Does eating past 7pm make you gain more weight?

Meg_78

It's never made a difference for me, and I generally eat from 6am to midnight...

SideSteel

Meal timing or indeed meal frequency have no bearing on weight loss. Its about calories in vs calories out.

That is another myth, the nuanced truth lies somewhere in between. If you eat a large meal and then go to bed or worse sit down and watch TV and never get up(at least in bed you roll over and toss and turn more than many TV watchers), the reduction in your metabolism will store more food as fat than if you were active and burning the blood sugar.

You are neglecting what happens in a larger period of time. In a prolonged calorie deficit, fatty acids that may be stored post-eating are oxidized for fuel. In a situation where one eats most of his or her calories at night, they are by default, eating fewer during the day. This increases daytime fat oxidation and offsets evening fat storage. And this is exactly why it makes no difference in terms of net fat balance.

mmapags

All of these smart *kitten* above my are right. But they kind of made it seem like you had a stupid question- which you DON'T.

No, you will not gain weight by eating at night. But in order to burn the most calories while you sleep, it is important to try not to eat 2-4 hours before you go to bed. If you eat a sandwich at 9 and then go to bed at 10, for instance, your body will work off that sandwich while you sleep. If you had eaten it at 6, it will be mostly digested and your body can work solely on burning FAT while you sleep.

So if you're eating at seven at night, I would say that you shouldn't turn in for the night until at least 10 if you want to use your sleep to your advantage

This is just plain not true. To parse it would not be worth it. It's just not true.

HeidiMightyRawr

No. Meal timing doesn't matter.

The reason why many people say not to eat after 7 (or some other random time) is because most people have had breakfast, lunch, dinner etc by then, and anything else after that is just late night, unnecessary, snacking. If you actually plan to eat then, there's no problem. I always eat past 7.

Cespuglio

I agree that meal timing doesn't matter as long as you are eating on a deficit. I think (and this is just speculation on my part) that a lot of the confusion with meal timing and such might arise from the intention to maximize the impact of this macronutrient versus that one when your body is at a certain stage (ex. protein right after weight lifting for maximum absorption and aid in muscle repair, etc). Bodybuilders, athletes and the like also have to pay more attention to their bodies than most before a competition, and the slightest percentage change in body fat, muscle mass, etc can mean the difference between winning or losing. As such, they have to micromanage just about every aspect of their diet and exercise. Of course, a lot of misinformed people who are just starting a fitness routine choose to emulate these people and in an attempt to do everything right in order to get the same results, they mimic everything they see these people doing, not realizing it doesn't always have to be THAT involved.

Chlo92x

Thanks guys

haroon_awan

There is no cut off time. People wake up at different times of the day. A person who wakes up at 7am and a person who wakes up at 2pm will eat at different times. The 2pm guy has lunch when the 7am guy has breakfast. The 2pm guy has dinner when the 7am guy sleeps, so how can you say that eating after 7pm or 8pm makes you gain weight.

The only point is to eat your last meal roughly 3 hours before you sleep and/or eating a snack about 1.5 hours before bed.

californiagirl2012

Does eating past 7pm make you gain more weight? If you are still within your calorie limit of the day?

No, all that matters is a calorie deficit, or just a calorie budget for maintenance if you are done losing.

When I was in a calorie deficit I stopped at 7pm, then 3 or 5pm, but only because I had enough calories for the day. It really doesn't matter when you stop eating, all that matters is a calorie deficit. But for me I found the longer fast before breakfast helped with the weight loss only because I was eating within a smaller "eating window" which simply helped me keep within calorie budget.

Now that I'm maintaining I've sort of evolved to a different pattern although it wasn't necessarily planed this way, I eat until almost bed time and head right to the gym in the morning before eating, so end up not eating until noon. Again the smaller eating window allows me to more easily stay within my calorie budget for maintenance.

There are studies that show HGH is produced in the body 15-24 hours into a 24 hour fast, as well as heading to the gym and working out with a longer than 4 hour fast. HGH provides many benefits to the body including weight loss (metabolism). Who cares if it's the HGH or the process of keeping within calorie budget, if the thought of HGH motivates you to stick with it makes it work?

Have fun with the journey.

Gramps251

All of these smart *kitten* above my are right. But they kind of made it seem like you had a stupid question- which you DON'T.

