Eating dinner late in the evening

gotolam

Meal timing doesn't affect weight loss. Just do blow your calorie deficiency.

I know this is an oft-quoted popular myth on MFP, but it's really not true.

It's not to say you won't lose weight while in a deficit, but meal timing definitely affects the physiology of nutrition.

You think that is only said on MFP?

The question isn't specific nutrient uptake, it's fat loss in deficit. If you're in a deficit you will lose weight. A couple of hours here and there in absorption of specific nutrients isn't going to hinder fat loss.

I didn't say you wouldn't lose in a deficit. You always lose in a deficit. But that's not quite the same thing as "meal timing does not affect weight loss."

gotolam

Meal timing doesn't affect weight loss. Just don't blow your calorie deficiency.

I know this is an oft-quoted popular myth on MFP, but it's really not true.

It's not to say you won't lose weight while in a deficit, but meal timing definitely affects the physiology of nutrition.

There may be other factors involves like satiety, energy, concentration, indigestion, medication, and performance but the actual timing of meals does not affect weight loss. It is bogus to believe the position of the sun to the earth is related to weight loss.

Tell that to the NIH.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24666537

AskTracyAnnK28

I don't think it will be a problem, but I wouldn't recommend going to bed immediatly after eating. Hellooooo heartburn!!... At least for me, anyway.

kommodevaran

The don't eat after 8 (or 6 or 7 or whatever it is) makes no logical sense. It relies on the idea that your digestion stops while sleeping and that everyone has a similar bedtime. The first alone is sufficient to show it's nothing but an old wives tale (or whatever the nutrition version of that is). The second is obviously false and only matters if eating soon before bed affects your sleep (it does not affect mine, but on that people differ).

The "don't eat after 7" has one more explanation, from before the "your metabolism slows down while you sleep" - it makes sense, but not in and by itself - food choices at night are typically calorie dense; if you tend to eat a big dinner, and/or if it's hard for you to stop eating at night, it can make at difference to adhere to such a rule; unless you move that big meal to earlier in the day, and/or start grazing all day instead. Myths are often based on half-truths, and this rule obviously originated in a time without calorie trackers

dbmata

Hello everyone,
So I have a question I've been wondering for the past few weeks. Is there any truth to the "don't eat after 8" idea? I just started working out again and most the the classes I'm taking are from 7-8ish. I know you aren't supposed to eat a meal before working out, but I'm not eating dinner until I get home from the gym which is usually around 830. I'm just wondering if this is an issue for my weight loss. I'm not used to eating so late but I find that I am pretty hungry when I get home.

No, but I'd counter with, 8pm where?

kommodevaran

\Sorry wrongpost

Lasmartchika

I've eaten dinner as late as 10 PM, and I'm still losing weight. I don't think the time has anything to do with weight... as long as it's within your calories.

cwolfman13

Hello everyone,
So I have a question I've been wondering for the past few weeks. Is there any truth to the "don't eat after 8" idea? I just started working out again and most the the classes I'm taking are from 7-8ish. I know you aren't supposed to eat a meal before working out, but I'm not eating dinner until I get home from the gym which is usually around 830. I'm just wondering if this is an issue for my weight loss. I'm not used to eating so late but I find that I am pretty hungry when I get home.

No...this is an old wives tale. I have eaten dinner around 8:30 - 9:00 PM for years. It didn't stop me from losing 40 Lbs pretty easily and it hasn't stopped me from maintaining for the past 17 months.

Personally, I have no idea who all these people are that can eat at 5:00 or 6:00 or whatever...hell, half the time I'm still in my office at 6...on a good day I might possibly roll into my driveway around 6:15 or 6:30 and then you still have the whole process of actually preparing a meal...really, the earliest I could eat on some days is 7:15 or so but that would really interfere with kids bath times, etc.

FindingAmy77

Hello everyone,
So I have a question I've been wondering for the past few weeks. Is there any truth to the "don't eat after 8" idea? I just started working out again and most the the classes I'm taking are from 7-8ish. I know you aren't supposed to eat a meal before working out, but I'm not eating dinner until I get home from the gym which is usually around 830. I'm just wondering if this is an issue for my weight loss. I'm not used to eating so late but I find that I am pretty hungry when I get home.

"don't eat after 8">>> no, your stomach doesn't have a magical timer. if you work out then it all balances out.
"you aren't supposed to eat a meal before working out" >> why not? i like to work out after eating a meal, it helps me to digest it and i feel i get more energy to do my workout.

if you are hungry, then eat. as long as you give yourself a fasting time between dinner and breakfast (sleep) then you will be fine.

gotolam

Meal timing doesn't affect weight loss. Just don't blow your calorie deficiency.

