Does eating before you go to bed really make you fat??

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  • barackobamamama
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    Eating dinner doesn't make you gain weight. It's what you eat & how big your meal is, which is why they breakfast is your most important meal, it's to get your body ready fir the day. Whereas at dinner you eat and then sleep you're not burning anything. Hope that made sense lol

    Breakfast being the most important meal of the day is a myth also.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    The answer is yes. I have proved it time and time. It's not just about the calories, it's when you eat them. If I front-load my food into the earlier part of the day I lose more weight the next day. If however I have a heavy meal later in the day, the next morning the weight won't have budged. It's a key part of my diet, understanding that fact.

    And your evidence for this includes a sample of you and who else?

    me. and plenty of my friends. we are all healthy young ladies (no anorexia, bulimia etc). you will see the results sooner if you don't eat before sleeping.

    Uuuuhhhh ... you were not the author of the post to which I replied.

    There's nothing wrong with IF, but it isn't about what time you stop eating at night in relation to when you go to sleep. You misunderstand the concept and why it worked.

    As for the people saying our grandparents rode horses for transportation ... How old are your grandparents??? My grandmother will be 97 in three months and she never rode a horse in her life.
  • Austin1988
    Austin1988 Posts: 243 Member
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    fine, you people do whatever you want, i am just saying that in the last month i haven't been snacking after dinner (again, it's NORMAL and natural thing to do). I am saying a girl should try it. if she dies because she fasted for oh-such-a-long-night between dinner and breakfast, then please accept my deepest apology. it's not my fault that you are seeking "scientific proof" just because you're too used to snacking before bed. It worked for me. I am a student. My brain is working perfectly, I have a lot of energy and my body looks better than ever! and i know it's BECAUSE i've stopped eating after dinner. Because in the past i tried so many things and nothing worked so well.

    Not saying she is going to die, or that she is going to have ill effects. OP apparently is hungry at night and would like to know if snacking before bed would make her fat loss suffer. In truth, it will not.
  • jeleda913
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    My own personal experience is that it doesn't make a difference, as long as you're still eating less than your body burns. I typically only have a latte in the morning (no "real" breakfast), and beacuse of my schedule, it's not unusual for me to eat within an hour of bedtime - but I've lost 20 lbs so far, and am still steadily loosing. The one thing I do try to do is stay away from very heavy, starchy foods before bed, simply because they make me feel groggy the next morning. If I'm going to splurge, I try to do it during the day.
  • myofibril
    myofibril Posts: 4,500 Member
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    Eating before bed causes fat storage.

    I get round this by eating under the bed.
  • Natashaa1991
    Natashaa1991 Posts: 866 Member
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    fine, you people do whatever you want, i am just saying that in the last month i haven't been snacking after dinner (again, it's NORMAL and natural thing to do). I am saying a girl should try it. if she dies because she fasted for oh-such-a-long-night between dinner and breakfast, then please accept my deepest apology. it's not my fault that you are seeking "scientific proof" just because you're too used to snacking before bed. It worked for me. I am a student. My brain is working perfectly, I have a lot of energy and my body looks better than ever! and i know it's BECAUSE i've stopped eating after dinner. Because in the past i tried so many things and nothing worked so well.

    Not saying she is going to die, or that she is going to have ill effects. OP apparently is hungry at night and would like to know if snacking before bed would make her fat loss suffer. In truth, it will not.

    of course. if she eats a good, healthy dinner she shouldn't feel hungry afterwards (unless she sleeps every night at 3 am). I had a bad habit of snacking before bedtime, and when i stopped doing that, that's when i started losing weight, without any other changes in my diet. it was hard for me and still is but i think my new body is worth it.
    i just shared my experience and this worked for me. i am not forcing her to do it. but it might help her. it did help me, again.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    fine, you people do whatever you want, i am just saying that in the last month i haven't been snacking after dinner (again, it's NORMAL and natural thing to do). I am saying a girl should try it. if she dies because she fasted for oh-such-a-long-night between dinner and breakfast, then please accept my deepest apology. it's not my fault that you are seeking "scientific proof" just because you're too used to snacking before bed. It worked for me. I am a student. My brain is working perfectly, I have a lot of energy and my body looks better than ever! and i know it's BECAUSE i've stopped eating after dinner. Because in the past i tried so many things and nothing worked so well.

