Not eating after 7pm

radcow
radcow Posts: 23
in Health and Weight Loss
A friend of mine swears by this simple weight loss trick. But she says not to eat after 5...5 seems a little to early to me...I want to try 7. Im curious if not eating after a certain time has worked for any of you, and if so what time is best to stop eating?
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Replies

  • herownkindofwonderfull
    herownkindofwonderfull Posts: 307 Member
    A friend of mine swears by this simple weight loss trick. But she says not to eat after 5...5 seems a little to early to me...I want to try 7. Im curious if not eating after a certain time has worked for any of you, and if so what time is best to stop eating?

    It's a myth...! There honestly is no "best time" to stop eating. Everyone has a different schedule. IE: I don't wake up until 5pm... so if I stopped eating at 5... well, I'd be anorexic and probably be dead right now. Lovely!

    All aside from that (haha), seriously though. As long as you eat within your range, you're fine. Some people prefer to eat no later than 2-3 hours before bed... and all it does is reduce water weight if you had a lot of salt in your late night snack... You should be eating every 2-3 hours (at least snacking) to keep your metabolism up! so if you didn't eat after 5 that means you'd be asleep by 7/8. Who does that? I mean, really?!

    Do whatever you want, but 5pm is BULL****. I don't know where she heard that.
  • LittleNicci
    LittleNicci Posts: 284 Member
    And what about us vampires that work overnight shifts? When should we stop eating?
  • ferrytrip
    ferrytrip Posts: 497 Member
    don't know - I work nights so it's not an option - body clock on permenant readjustment.
  • radcow
    radcow Posts: 23
    Maybe I should try a strict diet of blood. Ive never seen a fat vampire :tongue:
  • radcow
    radcow Posts: 23
    I guess she heard about it on Oprah a few years ago. She and her personal trainer Bob Green were talking about it
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    A friend of mine swears by this simple weight loss trick. But she says not to eat after 5...5 seems a little to early to me...I want to try 7. Im curious if not eating after a certain time has worked for any of you, and if so what time is best to stop eating?

    Personally, I do not go with that theory at all.

    People need to stop looking for "tricks" and start counting their calories properly.

    This is NOT aimed at you either OP, it is aimed at some of the ideas :flowerforyou:
  • amy1612
    amy1612 Posts: 1,356 Member
    This isntviable for me, as I go to the gym straight from work. I usually eat my dinner between 7.30-9. I havent found that its affected anything.
  • justjenn1977
    justjenn1977 Posts: 437 Member
    I think that the point is... restrict your calories... many people who live in the day time world (and not those of us who work overnight shifts) find that their "down time" i.e. late night snack time... is when they consume the most "bad" calories.... so if they have a time limit... they find that they don't eat as much

    I would die of malnutrition if I didn't eat after 5pm or 7pm... overnights is hard ;)
  • mandylooo
    mandylooo Posts: 456 Member
    As others had have said - it's a myth, though it may help with restricting your total daily calories. You don't store calories eaten after a certain time any more readily than those eaten before.
  • Flab2fitfi
    Flab2fitfi Posts: 1,349 Member
    I think one of the reasons not to eat after a certain time, especially in the evenings, is that it is when most people tend to snack on the unhealthy stuff.

    I know that my worst time for snacking was late evening when I'm overtired, bored or just vegging out . I think if most of us looked at when we snacked we could see a similar pattern and by saying not to eat after ....... its away to stop snacking.

    I eat when I want and have just changed my snacking habits to something much healthier and within my daily intake.
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    I think it can work as a behavioural strategy - if you are a problem night time snacker, then having a cut off time might help you stop this habit.
    Apart from this, I think it is another example of people making this whole weight loss thing more difficult than it needs to be!
  • spaingirl2011
    spaingirl2011 Posts: 763 Member
    While MFP might reset your calories at midnight, your body doesn't. Most likely one of the reasons that the "don't eat after___" myth persists is because they're encouraging people to cut down on late night snacking that adds to the total of the day's calories. Lots of people plop down in front of the TV around that time and snack while watching American Idol. Before they know it, they've snacked their way to 500 calories. That's why that "trick" exists. However, if you plan your day and you plan in a nice little yogurt to go along with your 9pm showing of Grey's Anatomy, there's no reason why you can't eat past a certain time.
  • Rocbola
    Rocbola Posts: 1,998 Member
    Oh, come on, night shift people, she obviously meant stop eating a certain time before bed. That wouldn't mean 7 pm to people with other schedules! lol!

    Anyway, while, yes, it doesn't matter what time you eat as far as getting your calories in, however having any large meals within a few hours to bedtime can hinder sleep in some cases.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    It doesn't matter when you eat. You can eat last thing at night, and it wouldn't make a difference to weight loss. (It might give you indigestion though.) I usually have a snack right before bed, and frequently have my last main meal quite late.


    People need to stop looking for "tricks" and start counting their calories properly.

