Latest you should eat at night?

myofibril

It doesn't really matter in terms of fat loss.

It's calories in v calories out.

I think this idea about not eating too close to bedtime came about because in reality people tend to over eat generally in the evening time pushing their overall calorie intake for the day above their maintenance level. The mistaken belief was that eating close to bed time caused the weight gain as opposed to general over eating in the evening.

ChRiStA_1983

The TIME that you eat definitely shouldn't matter...Eat whenever you're hungry! The reason that some experts recommend not eating after 7:00 or 8:00 doesn't typically have to do with weight loss at all (you're still consuming the same amount of calories in a 24 hour period, whether you eat them at 5, or 6, or 10 at night), but with the fact that it's more difficult to fall asleep when your body is still in "digestion" mode....

RatBoyGL

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

Sounds like I am doing nothing bad from most of the replies.

Well I ate about 2 and a 1/2 hours before bed and instead of my metabolism dropping to 0.9 while I was sleeping it stayed at 1.1-1.2. Thanks for the tip. I rarely ate after 5 and was slowing down my own metabolism. Who knew?

This is fascinating stuff and thanks for experimenting and sharing the results!

It seems like eating a few hours before bed actually helps your metabolism stay more active while asleep.

Good stuff!

katschi

Rules. Schmools. We're all different.

Eat when you damn well feel like it.
If you want to divide up your dinner in to 2 smaller meals ... go for it.

The human race has gotten along just fine before all of these idiotic studies that tell people when to eat, how many times to eat and what to eat.
It's made us in to a bunch of neurotics.

Eat the calories you've allotted yourself. ALL of them. Move more.
Simple.

Nothing is set in stone as we will soon see a brand spanking new study out any moment blowing all of these current rules out of the water.
Mark my words.

THISisTARRAN

Don't know if anyone else said this...but calories are calories is the way I look at it, but I'm not a nutritionist or anything like that.

PoppiJuice

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20110614/eat-late-gain-weight

There is a lot of research lately that proves eating at the wrong times WILL cause weight gain. There's a reason why shift workers are over weight. Eating at times that conflict with humans natural circadian rhythms can contribute to insulin resistance and increase cortisol levels. I used to believe it was a myth too. But emerging research is telling us otherwise.

infamousmk

I like to have a small snack right about 4:00pm, work out, and then have another small appetizer snack while I cook dinner - usually a few chunks of whatever veggies I'm making with dinner as I cook. A lot of times I don't even eat dinner until 8:00pm. I go to bed between 10 and 11.

Fiddle around with times, amounts, nutrients and see how it goes for you. The subtle nuances are what make every body different.

PoppiJuice

I didn't get to finish what I was saying before my phone posted for me. Lol. The human race was doing fine before we were pretty much forced into becoming a society that must operate at all hours of the day and night. Once upon a time, long before obesity reached epidemic proportions we were up when the sun came up and asleep when it went down. Its not like that anymore. The way things are now its almost impossible to sleep and eat the way our species has evolved to. All I'm saying is the times we eat truly does impact our health and it contributes, at the very least, to weight gain and other issues as well. Go against nature and nature will go against you.

Kate6868

As far as I'm concerned, calories in VS calories out does not care what time the calories come.

I agree that calories are calories. I usually don't eat a ton just before bed, as it tends to give me a stomach ache. Laying down on a full stomach can also contribute to heartburn, which might be a consideration. I usually allow a couple of hours between my last meal and bed. Usually.

brittanyjeanxo

calories in vs calories out. That is all that matters. Eat when you want.

Bad advice. Timing , glycemic load, and calorie consumption over time absolutely matter. You always want low glycemic load, otherwise Mr Insulin will deal with that load by storing it as fat. Eating a twinky every hour will produce much different results than eating three within 15 minutes every 3 hours.

She was giving her opinion. What gives you the right to deem it "bad advice"?

FearAnLoathing

I eat whenever I want...sometimes right before bed.Obviously it has not hurt my weight loss in the least

vim_n_vigor

If I am hungry before bed I eat a snack. Otherwise I am up all night hungry and thinking about eating. No sleep is not good for weight loss either. Find what works best for you. I personally look at a carb and gain weight. You may be able to eat every carb around and be ok. It just means our bodies process things differently.

LorinaLynn

As long as I'm not eating *WHILE* I'm sleeping, I'm cool.

PJilly

As long as I'm not eating *WHILE* I'm sleeping, I'm cool.

That's my policy too. It's just way to easy to choke that way.