Eating at night, but within calories

jennipooh0324
jennipooh0324 Posts: 85 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all,

Years ago I remember people telling me "To lose weight you don't want to eat past 7pm". But to me, that is like Chinese torture.
I run a home daycare, so am busy all day long (from 7am until 5:30pm) and then have 2 young children to look after. So needless to say, after 7:30 is when I sit down and have some "me" time. And during that ME time, I usually like to SNACK.
I don't do it every night, but probably 5 out of 7 nights. But I either save some of my 1400 calories or eat a few of my exercise calories back (not many).
My snacks consist of Rice Cakes or the Pepperidge Cracker Chips (Nacho cheese, tastes like doritos but for about 1/3 of the calories).

Replies

  • kimmymayhall
    kimmymayhall Posts: 419 Member
    It doesn't really matter when you eat your food as long as you stay within your calorie goal.
    Have at those snacks :drinker:
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,319 Member
    It doesn't matter in terms of weight loss when you eat. If you eat at night staying at your calorie goal, there is nothing wrong with that. Your body burns calories 24 hours a day.
  • chezjuan
    chezjuan Posts: 747 Member
    Meal timing is largely irrelevant*. On workout nights I sometimes don't eat dinner until 9:00 PM or later. I can end up eating more than 1000 calories at that time to meet my calorie and macro goals. Never had a problem losing weight, and it doesn't affect my sleep.

    *Some people have problems with acid reflux at night, or eating too close to bed affects the quality of their sleep. In those cases, I would say that they should probably avoid eating after a certain time...
  • florentinovillaro
    florentinovillaro Posts: 342 Member
    I personally feel it doesn't matter or at least, it's not practical. 1) because it takes approximately 8 hours for your body to digest anyways. Which means you would have to eat your last meal 8 hours (not here to debate the length, it's an example which varies) before going to bed before your Glucose levels normalize and your body goes back into fast mode (which starts the fat burning process). If you go to bed at 8pm, then your last meal needs to be lunch which isn't practical.

    Your thoughts?
  • Mercedespony
    Mercedespony Posts: 162 Member
    ^^ agree (with Chezjuan post).
    I don't get home during the week from work/gym until 7-730 pm most nights, dinner in this house is a hit and miss between 8-9 pm.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    I eat most of my calories in the evening because that's when I'm hungry. Meal timing is irrelevant when it comes to weight loss.
  • FattyFatsoMcTubby
    FattyFatsoMcTubby Posts: 170 Member
    Like everyone is saying, it doesn't matter. I eat my dinner between 8:00 and 9:30PM almost every day.
  • AllOnMeWOL
    AllOnMeWOL Posts: 26 Member
    Research studies have shown it doesn't matter what time you eat but you should stay awake at least an hour or two after eating to give your body time to digest it. I have an issue with gag reflex and every time I'm brushing my teeth when I brush my tongue it causes me to gag. And if I ate the night before and went straight to sleep it doesn't matter how long I slept when I wake up and brush my teeth I end up throwing up whatever I ate the night before proving it just sat in my stomach all night. I work graveyard so my on nights at work I eat majority of my calories from 8pm to 9 am and I lose just fine!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Your body requires XXXX calories to maintain weight...in my case it's about 2800...why on earth would it make any difference whatsoever when I eat those calories? Given the above maintenance level of calories, I required around 2100 - 2200 calories to lose about 1 Lb per week...why on earth would it matter when I ate those calories?

    Meal timing, frequency, how many calorie you have in a given sitting is all irrelevant. I generally eat dinner around 8:30 and I'm in bed reading by 9:30 and sleeping by 10...I pretty easily and consistently lost 40 Lbs and have been maintaining for 7 months with the same. Hell...I don't even get home from work until almost 7.
  • jennipooh0324
    jennipooh0324 Posts: 85 Member
    thank you soooo much everyone.

    I didn't think it made sense, but just wanted to check with others that have had success
  • Rebecca1552
    Rebecca1552 Posts: 44
    I'm a night eater as well and still lose :smile:
  • csmccord
    csmccord Posts: 272 Member
    I divide my intake evenly into four meals, of which the fourth one is for my snack. I finish my dinner at 7 PM, about 30 minutes after my exercise. I'm usually hungry again by around 9 or 9:30, so I tend to essentially have a fourth meal. My diary is public, so you can see for example that tonight my "snack" is really my fourth meal. I still lose weight even eating about a hour before I go to bed.
  • juliagorina
    juliagorina Posts: 34 Member
    This might be beside the point, but if you are really worried about snaking during the "me" time, try planning ahead and running a bath for yourself. Or painting your toes (no has to see it!), or something that somehow, makes you admire yourself even more. I try to do this, but it's not always easy. Stretching is one of my favorites... I really like feeling long and lean (even if it's just in my head!). Sometimes, I opt to go to bed early after some sleepy time tea (although this is dangerous, because I make my tea in the kitchen, and temptation is strong). Planning is everything, hope that helps!
  • luvdatbud
    luvdatbud Posts: 7
    I think the whole don't eat after 7, is more about big pizzas and burgers. I don't think a couple hundred calories in chips would be that big of a deal.
  • tristaj90
    tristaj90 Posts: 330 Member
    I eat supper at 6-7 most nights. I don't eat breakfast til about 10 am though. As long as you give your body time to fast you're fine. I read somewhere you should take a 12 hr eating break. Seems to work for me.
  • jynxxxed
    jynxxxed Posts: 1,010 Member
    I always eat at night. And in the morning.. and whenever I'm hungry. Enjoy!
  • BranDiesel_27
    BranDiesel_27 Posts: 46
    Stay away from high Fat foods after 7 and high carb foods. If you must have something go as pure protein as you can. but dont have too much! :)
  • icimani
    icimani Posts: 1,454 Member
    I've found that I actually do better when I eat dinner 7:30-8pm. That way I'm not hungry and looking to snack on a calorie-dense snack before bedtime. If I eat earlier, I will have an evening snack but I try to make sure that it has a decent amount of protein like cheese or a handful of nuts.
  • FrauMama
    FrauMama Posts: 169 Member
    I eat the majority of my (high fat) calories after 6-7 pm, until 9 or so (like maybe 1000-1300 cal--a lot) and it's all good....and I'm also not hungry in the mornings until about 10-11am. You're fine!
  • rileamoyer
    rileamoyer Posts: 2,412 Member
    got to have my bedtime snack - so I plan for it!
    :happy:
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    Stay away from high Fat foods after 7 and high carb foods. If you must have something go as pure protein as you can. but dont have too much! :)

    So my evening bowl of ice cream or cereal should never have helped me get to where I am. I must be special.

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