    This is NOT aimed at you either OP, it is aimed at some of the ideas :flowerforyou:

    ^ This. No disrespect to your friend, but anything labelled as a "simple weight loss tip" rings alarm bells to me. You don't need tricks or secrets to lose weight, you just have to put in the effort and accept that it's going to take a while.
  • AnnyaSB
    AnnyaSB Posts: 233 Member
    Myth.......... eat when you like, just don't go over your calorie goals.
  • Orient_Charm
    Orient_Charm Posts: 385 Member
    If you are under your calorie goal, no problem to eat after 7 PM or after 11 PM or any time, it's simply ( Calories in and calories out ) equation.....

    Please check those :

    http://www.livestrong.com/article/286515-is-eating-late-bad-for-weight-loss/

    http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/weight-loss/is-eating-late-bad-for-your-diet.html

    http://chetday.com/eatinglate.htm

    http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/nes.htm
  • Prahasaurus
    Prahasaurus Posts: 1,381 Member
    Oh God not Oprah again...

    You can only eat after 5 pm if you read The Secret from cover to cover and will your weight away. Or something.
  • Mersada
    Mersada Posts: 9
    It doesn't matter what time you stop eating....it's the amount of calories you consume for the total day that will count.
  • radcow
    radcow Posts: 23
    lol, I should have known better posting this at three in the morning! I didnt think anyone would even be online at this time! Hi night shifters! I appreciate all your thoughts.
  • Orient_Charm
    Orient_Charm Posts: 385 Member
    lol, I should have known better posting this at three in the morning! I didnt think anyone would even be online at this time! Hi night shifters! I appreciate all your thoughts.

    I am ( as well many another members ) in the other side of the world, it’s 12:11 PM here in UAE.
  • spaingirl2011
    spaingirl2011 Posts: 763 Member
    lol, I should have known better posting this at three in the morning! I didnt think anyone would even be online at this time! Hi night shifters! I appreciate all your thoughts.


    The European contingency is wide awake! Fear not! :wink:
  • radcow
    radcow Posts: 23
    Of course! Thanks to you too, on the other side of the globe :)
  • stupidloser
    stupidloser Posts: 300 Member
    4hours between your last meal and bedtime needed.
  • Carol_27
    Carol_27 Posts: 40
    Yup, my time here in Europe is 10:32am so no worries on getting replies :-)

    Not to be the 'devils advocate' regarding this no eating after 7pm but weirdly enough I was having trouble dropping those last few pounds and it was driving me nuts, I was eating like MEGA healthy (yogurts, salads, no bread or pasta) and still couldnt get those last few down then my hubby told me (dont eat before bed, only if you just came from the gym then you can have some protein but absolutely no carbs) he is an athlete so i cant argue with him (in the gym 6x a week at least) so I finally was like 'fine' I will do it and guess what...I dropped 3 pounds (1.5 kg) in like 2 weeks and this was my only change....i dont know if I would say its myth but it helped me out. :wink:
  • StarkLark
    StarkLark Posts: 476 Member
    4hours between your last meal and bedtime needed.
    I have to disagree. I eat all the time before I go to bed and I don't have any problems. Perhaps this rule "helps you" but it is not a rule that everyone needs to live by.
  • Orient_Charm
    Orient_Charm Posts: 385 Member
    4hours between your last meal and bedtime needed.

    This is may be correct, but if we didn't do so it has no effect on our weight, I mean I have 2000 calories, no change it I eat it morning or evening or 5 min before bed........Yes you are correct, we should not have a heavy meal directly before bed, because that is bad for good sleep, and may have bad effect on our stomach, but that will not increase weight....( I mean no effect on weight if I eat same meal during the day or directly before bed ).

    For me I feel better to have light meal directly before sleep, I sleep more stable.....
  • ClairBears84
    ClairBears84 Posts: 531 Member
    I think that for me it has more to do with not eating for a certain ammount of time before you go to sleep! I do not like to feel very full when I go to sleep :D
  • raagrath
    raagrath Posts: 4 Member
    Its true if u stop eating after 7.00 pm it will result in gud weight loss. I did it myself When I heard from a doctor in news. There is difference eating at 7 pm and 11 pm in the night. becoz calories burn from ur dinner before u sleep .U still burn calories while sleeping.
  • Di3012
    Di3012 Posts: 2,247 Member
    4hours between your last meal and bedtime needed.

    Why? Where did you get this info? Just out of interest :)
  • michellelemorgan
    michellelemorgan Posts: 184 Member
    I'm the friend she's talking about and I do it exactly to prevent late night snacking. I also typically go to bed at 9 so I like to cut off eating at 5. When I told her this my intentions were for her to conform it to her own schedule, which at the time I believed to be similar to my own. Of course it was simply a suggestion. It worked for me. When i stopped eating at 5 I started losing a great deal of weight because I did all of my unhealthy eating in the evenings. If I"m not allowed to eat in the evenings I can't give in to those cravings. On the rare occasion that I have a date or am going out with friends I definitely eat. I am just careful about what I order and try to eat modestly.

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