Late night calorie intake

I'm in need of some help/advice/opinions!

I am limiting myself to approx 1500 calories a day. Sometimes at night I find I have an abundance of calories left. For instance tonight, after adding my calories burned from working out, I have 900 plus calories left I am "allowed" to eat. But it's also 8:45 pm.... Is it better to just forgo those calories or should I eat something regardless of how late it is to get a minimum amount of calories in. I don't wanna put my body into starvation mode but I also don't want calories just hanging out in my belly all night turning into fat!

1) You don't have to worry about "Starvation mode"
and
2) Eating at night does not cause calories to turn to fat any more than eating them during the day does. Fat accumulation over time is caused by an energy surplus, it is not caused by eating certain calories at certain times.
and also
3) That being said, exercise expenditures are often inflated on MFP.

I'm in need of some help/advice/opinions!

I am limiting myself to approx 1500 calories a day. Sometimes at night I find I have an abundance of calories left. For instance tonight, after adding my calories burned from working out, I have 900 plus calories left I am "allowed" to eat. But it's also 8:45 pm.... Is it better to just forgo those calories or should I eat something regardless of how late it is to get a minimum amount of calories in. I don't wanna put my body into starvation mode but I also don't want calories just hanging out in my belly all night turning into fat!

1) You don't have to worry about "Starvation mode"
and
2) Eating at night does not cause calories to turn to fat any more than eating them during the day does. Fat accumulation over time is caused by an energy surplus, it is not caused by eating certain calories at certain times.
and also
3) That being said, exercise expenditures are often inflated on MFP.

Well of you take my exercise out of the equation I have 500+ calories left... Should I eat something to use those or just let them slide?

The answer to this, as with anything, is context dependent.

I would start by eating those calories regularly and monitor your progress over a couple of weeks. See if you lose weight. See how overall hunger is, etc.

And adjust from there.

here's a few facts to ease your mind. It takes a minimum of 3 days with zero calorie intake for your metabolism to begin to adjust to the lack of caloric intake.

Actually it seems metabolism does adjust to fasting sooner than three days, but it's in the opposite direction from what everyone around here seems to believe. Yup, that's right... it actually gets a bump.

Which only magnifies your point... worrying about a day here or day there is just silly.

Everyone just needs to relax and adopt a mentality based on processes rather than acute variables.

Late night eating does not cause weight gain. It does not matter what time of the day you eat, what matters is what you eat. Although, it is still important to be cautious with this habit. Eating at a time too close to bedtime may give you indigestion.

I would suggest making an effort to consume a bit more during the day, because no eating at night doesnt miraculously turn food into fat, but your metabolism slows way down at night, regardless if you work night shift or not. I work nights and i gained alot of weight a few years ago when i started because I thought naively that because i started my work day at night, i could eat three strong meals like i would during the day. Bad idea. So try to consume more during the day and eat light after 8

No. Metabolism does not slow way down at night. There is a slight drop, due to the fact that you are asleep and not moving. Otherwise there is no difference. Also, it makes no difference when your metabolism dips or spikes throughout the 24 hour cycle, as the only thing that matters for weight gain/loss is total caloric expenditure minus total caloric consumption.

If you eat 1500 calories and your body burns 2000 calories, you have a 500 calorie deficit, no matter what time of day you eat those.

I've been working overnights for over a year, and have had no issues cutting and bulking.

To the OP, eat. It's always nice to have a bunch of extra calories left over to enjoy a treat with.

I would suggest making an effort to consume a bit more during the day, because no eating at night doesnt miraculously turn food into fat, but your metabolism slows way down at night, regardless if you work night shift or not. I work nights and i gained alot of weight a few years ago when i started because I thought naively that because i started my work day at night, i could eat three strong meals like i would during the day. Bad idea. So try to consume more during the day and eat light after 8

No. Metabolism does not slow way down at night. There is a slight drop, due to the fact that you are asleep and not moving. Otherwise there is no difference. Also, it makes no difference when your metabolism dips or spikes throughout the 24 hour cycle, as the only thing that matters for weight gain/loss is total caloric expenditure minus total caloric consumption.

