If you stop eating after 6pm, will you lose more weigh

ukloveme

If you stop eating after 6pm, will you lose more weigh is this a myth or not, what are your thoughts?

Toddrific

If you have a habit of binging or mindlessly eating, maybe.
Calories out>calories in=weight loss
Doesn't really matter time of day.

Contrarian

It's a myth.

kazzari

If you stop eating after 6pm, will you lose more weigh is this a myth or not, what are your thoughts?

Myth, definitely. Makes no difference when you eat if your eating the same number of calories.

joaniegray

I find I sleep better with a small bedtime snack. A good night sleep helps me focus more the next day on healthy eating so I think, no.

huntindawg1962

Agree with all. While it may impact the scale a bit the following morning depending on when and how much you ate late the night before (just like weighing yourself right after a meal will be different) , in the overall scheme of things running a deficit will be the same end result over the long haul.

010Elle010

Regardless of the time of day your body uses the calories in the same way. The main thing you need to be aware of is what you have consumed throughout the day and how many calories. If you want to eat late and still within your calorie goals then you are all set. I work at night so I eat late, however I notice that I had developed a bad habit of snacking right before bed even when I wasn't hungry, so I challenged myself to not eat before going to bed and the latest I eat is at 9 to break that habit.

This article breaks the eating after a certain time debate down further:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/227439-can-you-lose-weight-if-you-stop-eating-after-6-pm/

TrailRunner61

Well for some it would work. Say if you eat dinner at 5 then munch on junk until you go to bed at 10 or 11, yeah you'd lose weight if you cut it out. For some people if they would just quit snacking after dinner, they'd lose weight and maybe by telling themselves they CAN'T have anything after 6, it works for them. To each his/her own. I myself, can't do it but when I do eat after dinner it's usually something that's not bad for me.
It's all about calories in and calories burnt so in the end its how many you had in one day, not when you ate it.

Vermilla

Pure myth. It comes from the fact that people who eat after a certain time will add in a fourth meal or midnight snacking or some such. In other words, eat more food (calories) than somebody who doesn't eat after a certain time. They then took this and made up myths that you shouldn't eat after a certain time. Completely false. You can eat at whatever time you want. It's the calories that count, not when you eat them.

samlankford

I TRY to not eat anything after 8, find that I have a hard time sleeping if I do.. usually the only thing I will have it maybe some sugar free jello and a little cool whip or some air popped popcorn... I see no harm in eating after 6pm as long as it is healthy food and not something like a greasy cheese steak

warmachinejt

it's true. Also i've hung out with the loch ness monster, true story.

Ribena145

It's a myth.

Nah, I don't agree. Yes, in a sense, you could say it's a myth, but what you are doing is allowing the food to digest properly. You tend to be more sedentary (most people) in the evening and your system shuts down at night when you sleep - so how would you digest those late night snacks?? The sooner you stop eating the easier it is for the body to digest. Remember (some of you) being told to wait half an hour before swimming? Similar principle.

keegannati

The reasoning behind this myth is that people tend to eat unhealthy, high-calorie things at night. It doesn't matter what time of day you eat as long as it's within your goals.

mfpcopine

If you stop eating after 6pm, will you lose more weigh is this a myth or not, what are your thoughts?

It's an oversimplified expression of the idea that the earlier you stop eating, that is, the smaller your eating window, the fewer calories you are likely to consume overall. As the others said, it doesn't matter when you eat; it matters how much you eat.

It's a form of Intermittent Fasting ("IF"), with which many people have had success.

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

Nah, its just a myth.

Whether you eat after 6 or 10pm doesn't matter as long as you stay within your calorie goal.

lindalou4850

I never go to bed hungry!! As a matter of fact I have a bowl of cereal every night before bed. I stay under my calorie goal. It doesn't matter what time you eat so long as you don't go over. At least that's the way it is for me!!

Yanicka1

Calories don't count double after 6 pm lol

rolley89

This is good information. I though it was a metabolism type issue. If you eat and go right to sleep your body never has a chance to burn off the calories and it is scored as fat?

BrayneZ

I eat a 125g slab of fresh mozzarella before bed, and losing.

Melmade

It works for me--but I have a hard time not eating at night--my worst time! When I can control my night time eating it really shows on the scale.

Sidesteal

It's a myth.

Nah, I don't agree. Yes, in a sense, you could say it's a myth, but what you are doing is allowing the food to digest properly. You tend to be more sedentary (most people) in the evening and your system shuts down at night when you sleep - so how would you digest those late night snacks?? The sooner you stop eating the easier it is for the body to digest. Remember (some of you) being told to wait half an hour before swimming? Similar principle.

This part above, is the myth. Your digestive process continues on your sleep.

