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    Counting calories after midnight..?

    Posts: 12 Member
    edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
    Every night its the same thing! I make it below my caloric goal, satisfied and full. Problem is is that Im a bit of an insomniac so 1 or 2am rolls around and Im hungry again. Or just craving a snack. Im always tempted to count the calories into the next day's but let's be real, is that cheating? Does the body not think like that? Thx for any feedback! <3

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    Replies

    • Posts: 10,477 Member
      The body accumulation occurs over weeks and months not by the clock.
    • Posts: 685 Member
      If it is after midnight it is the next day. As long as you're consistently counting it one way or the other you're all set.
    • Posts: 12 Member
      Thanks so much to the both of you!!
    • Posts: 401 Member
      Personally, I count everything before I go to bed as one day (unless I'd be up all night, then I'd probably switch over around four am),but your body couldn't care less :wink:
    • Posts: 12 Member
      Faithful_Chosen wrote: »
      Personally, I count everything before I go to bed as one day (unless I'd be up all night, then I'd probably switch over around four am),but your body couldn't care less :wink:
      Yeah thats what I always feel I should do, as in my head I still consider it the latest part of my night. But then I count it into the next day just to keep under my caloric goal lol. Feels like Im cheating. But I guess all in all big picture its all the same really. Thx!
    • Posts: 563 Member
      Fit it in on either day - as long as you count it. It would depress me to wake up and already have calories missing from my allowance, but that is just me. Do what works for you.
    • Posts: 2,493 Member
      I log from waking to sleeping.
    • Posts: 1,771 Member
      Really, as long as you're logging it all, I don't think it matters. Do whatever is best for you. I am generally under my day's total if I'm having a midnight snack, so they would go on the previous day. I've done it the other way in the past, but it can be depressing to wake up with 424 calories gone already.
    • Posts: 1,120 Member
      Just log and stay within your limit.

      I eat from midnight, all the way until 5 am (I game hard on weekends since I work during the week) and just log it all for the day and eat accordingly.
    • Posts: 8,423 Member
      missamy510 wrote: »
      Every night its the same thing! I make it below my caloric goal, satisfied and full. Problem is is that Im a bit of an insomniac so 1 or 2am rolls around and Im hungry again. Or just craving a snack. Im always tempted to count the calories into the next day's but let's be real, is that cheating? Does the body not think like that? Thx for any feedback! <3

      I log food on the same day from when I wake up to when I go to bed.
      I would log it somewhere. It doesn't really matter if it is today or tomorrow. You can look at your weekly calories instead of daily.
      Plan and prelog a late night snack since you know you usually want one. Make it fit your day better.
    • Posts: 30,886 Member
      edited July 2015
      It doesn't matter, but if it were me I'd count it in the past day if I had room in my calories for it. If I was at or over my calories I'd count it toward the next day, so I could adjust to account for it.

      You can also just look at the week's deficit, of course, but the way I look at MFP it's easier to focus on days.
    • Posts: 1,457 Member
      I would log it for the next day if it's after midnight. But in the long run it doesn't matter if you log it for the same day.
    • Posts: 348 Member
      Another vote for logging one day as from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed.
    • Posts: 9,603 Member
      I log wake-to-sleep, but can totally see it becoming an issue for people who work nights and may be awake for 36 hours and then sleep ten. You'd end up with entire days we here it looks like you ate nothing for the day.

      In that case, I might log in 24 hour periods.
    • Posts: 1,771 Member
      lemurcat12 wrote: »
      It doesn't matter, but if it were me I'd count it in the past day if I had room in my calories for it. If I was at or over my calories I'd count it toward the next day, so I could adjust to account for it.

      You can also just look at the week's deficit, of course, but the way I look at MFP it's easier to focus on days.

      I did this for a while a few months back and got into this weird hole of disordered thinking. Obviously that's a completely personal experience, but for me it led to doing the same thing day after day--eating too little all day, then eating too much after midnight. I broke the cycle by putting all the calories on one day.
    • Posts: 30,886 Member
      barbecuesauce wrote: »
      show previous quotes

      I did this for a while a few months back and got into this weird hole of disordered thinking. Obviously that's a completely personal experience, but for me it led to doing the same thing day after day--eating too little all day, then eating too much after midnight. I broke the cycle by putting all the calories on one day.

      Yeah, you obviously have to use common sense. I almost never eat after dinner (I have a dessert quite often, but that's functionally part of dinner). If I was waking up in the middle of the night and eating it would make sense to me to consider that a head start on breakfast. I'm not talking about moving foods from one day to the next if it was eaten during the day.

      I think trying to eat super low all day and then bingeing because you are too hungry is definitely a thing to avoid, but that's not what I'm suggesting.
    • Posts: 1,710 Member
      Log and count for whichever day you want, the important thing is to log them.
    • Posts: 115 Member
      I consider that to be a grey area, No right or wrong... If you have calories left from before midnight, to me it's ok to go back & add a midnight snack. I usually work until midnight or 1 am so this is not uncommon for me to do at all. If I don't have calories left over from before midnight then they get counted towards snacks or breakfast in the new day & my daily calories overall will balance out.
    • Posts: 531 Member
      I start over at midnight. If I snack it does take a bit away from the next day, but usually I wake up feeling full anyways, so I just eat a later breakfast. At the most I've maybe had three days in a row where I kept "sneaking" calories from the following day by eating after midnight, but then usually it works itself back out. However I could see this becoming a huge problem if got to be a lot (like a third of your days calories) and you couldn't stop snacking day after day. That might also be a sign your calories are too low or you should be drinking more water. I wouldn't feel bad about it, as long as you're consistent and at a deficit, over time it'll all end up the same anyways.
    • Posts: 685 Member
      Kalikel wrote: »
      I log wake-to-sleep, but can totally see it becoming an issue for people who work nights and may be awake for 36 hours and then sleep ten. You'd end up with entire days we here it looks like you ate nothing for the day.

      In that case, I might log in 24 hour periods.

      Yes, I started out logging wake-to-sleep and I had to stop. It went weird because I'm an insomniac and sometimes can't sleep for two or three days. I had to make it a hard line stop at 12 no matter what.
    • Posts: 3,472 Member
      The day isn't over until you go to bed ;)
    • Posts: 5 Member
      I go from midnight to midnight. Actually, that *keeps* me from staying up/eating later than midnight, 'cause I really don't to start my next day with a deficit. Sundays are my freebie/cheat days and I don't count calories at all. So...I have been known to be up after midnight on Saturday night into Sunday morning and have an after-midnight snack. But it doesn't happen that often. I think I'm getting used to *not* eating after midnight.
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