Does eating past 7pm make you gain more weight?

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  • DeMarraDontStop
    DeMarraDontStop Posts: 342 Member
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    Dr. Ian recommends not eating within 90 minutes of going to bed. If you must have something make it light. I've been following that for awhile now. It works for me...
  • Flixie00
    Flixie00 Posts: 1,195 Member
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    I eat my dinner between 8.30 - 9 pm (my biggest meal of day generally), when I get in from the gym. I will go to bed 10.30 - 11 pm and I have had no problems losing weight.
  • Gramps251
    Gramps251 Posts: 738 Member
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    Eating right before you sleep has been shown to disturb sleep, but eating at night in of itself will not cause weight gain if you have the calories.

    This can happen for some people but it isn't universal. Everyone is different. I sleep better on a full stomach.
  • super_monty
    super_monty Posts: 419 Member
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    I have just eaten a big bowel of ice cream at 22:30, no difference to eating it a 10:30
  • Gogretchen1
    Gogretchen1 Posts: 74
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    All of these smart *kitten* above my are right. But they kind of made it seem like you had a stupid question- which you DON'T.

    No, you will not gain weight by eating at night. But in order to burn the most calories while you sleep, it is important to try not to eat 2-4 hours before you go to bed. If you eat a sandwich at 9 and then go to bed at 10, for instance, your body will work off that sandwich while you sleep. If you had eaten it at 6, it will be mostly digested and your body can work solely on burning FAT while you sleep.

    So if you're eating at seven at night, I would say that you shouldn't turn in for the night until at least 10 if you want to use your sleep to your advantage :)
  • zanAspera
    zanAspera Posts: 29 Member
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    Meal timing or indeed meal frequency have no bearing on weight loss. Its about calories in vs calories out.

    That is another myth, the nuanced truth lies somewhere in between. If you eat a large meal and then go to bed or worse sit down and watch TV and never get up(at least in bed you roll over and toss and turn more than many TV watchers), the reduction in your metabolism will store more food as fat than if you were active and burning the blood sugar.

    On the other paw, eating at 6pm then going to bed at midnight will leave you very hungry and more likely to make poor choices for breakfasts, unless you know better and have a firm commitment to eating well.

    A lot depends on when you ate, what you ate and when you sleep. If you ate a lot of simple carbs, your bloodsugars will quickly spike and leave you hungry in the late evening and even hungrier in the morning even if you don't "cheat". But if you eat a meal with some protein and good fiber content, that will take several hours to digest.

    The recommendations I've heard are try to eat something about 3-4 hours before bed and then nothing after that. But there is no magical hour after which you shouldn't eat.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    I have just eaten a big bowel of ice cream at 22:30, no difference to eating it a 10:30

    You ate a WHAT?!?!?!?!

    lol
  • nicleed
    nicleed Posts: 247 Member
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    I eat dinner between 7.30-8pm every night and am in bed around 10pm. Never hurt me!
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    If you know you want to eat at night then just leave yourself some calories for that. I really like to snack in the evening more than any other time, so I leave myself at least a couple hundred calories after dinner. I think the mentality behind this myth is that if you stop eating at 7 (or 8, as some people tell it) you'll eat less, but it's the eating less that works, not the time frame.
  • track2thin
    track2thin Posts: 3
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    No. BUT this can also be a time of great weakness (watching TV, etc . .) and I find it so easy to eat "a little" popcorn or other snacks. Don't forget to log everything. Going for a post dinner walk helps me.
  • Meg_78
    Meg_78 Posts: 998 Member
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    It's never made a difference for me, and I generally eat from 6am to midnight...
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    Meal timing or indeed meal frequency have no bearing on weight loss. Its about calories in vs calories out.

    That is another myth, the nuanced truth lies somewhere in between. If you eat a large meal and then go to bed or worse sit down and watch TV and never get up(at least in bed you roll over and toss and turn more than many TV watchers), the reduction in your metabolism will store more food as fat than if you were active and burning the blood sugar.

    You are neglecting what happens in a larger period of time. In a prolonged calorie deficit, fatty acids that may be stored post-eating are oxidized for fuel. In a situation where one eats most of his or her calories at night, they are by default, eating fewer during the day. This increases daytime fat oxidation and offsets evening fat storage. And this is exactly why it makes no difference in terms of net fat balance.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    All of these smart *kitten* above my are right. But they kind of made it seem like you had a stupid question- which you DON'T.

