It DOES matter when you eat...

Madame_Goldbricker

Your body cannot tell the time. I work night shift 4 on 4 off my eating schedule is all over the place. It hasn't made any difference to my weight loss. Eat when you like and suits you.

That's not completely true, your body can tell time - it's called circadian rhythm.

Northwestern Hospital University (and others) has been doing lots of clinical trials on sleep, obesity and circadian rhythms. I've been a Guinea pig in a several of them. Unfortunately, the most recent study that hit the news
http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2014/04/morning-rays-keep-off-the-pounds.html
didn't appear to be causation but merely correlation. The funny thing was that the report came out when I was wearing the light and activity monitor for a different study.

The study I just spent the night in the hospital for with blood draws and hormone levels won't be published for another 2 years.

Oh I completely agree that the body does have an internal body clock per say. However I also believe that it can be pretty flexible in regards to adjusting & adapting to routines. As I stated I've worked night shift for quite some time. My general mode is 4hrs sleep on days I've worked the previous night. I set two alarms & don't use a blackout blind. However my body has 'trained' itself to wake up. However on days/nights I'm off work I can easily sleep a good eight uninterrupted hours. Its presumably all down to routines.

On days I'm off I'll eat at probably standard meal times. On days/nights I work I'll eat whenever or whatever time. I still stand by my body not being aware that its 1am & I'm eating a large curry. Or 5pm & I'm eating porridge & fruit. Those factors have no impact on weight gain nor loss.

I will acknowledge though that for individuals who are 'grazers/pickers/boredom eaters'. It could play a part as they can continue to eat purely from being awake. Although that boils down to caloric intake.

CyberEd312

Meal Frequency will have no bearing, in the end it all comes down to personal preference and what you can and will adhere too. You can eat your daily caloric intake in one sitting or spread out of several meals... Best of Luck

kgeyser

I really don't think it matters when you eat. The human body is constantly burning calories; it's not like you eat food and your body automatically starts burning that food, and then when it burns through that and starts using fat. We pretty much always have some food matter somewhere in our digestive tract, it's not like we ever really get "cleaned out" completely. Unless you are truly starving, in which case you have bigger problems to tackle than a meal timing discussion on the MFP forums.

From a behavioral standpoint, I think it's personal preference. I find the later in the day I start eating, the less I tend to eat overall, but that doesn't really work with my schedule. Eating before bed doesn't bother me. The only time I get bloated is if I eat too much food or eat something outside the realm of my normal diet, and even then, it's due to sodium/water/amount of food and clears up quickly; not because of timing. That's just my experience.

bajoyba

It takes, on average, 40-50 hours for the food you eat to make it from mouth to toilet. It's not as if your body merrily goes about digesting your food as long as you're awake and upright and suddenly shuts everything down and starts storing it all as fat just because it's bed time. The food you ate at breakfast is still being digested, absorbed, and passed through your system when you lay down to go to sleep that night. Whether you have your dinner at 6pm or 9 pm and go to bed at 11pm, your stomach and small intestine are still working on that meal while you sleep.

50% of stomach contents emptied 2.5 to 3 hours
Total emptying of the stomach 4 to 5 hours
50% emptying of the small intestine 2.5 to 3 hours
Transit through the colon 30 to 40 hours

You should time your meals in a way that makes you feel most satisfied. If you prefer to have a larger breakfast, do that. Personally, I'm not especially hungry in the mornings and like to eat a big dinner, so that's what I do. We eat late - generally around 8pm - which means dessert is around 10 o'clock at night.

Madame_Goldbricker

It takes, on average, 40-50 hours for the food you eat to make it from mouth to toilet. It's not as if your body merrily goes about digesting your food as long as you're awake and upright and suddenly shuts everything down and starts storing it all as fat just because it's bed time. The food you ate at breakfast is still being digested, absorbed, and passed through your system when you lay down to go to sleep that night. Whether you have your dinner at 6pm or 9 pm and go to bed at 11pm, your stomach and small intestine are still working on that meal while you sleep.

50% of stomach contents emptied 2.5 to 3 hours
Total emptying of the stomach 4 to 5 hours
50% emptying of the small intestine 2.5 to 3 hours
Transit through the colon 30 to 40 hours

You should time your meals in a way that makes you feel most satisfied. If you prefer to have a larger breakfast, do that. Personally, I'm not especially hungry in the mornings and like to eat a big dinner, so that's what I do. We eat late - generally around 8pm - which means dessert is around 10 o'clock at night.

^^Ahhh science! I like this answer!

ruthejp13

It takes, on average, 40-50 hours for the food you eat to make it from mouth to toilet. It's not as if your body merrily goes about digesting your food as long as you're awake and upright and suddenly shuts everything down and starts storing it all as fat just because it's bed time. The food you ate at breakfast is still being digested, absorbed, and passed through your system when you lay down to go to sleep that night. Whether you have your dinner at 6pm or 9 pm and go to bed at 11pm, your stomach and small intestine are still working on that meal while you sleep.

50% of stomach contents emptied 2.5 to 3 hours
Total emptying of the stomach 4 to 5 hours
50% emptying of the small intestine 2.5 to 3 hours
Transit through the colon 30 to 40 hours

You should time your meals in a way that makes you feel most satisfied. If you prefer to have a larger breakfast, do that. Personally, I'm not especially hungry in the mornings and like to eat a big dinner, so that's what I do. We eat late - generally around 8pm - which means dessert is around 10 o'clock at night.

^^Ahhh science! I like this answer!

me too