Tell me again why eating before bed won't make me fat?

beachlover317

The problem with eating late at night is that when you lay down all the food settles in whatever direction you're laying down and then sinks into your body as fat!! So lay on your back and all that food is going to turn into a fat *kitten*....lay on your side and your late night meal with settle into fat hips....lay on your front and you'll get a bigger belly.

Eating during the day whilst you're moving around means the food never has a chance to settle and become fat; instead it swiches around and gets broken down into smaller and smaller pieces as you move around until they're too small to even become fat...and then your body expels them.

FACT.

This may be the single funniest thing I've ever read on MFP. Well done! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I am eating a salad as big as my head and sitting in a chair typing away on MFP - I hope the salad doesn't go to my *kitten*. :laugh: :sad: :laugh:

Oh, but I think you know the answer to that already. Lettuce while sitting down = big bottom. Just one of those sad facts of life.

Tomorrow, I will eat my big salad WHILE I run and not after. I will probably need some help in how to eat on lifiting days, as both hands are full of barbell.

mistesh

Beans are dense little suckers however they produce lots of gas in the stomach and gas rises!

Haha, does this mean your scale shows a higher reading once you have expelled the gas? I was coincidentally thinking of just that the other day and was reminded of a story I read a few years ago about some guy who ate a lot of beans, had something to drink too maybe and then fell asleep in a room; the door and all windows were closed, and he expelled so much gas he died from the toxic fumes. Supposedly a true story.

MsPudding

So, what about drinking soda? I'm trying to get my head around the science but wondering if the reason why I put on weight when drinking soda is because the gas bubbles makes all the food in my stomach sit at the top for hours and hours, rather than being digested? You seem to know your stuff and hope you can help me

It's ok, I know the science of weight loss can be confounding at times....although I have to say that you are very perceptive because you are right, having soda make *all* your food float to the top is as bad as having it all settling to the bottom...it just means you'll get a fat torso rather than a fat *kitten*.

So; there are two solutions for you:

1. Moderate your soda intake. Take a few sips, then a few bites of your food, then a few more sips so that everything is a bit more mixed up.
2. Invest in my Gyronator 3000; proven to gently mix your food into small, non-fat making particles. This man lost 350lb with a healthy 'low density food diet' and 30 minutes a day on the Gyronator 3000 and he's never looked back!

CristinaL1983

craziest fact I've ever heard! I believe this is what you have heard or think but it's ridiculous. Your body has an ENTIRE different way of converting food into fat. And it's the calories that you don't burn off but just like you can't lose 2 pounds of fat in a day - you can't gain fat that fast either.

No, no. You see losing weight is not really about calories, it's about the density of the food you eat.

Ok....let me explain. We all take it as given that on a beach the heavy pebbles eventually sink to the bottom and lighter sand particles rise to the top, right? It's the same in our stomach! The dense, heavy food is more likely to sink to the bottom and turn into fat than the lighter, less dense food. So....pork belly - dense, more likely to settle unless you keep it on the move....popcorn, not very dense at all so less likely to settle quickly.

The more dense food you consume, the more you have to keep it moving (trampolining is the best form of exercise for keeping dense food from settling quickly!) and the less dense food you eat the less you need to jiggle it around to keep it from settling and becoming fat....so think crackers, popcorn, marshmallows and fish (fish float so they are naturally less dense...as is duck and other aquatic birds.)

Now there is one exception to the dense food rule and that is beans. Beans are dense little suckers however they produce lots of gas in the stomach and gas rises! So beans are actually good foods to eat. Now obviously I don't want to get too deeply into the science of this on here, but you can read more about it in my forthcoming nutritional book 'The Unbearable Lightness of Bean'

Yes, there is the "floats on water" camp. According to them, health food consists of things like:
bread
apples
very small rocks
cider
gravy
cherries
mud
churches
lead
a duck

Personally I think this is total BS and I only eat things if you can build a bridge out of them.

People who turn other people into newts also float on water. Clearly, those people are cannibals. I would advise staying away from them.

LiftAllThePizzas

I got better.

TheRealParisLove

I think this all depends on how much the body is attempting to repair during sleep. Tissue repair takes place during sleep and the level of damage that needs repair is going to determine how many calories are burned during the sleep cycle. If a person exercises vigorously during the day, eating a high protein, high carb meal before sleep can actually be beneficial for tissue repair and muscle growth. Having the nutrients readily available during this repair process is more efficient. This is why we tend to crave carbs and protein at night (ice cream and other sweet treats are typical night time snacks).

ETA: Ok, after going back and reading through the other responses here, I feel like I showed up at the after-party waaaaayyyy to sober. I love all the creativity here! Thanks OP for getting the party rolling! :flowerforyou:

CristinaL1983

I got better.

On a totally side not, if you don't happen to have the soundtrack, I highly recommend it. This in particular is my favorite part

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZqs36C5sgM

Mistyfied_MD

All this debate is pointless, lol. If you're eating the proper amount of calories on a regular basis, it doesn't matter when you eat them. No, eating before bed, in and of itself, will not make you gain weight.

Eating too many calories in a certain time frame is what causes weight gain.

zyxst

All this debate is pointless, lol. If you're eating the proper amount of calories on a regular basis, it doesn't matter when you eat them. No, eating before bed, in and of itself, will not make you gain weight.

Eating too many calories in a certain time frame is what causes weight gain.

Why didn't you post sooner and save the internet 10 pages of used electrons?

Mistyfied_MD

Why the sarcasm about someone else chiming in?

Warrenp773

If I am trying to gain weight is eating before bed a good thing?

nickiog

i lost over 70 pounds in about 6 months or so while eating a candy bar almost every single night...in bed...around midnight.


i guess im just eating it wrong.

taso42

If I am trying to gain weight is eating before bed a good thing?

it's irrelevant. if you're trying to gain weight, eat in a surplus.

jofjltncb6

In to learn more about this vexing problem.

Crankstr

In to learn more about this vexing problem.

I like the word vex.

LesaLu4

Bump

MsPudding

If I am trying to gain weight is eating before bed a good thing?

Yes, eat very dense foods and try to sleep in a different position each night to evenly distribute the weight gained.

Mistyfied_MD

Not to question your expertise, but food density and what position I sleep in has never affected my weight distribution. Ever. Is there any science to support your claim?

DavPul

Not to question your expertise, but food density and what position I sleep in has never affected my weight distribution. Ever. Is there any science to support your claim?

DavPul

If I am trying to gain weight is eating before bed a good thing?

back when i was on the other side of this weight problem thing I would have a tall glass of chocolate milk before going to bed. i believe it helped me.