No food after 8pm??

In my opinion (and you'll get about a million and one different opinions on this) it's not about WHEN you eat, as long as you're within your calorie goal, it doesn't matter how late at night you eat the food. Calories in v. Calories out is much more important than the time of day you actually consume the calories.

I can't speak for you but for myself, my weigh in differs by a few pounds if i eat late verses early. I have just started trying to stay out of the kitchen after 7 pm so i can not say if it is true weight loss or if i am just more empty in the morning when i weigh in.

It all depends on what you eat during the day and if you go over your calorie intake than yes you are harming yourself obviously, but if you are within the range than eat when you like. A lot of people say they stop eating around 7 or 8 and wake up hungry in the morning. As long as you are losing then keep doing what you are doing

It used to be common theory that if you ate late at night you would store it as fat because there wasn't any activity to burn it off. I believe that this is no longer the common thought on this and it is basically what seobstar said, doesn't matter when you eat them as long as you aren't going over. Just try to make your choices at night healthier. There are so many factors that go into it other than calories in vs calories out, you are still burning calories while you are sleeping so I suggest not worrying about it to much just try to keep it light and healthly. I often eat dinner at 8 or 8:30 because I am teaching aerobics classes up to that point.

Eating later at night is better than starving which WILL hinder your weight loss effort.

It's the net calories and nutrients that matter most. Not when you eat them.

I am not sure where that idea came from: something about your metabolism slows through the night, but with my job I sometimes dont get to eat supper till 10 or later and then to bed by midnight. So far (only 2 weeks) but I am losing. I think it all boils down to a simple math equation---Calories in vs Calories out. The out needs to be more than the in and you lose. The nuances of the loss may be in what exactly you eat and when, but it is still overall the basic in vs out equation. Good Luck to you

I used to believe eating late caused weight gain, but after some research I'm not so sure.

I found this really great article about it...take a look.

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSI/9273/35323/432544.html?d=dmtHMSContent

I go to spin class from 6:45pm-7:45pm several nights a week. I don't like eating before a workout like that, so I routinely eat dinner around 8:30pm or 9:00pm after I get home from the gym and shower. I haven't seen any negative impacts on my weight loss from doing this.

I have read that it depends on around when you plan to go to sleep. I don't remember what my source is, but our metabolism DOES slow down once we are going to bed. I believe the article I read (Yahoo Shine! ???) said we should eat no later than 2-4 hours before bedtime. So, 8:00 is just a rule of thumb for "normal" people. I am learning that most of us aren't exactly "normal!"

I don't usually go to bed until about 10:30 and I eat dinner between 8 and 9. I have a hard time eating much earlier because I get home from work by about 6, work out for 1 or 1-1/2 hours, then I cook dinner (another 20-30 minutes).

A good rule of thumb is (in my opinion), get your heaviest meal in earlier in the day and make dinner light so you sleep with fewer cals.

I try my hardest not to eat anything within 2 hours of going to sleep. A lot of times this doesn't work, because I'm not able to eat dinner until 8:30 - 9:00 pm after taking care of the family & working out. I think it's just best to go with what your body is telling you.

a protein shake just before bed everynight if you sleep 6 to 8 hours thats a long time with no fuel

Mini-fasts, as what we see overnight, aren't harmful to metabolism or body composition based on the available data. In fact, our metabolism tends to spike upward during the early stages of fasting. But it's really a matter of hair-splitting.

The most important thing is calories in vs calories out overall, but if you want to get technical there is a physiological difference in how your body processes food - especially sugars - while sleeping versus while being awake. If you eat a bunch of sugary snacks and then go straight to bed it can disrupt your sleep (i.e. your muscle repair) and also those sugars are more likely to go straight to fat cells because you aren't moving at all to burn them off. Because of this I've read that some trainers advise eating most of your daily carbs/sugars in the morning and off and don't have any after about 4pm (this is if weight loss is your goal). This is to make sure the body can burn them off before bed.

But again, the most important thing - the only thing that matters to the vast majority of us unless you are a body builder or in a medical study - is to be as active as possible and eat fewer calories than you burn.

Personally, I try to stop eating at least 2 hours before going to bed. Not because of a calorie issue, but because of digestion. I sleep better when I do this. Also, if I eat right before going to bed, it sometimes gives me heartburn.

What an interesting discussion!

I stopped snacking in the evening on less active days when I began my weight loss journey - I'm watching to see if there are calories left to use in the evening now since I only joined yesterday and have been logging food for only two days.

Yesterday I wasn't so active and only exercised once (which counts as a not very active day for me since I usually walk in the morning and afternoon). I only had 100 calories spare after dinner and wasn't hungry so had no snack.

Now today is much different. According to my pedometer I've walked over 16500 steps today - half of that would be carrying moderately heavy grocery bags as well. That's 'out walking' since I take the pedometer off when I get home and put it on the table. After this amount of activity I know for sure that I will be hungry later. :laugh: I hope that after my dinner there's some calories left for a snack!

This won't change my habits. I'll still have a snack in the evening if I've been active all day because I'll be hungry. It will change what I choose to eat though

I used to believe eating late caused weight gain, but after some research I'm not so sure.

I found this really great article about it...take a look.

http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSI/9273/35323/432544.html?d=dmtHMSContent

I just scanned this article and it is compelling. It makes sense to think that if one remains within reasonable calorie intake, perhaps time of day matters less than I thought. I physically feel better in the mornings, however, when had a light dinner the night before (most of us do!) Thanks for the interesting info.

I think it depends on the person but I can't sleep if I eat too much after 8pm. And since I'm usually just sitting down for dinner then, I'm never hungry before bed anyway.