Question about what is worse for weightloss

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LandBsdotingchauffeur
LandBsdotingchauffeur Posts: 237
in Health and Weight Loss
So what's the general consensus on what is worse for weightloss: eating healthy late at night or skipping dinner period?

My friend and I are debating which is worse and I say skipping dinner altogether.

He says eating late at night because "The whole point of not eating late is not about the content of the food. It's because you'll eat, and then go to bed, and all that food you just ate won't be burned at all. You'll be laying there sleeping, burning 0 calories, and it'll all get stored."

My response to that is you're still burning calories while you sleep, just at a slower rate than while being awake and active.

Your thoughts??

Thanks!! :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • LittleSpy
    LittleSpy Posts: 6,754 Member
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    First of all, you burn calories while you sleep.

    I definitely believe skipping dinner altogether is worse than eating a healthy light dinner late. I work 2 jobs some days so I often eat a late healthy dinner. On the days I don't work late, I often eat a healthy snack within 2 hours of going to sleep. And I've lost 29 pounds in 2.5 months. :wink:
  • Lisa0711
    Lisa0711 Posts: 1,405 Member
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    I'm sure someone will have a more scientific explanation than I do, but I know for a fact that you burn calories all day long even when sleeping. You could sleep all day and you'll still burn your BMR amount of calories. If you skip a meal altogether, you'll probably make up for it later (at breakfast in the morning) because you'll be starving. I know eating smaller meals helps keep your metabloism up and running, and when you don't eat or skip a meal, it slows down.
  • rtmama
    rtmama Posts: 403 Member
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    I eat healthy at all times of the day, and continue to lose weight. I don't think skipping a meal is healthy at all, especially breakfast!
  • PhotographerOfNature
    PhotographerOfNature Posts: 452 Member
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    Definitely you burn calories while you sleep. No doubt about that. For me, I balance in my mind how active I have been all day. If I have been really active and know that I have built up the metabolism throughout the day to burn really well when I go to sleep, then I'm not too concerned about eating only the calories I have late in the evening, but if I've been a couch potato all day or sat at my desk and didn't do a whole lot of moving around, then I would probably eat a healthy snack to get rid of the hunger pains and leave it at that. Not sure if there is any scientific proof to back me up, that's just the way I do it. That said, I am not a fan of eating late. I always try to be done with eating by 6 p.m. at night. But I am usually up at 6:30 a.m. and in bed around 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. It is different when people are on different time tables.
  • LandBsdotingchauffeur
    LandBsdotingchauffeur Posts: 237
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    Ok, those were my thoughts exactly and he was oversimplifying by saying that you'll burn 0 calories--he knows he'll burn calories all the time. Thank you for your thoughts!! :)

    Heidi
  • mszSHOGAN
    mszSHOGAN Posts: 2,278 Member
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    I agree with you. Skipping dinner is worse. Especially if you're me - if I skipped dinner then I'd be eating even MORE late at night! :laugh:
  • BetterVersion
    BetterVersion Posts: 459
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    I've always been told you should never eat after a certain point in the night (like 7 if you go to bed at 10 or whatever.) However, I'm now seeing a dietician who strongly opposes this concept. She says that so long everything stays within your calorie range, you can eat whenever you want. I've been continuing my 9pm snacking since I've bee seeing her, and my weight loss never suffers because of it. It's very true that you still burn calories while sleeping- that's why when you're trying to lose weight it is suggested to get full nights' sleep, because the longer you lie in bed sleeping, the longer you're burning calories without interrupting that with food intake.
  • pcbta
    pcbta Posts: 227
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    I've read countless times that it doesn't matter WHEN you eat, just what and how many calories OVERALL...it's a cumulative thing as far as I'm concerned. I DO think it's probably better for sleep not to eat close to bedtime, but it doesn't stop me too often:wink:

    cindy
  • CPRV
    CPRV Posts: 10
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    skipping dinner, is NOT like skipping breakfast
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
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    I think we have another case of some one wrote an article. Then some one told some one else about an article, and now we have a bunch of stuff out of context.

    I don't think it matter's when you eat, but rather that you stay within calorie allotment for the meal and for the day.

    That being said, I don't think skipping a meal, for even fasting for 24 hours is going to "slow" down your matabolism. If you read the starvation mode study you will find that starvation mode doesn't kick in for several weeks. In fact I just read an article that one of the healthiest longest living societies on earth fasts for religous reasons 150 days out of the year. There are other contributing factors but missing a meal isn't going to hurt anyone...especially us.

    But back to the original question about being worse. I'm not sure either are bad things by themselves. I know with me personally skipping dinner would probably lead to having a larger breakfast than normal breakfast, and thus consuming more calories that I normally would. So, if I had to pick one, skipping dinner.

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