No, you will not gain weight by eating at night. But in order to burn the most calories while you sleep, it is important to try not to eat 2-4 hours before you go to bed. If you eat a sandwich at 9 and then go to bed at 10, for instance, your body will work off that sandwich while you sleep. If you had eaten it at 6, it will be mostly digested and your body can work solely on burning FAT while you sleep.

So if you're eating at seven at night, I would say that you shouldn't turn in for the night until at least 10 if you want to use your sleep to your advantage

LOL. Calling us names and wrong all in one post. Keep up the good work.

purpleipod

No, why would it?

emtjmac

No, eating more calories than you burn causes you to gain weight. I wouldn't get hung up on what time you eat the calories.

LorinaLynn

I usually don't eat dinner until 7pm, and my dinner's usually around 1000 calories.

Not gaining.

runs4zen

Eating high fat, high calorie foods in excess of what you expend (calorie-wise) each day--along with zero exercise--makes a person fat. The time of day they eat is irrelevant. I eat all day long, all night long...sometimes I wake up and eat in the wee hours of the morning...and I count the calories/fat/exercise ratio every day. It works!

Crayvn

Eating right before you sleep has been shown to disturb sleep, but eating at night in of itself will not cause weight gain if you have the calories.

Im disturbed....but its not from eating before bed.

jesz124

All of these smart *kitten* above my are right. But they kind of made it seem like you had a stupid question- which you DON'T.

No, you will not gain weight by eating at night. But in order to burn the most calories while you sleep, it is important to try not to eat 2-4 hours before you go to bed. If you eat a sandwich at 9 and then go to bed at 10, for instance, your body will work off that sandwich while you sleep. If you had eaten it at 6, it will be mostly digested and your body can work solely on burning FAT while you sleep.

So if you're eating at seven at night, I would say that you shouldn't turn in for the night until at least 10 if you want to use your sleep to your advantage

LOL. Calling us names and wrong all in one post. Keep up the good work.

LOL exactly what I was thinking

Lize11e

No. It doesn't matter when you eat as long as you don't go over your calories for the day. That eating at night thing is a myth.

Espressocycle

no. not unless you already ate all your calories anyway. the reason people lose weight by not eating after 7 is that they just end up eating less, which you are already doing by tracking.

amanda_catherine

I don't know but does pooping after 7pm help me lose weight

clvautour

No, as long as you are within your cal. limit then it should not. At lest that is what I have been told.

Debbe2

No as long as it doesn't cause you to exceed your daily calorie goals repeatedly.

MCproptart

In my humble experience, when I eat makes as much difference as what I eat. I gained much of my weight eating the bulk of my calories at dinner time, with dinner being around 7 or 7:30, then going to bed by 9.

If you eat after 7, but you don't go to bed until 11 and you work out in between, it's likely not a problem. If you eat a carb rich meal after 7 and go to bed at 8 or 9 with no exercise in between, it's likely to cause those calories to be stored.

Everyone's bodies and habits are different, though, so try to track how your behaviors affect your numbers.

714rah714

I have just eaten a big bowel of ice cream at 22:30, no difference to eating it a 10:30

You ate a WHAT?!?!?!?!

lol

And just yesterday, someone was complaining about sausage casing, I'm guessing a big bowel of ice cream would be out of the question

mmapags

In my humble experience, when I eat makes as much difference as what I eat. I gained much of my weight eating the bulk of my calories at dinner time, with dinner being around 7 or 7:30, then going to bed by 9.

If you eat after 7, but you don't go to bed until 11 and you work out in between, it's likely not a problem. If you eat a carb rich meal after 7 and go to bed at 8 or 9 with no exercise in between, it's likely to cause those calories to be stored.

Everyone's bodies and habits are different, though, so try to track how your behaviors affect your numbers.

I know that you sincerely believe this and I'm not trying to be critical. It just doesn't work this way. Your metabolism is chugging along in the background every minute you are alive. Let's say you eat 600 calories at 8 and go to bed at 9. (you might have indigestion but that is a whole other issue) Some of the calories you just took in are getting used and the rest are being stored. You don't eat again for 10 hours. You are essentially fasting for 10 hours. Assuming you are in maintenance or deficit, your body pulls those calories back out of storage to fuel your metabolic processed during this time. This same cycle happens all day, every time we eat and then don't until the next meal.

If not eating after 7 works for you and you are confident in it, that is great and continue by all means. But calories eaten late are not more likely to be stored assuming you are in a deficit or at maintenance.

NormalSaneFLGuy

Hmm.