Importance of not eating before bed?

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yocaitygee
yocaitygee Posts: 57
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm just curious how important it is to not eat the 2 hours before going to bed? I know it gives you time to digest, but not fully and my body would when I'm sleeping. I'm only asking because it has been kind of impossible for me! I work an 8-5 desk job and I will work out before it sometimes and after always until at least 730-8. When I get home I go to the kitchen and get my breakfast and lunch ready for the next day and then eat a small dinner and then get in bed. I have a medical reason for always being tired so I know this is so lame for a 20-year-old, but I honestly like to be in bed by about 9-930. I know I could switch around the preparing my meals and eating, but this still does not leave enough time. Sometimes I will be home earlier, but planning to go for another workout around 8 and I don't want to get a cramp. I also would rather not stay up later just so I can digest my food!! I would just like to understand the complete logic of eating an alloted amount of time before bed.

Thanks!:smile:

Replies

  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
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    Unless going to bed with food in your stomach makes you feel unpleasant, there isn't anything wrong with it.
  • k8lyn_235
    k8lyn_235 Posts: 507 Member
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    nothing wrong with eating before bed. that whole saying came about because a lot of people tend to overeat at night while lounging and watching tv and end up consuming hundreds of extra, unneeded calories that way. however, if you are on here i assume you are tracking your calories, so it doesn't really matter what time you are eating those calories :) if that made any sense..
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
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    I generally eat a snack around 8PM, usually a dessert. But I'm an insomniac so I'm not going to sleep until midnight or later anyway, so it still has time to digest.

    I'd say you should go with what works for you. If you're following your caloric intake and balancing your fat/carbs/proteins reasonably, then it won't make as much of a difference when you eat it.

    Especially if adjusting your schedule means you have to cut out some of that exercise! That seems far more important than the timing of your meals.

    You could adjust it a tiny bit earlier by eating dinner first, then prepping your meals for the next day. But that might mean getting things out of the fridge, etc, twice which may be less efficient.
  • sweetNsassy2584
    sweetNsassy2584 Posts: 515 Member
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    Don't go balls out and stuff your face before going to bed but a light dinner is just fine. My recommendations would be to eat most of your calories throughout the day and have your light dinner.
  • ElHombre23
    ElHombre23 Posts: 126 Member
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    I generally avoid carbs avoid after 7:00PM. If I get hungry i'll have a low carb protein shake.
  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
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    Unless it causes you issues with your sleep, there is nothing wrong with eating before bed.
  • bkandisjj29
    bkandisjj29 Posts: 172
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    I always eat a snack before bed, and I have lost 22 pounds since February.
  • darcie81
    darcie81 Posts: 69 Member
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    my mom is hypoglycemic so she needs to eat before bed so her sugar doesn't drop to low while sleeping. she has lost a ton of weight and i'm trying to follow her diet so i eat before bed and i'm still losing and i'm not so hungry in the mornings where i want to stuff my face.
  • kalynn06
    kalynn06 Posts: 368 Member
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    I tried a few years ago to find a study on this, because I was told on a prominent fitness board by one of their experts that eating a small low fat snack an hour or two before sleep could make me gain pounds of fat even while eating at a severe calorie deficit and working out moderately hard to hard 6 times a week. My scientist's brain went, "Bah! Huh! Is my body shortchanging my organs to turn that 80 calorie snack into fat/ Does the snack trigger my body to catabolize my muscles and go through the long process of making glucose only to store it as fat just because I ate it at night? Data, please?" I got a pseudo scientific explanation with no actual evidence. I looked for support, but didn't find it.

    I did find an article by a doctor and a nutritionist addressing the issue here: http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/35320/35323/432544.html?d=dmtHMSContent. Most of the studies I've seen that implicate night eating seem to suggest that the problem is that you're more likely to eat the wrong things or wrong portions at night rather than a separate mechanism activating with night eating versus day eating.

    As far as I can tell from evidence, as long as you watch your portions and count the calories and macros, it shouldn't matter as far as weight is concerned.
  • Misshodge64
    Misshodge64 Posts: 8,588 Member
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    Hello everyone, believe it or not I tried not eating 3 to 4 hours before bed. It honestly did my body small wonders. I ate my biggest meal for breakfast than as the day rolled away I ate lighter and lighter .I heard a guy said that fir breakfast he eats like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a servant. I noticed my stomach started to get smaller, can't say I lost weight or anything. Not only that ,it cut like an almost 2 hours off my sleep. When I awoke the next morning, I didn't feel weighted down or strangling to get out the bed. I noticed when I eat heavy at night I sleep heavy also. If I had to eat something, I usually had some yogurt.:-). But at the end of the day, it is your call. I don't wake up starving , cranky or in bad mood. Try it, if it works, it works, if not than not. However I do work the grave yard shift and me and my co workers pretty much all eat rather light at night while we are working.
  • Ahrena
    Ahrena Posts: 44 Member
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    The only reason I try and avoid eating right before I sleep is because for some reason I wake up starving if I do that. Whereas if I eat a couple of hours before sleeping I'm not hungry when I wake.

    I prefer that as I always workout first thing in the morning and I find it irritating to waste calories on a snack beforehand because I'm famished instead of being able to wait until after exercise for breakfast!
  • awesomejdad
    awesomejdad Posts: 493 Member
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    There is absolutely no need to avoid eating before bed. It makes no difference. It is a personal preference that helps some people but it is not needed to lose weight.

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