Does WHEN you eat matter?

Junisahn

I get up between 6:30 and 7:30, depending on how many times my daughter was up in the middle of the night. I don't generally eat breakfast until 9, and even then it is only 200-250 calories (oatmeal and fruit).

I eat a light lunch around 12:00 - usually 250 calories, rarely up to 400.

Then I snack at 2:00, 3:00,4:00 - fruit, veggies and nuts, for a total of 400ish calories.

I eat dinner between 5:00 and 6:00 - usually 600-700 calories.

Then I eat the rest of my calories between 8:00 and 9:00 - ice cream and fruit - about 300ish calories.

So... by my rough calculations, I eat more than half my calories at dinner or later. Is that messing with my body?

I think I have a fear that if I eat too much, too early, I'll be hungry later and not have any calories left.

With breastfeeding my daughter, walking, yoga, and gardening, I usually burn about 600-900 extra calories a day over the 1200 minimum that MFP gives me.

singcoz528

I don't think it really matters. I eat 6 times a day 200-300 cal meals. It keeps my metabolism higher than it would if I ate bigger meals. I am never hungry though so it seems to work for me.

I'm not sure if eating a big meal would hurt or not, I doubt it though... Seems like you are on the right track.

poustotah

Just from my personal experience, I used to eat similar to you and my trainer (who hasn't always given me the best advice), told me to eat the bulk of my calories and carbs earlier in the day. When I started doing that, I was eating 2000+ calories a day and was losing weight like crazy. I also added a snack around 8 pm - usually nuts or something low carb and it didn't seem to matter at all.

durbanski

Nutritionists I've talked to say to eat the most before 7 pm the reasoning being that youre not as active after that and therefore the more calories taken in go straight to fat most likely. Sad but true.

- Dustin

♥seoid♥

I don't eat after 7:30 p.m. as mentioned above.

smarston

I have just heard that you shouldn't eat anything 3 hours before you go to bed.

tessa1981

I have a dietician and a personal nurse that both have told me it doesn't matter what time you eat but what you are eating and why. Carbs take a while to digest and if you work out in the morning and at night you will work them off anyways. I eat 5 small meals a day and work crazy hours so sometimes i can't help what time i eat. If you are still worried talk to a nutritionist since they will have the best answer.

mzmoonlight

I've never paid attention to when I eat. I tend to eat very little in the mornings and mid afternoon and have the majority of my calories late afternoon/early evening. It hasnt stalled my weight loss. I really dont think it matters when you eat, only how much.

samueleketorp

Don't be afraid of eating early. I used to dread having to eat a full and healthy breakfast. I was brought up on cornflakes and milk the few times I had breakfast so I had that habbit with me in later years.

Now that I try to get all my nutrients in during the day and not by night, I wake up hungry. I want to eat right after getting up. I've found that this helps kickstart the metabolism (or so it feels). After that, I aim for 5 more meals, one snack between breakfast and lunch, and then a snack between lunch and dinner and I allways leave a little room in my calorie budget for an evening snack, should I start feeling a little peckish later on.

Perhaps you ought to start cutting down on food in the evening and allow that to generate a healthy morning appetite the next day?

Ryhenblue

I eat when I'm hungry. I do most of my eating in the evening but that is because I don't get up til after 10 am and go to sleep around 2 am. I do like to stop eating before midnight though only because I like to do yoga before I go to bed.

ldarter

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the time of day you eat has no effect on how the body uses calories. The overall number of calories consumed and burned over the course of 24 hours is all that effects weight. The CDC site has lots of good information on weight loss and achieving a healthy weight.

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/calories/index.html

courtney_love2001

I do similar to you, but I avoid the 300 cal snack after dinner. I eat a 200-300 cal breakfast, 400 cal lunch, 600 cal dinner, and a snack around 3pm for however many cals I have left for the day (generally 200-300). It has been working for me...but whatever works for you!

Junisahn

Thanks for all the responses... seems like mixed opinions on this. I eat in the afternoon because I'm really hungry! I just called my husband (he's at the grocery store right now!) and asked him to bring home some yogurt. I'm going to try to have a serving of plain yogurt (actually, my favorite kind!) between breakfast and lunch, and see if that changes my overall hunger in the afternoon. I'll try to slowly move a few hundred calories to earlier in the day.

