Will you gain weight if you eat before sleeping?

If credentials matter (which is questionable to begin with as I've seen credentialed and "educated" people make claims that have been readily established as erroneous) -- here you have it from Alan Aragon (bachelors and masters degrees in Nutrition and a very long list of accolades).

Alan: Whether fat oxidation is greater during waking or sleeping hours doesn’t matter. What matters is 24-hour fat balance, which is fat synthesis minus fat oxidation. See, those are the 2 sides to the equation. If you eat less during the day & more at night, fat oxidation will occur at a greater rate during the day. If you do the opposite, fat oxidation will occur at a greater rate through the night – & you end up at the same spot. After 24 hours, the body doesn’t know nor care which half of the day contributed to either a net loss, gain, or maintenance of fat balance. Unless you have a specific need for increased energy intake (ie, prolonged competition in a particular sport ocurring in the earlier part of the day), there’s no reason to assume that eating more during the day & less in the evening is INHERENTLY beneficial for body composition goals.

http://fitnfly.com/learn-about-food/nutrition-facts#_

Ok, and my doctor has a different opinion, and she has a post doctorate degree. If its a competition who's got better education, she'll beat your Alan's butt.

Anyway, Alan is not the last testament in this matter, there are thousands of researches done. It's the matter of personal preference which doctor to trust.

Edited to add: I'm not sure if post doctorate degree exists in the USA. It's what you get after your PhD. I think it's mostly European and Asian.

You know, it's funny when you look at your diary none of your days have a consistent caloric intake. Yet, you're convinced the only way for you to lose weight is to get medical advice from a doctor.

Maybe you should try consistency first.

Well, I make language jokes all the time - the goldmember thing is funny (There is a movie by that title) - and I speak a few languages (English is my second, German my fourth and throw in a few others) but I wasn't making fun of YOU. Typos are funny.

I think you brought in your doc's education as "proof of truth". She's just a doc and doesn't have "la science infuse".

No, I brought up my doctors education because someone in this tread started making jokes about her credentials. And aaaaaall that is because my diet plan prescribed by this doctor conflicts with whatever they've read in this forum.

Yeah, she's just a doctor but she's specialized in weight loss and has been successfully working in the weightloss for decades. Therefore, I'm sorry but in my eyes she has more authority than someone online. If you don't mind, I'll keep following the diet she prescribed me.

sounds like she is blowing stuff out of proportion. So if she said never eat solid food only liquid and drink only water and you will surely lose weight then you would follow blindly?

From what I read you follow her "do not eat after a certain time". Sounds like that is just being more strict then need to be done. But there has been plenty of evidence that if it doesn't matter like Steel pointed out. I am not saying what she says doesn't work, it is just that she is making you do something that is not necessary for success.

I always have a "snack" before bed it wont affect your weight loss its not bad as long as you dont go over your calories but i do allways have my "snack" before midnight because after midnight i consider it a new day for food logging!

NO

Not if you in a deficit no more discussion NO MORE!!

This is the most entertaining thread on this forum.
i think the main reason i gained weight so quick in the past was because i suffer major insomnia and usually ended up binging at night.
Since on clean food/calorie deficit, i continue to get my most intense cravings at night, like, LATE at night.
I always keep enough calories in my "budget" to have a healthy snack before bed so i dont feel full nor famished... not eating before bed usually results in an obsession in my cravings that keeps me from sleeping.
Also i get those really vivid dreams about waffles! haha. (wish i was joking!)
my weight loss has been very stable over the last month since i started... about 1-2lbs a week depending if i get my butt to the gym that week... it would make total sense to me that the time you eat does not factor in your weight loss as long as you are at deficit given your BMR is an indicator for a 24hr period that includes sleep.
Some food are potentially not really good for your quality of sleep though.
thats my 2 cents...

You actually burn more calories while you are sleeping than you do exercising. I usually burn around 800 calories while sleeping, but only 300 in an exercise session.

It does NOT matter *when* you eat your calories as long as you are in a deficit for the day under your TDEE. The calorie deficit is what matters, not when you eat.

how did you measure your calories burnt during sleep?

Probably with an HRM.

thats crazy..that would mean the person would have to sleep with the strap on then..

it would be interesting to see if a person burns more calories if theyre tired...or days where youve burnt more vs days less (while asleep)..interesting topic to research.

I have a fitbit that I wear to bed. It tracks my sleeping patterns and shows me my calories burned while sleeping.

OP, the answer is no. I do IF and can eat quite a lot right before sleep.

I always eat before bed if I haven't hit my macros for the day, usually when I've had a busy shift. It has not hurt me. Besides I can't sleep when I'm hungry!

But isnt is true because you're not burning anything or doing anything physical and the body stores the food as fat?

If you aren't burning calories, then you're probably dead. Over consumption is why people get fat.

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