Is it true that you shouldnt eat after 6pm?

2

Replies

  • Trapwolf
    Trapwolf Posts: 142 Member
    ps: sorry about the odd formatting of the above post
  • ruthtoulson
    ruthtoulson Posts: 1
    I have had weight loss success if I stop eating 3 hours before bed.
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
    I eat dinner every night around 8:30pm. And I'm usually tucked into bed by 9:30pm with my skinny cow ice cream bar. It has never effected my goals!
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
    And I'm usually tucked into bed by 9:30pm with my skinny cow ice cream bar.

    Is this with or without the Lifetime channel?
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    I have had weight loss success if I stop eating 3 hours before bed.
    Me too. I've also had weight loss success eating my last meal/snack in bed about 10 minutes before I fall asleep.

    Meal timing is absolutely irrelevant (absent digestive issues, as others have stated). Your metabolism doesn't shut down at night - you continue to breathe, circulate your blood, digest foods, absorb nutrients, create waste products, etc. just like when you're awake and functioning during the day. Just because the conscious mind goes to sleep doesn't mean the rest of the body does.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    7:25 pm and I'm just finishing dinner. Going to have a glass of chocolate milk before bed, too. I'll probably start to turn in around 9, since the alarm goes off at 5.
  • OTchic
    OTchic Posts: 205 Member
    if i am hungry ill eat at 9 or 10 pm odviously a snack not olive garden xD and i lost 30lbs in 7mths
  • AmyFett
    AmyFett Posts: 1,607 Member
    No... not because it'll ruin your day. You might just have a stomach ache or something, weird dreams. But no.
  • drmerc
    drmerc Posts: 2,603 Member
    I have heard 7pm, I have heard 8 pm.
    Its all opinions.

    It's all bull****
  • kb119
    kb119 Posts: 18 Member
    everyone is different. I struggle with wanting to eat my largest meal at night and I can tell a difference. If I distribute most of my calories into the early part of the day I lose weight, but if I eat larger meals at night (all staying in the same calorie range), my weight loss is very sluggish.
  • no1canadianangel
    no1canadianangel Posts: 115
    Nope, i often have a protein shake before bed
  • Softrbreeze
    Softrbreeze Posts: 156 Member
    I heard that saying at least 20 years ago and whoever started it obviously led a very sheltered life- how that saying is still circulating is beyond me. There are people from all walks of life. If you are one that goes to bed at 10 pm and eats 3 full meals a day, that might fit your lifestyle very well, but if you're a grazer and never really get full, you'd be starving by 9pm. Or if you go bed at 3 am, how is that realistic? Just do whatever feels right for YOU.
  • RhonndaJ
    RhonndaJ Posts: 1,615 Member
    I sure hope not since I usually eat after six p.m. Though I do prefer not to go to bed until a couple hours after dinner, it's only a comfort thing, not some hard fast rule about it.
  • Linda_Darlene
    Linda_Darlene Posts: 453 Member
    Only if you have a problem with indigestion!
  • lukeevans85
    lukeevans85 Posts: 108 Member
    I would think no as technically food is food and a calorie is a calorie no matter when you eat. However, many people do swear by not eating after a certain time. I imagine that it is just a logical thought process as presumably one's activity levels gradually drop throughout an evening and so you maybe don't have so much time to try and burn some of it off if you're just going to veg out on the sofa in front of the TV for several hours. Now if you go out dancing all night then I would imagine that it wouldn't matter at all when you ate!

    Going out dancing all night is going to burn the same amount of calories whether you eat at 5pm or 9pm. It really doesn't matter.

    Your body is going to burn a finite amount of calories during the day. You, as a hungry human, are going to take in a finite amount of calories during the day. Whether those calories are taken in before 5pm or after 8pm doesn't change the fact that you're body is still burning that finite amount of calories.

    It's like saying "Well if you fill up your gas tank before parking your car for the night you won't use as much gas".
  • TallCurvyMuscles
    TallCurvyMuscles Posts: 50
    only affects the scale in the morning if you havent passed out your food.
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
    No, its not true. Eat when you want, if you have the calories.
  • yourenotmine
    yourenotmine Posts: 645 Member
    Not unless it makes you feel icky. Personally, I don't get home from work until after that, so if I *don't* eat, I'll feel icky. :)
  • all4my3boyz
    all4my3boyz Posts: 94 Member
    Is it true that you shouldnt eat within a couple hours of bedtime?

    That can't be true. What about people on the east coast? What about people that work evenings, or the people who work nights and wake up at 6pm?!?