I know this is an oft-quoted popular myth on MFP, but it's really not true.

It's not to say you won't lose weight while in a deficit, but meal timing definitely affects the physiology of nutrition.

There may be other factors involves like satiety, energy, concentration, indigestion, medication, and performance but the actual timing of meals does not affect weight loss. It is bogus to believe the position of the sun to the earth is related to weight loss.

Tell that to the NIH.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24666537

Soooooooo........how have hundreds of us succeeded and continued to eat late or whenever we want as opposed to listening to a rat study that isn't applied to humans.

Also, how has meal timing worked with your 1100 or 1200 calorie diet you eat, as a man?

So.....when the science fails, go for anecdotal evidence; and when that fails....go for the ad hominem attack. Gotcha.

Mischievous_Rascal

Meal timing doesn't affect weight loss. Just do blow your calorie deficiency.

I know this is an oft-quoted popular myth on MFP, but it's really not true.

It's not to say you won't lose weight while in a deficit, but meal timing definitely affects the physiology of nutrition.

Really? I've been doing intermittant fasting for a few years now, eating from noon until 10 pm daily, and I've been maintaining a pretty decent loss for almost a year now...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/49-intermittent-fasting

randomtai

I eat late every day and it hasn't affected my weight loss one bit.

gotolam

I eat late every day and it hasn't affected my weight loss one bit.

How do you know?

Mischievous_Rascal

Meal timing doesn't affect weight loss. Just don't blow your calorie deficiency.

I know this is an oft-quoted popular myth on MFP, but it's really not true.

It's not to say you won't lose weight while in a deficit, but meal timing definitely affects the physiology of nutrition.

There may be other factors involves like satiety, energy, concentration, indigestion, medication, and performance but the actual timing of meals does not affect weight loss. It is bogus to believe the position of the sun to the earth is related to weight loss.

Tell that to the NIH.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24666537

Soooooooo........how have hundreds of us succeeded and continued to eat late or whenever we want as opposed to listening to a rat study that isn't applied to humans.

Also, how has meal timing worked with your 1100 or 1200 calorie diet you eat, as a man?

So.....when the science fails, go for anecdotal evidence; and when that fails....go for the ad hominem attack. Gotcha.

From the study itself: "To date there are no comparable molecular data from human studies."

I am not a rat, and although there are some shifty characters on here who may deserve that title, tnone of us are actual rodents. There are tons and tons of us on here who are very successful at disproving your claim. (And I really hope you're eating more than 1100-1200 a day. That's just sad and unnecessary.)

randomtai

I eat late every day and it hasn't affected my weight loss one bit.

How do you know?

I look at myself in the mirror every day :P

Shaquana2

Everyone is different. I personally don't eat after 8pm. I feel better and i sleep better. So it's whatever you wanna do. I do know that before joining myfitness pal i would eat later at night and it was nothing for me to gain weight around my mid area. It's up to you.

gotolam

I eat late every day and it hasn't affected my weight loss one bit.

How do you know?

I look at myself in the mirror every day :P

The fact that you've lost weight isn't actually an indicator that meal timing hasn't affected you "one bit."

I have never made the contention that you can't lose weight when eating late. I am making the distinction between losing weight and blanketdly stating that "meal timing does not affect weight loss."

randomtai

I eat late every day and it hasn't affected my weight loss one bit.

How do you know?

I look at myself in the mirror every day :P

The fact that you've lost weight isn't actually an indicator that meal timing hasn't affected you "one bit."

I have never made the contention that you can't lose weight when eating late. I am making the distinction between losing weight and blanketdly stating that "meal timing does not affect weight loss."

Yeah.. ok I am happy with my progress. *shrug* You just seem to want to argue.

independant2406

I have dinner most nights around 7:30 - 8:00pm and I'm usually in bed before 10 and up at 6am. I haven't seen a noticeable difference in my weight loss/gain by having dinners after 7pm vs earlier in the day when my husband had a different work schedule.
In fact I think having dinner later stops me from having late night food cravings for sugary stuff.

Staying on track with a meal plan is more important than the time of day eat your meals. Making your meal times fit your lifestyle is super important to prevent cheating in my opinion.

mymodernbabylon

If eating after 7pm meant that you would never lose weight and would get fat, there would be a ****e load of people in Europe (in traditionally much skinnier countries) that would be fat. Instead, the Mediterranean group of people tend to be the slimmest...just something to ponder.