Saving all my carbohydrates for the end of the day?

2. Also does anybody have any low-carb breakfast suggestions for me?

Bacon and eggs

If carbs are a binge trigger for you, I can understand staving off until you can't take it any more. You're going to have to look deep to find out why you're binging on bread/crackers/etc. and see if you can learn how to either stretch them out during the whole day, changing them for other carbs (fruits and veggies), or do both.

It doesn't matter when you eat your carbs (or any other nutrient). Your metabolism doesn't slow down *that* much when you sleep.

You will get (and have already gotten) lots of advice. For every answer, there's and equal and opposite answer. I highly suggest that whichever way you choose to go (no carbs, low carbs, carbs in A.M. or not) that you work with a diet that you can live with for the long term: MFP will be easy, you won't be discouraged, and you won't feel deprived.

If you find you aren't losing weight quickly enough, you can always tweak your macros for maximum efficiency. (Reduce sodium goals, raise protein goals, lower carb goals, etc.) Good luck! And you will find very good advice, but you may have to use outside sources to verify tips and learn who to trust.

because not every one is the same, dude. Seriously........why does every twenty something muscle head DUDE think they have all the answers, especially for women?

What are the metabolic differences between men and women?

HORMONES!

I'd understood that what matters with carbohydrate is how complex the structure of the particular molecule is: sugar, sucrose, has only two units, glucose one, fructose one - they are the sweetest of the carbs, and are pretty much "ready to go" - they get into the system quick, and therefore make a big spike of sugar in the blood if there's a lot of them in your food. More complex carbs are found in the starchy foods - they're made of long strings of joined up glucose molecules, and the body has to "unzip" these from the ends of the string. That takes time, so the energy is released over a much longer time......less of a spike of sugar, and more sustained energy. The most complex carbs take the longest to release their energy, and so are sustaining over longest time too - found in oats, and pasta for instance. That's why endurance sports people will tank up on those the night before a major effort.

The real problem is that we've got used to eating too much food, period. We find ourselves with ever bigger portion sizes as "normal", and having got used to eating these, feel hungry if we don't stash away that volume of food. All the "eat protein, it's more filling but less fattening" ideas miss the point: sure we need to eat less refined sugar and fewer processed foods, so that we have to spend more energy digesting what we've got, but it's not sustainable to keep putting up protein intake to feel satisfied if we're struggling to shift weight....an excess of protein is also going to be harmful in the longer term, to our own health, but also to our environment.

Ok, that doesn't make sense to me AT ALL. You want to eat all your "bad" foods RIGHT BEFORE BED? When your'e about to go lay down and drop your metabolism down!!!???

so carbs are bad foods. is that all carbs? if not how are good and bad carbs defined?

What if i work out late in the day right before bed can I still eat carbs then?

How much does my metabolism drop during an average 8 hour sleep and do you have any evidence?

Why would eating one type of food at one certain time be more important that the overall intake of that food and activity levels over the long term.

please respond.

because not every one is the same, dude. Seriously........why does every twenty something muscle head DUDE think they have all the answers, especially for women?

There is evidence to suggest that you do not burn your food as efficiently while sleeping as you do while being active.

There is evidence to suggest that eating too much of ANYTHING is probably bad. There is enough evidence to suggest that it is harder for some folks, especially women, to burn LOTS of carbs and sugars effectively, especially if they are already sedentary and overweight.

And I'm not saying carbs are bad. I'm saying that as suggested by the OP, carbs are HER "bad food". I have also noticed that when my diet is carb heavy, my weight loss slows or stalls. When it's protein heavy, my weight comes off much more easily. My weight comes off easier when I cut drinking and cut extra sugar, too. That's just me, but it's common for lots of women. Just because it wasn't true for you doesn't really make it a universal truth.

The op mentioned she has problems with carbs and wants to find a way to control them. I suggested a way that has worked for me, and others have mentioned it worked for them.

Sorry that bunks your whole "I know every damn thing about every damn thing" theory, kiddo.

