Eating late at night? Y/N? Why?

Eating at night is not a bad habit though, that's the difference between your argument and almost everyone else here.

Eating too many cals, be it at night or whenever is bad. But having a modest snack or a huge meal... as long as it fits in yoru cals is a GOOD habit.

The act of "eating at night" in and of itself is not necessarily a "bad habit." But it's a slippery slope if a person does not make overall good food choices and doesn't consistently burn more calories than they eat (as so many people have stated).

For ME...eating at night is problematic.

And it's not an "argument", it's my point of view. Calling it an "argument" implies that I am trying to change another's point of view, and I'm not. I was simply stating MY point of view.

People can think what they want to think, and they should do what works for THEM. THE END.

Eating ANYthing can be a slippery slope for someone who struggles with appropriate food choices. My downfall was second breakfast.

I don't think she knows about second breakfast, Pip.

second breakfast was never my problem, but when you start adding on 11sies at my house on the weekend then we sometimes have issues.

I'm a late night eater... So Yes! Sure! Make it ice cream!

werd!!

OP: as it seems to have finally been agreed to:

- intra-day meal timing is irrelevant from a weight loss perspective, however, personal preference, adherence and how it impacts your energy levels and sleep is relevant.

- if you are hungry and it causes you to get a worse nights sleep, then eating something later makes sense. The inverse also applies.

- if eating late at night aids in adherence then that makes sense. If eating earlier does, than that makes sense.

- in itself though, the energy balance still applies and should be looked at at the macro level - are you, on average, in a caloric surplus or deficit?

- I eat most of my calories after 9pm and usually after 10pm, and eat ice-cream in bed just before I go to sleep at about midnight. It has not affected my weight loss (and I am 45 year old so disagree that age makes any difference), helps my adherence, helps my gym performance and does not impact my sleep (being hungry would though).

eat when you're hungry and have the caloric availability.

Your stomach doesn't have a clock. Eat when you're hungry. I often eat right before going to bed, I get hungry late at night.

I'm not saying it's been said here but I've often seen on other weight loss forums people categorically state 'you must not eat after x pm'. It's probably the one thing that annoy me more than anything else. It annoys me because they think its ok to make a sweeping statement as fact to apply to every single person and if you get sucked into it it can end up being really detrimental to your weight loss, I'm not saying that people are wrong in thinking its best for them personally not to, it's not my place to say what's right or wrong for any individual. However it's when people use it as an absolute rule that applies to everyone and its irresponsible. I know in the past I've taken advice from posters on forums because they seem to know what they're talking about and are a 'respected' poster.


I often don't get home often til 8:30-9pm as I like to walk home from work which takes almost 2hrs, plus sometimes I can work til 8-9. This means by the time I've got in, showered, put a wash on, made a coffee and cooked it can be anytime between 9 and 10pm when I eat my tea, I also will usually have calories left so may well have some fruit or a bit of chocolate or both afterwards if I have the calories left (I often still have quite a lot left after work as I only have limited time in my break and if I eat too heavy at work it makes me sleepy) so if I listened to things like this I'd end up eating naff all which would only end in bad things for me. Slight rant there lol but the topic obviously brought out some unresolved annoyances in me haha!

Time of day has nothing to do with it. If you have calories left, eat if you're hungry.

I completely disagree with this statement. Every person's body composition is different, and the way our bodies breakdown calories is different. Also, depending on WHAT you eat before going to bed (and how often you do it) can be problematic.

I generally try to stop ALL eating/snacking at 9:00 p.m., regardless of the time I go to bed. The only exception is if I'm skating on a particular night (the session is from 9p-1a).

But if you're STARVING, then I suggest having some sort of protein, or a piece of fruit. Stay away from starches and foods that are high in fat and sodium.

facepalm