I guess I'm seeing, from your responses, that there's good reason to believe that I eat so much in the second half of the day because I eat so little in the first half!

shariguymon

I get up between 6:30 and 7:30, depending on how many times my daughter was up in the middle of the night. I don't generally eat breakfast until 9, and even then it is only 200-250 calories (oatmeal and fruit).

I eat a light lunch around 12:00 - usually 250 calories, rarely up to 400.

Then I snack at 2:00, 3:00,4:00 - fruit, veggies and nuts, for a total of 400ish calories.

I eat dinner between 5:00 and 6:00 - usually 600-700 calories.

Then I eat the rest of my calories between 8:00 and 9:00 - ice cream and fruit - about 300ish calories.

So... by my rough calculations, I eat more than half my calories at dinner or later. Is that messing with my body?

I think I have a fear that if I eat too much, too early, I'll be hungry later and not have any calories left.

With breastfeeding my daughter, walking, yoga, and gardening, I usually burn about 600-900 extra calories a day over the 1200 minimum that MFP gives me.

When you are breast feeding it is very important that you get adequate nutrition throughout the day. Don't skimp in the mornings. Best to spread it out over the day. You actually won't be as hungry if you eat adequately in the morning! Most importantly pay attention to WHAT you eat. When you try to make the best food choices without feeling deprived, your hungar can be a fairly accurate guide providing you haven't stimulated it with high sugar, high fat, and high salt foods.

BootCampC

when you eat does matter let me just lay this out and you can do with it what you like. Your body will burn 300 calories every 3 hours without excercise and store the rest as energy, If you know your going to go to the gym and burn 500 calories within the next 2 hrs , its safe to say you can have a 700 calorie meal and burn it off. can you eat 700 caloies and watch tv and burn all of then probably not 400 will go to stores , 4 hrs later you eat again so now you have to burn the fat/sugar stores plus the food energy you just ate.

ldarter

There are lots of myths associated with dieting and the timing of when a person eats is a very common point of contention among dieters as a result. Personally I figure doctors and registered dieticians are more qualified to dispense accurate information so no offense but I'll stick with their opionion that it doesn't matter.

lilchino4af

We watched this week's Biggest Loser and they usually have Trainer's Tips before the commercial breaks. One of the tips were regarding this subject. They said usually people eat their bigger meals toward the end of the day but it should be the other way around. You should eat bigger meals earlier in the day and get progressively smaller because your body can use the larger breakfast and medium lunch as energy throughout the day, so there's plenty of time to burn off all the calories you eat. If you eat your biggest meal at dinner, your body doesn't have as much time to burn all those calories and will end up storing the calories instead, which is counterproductive to weight loss. Makes sense to me.

ldarter

I do understand the temptation to cling to the idea because of course it makes perfect sense logically that when people are awake they should be burning more calories than when they are asleep. But it infers that just because someone eats more calories they are going to burn more calories. A person who say has a sedementary desk job is actually not going to burn many more calories during the first eight hours of the day than any other time. I don't have any quarrel with those who want to eat the bulk of their calories early in the day, it is just that the science doesn't show it makes any difference.

jw17695

It definitely matters to me. I can burn more off during the day than I can the night. Going to bed with a full stomach makes a difference on scale the next morning for me.

sassydot

I find if i don't eat enough earlier in the day, I am ravenous by about 3pm so I snack (and not always on good stuff either cos my sugars are so low) then I'm too full to eat dinner properly, so pick at that, then come 8pm I'm having an attack of the snacks AGAIN.

I eat probably 2/3 to 3/4 of my cals before 2pm. It works best for me.

Trying to save them for if I'm hungry later, just leads to an overall HIGHER intake.

kwardklinck

I usually eat 400 at breakfast and about 450 or so at lunch. Then I eat more of my calories after work but usually don't eat after 7:00. I do my exercise at night though so it doesn't seem to affect my weight loss negatively. Maybe you should eat the largest meal around the time you work out so that you burn them?