Does the time you eat matter?

On a scale of 1-10 of importance I would give meal timing a 1. In regards to performance, I would rate it higher.

Except possibly in the cases of certain elite athletes engaged in endurance sports, meal timing is irrelevant, and the 'metabolic window' in which you need to get your protein is close enough to 24 hours as to make no difference.

double post

It doesn't matter when you eat except if you have reflux. Then the recommendation is not to eat within 3 hours of going to sleep because your food will come back up, or not go down...

As long as you're eating less than you're burning, you'll lose weight.
But if you have about half your calories for breakfast, a medium lunch, and a small dinner, you'll lose more weight.

See the last half of this post for the studies.
(There are links to the abstracts & full texts; don't take my word for it, read them yourself.)
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-10-some-studies-about-weight-loss-667818

Kalikel wrote: »

Many intelligent people say they gain weight if they eat late. It's possible that they aren't all lying.

We know the body does some things better at certain times. So, maybe there is something to it. I don't know. Still on the fence!

It certainly can't hurt to eat earlier if you think eating late is an issue.

Assuming they are staying within their caloric limit and not over-eating at night, then no, they aren't lying... they just don't realize undigested food, water retention, water weight etc will make their scale weight seem higher depending on the time of day they weigh themselves, how soon they weigh themselves after eating their last meal etc.

Weigh yourself after eating a large meal that is within you caloric goals. You've probably gained a pound or two. Does that mean you just put on a pound or two of fat? Not in the least bit - its food and water weight, coupled with increased glycogen stores and other normal bodily processes. If I weigh myself before and after I workout, I've gained weight after. Does that mean my body is different and I'm gaining fat when I train? Not in the least.

There are no special snowflakes. We are constantly burning and storing fat. But for overall fat loss, all that matters is calories in vs calories out. Meal timing doesn't matter in weight (fat) loss. I don't magically gain fat just because my last meal was at 9pm before bed.

MKEgal wrote: »

As long as you're eating less than you're burning, you'll lose weight.
But if you have about half your calories for breakfast, a medium lunch, and a small dinner, you'll lose more weight.

See the last half of this post for the studies.
(There are links to the abstracts & full texts; don't take my word for it, read them yourself.)
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-10-some-studies-about-weight-loss-667818

No. This is false.

I see a lot of people come out sharing studies that show a correlation between certain eating patterns and weight loss as if there is causation. Yes, some studies have indicated that people who were set to eat a large breakfast, smaller lunch, and smallest dinner tended to lose more than others in the study on a different eating pattern. The problem is that studies related to food intake are notoriously subject to interference from participants, mainly in the form of unreported food intake or other similar habits that many of us have identified as reasons for weight gain, but many others are clueless about. These studies get widely publicized providing only the general gist, and not explaining the full findings and admissions of potential issues with study design or implementation.
There are certainly reasons why eating a breakfast/larger meals earlier in the day can help you lose weight, but they have to do with how satiated you feel/your urges to eat later in the day, not the specific amount of calories taken in. If you want to lose the most weight you're capable of, you need to ignore advice that tells you when you need to eat. Not to get too personal, but I'm really sick of being asked how I lost 80+ lbs, sharing that I do intermittent fasting, which helps me stay in deficit, because it's closest to my natural eating habits, and being told that "No! That's bad - you need to eat breakfast first thing!", etc.

If you feel forced or stretched thin on your calorie budget because you're fitting in a large meal where you wouldn't otherwise, you're much more likely to fail. Work with your natural eating tendencies while keeping your caloric deficit in mind, and you will be most likely to succeed. Intermittent Fasting tends to work best for people who normally don't eat for longer stretches - I have never had a morning appetite, and keeping my deficit is easier making it "official" and just not eating until my usual window. I don't think 2 hours is going to make much of a difference for OP, unless that time you're removing tends to result in caloric overages.