    Not saying she is going to die, or that she is going to have ill effects. OP apparently is hungry at night and would like to know if snacking before bed would make her fat loss suffer. In truth, it will not.

    of course. if she eats a good, healthy dinner she shouldn't feel hungry afterwards (unless she sleeps every night at 3 am). I had a bad habit of snacking before bedtime, and when i stopped doing that, that's when i started losing weight, without any other changes in my diet. it was hard for me and still is but i think my new body is worth it.
    i just shared my experience and this worked for me. i am not forcing her to do it. but it might help her. it did help me, again.

    If the only diet change you made was that you stopped snacking before bed, then that means you were eating fewer calories.
  • Natashaa1991
    Natashaa1991 Posts: 866 Member
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    fine, you people do whatever you want, i am just saying that in the last month i haven't been snacking after dinner (again, it's NORMAL and natural thing to do). I am saying a girl should try it. if she dies because she fasted for oh-such-a-long-night between dinner and breakfast, then please accept my deepest apology. it's not my fault that you are seeking "scientific proof" just because you're too used to snacking before bed. It worked for me. I am a student. My brain is working perfectly, I have a lot of energy and my body looks better than ever! and i know it's BECAUSE i've stopped eating after dinner. Because in the past i tried so many things and nothing worked so well.

    Not saying she is going to die, or that she is going to have ill effects. OP apparently is hungry at night and would like to know if snacking before bed would make her fat loss suffer. In truth, it will not.

    of course. if she eats a good, healthy dinner she shouldn't feel hungry afterwards (unless she sleeps every night at 3 am). I had a bad habit of snacking before bedtime, and when i stopped doing that, that's when i started losing weight, without any other changes in my diet. it was hard for me and still is but i think my new body is worth it.
    i just shared my experience and this worked for me. i am not forcing her to do it. but it might help her. it did help me, again.

    If the only diet change you made was that you stopped snacking before bed, then that means you were eating fewer calories.

    no, i ate more snacks in the afternoon.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    Hello.
    I wanted to know peoples opinions on what time to eat.
    Say if you get up at 5am and go to bed at 9pm.So does food eaten in the latter hours really lie on your stomach and turn to fat???.Even if its within your calorie goal for the day??
    Are these myths.Don't eat after 6pm etc etc.
    What do people think???

    I eat when I'm hungry. When at work, I eat when the company tells me to. :tongue:
  • nml2011
    nml2011 Posts: 156 Member
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    No, infact eating carbs before bed will make you sleep better and perform better in the morning.

    one myth followed by another.

    this one might be true for some but it's not a general rule.

    Take a look at carb backloading by John Keifer... there is plenty of science and results to back this up!

    I eat at an excess of about 500 - 1000 cals (have done for the past 6 months) and roughly lose 1% bf a month as do a lot of others running this protocol!
  • BeantownSooner
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    I do believe it is individualized and each must make their own decisions. As many have said it really is about calories in vs. out. Will eating before bed hurt if you're doing daily workouts? Probably not. But, could NOT eating before bed be helpful for some? Probably so. To those that say, "It hasn't hurt me?", I simply ask, "Could you even be further along if you tried it the other way?"


    So here's the Caveat and some of the "science" behind those that say "Do Not Eat Before Bed".

    IF you exercise 1st thing in the morning and your goal is to lose Fat, "fasting" overnight could be beneficial. Not just carb restricting but simply don't eat before bed. It's certainly not for everyone but if you can do it (and want to) then here's the reasoning behind it.