If you eat 1500 calories and your body burns 2000 calories, you have a 500 calorie deficit, no matter what time of day you eat those.

I've been working overnights for over a year, and have had no issues cutting and bulking.

To the OP, eat. It's always nice to have a bunch of extra calories left over to enjoy a treat with.

Everyones body is different. It was simply a suggestion based on MY experience. MY metabolism slows way down at night, i know this for a fact. Glad you obviously dont have the same problem.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/489157-does-your-metabolism-slow-down-at-night/

Men also have faster metabolism than women---perhaps this is the difference between you two guys and me. We can agree to disagree i guess. Good luck everyone!

I would suggest making an effort to consume a bit more during the day, because no eating at night doesnt miraculously turn food into fat, but your metabolism slows way down at night, regardless if you work night shift or not. I work nights and i gained alot of weight a few years ago when i started because I thought naively that because i started my work day at night, i could eat three strong meals like i would during the day. Bad idea. So try to consume more during the day and eat light after 8

No. Metabolism does not slow way down at night. There is a slight drop, due to the fact that you are asleep and not moving. Otherwise there is no difference. Also, it makes no difference when your metabolism dips or spikes throughout the 24 hour cycle, as the only thing that matters for weight gain/loss is total caloric expenditure minus total caloric consumption.

If you eat 1500 calories and your body burns 2000 calories, you have a 500 calorie deficit, no matter what time of day you eat those.

I've been working overnights for over a year, and have had no issues cutting and bulking.

To the OP, eat. It's always nice to have a bunch of extra calories left over to enjoy a treat with.

Everyones body is different. It was simply a suggestion based on MY experience. MY metabolism slows way down at night, i know this for a fact. Glad you obviously dont have the same problem.

I'd hate to see this get reduced to a tit for tat argument. Hopefully you can appreciate good conversation that leads to more understanding for everyone. But the above poster is correct... metabolic rate doesn't slow way down at night. Not even close. And you're totally right... everyone's rocking unique bodies. But some of the stuff that's under the hood doesn't really vary in terms of how it works. We all have hearts that operate similarly, muscles that contract with the same sort of central and peripheral wiring via our nerve matrices, etc. Metabolic rate is no different.

Yes, energy expenditure falls during the night since we're sleeping, but our bodies don't stop functioning at its baseline level. The most expensive part of energy expenditure, that being our metabolic rate, still ticks right along.

It's important to zoom out a bit and look at the bigger picture. It's the 24 hour time frame that's more telling than anything else.

I would suggest making an effort to consume a bit more during the day, because no eating at night doesnt miraculously turn food into fat, but your metabolism slows way down at night, regardless if you work night shift or not. I work nights and i gained alot of weight a few years ago when i started because I thought naively that because i started my work day at night, i could eat three strong meals like i would during the day. Bad idea. So try to consume more during the day and eat light after 8

The time of the day has nothing to do with the fact that you gained weight. In fact I eat HEAVY after 8:00pm 1400 up to 2600 cals and have not gained a pound.

I'd hate to see this get reduced to a tit for tat argument. Hopefully you can appreciate good conversation that leads to more understanding for everyone. But the above poster is correct... metabolic rate doesn't slow way down at night. Not even close. And you're totally right... everyone's rocking unique bodies. But some of the stuff that's under the hood doesn't really vary in terms of how it works. We all have hearts that operate similarly, muscles that contract with the same sort of central and peripheral wiring via our nerve matrices, etc. Metabolic rate is no different.

Yes, energy expenditure falls during the night since we're sleeping, but our bodies don't stop functioning at its baseline level. The most expensive part of energy expenditure, that being our metabolic rate, still ticks right along.

It's important to zoom out a bit and look at the bigger picture. It's the 24 hour time frame that's more telling than anything else.

Thank you for being nice---so much more appealing than sarcasm.

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