Tell me again why eating before bed won't make me fat?

I can't believe I just did this. But here goes. To spell it out:

Consider this spreadsheet. It represents some fictional person who has a TDEE of 2120

The hour column represents the 24 hours in a day.

Hours 17 thru 24 are sleep, so he's burning only 65 cals per hour that hour. The rest of the hours he burns 100 cals per hour.

He has 3 meals over the course of the day for 500, 300, and 750 calories respectively/

You can see that over the course of the day, he at some points reaches a surplus, and at some points reaches a deficit.



On balance, he achieves a deficit of 570 calories for this day

I invite you to create a spreadsheet of your own and divvy up the meals however you like.

If you still don't get it after this overcomplicated explanation, then I'm sorry.

Edit: er, actually, the way I laid it out, he's in a deficit all day. But you get the point? No? Probably not? I don't care.

I am no expert, but I do live by Jillian Micheals rules. She says NO food after 9 and no CARBS after 7. Your body will simply turn it into fat. Even sugary food. Her thing is to eat yogurt if you neeed a snack-greek low fat of course. It works! If I am watching Hell's Kitchen and have nothing to eat I get so pissed, so I eat yogurt or carrot/celery with hummus. Then I dont feel deprived. And no booze before bed. She has it down for 2 drinks a WEEK. And beer or a lowfat vodka drink. I suggest bubblegum vodka with club soda. Lowfat, tastes great and a nice mellow buzz. Does that kinda help? lol

You need to extend your timeframe to account for the entire day.

Except I'm not concerned with Bob's daytime intake. I'm not concerned with whether or not he's maintaining a deficit. Because that part is irrelevant to my question. Even if Bob is maintaining a deficit during the day, and by this I mean that his body is using stored energy while he's up and moving, or even sitting and typing. I'm talking about about the period of Bob's 24 hours when his body requires only the minimum to function. How are the extra kcal he's consumed before bed going to be used instead of stored? Bob may still be losing weight, but giving the body more kcal than it requires at any one time results in kcal storage. This is my argument.

Aside from some bio-chemical/medical issues, it really doesn't make much difference when you eat your calories. However, it probably isn't a good idea to eat a heavy meal before retiring because it is likely to contribute to reflux esophagitis (which many obese folks suffer). In addition, there is the problem of insulin spike (following a blood sugar surge from a heavy meal) suppressing human growth hormone (which is mainly secreted in the first couple of hours of sleep). Adequate levels of growth hormone are desirable for weight loss and other health points. Exercise does stimulate the secretion of growth hormone slightly, but it is unlikely to make up for the loss of nighttime secretion due to high caloric intake before bed.

Ghrelin (please, no gremlin pix) is a potent stimulator of growth hormone and ghrelin is high when we are hungry. So going to bed a little hungry is not a bad idea from a bio-chemical standpoint. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) is also a potent stimulator of growth hormone--as opposed to hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) which suppresses it. Since many, many obese folk have high blood sugar issues anyway, it is unwise for them to eat large meals before bed.

I know there will be people here who will say, "I have lost 114 pounds and I have always eaten nearly all my calories after 7.p.m." While that may be true, their bodies would have probably prospered a bit more by eating lightly in the evening (if at all).

Science and logic. Thank you!

there is just as much science on the other side. The amount their body's would have prospered would have been minuscule. it's very similar to the "OMGZ you must eat breakfast and every 3 hours to rev your metabolism". We are finding that "rev" is like little putter with a negligible difference. It is so minuscule people would do much better to focus that energy more on overall diet and training.

the only real reason i see not to eat before bed is that stomach acid can go up in your esophagus while you are sleeping causing heart burn or acid reflux like symptoms.

I'm not talking about a glass of milk or a small snack here. I'm talking to the people who believe that it doesn't matter when you eat your calories. I get that your body can't distinguish time and doesn't care when it gets food, but if a person eats during the hours he/she is up and moving then there is a greater immediate need for kcal and less is stored for later use. But if a person eats and then goes to sleep?

Let's say Bob's BMR is 1600/24hr. Basic math would say that Bob would burn 66.67 kcal/hr while sleeping. If Bob has a 6 hour sleep cycle, he would burn 400kcal during those 6 hours. Right?

If basic biochem holds true, when Bob eats, his body will use whatever kcal it needs to meet its immediate energy requirements and store the rest for later use. Yes?

Holding these first two statements to be true, if Bob eats 1200kcal of Ben and Jerry's while watching the Biggest Loser and then immediately goes to bed, how are the extra 800kcal used? Because if they're not used, they're stored. Right? And if only so many kcal go to replenish glycogen stores, what about the rest?

Discuss...

I believe that its not so much "eating before bed" thats the problem... I think its more of "having shorter fasting periods".

If you normally eat right before bed... and then wake up like 7 hours later and eat breakfast... thats ONLY 7 hours of fasting.... So when people cut off eating at about 8... and then wake up at 8, thats 12 hours of fasting. So i think THAT is what really matters...