Questions about meal times...

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jackal75
jackal75 Posts: 95
in Health and Weight Loss
In my journey to lose this weight, I have heard so many things. Some are obviously false, some have helped a lot. There is one rumor I have heard that I would like opinions from all of you on.

The rumor is that you should not eat after a certain time in the evening.

Some folks specify that you specifically should avoid carbohydrates in the evening. Some disagree on what time you should stop your intake. (I have heard anywhere from 6pm firm to 3 hours before bedtime.)

So, my question to you all is: Is there any truth to this? If so, what success have you gleaned from doing this? I ask because while I often come in under my calorie goal, I still end up having dinner as my largest meal, and dinner is always at 6pm. While I have lost a lost of weight, I have hit a little plateau recently, and wonder if this might be something to try.... ?

Replies

  • kimsue123
    kimsue123 Posts: 24 Member
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    I heard to eat 6 small meals every day.........eat every 3-4 hours to keep your metabolim fully charged at all times.
  • watkinsc
    watkinsc Posts: 177 Member
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    Think it boils down to calories in versus calories out. Eat less, move more... Nothing else has ever worked for me, yet I am finding success here!
  • BrentGetsFit
    BrentGetsFit Posts: 878 Member
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    I eat 5 times a day and stop eating 3 hours before bed. If I get my portion control right I start to feel hungry right at bedtime. I know then that my body has burned the fuel I gave it for dinner and will now burn stored fat throughout the night.
  • elainegsd
    elainegsd Posts: 459 Member
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    I get up at 5 on a typical day, and go to bed around 8:30. I get home from work around 6. I sometimes eat dinner immediately upon arriving home, and sometimes finish it just before bed (as I did tonight). Hasn't seemed to make a difference for my weight loss...
  • lkwilkey
    lkwilkey Posts: 56
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    I eat every 2 1/2 -3hrs I start off with a little breakfast then after a couple of hrs a little more like a Nutri bar blueberry or something like that. then 2 1/2 hrs later lunch and so on. even until around 8-9 pm. sometimes I eat late sometimes not. I never eat 40minutes pryor to exercise and 40 minutes after..that is suppose to help with the burn of calories. sometimes eating something different will help your plateau and also adding 15minutes on to your exercise routine. so your body will get out of that rut your in...
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    What's been working for me is eating dinner no later than 3 hours before I go to bed and eating mainly carbs at dinner. At least half the time my dinner is just a bowl of cereal. If I eat it 2-3 hours before bed the carbs will have had time to burn up but I won't be super hungry when I go to sleep. Since I'm trying to burn off fat I don't want to eat a lot of protein or fat at dinner since that takes much longer to burn than carbs. That way, all night long my body is burning fat and not my dinner.
  • barbiecat
    barbiecat Posts: 16,992 Member
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    :flowerforyou: I eat small meals all day long (every 3-4 hours) and usually have a bedtime snack at 8 or 8 PM and go to bed at 10
    :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
  • eillamarie
    eillamarie Posts: 862 Member
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    Eat every 2-4 hours (depends on your hunger & energy dips, I try to do 2/5-3.5 hours) to keep your metabolism constantly fired. However, no matter what you do your metabolism WILL slow down throughout the day which is why Breakfast (or morning meal if you can't eat right away) should always be your biggest and why supper should be your smallest. Stopping eating 2 hours before bedtime works for some people, others prefer 3 or 4 hours. Your body needs time to digest & metabolize your food otherwise it will store everything as fat while you sleep.
  • aippolito1
    aippolito1 Posts: 4,894 Member
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    I just try not to eat less than an hour before bedtime just because it makes me feel weighed down and makes it uncomfortable to sleep. Other than that, I don't have such rules. I don't have set times that I eat... I eat every 2-3 hours and it varies because I don't wake up the same time everyday (but am working on that!) and I eat carbs whenever I want. It seems to work for me especially because I rarely reach my carb amount, much less surpass it, because I work out so much and am lightly active so I'm burning carbs constantly. I think everyone is different. Do some experimenting & find what works for YOU. Hope that helps!
  • jackal75
    jackal75 Posts: 95
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    I really wish that my work and class schedule would allow me to do the eat 5-6 times a day in small amounts method. Unfortunately, I cannot. Tried it...

    My diet is fairly varied and balanced.

    Dinner is usually at 6pm, and I'm never in bed before 10pm (usually later than that even.)

    I guess I'll just have to try switching things up a bit and maybe add 10 more minutes on the elliptical than normal...
  • kewkdb
    kewkdb Posts: 207 Member
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    Questions about meal times...

    We will never get a solid answer to this question, as even the professionals disagree. Well maybe if the Myth Busters got a hold of the question we would :) However, it is in my opinion that it does not matter when you eat as long as you are meeting your calorie goals for the day.

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