    It's not about the actual time, it's about how long before you go to bed that is in question.
  • leahalissa
    leahalissa Posts: 88 Member
    There are studies that suggest a 16 hour daily fast helps with weight loss. This would fall into the time you eat.
    Other than that, or acid reflux, it doesn't matter when you eat. Try different things and do what works for you.
  • JennyLisT
    JennyLisT Posts: 402 Member
    It's not true, unless you have particular health conditions. Your body still needs to sustain you when you're asleep, so it's not like you won't "burn" calories.
  • JamieLSmith113
    JamieLSmith113 Posts: 1
    My trainer says not to eat a few hours before you go to bed. 1) No calorie burn laying in bed. 2) Digestion (especially reflux issues).
    He also tells me, and when I do this it really works well, to eat big meal and big carbs early, medium size lunch and lower cal and carbs for dinner. Logic is that you have all day to burn up the breakfast calories and carbs, whereas the dinner time stuff is probably gonna involve you siting on your rump afterwards. Actual time of day is unimportant. It is based on when you quit being mobile and become stationary. Hope that helps some.
  • pattyg1821
    pattyg1821 Posts: 81
    as others have said depends on stuff like acid relux and things but IN THE REAL WORLD jobs arent always monday -friday 9 to 5. I work the evening shift 2p-10pm and often don't go to bed til 1-3am. So really that don't eat after 6 rule doesn't apply to alot of people.

    The person that made that rule up didn't think about evening shifts or night shift workers.

    Now don't get me wrong. I do believe in some facts about not eating past certain time. I use to work day shift for many years but I wouldn't eat supper til later. Between 6-9pm.

    Its easy for stay at home mothers/fathers that can cook for their families ahead of time and have supper ready by reasonable 6-7pm. But who really goes to bed that early.

    Even when I would work 6am-2pm. I wouldn't go to bed til 1100-1200 at night. So there for my supper meal 6-9pm fit right in perfectlly.

    But now I eat all through out day and night. May wake up at 7 am eat breakfast go back to bed for little bit get up eat lunch then go to work at 2pm to 10pm then-go to gym at night after work.
  • Barbellerella
    Barbellerella Posts: 1,838 Member
    My trainer says not to eat a few hours before you go to bed. 1) No calorie burn laying in bed. 2) Digestion (especially reflux issues).
    He also tells me, and when I do this it really works well, to eat big meal and big carbs early, medium size lunch and lower cal and carbs for dinner. Logic is that you have all day to burn up the breakfast calories and carbs, whereas the dinner time stuff is probably gonna involve you siting on your rump afterwards. Actual time of day is unimportant. It is based on when you quit being mobile and become stationary. Hope that helps some.

    Broscience at its finest!

    No calorie burn lying in bed he says?! Wow you must be dead then.
    I've Had no issues with my fitness and I sometimes eat dinner at 10pm. What matters most is that you eat less calories than you burn 24 hours a day. No silly rules necessary. Just do what works for you. :)
  • sanmiguelcaldas
    sanmiguelcaldas Posts: 1
    is not bad, but your metabolism goes slower at night because you are not active!
  • ktlynn4queen
    ktlynn4queen Posts: 6 Member
    I have heard that it is best to eat yogurt or cottage cheese before bed. Especially if you are not eating as many carbs. Something in the dairy that helps your muscles so they don't break down as much? I try to eat something small before I go to sleep. Especially if I am hungry!
  • Crochetluvr
    Crochetluvr Posts: 3,256 Member
    bump
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    It is really all about calories, however the longer the fast before "breakfast" the more your body gets a chance to produce HGH human growth hormone, thus promoting weight loss.

    After all the dieting I had done over the years I finally just learned to eat what I called mini meals (simple calorie reduction) then I stopped eating at 7pm because I learned this on one of the diets (The Makers Diet), but again it helped with simple calorie reduction. I wasn't measuring or tracking calories back then, or doing a specific diet (because I was SICK of diets) just eating less. I lost 40 lbs this way. Over time while losing the weight I realized I probably had enough calories some days by 5pm or even 3pm so decided to stop for the day. It was hard, but the weight loss became more consistent. I told a friend about it, that I found the secret to weight loss for me was "mini meals" and "mini fasts". He told me to look up "Eat Stop Eat" and the book explained scientifically how the body produces HGH. It was fascinating, highly controversial, but I am lean and muscular in my older age and as far as I'm concerned the proof is in the pudding. There is no scientific evidence for "starvation mode" (you will see that people are highly emotional about it - not scientific), but there is scientific evidence for starvation mode for men under 5% body fat and women under 10% body fat.
  • LifestyleChange33
    LifestyleChange33 Posts: 169 Member
    Sure if you're going to bed at 7. Oh or if you're over your calorie goal by then.
  • mepeter2
    mepeter2 Posts: 1
    It depends on when you go to bed. Always eat at least 2 hours before bedtime. It's not good to eat and go right to bed. ;-). If you can't help it and you're really hungry, try yogurt, string cheese, a boiled egg, you get the idea. Protein will satisfy the hunger so you can sleep.

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