Even if you burn less cals in your sleep, it's irrelevant when you pan out and look at the big picture. You can literally eat all your calories before bed and have the same great results.

spinitoff

I usually eat about ~3-400 calories during the day until dinner at between 6-7 when I have about 1200 calories, and if I exercised that day I often continue to snack from 7-11PM for another however many calories (500-1000). Works for me...

I tried doing it the other way that I heard was better: huge breakfast, medium lunch, tiny dinner, "shut it down" after 6pm.

I HATED IT.

I couldn't get to sleep being so hungry. It made me crabby, and often once I did get to sleep, I would wake up with serious food cravings, so I was also not sleeping great. For me, I need to go to sleep feeling very satiated, and taking in the vast majority of my calories later in the day is how I do it. I just find it much less mentally stressful.

tl;dr -- Myth? I dunno. But it's a myth that other strategies aren't effective! I do the opposite, works great for me!

mfpcopine

This is good information. I though it was a metabolism type issue. If you eat and go right to sleep your body never has a chance to burn off the calories and it is scored as fat?

There are always exceptions. Maybe there is someone out there unaccounted for by the studies who gains weight eating late at night. But the current information suggests not for the majority of people and that's the best we have. This is why it's helpful to keep records of one's own experiences.

TheDoctorDana

I read somewhere that your motabalism drops by 40% after 12 hours of not eating. So, if you don't eat from 6:00 pm until 6:00 am , your body has been fasting for 12 hours.

ninerbuff

If you stop eating after 6pm, will you lose more weigh is this a myth or not, what are your thoughts?

This is an ongoing myth. The issue with eating after 6pm-7pm is that the ones doing it have already met their calorie goal for the day and habitually like to eat at night. I'm a habitually late night eater so I skip breakfast so I can eat at night.
The body doesn't know what time of day it is when you eat, so timing doesn't matter. As long as your calorie are in check, you can pretty much eat anytime you want.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Sl1ghtly

Its true. As the solar tidal forces diminish, the rate of digestion increases because the food begins to more quickly pass through the intestines. The only way to slow this process is by sleeping upside down (have you ever seen a fat bat?) or by not eating after six.

In fact, its best to stop eating by noon.

BondBomb

It's a myth.

Nah, I don't agree. Yes, in a sense, you could say it's a myth, but what you are doing is allowing the food to digest properly. You tend to be more sedentary (most people) in the evening and your system shuts down at night when you sleep - so how would you digest those late night snacks?? The sooner you stop eating the easier it is for the body to digest. Remember (some of you) being told to wait half an hour before swimming? Similar principle.

Nothing about this is true.
Your body doesn't change the way it digests food based on the time of day.
Even the 'wait an hour before swimming' has been proven false.
http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/hourwait.asp

ninerbuff

Nah, I don't agree. Yes, in a sense, you could say it's a myth, but what you are doing is allowing the food to digest properly. You tend to be more sedentary (most people) in the evening and your system shuts down at night when you sleep - so how would you digest those late night snacks?? The sooner you stop eating the easier it is for the body to digest. Remember (some of you) being told to wait half an hour before swimming? Similar principle.

Your system NEVER shuts down. If that were true you would stop breathing......... and the reason people were told not to swim after eating was so they wouldn't get cramps. Old myths don't die.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

tolygal

This may be a myth (which I don't disput), however, I do try not to eat within 2-3 hours before bed. Why? Because it works better for me. When I don't eat 2-3 hours before bed I wake feeling lighter and fresher and ready to go. When I eat closer to bedtime, even if it's just a tiny bit, I feel bloated, tired, groggy and slow in the morning and have a hard time getting motivated for anything much less my workout. There are other reasons also, but I don't have any sources handy to help me explain what I'm talking about. I've read a lot of information on both sides of this debate, and I have no idea which is most accurate scientifically. I have no interest in debating the subject - I'm just throwing out there a different perspective because it works for me. I feel much better and seem to lose and maintain weight better when I eat the bulk of my calories earlier in the day and avoid eating 2-3 hours before bed.

If you are curious, I'd suggest trying it both ways for a while to see which works better for you. If it works and you like it, then do it. If not, then don't. Good luck!

rileysowner

I read somewhere that your motabalism drops by 40% after 12 hours of not eating. So, if you don't eat from 6:00 pm until 6:00 am , your body has been fasting for 12 hours.

I don't know where you read that, but it couldn't be more wrong. It takes at least 36 and in some studies as much as 72 hours for metabolism to slow because of not eating. In fact, in the first 24 or so hours, metabolism actually increases to make a person more capable of seeking out and finding food. After 72 hours without food that would be counter-productive for survival so then the body starts to slow down metabolism.

kazzari

It works for me--but I have a hard time not eating at night--my worst time! When I can control my night time eating it really shows on the scale.

I agree that it can work as a device for those who tend to overeat in the evening. I hate running out of calories to eat before 9 pm. I feel deprived if I don't have the option to have some strawberries or something. If I know I can't have another bite I'll most likely rebel and do it anyway.