Eating before bedtime?

nightangelstars

Hey everyone! So, I recently started taking a kickboxing class called Turbo Kick, which is apparently a spin-off of the video/kickboxing Turbo Jam. Started by Chalene Johnson, I guess it was originally taught by her before she became mildly famous and started teaching all over the country. The peppy little blonde who teaches the class now told us this on the first day so I decided to order the video to supplement my class. The video comes with a nutrition guide, and here's where I come to my point. The guide had two things to say that were new to me: 1. don't eat before exercising, and 2. don't eat for at least a couple hours before bedtime. It says that if you do this, your body will be forced to burn fat rather than sugars (carbs) while exercising and sleeping and you will therefore maximize your results in this way.

However snacking before bedtime is a long-ingrained habit for me and while I've been trying to stick to this recommendation for the last week (and I have seen some results) I'm wondering what everyone here has to say about the no-eating-before-bed rule. Is it worth it or is it just hot air?

Please advise! Thanks everyone!

nightangelstars

Hey everyone! So, I recently started taking a kickboxing class called Turbo Kick, which is apparently a spin-off of the video/kickboxing Turbo Jam. Started by Chalene Johnson, I guess it was originally taught by her before she became mildly famous and started teaching all over the country. The peppy little blonde who teaches the class now told us this on the first day so I decided to order the video to supplement my class. The video comes with a nutrition guide, and here's where I come to my point. The guide had two things to say that were new to me: 1. don't eat before exercising, and 2. don't eat for at least a couple hours before bedtime. It says that if you do this, your body will be forced to burn fat rather than sugars (carbs) while exercising and sleeping and you will therefore maximize your results in this way.

However snacking before bedtime is a long-ingrained habit for me and while I've been trying to stick to this recommendation for the last week (and I have seen some results) I'm wondering what everyone here has to say about the no-eating-before-bed rule. Is it worth it or is it just hot air?

Please advise! Thanks everyone!

Marla64

I've always heard it's best not to eat anything after 7pm, nothing before bed. But, truthfully I don't adhere to it. But, my bedtime isn't usually until nearly 2am. By that time, I'm famished.

TNTPete

I don't think it matters honestly, although I don't sleep well with a full tum-tum -- so nothing terribly filling before bed but if I am hungry - I eat. Try it out and see what happens!! Everyone is different.

pamelawilliams

Hi:

I heard you should stop eating at least three hours before bedtime, however if I am hungry I try to eat a piece of fruit or drink water.

shorerider

I have a snack every night just before bed--it helps keep my morning levels down. I'm a diabetic and without that snack, my readings in the morning are too high. I always have 2 graham crackers with a little PB on them.

Also, I eat breakfast before I work out all the time--about 1 hour before I exercise. And here's what I've learned about eating and exercise.

If you eat before exercising, then yes, your body can use that for fuel but usually doesn't. Unless you eat at least 1 hour before exercising or longer because it takes at least that long to begin to digest the food--unless it is digested, your body can't use it for fuel.

Which is way I wait after eating--I want my body to have some readily available fuel at first but then begin to use the stored stuff.

Also, if you exercise for longer than 1 hour or so, then your body begins to use your stored fat for fuel. So, I always try to exercise for at least 1 hour, so my body begins to break into that stored energy and use it up.

All this works for me--I've lost 61 pounds so far.