45 year old woman, so is my opinion more valid? There is no metabolic difference between men and women in this context.

Meal timing is irrelevant, intra day macro timing is irrelevant. there is no metabolic difference between eating your calories/carbs throughout the day compared to just before you go to sleep.

If you have evidence that suggests otherwise, please provide it.

As you mention anecdotal evidence re sample n=1, I will provide my own. I eat ice-cream just about every single day just before I go to sleep, in fact I eat most of my calories within 2 hours of going to sleep. I have lost weight at a totally predictable rate based on my calorific deficit and TDEE.

Edited to fix typo

Ok, that doesn't make sense to me AT ALL. You want to eat all your "bad" foods RIGHT BEFORE BED? When your'e about to go lay down and drop your metabolism down!!!???

so carbs are bad foods. is that all carbs? if not how are good and bad carbs defined?

What if i work out late in the day right before bed can I still eat carbs then?

How much does my metabolism drop during an average 8 hour sleep and do you have any evidence?

Why would eating one type of food at one certain time be more important that the overall intake of that food and activity levels over the long term.

please respond.

because not every one is the same, dude. Seriously........why does every twenty something muscle head DUDE think they have all the answers, especially for women?

There is evidence to suggest that you do not burn your food as efficiently while sleeping as you do while being active.

There is evidence to suggest that eating too much of ANYTHING is probably bad. There is enough evidence to suggest that it is harder for some folks, especially women, to burn LOTS of carbs and sugars effectively, especially if they are already sedentary and overweight.

And I'm not saying carbs are bad. I'm saying that as suggested by the OP, carbs are HER "bad food". I have also noticed that when my diet is carb heavy, my weight loss slows or stalls. When it's protein heavy, my weight comes off much more easily. My weight comes off easier when I cut drinking and cut extra sugar, too. That's just me, but it's common for lots of women. Just because it wasn't true for you doesn't really make it a universal truth.

The op mentioned she has problems with carbs and wants to find a way to control them. I suggested a way that has worked for me, and others have mentioned it worked for them.

Sorry that bunks your whole "I know every damn thing about every damn thing" theory, kiddo.

45 year old woman, so is my opinion more valid? There is no metabolic difference between men and women in this context.

Meal timing is irrelevant, intra day macro timing is irrelevant. there is no metabolic difference between eating your calories/carbs throughout the day compared to just before you go to sleep.

If you have evidence that suggests otherwise, please provide it.

As you mention anecdotal evidence re sample n=1, I will provide my own. I eat ice-cream just about every single day just before I go to sleep, in fact I eat most of my calories within 2 hours of going to sleep. I have lost weight at a totally predictable rate based on my calorific deficit and TDEE.

Edited to fix typo

Do you have that study bookmarked where people lost more weight eating a lot of carbs at dinner?

Ok so I have a question then. I work at UPS unloading trucks for about 4 to 5 hours per day, 5 days per week... on average I unload about 900 boxes per hour. That's extensive exercising for along period of time. Plus I can't even tell you how many squats I do per hour as I have to squat down to pick up boxes off the floor of the truck and place them up on a conveyor belt. Would this be similar to a runner training? Would I have to consume a lot of bulk carbs for energy? Under normal conditions, were I not working this job, I have a hard time losing weight due to carbs. I do much better on a low carb, high protein diet. But working this job, plus all the walking I do in a day <walking my son to school, walking a mile to catch the bus, walking 1/4 mile from the stop to my job, and vice versa> I was told I would need A LOT of carbs for energy. Is this so? Please help! I don't want to cause my body any damage internally.

I went to a nutrionist and she said to spread your carbs out throught the day.

Re: box loading for hours on end--Is your heart rate elevated continuously? If so, you are doing aerobic exercise by definition, and just happen to be getting paid for it. Sustaining your heart rate at an elevated level will prompt your body to more naturally want to burn carbs. If you starve it of carbs, or keep them to a lower or moderate level, it will mobilize fat instead, but a lot of people crash or have energy level/binge issues when doing this.