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

Just leaving this good read here:

http://www.biolayne.com/nutrition/carbs-at-night-fat-loss-killer-or-imaginary-boogeyman/

So my work sleep schedule is get up at noon, eat a small meal, work out, eat a normal meal at 3 p.m., and work until 2:30 a.m. During the time I work, I do not get breaks, am actively moving the whole time, and cannot eat meals in front of the public. So, I go from 3:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. usually on a protein bar. Let me reiterate that this is not my choice and I don't get meal breaks. So, should I not eat from 3:30 p.m. one day til noon the next day? Also, then I would need to consume about 1700 calories in within a 3 hour period. I simply have to eat before bed or I am intermittent fasting and then when I do eat, I'm having a binge.

If it's so bad for you, what do you suggest given what I've described?

Yeah, working late into the night can be a problem from a number of health points. There's a lot of medical research being done on the health challenges faced by nighttime workers. In your case, you might want to eat a bigger meal after you get up at noon and then delay working out for an hour (to give your stomach time to digest your food) before eating a similar-sized meal at 3 p.m. Can you eat a light snack and go to bed directly after you get off work? A lot of nighttime workers swear by taking melatonin before leaving work (you just dissolve a tablet or two under the tongue) and then they are sleepy by the time they get home. Is there any way you can eat more while working? It doesn't seem right that you cannot eat at all during work time--do you have a union?

Sounds like my schedule (bartending/managing a bar). No there is no union (at least not in most states) at about half of my jobs, I've never even gotten an hourly wage (only tips, though they still average enough, usually, to not worry about the $2/hr I would have been making).

I got in the habit of eating a large meal before work, and then eating a breakfast taco on the way home (usually at about 330am-4am by the time I actually eat) then I wake up, work out fasted and eat again before work. It isn't ideal but it still allows for about 12+ hours fasted (which is what produces the benefits you were talking about wrt hormones etc...).

One last thing to add, I currently have a later start time at work and practice intermittent fasting so I have been stopping eating shortly before bed on nights I don't work and fasting for 18 hours or so (up to 24 hours some days). During this time, growth hormones have been shown to continue increasing (through several studies) so why does it matter what time I quit eating or go to sleep? I spend more time producing those hormones than the average person anyway.

My vote is that you're over thinking this whole thing. And if Bob want's some ice cream, he should be able to eat some friggin' ice cream.

I cannot speak for others bodies, but I know mine, and I have seen it time and time again in the past...but not this time...I eat nothing...after 8pm....nothing...tea if my water for the day is complete...and that's tea with nothing added....when I eat at night I gain anywhere from1 to 3 lbs...every time...every shhhtinkin time:) <just sayin s'all

how much does 16 oz of tea weigh?

My vote is that you're over thinking this whole thing. And if Bob want's some ice cream, he should be able to eat some friggin' ice cream.

Amen.

So let's say in a 24 hour period you burn 2200 calories.
And let's say within that 24 hour period you eat 1700 calories (suppose you at 700 of them in bed).

What is 2200 - 1700?

I think you're missing the point. The body doesn't burn kcal at a steady rate. Even if Bob burns 2200 kcal in a 24hr period and only consumes 1000 during his day, giving the body more kcal than it NEEDS at any one time will result in storage. Even if Bob eats his ice cream in the middle of the day, any excess kcal will be stored for later use. And once the immediate energy needs are met and glycogen has been replenished, how are the extra kcal not stored as fat?

I believe it's you who are missing the point.

QFT

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...

Ok, let's say for the sake of argument that all of the temporary excess of 800kcal is immediately stored as fat. The next day he is still in a deficit and his body still requires more energy than he has eaten in order to continue functioning. It has to get that energy from somewhere, or he dies. Unless his body is performing photosynthesis or nuclear fission/fusion, he's going to get it from his fat storage.

water before bed and no food after 7pm is what I do.......

I think Bob's the winner here, he got to eat ice cream and go to bed with his mind at ease- and here we are staying up late worrying about the merit of Bob's choices.

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.

We have found the solution to high fuel prices! Just put an 'excess storage tank' in each car, a pump on the main gas tank pumps any excess gas into the storage tank that isn't being used at the moment. Therefore the car will continue to have more and more gas in the 'excess' tank and you will get free gas!