a predictable schedule for work, I got vicious hunger pangs about 20 minutes before my expected meal, like clockwork every day.
Actual, serious need for calories tends to manifest for as fatigue, sometimes lightheadedness or nausea, and generally feeling crappy.
If you go to bed without enough calories for the day, you won't mega burn calories, your system will just slowly downregulate how much energy it expends and you will burn less and less as you feel less and less energy.
If you do to bed with hunger pangs, but you've eaten enough for the day, then as long as you keep not eating at night, eventually your stomach will stop preparing for snacks at night and you will feel less hungry.
I do IF, so I stop eating most days at 2pm. My body is used to this, so I don't have much hunger in the evening.
You would think because I don't eat at all in the evening that I would be more hungry, but my stomach doesn't expect food, so it doesn't get hungry.
Understanding the difference between feeling "hungry" and actually needing food is a huge cornerstone to understanding eating.
Interesting fact, eating a meal actually triggers hunger. A lot of us IF folks know this, we're usually most hungry just a few hours after eating. If you can get past those few hours of cravings, and you've eaten enough food that day, the hunger and cravings disappear.
So eating actually self perpetuates. Each time you eat, you trigger the brain to eat again in a few hours. It's not because you need more food, it's because the system is programmed that way.
That's why if you have a massive 2000 calorie brunch, you're still famished again by dinner time.
So long story short, no, your sensation of hunger before bed has absolutely no impact on your calories burned. In fact, your hunger has shockingly little relationship to your need for calories.
The bolded things are utterly not at all how I experience hunger, appetite, cravings - not even close
This makes me think these things are not universal.
Will they be true for OP? I have no idea.
Agreed. They're not universal at all. Eating does not prime me for more eating (unless I attempt to stave off hunger with small amounts of food - that does make me hungrier), and not eating makes me hungrier. I do skip meals sometimes to manage calories if I have something big planned, and the feeling of hunger is always there in the background when I skip (not the case when I eat normally). As soon as it comes to the foreground, I eat, even if it means going over my allowance. I get extremely hungry to the point where no amount of food is filling if I allow my hunger to get past a certain point.
When I have a 1500 calorie McDonald's meal for lunch, I'm full all day to the point of skipping dinner more often than not because I'm not hungry.4 -
I am a 'I get hungry when I eat' person - sometimes. Sometimes I'm not.
However one thing not eating for bed DOES do for me is make sure my morning weight is my low weight. I don't actually care about that, but it definitely is a consideration when interpreting scale fluctuations. (Ie: "I lose more weight if I don't eat at night". Probably you don't lose more FAT, you just don't have as much food in your system that way, whereas eating at 10 p.m means you likely still have more of it hanging around)3 -
I feel very good and easy to fall asleep if I eat 5hrs before bed and not very big meal without big load of carbs. The feeling before bed is hard to describe as hunger, it is more like feeling light and nice, optimistic; empty stomach, able to stick to the back spine is very attractive feeling. Why to resist it?0
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My sweet spot is going to sleep on an empty stomach, but not hungry. That generally means I have a light snack 2-3 hours before I go to sleep. This is *solely* related to sleep quality and not weight loss. If I fall asleep with a full stomach I almost always have a bad nights sleep.
I don’t find any difference weight wise.2 -
When I'm hungry at night. yes.. I feel I am losing weight.. simply because I didn't stuff my face all day. ha. I shrug it off and sleep through Rather that than be hungry during the day..then I'd eat.0
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There seems to be a good deal of research on this if you search. Here's a couple I just read through with teasers.
"Limiting and/or avoiding food before nighttime sleep has been proposed as both a weight loss strategy and approach to improve health and body composition. Indeed, negative outcomes have been demonstrated in response to large mixed meals...data is beginning to mount to suggest that negative outcomes may not be consistent when the food choice is small, nutrient-dense, low energy foods and/or single macronutrients rather than large mixed-meals...nighttime consumption of small (~150 kcals) single nutrients or mixed-meals does not appear to be harmful and may be beneficial for muscle protein synthesis and cardiometabolic health." ~ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4425165/
"...we found that the daily timing of nutrient availability coupled with daily/circadian control of metabolism drives a switch in substrate preference such that the late-evening Snack Session resulted in significantly lower lipid oxidation (LO) compared to the Breakfast Session. Therefore, the timing of meals during the day/night cycle affects how ingested food is oxidized or stored in humans, with important implications for optimal eating habits.
Therefore, in older adults who are potentially at risk for metabolic disorders, avoiding snacking after the evening meal can sustain LO and potentially improve metabolic outcomes." Then in the conclusion, "The end result of the reduced LO will be enhanced lipid storage, which over time will lead to increased adiposity. Therefore, in older adults who are potentially at risk for metabolic disorders, avoiding snacking after the evening meal can sustain LO and potentially improve metabolic outcomes." ~ https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000622#abstract0
From the few things I just read it seems like (how other people have noted) that it depends on you and your body. However, the research on sleep and weight loss seems pretty clear. If your hunger is keeping you from sleeping or waking you up, it's probably best to have a small snack.
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When I have moderate carbs, fiber, fat, and protein I stay full for a very long time.
But if I have something hyperpalatable and carb and fat intense, like pizza or ice cream, I can eat 3 times the calories and be hungry again sooner.0
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