    Exercise (especially cardio-based) does two things metabolically. It burns calories and affects hormone levels in your body. Specifically, it helps raise levels of norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is a natural hormone in our bodies which underlies our "fight-or-flight" response and directly increases heart-rate which triggers the release of glucose from energy stores. Glucose is stored in our bodies as Glycogen where the liver and our muscles only have so much storage space. The rest of it is stored in our fat cells. The inverse of this can be seen as a rise in Insulin.

    When you "fast" overnight, the levels of liver and muscle glycogen are normally very low when you wake up 1st thing in the morning since this is the fuel that is used to keep you alive. Will it all be depleted? No but the point is if you restrict the intake before bed the level of "storage" will be lower than the if you had eaten right before bed.

    With depleted glycogen and low-blood sugar, you'll have the most optimal environment to burn fat instead of carbohydrates. Since carbs and glycogen are your body's primary and preferred source of energy if you have them available it will always use them first. When they're low (or non-existent) your body has little choice to tap into it's secondary energy source which is fat. Obviously our bodies are not that selective on what it'll burn as you'll likely use energy from all 3 sources but in this state the majority will come from stored fat.

    As always it's an individual decision. Is it bad to eat before bed? Of course not. Is it bad to not eat before bed? Of course not. Do what works best for you and if your ultimate goal is to lose fat then Not Eating before bed COULD be an effective way to help you meet that goal (among other things of course).
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    if your ultimate goal is to lose fat then Not Eating before bed COULD be an effective way to help you meet that goal (among other things of course).

    If it effects total energy balance then yes.

    Regarding glycogen levels, if you are not eating at night in an attempt to keep glycogen low (to promote a fat burning environment per your example) and you are comparing equal energy intakes, you are by default consuming more calories during the day. This increases fat storage during the day and also increases fat oxidation overnight/in the AM.

    The net balance between fat oxidation and fat storage is what matters, and shifting calories around isn't really going to have a significant effect on this. Generally speaking, if you're moving intake to increase oxidation during fasting periods, you are increasing storage during fed periods, because you're eating more calories during that time.
  • NewAngel35
    NewAngel35 Posts: 182 Member
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    Eating before bed causes fat storage.

    I get round this by eating under the bed.


    Lmao!!!:)
  • NewAngel35
    NewAngel35 Posts: 182 Member
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    Again.thanks everyone for a lively debate. A lot to think about ...
  • CyeRyn
    CyeRyn Posts: 389 Member
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    I'm picturing a bunch of fat cells staring at watches.

    Anyway, I *personally* eat all the way up until past midnight on some nights depending on if I can sleep or not. As long as I stay within my calorie goal I've been able to lose 8lbs in the past 6 weeks. I am not under eating either. I eat back 80% of my exercise calories and tend to eat them more in the evening hours.
  • vmekash
    vmekash Posts: 422 Member
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    Calories can't tell time. I work third shift and eat breakfast before I go to bed in the morning. Hasn't stopped my weight loss. I'm down 30 pounds!

    ^^^This.
  • IronPlayground
    IronPlayground Posts: 1,594 Member
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    I like how this article explains things. http://www.livestrong.com/article/557830-4-reasons-to-eat-more-calories-and-carbs-at-night/

    Some may not agree. I have had no trouble losing pounds/inches by eating sometimes half of my calories in the evening. I actually enjoy it. Some people just can't eat late do to a medical condition, i.e. reflux during sleep. If that isn't the case for you, then I wouldn't worry too much about the timing. Just make sure you are staying at a deficit.
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
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    When I eat before bed, I sleep better. Sleeping well helps with weight loss.
  • CannibalisticVegetarian
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    I can't remember where I read this (Probably one of the Cracked articles or some random web), but it's supposedly a myth. It's said that you shouldn't eat before bedtime because of the discomfort it could cause while you sleep. (i.e. heartburn, indigestion..)
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
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    Nope, its all a load of codswallop.

    +1 to you for using the word codswallop