Do you eat after 6pm?

tryinghard71

Yep and drink :drinker:

mmapags

Basically why you want to avoid eating within 3 hours before going to bed is because it drives up insulin before you sleep, which makes you store more belly fat. Belly fat drives cravings through inflammatory and hormonal triggers.

In turn when you wake up you want to eat a nutritious protein breakfast: studies have shown protein breakfast help people to lose weight, reduce cravings, and burn calories. Good protiens are eggs, nuts, seeds, nut butters, or a protein shake.

Also you want to try to avoid drinking your calories: when we drink our calories it will drive up your waist size (liquid calories are sodas, coffee w/sweetners& creamers, juice, sports drinks, alcohol, etc....)

Get a good 7-8hrs sleep: not getting enough sleep drives sugar and carb cravings by affecting your appetite hormones.

(From the book The Blood Sugar Solution pg. 160-161) There is more to this but this is the basics I have found in my own research and what other experts/dr's agree with. Basically if you want to maintain a Healthy Weight it is all about controlling our Blood Sugar: it is what drives our cravings & triggers belly fat to be stored. The best way is to have a well balanced diet of WHOLE Natural Foods you cook and prepare, drink water, excercise, & get plenty of sleep. Part of this is also to manage our stress which can trigger the same hormones that activate cravings.

The logic re insulin is flawed - this is a good read: http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=319

There is no need to eat as soon as you get up - it's a personal preference. - these studies show correlation not causation (unless you can point me to one that does), which is not relevant when tracking calories.

Excess calories make you gain weight, not any one type of food or drink.

I agree with trying to get enough sleep.

Edited for typo

The link Sara posted is a good one and explains insulin's role very well. I know this poster means well and trust the books she read but they are just not accurate and based on psuedoscience and correlation.

LiftAllThePizzas

Are you sure that eating after 6 pm is causing the problem(I personally don't think that is a problem at all)? I bet that if you log consistently, you will realize that it's not the fact that you eat after 6 p.m. It's what you are eating after 6 p.m. that's causing your weight gain. I think you binge.

Yep, and that's why logging what you eat and counting the calories gets rid of every single one of these rules like, "don't drink your calories (but have a protein shake for breakfast)" and "don't eat after this time" and "don't eat carbs with your left hand during a full moon."

If you eat a measured amount of calories determined by your daily goal instead of just eating as much as you feel like eating, you will not overeat and you will also learn actual real life good eating habits instead of having to stick to nonsensical rules for the rest of your life. If you are still often hungry at the same time(s), then you can figure out which foods will keep you satisfied long enough between meals, instead of just choosing between going hungry and binges.

VpinkLotus

Nigh time eating is a huge problem for me. I have been recently making it my mission to not snack after dinner anymore. I used to put my little ones to bed and immediatly think of all the naughty things I wanted to eat...and then i would. Ice creamwas a big issue! I feel like stopping around 6:30 or so is working for me now. Plus it gives the added bunous of making me wake up hungry which aids me on my quest to become a breakfast lover (another of my huge issues!)

eatcleanNtraindirty

I find that if I eat after 7pm my body retains extra pounds for the next 2 weeks

no

What do you mean no???

That is what my scale shows me.I'm trying to work out all the factors that lead to this.

It does not matter if you eat after 6pm... the key is not to eat right before you go to sleep....you should wait 2-3hrs after you dinner before bed.

Also what kind of calories you are putting in make a huge difference. You want to go for more whole fresh food, try to stay away from the processed packaged food that is loaded w/persvatives. Our food is our fuel and if we are putting in bad fuel well we won't get the same results.

Foods in the low glycemic index and making sure to get enough protein will fill you up for longer. If you are working out in the gym it is important to eat some protien when you are done, even if it is just a glass of milk it is better than nothing.

Mostly no to this as well.

I refer you to the book "Blood Sugar Solution" by, Dr. Mark Hyman and "The Calcium Lie," by Dr. Robert Thompson, "Weight Training for Life", by Hesson, "Thyroid Diet" by Mary Shomom, etc... not to mention any number of nutritional information that is available online, it does not take much to verify resources and check out results.

The type of calories consumed does matter as well as how much and when. It also differs w/each individual at what is most optimal. That is why there is no one "diet" plan that works for everyone. However given this there are some basic universal rules that always apply. Eat Healthy Whole Natural Foods, Watch Portion Sizes, Excercise, Drink Water, Get Enough Sleep.... one you through one of these off, you through the whole system off.

As I do not have these books...what do they say is wrong with eating within 2-3 hours of going to bed?

I don't know what these books say but I know that eating shortly before going to bed (or lying down after eating) can be problematic for your digestion of the food and can cause problems with your intestinal tract. Other than that, I would have to agree that it doesn't matter when you eat... I eat my dinners about an hour before I get to sleep due to my schedule and me not giving a F***

BunnybeeJG

Its stupid to put a time stamp on eating just as it is to state that its bad not to eat by 9am; time is a creation of our own minds and society and honestly you should try to eat within the first two hours of waking up and stop eating 2-3 hours before you are ready to conk out for the night. Its so irritating when people say otherwise.
Not everyone is the same... some people run the world during the day but you have to remember some do not. Therefore, from my experience of working slight graveyard shifts and being someone that is definately not a morning person i know theres no set time.

lets not be stupid people.