    No, you will not gain weight by eating at night. But in order to burn the most calories while you sleep, it is important to try not to eat 2-4 hours before you go to bed. If you eat a sandwich at 9 and then go to bed at 10, for instance, your body will work off that sandwich while you sleep. If you had eaten it at 6, it will be mostly digested and your body can work solely on burning FAT while you sleep.

    So if you're eating at seven at night, I would say that you shouldn't turn in for the night until at least 10 if you want to use your sleep to your advantage :)

    This is just plain not true. To parse it would not be worth it. It's just not true.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
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    No. Meal timing doesn't matter.

    The reason why many people say not to eat after 7 (or some other random time) is because most people have had breakfast, lunch, dinner etc by then, and anything else after that is just late night, unnecessary, snacking. If you actually plan to eat then, there's no problem. I always eat past 7.
  • Cespuglio
    Cespuglio Posts: 385 Member
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    I agree that meal timing doesn't matter as long as you are eating on a deficit. I think (and this is just speculation on my part) that a lot of the confusion with meal timing and such might arise from the intention to maximize the impact of this macronutrient versus that one when your body is at a certain stage (ex. protein right after weight lifting for maximum absorption and aid in muscle repair, etc). Bodybuilders, athletes and the like also have to pay more attention to their bodies than most before a competition, and the slightest percentage change in body fat, muscle mass, etc can mean the difference between winning or losing. As such, they have to micromanage just about every aspect of their diet and exercise. Of course, a lot of misinformed people who are just starting a fitness routine choose to emulate these people and in an attempt to do everything right in order to get the same results, they mimic everything they see these people doing, not realizing it doesn't always have to be THAT involved.
  • Chlo92x
    Chlo92x Posts: 168 Member
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    Thanks guys :)
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
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    There is no cut off time. People wake up at different times of the day. A person who wakes up at 7am and a person who wakes up at 2pm will eat at different times. The 2pm guy has lunch when the 7am guy has breakfast. The 2pm guy has dinner when the 7am guy sleeps, so how can you say that eating after 7pm or 8pm makes you gain weight.

    The only point is to eat your last meal roughly 3 hours before you sleep and/or eating a snack about 1.5 hours before bed.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
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    Does eating past 7pm make you gain more weight? If you are still within your calorie limit of the day?

    No, all that matters is a calorie deficit, or just a calorie budget for maintenance if you are done losing.

    When I was in a calorie deficit I stopped at 7pm, then 3 or 5pm, but only because I had enough calories for the day. It really doesn't matter when you stop eating, all that matters is a calorie deficit. But for me I found the longer fast before breakfast helped with the weight loss only because I was eating within a smaller "eating window" which simply helped me keep within calorie budget.

    Now that I'm maintaining I've sort of evolved to a different pattern although it wasn't necessarily planed this way, I eat until almost bed time and head right to the gym in the morning before eating, so end up not eating until noon. Again the smaller eating window allows me to more easily stay within my calorie budget for maintenance.

    There are studies that show HGH is produced in the body 15-24 hours into a 24 hour fast, as well as heading to the gym and working out with a longer than 4 hour fast. HGH provides many benefits to the body including weight loss (metabolism). Who cares if it's the HGH or the process of keeping within calorie budget, if the thought of HGH motivates you to stick with it makes it work?

    Have fun with the journey.
  • Gramps251
    Gramps251 Posts: 738 Member
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    All of these smart *kitten* above my are right. But they kind of made it seem like you had a stupid question- which you DON'T.

    No, you will not gain weight by eating at night. But in order to burn the most calories while you sleep, it is important to try not to eat 2-4 hours before you go to bed. If you eat a sandwich at 9 and then go to bed at 10, for instance, your body will work off that sandwich while you sleep. If you had eaten it at 6, it will be mostly digested and your body can work solely on burning FAT while you sleep.

    So if you're eating at seven at night, I would say that you shouldn't turn in for the night until at least 10 if you want to use your sleep to your advantage :)

    LOL. Calling us names and wrong all in one post. Keep up the good work.
  • purpleipod
    purpleipod Posts: 1,147 Member
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    No, why would it?

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