What time should I stop eating?

Here's the thing. It take about 3 hrs for your body to process the food in your stomach. You also burn calories while you sleep. Do you want to burn food in your stomach or stored fat? Over a short period of time this might not make a difference but over the long run it adds up. When i'm cutting I don't eat 3 hrs before bed. When trying to add muscle I eat right up to bed time.

You're body doesn't magically store everything as fat because you are asleep. Excess nutrients are stored as fat but if someone is in a deficit your metabolism doesn't just shut down. Yes, it slows, but no studies actually show any link between fat storage and eating before bedtime. It's fantastic if that works for some people to prevent overeating but there is no science to back up that claim.

I didn't say that. What I said was you still burn calories while sleeping...if you're stomach is empty the energy required to run your organs has to come from somewhere...fat stores.

The math on that doesn't add up. If you'd eat the same amount and the only difference is the time you are eating then you would have exactly the same BMR, fat burning, food digestion, all of that. The only difference is what burns when - not how much.

Bingo!

At the end of the day, regardless of when you eat, the net fat loss will be the same assuming you maintain calories/macronutrients. If you eat most of your calories earlier in the day, more fat loss will occur later in the day. If you eat most of your calories later in the day, more fat loss will occur earlier in the day. Your body seriously does not care when you feed it outside of EXTREME circumstances which, I can almost guarantee, no one here will endure.

Ummm, if you eat most of your calories earlier (tapering your meals) you will burn off more of it with daily activity as opposed to eating a larger meal at the end of the day when you're less active...so yes it does matter. Unless you're working out at night, you want the smallest meal at the end of the day and at least 3 hrs before bed.
Really, this is common sense...this is not that hard to understand. Walking / Daily activities increase HR and consumes more calories than does sleeping.

Here's the thing. It take about 3 hrs for your body to process the food in your stomach. You also burn calories while you sleep. Do you want to burn food in your stomach or stored fat? Over a short period of time this might not make a difference but over the long run it adds up. When i'm cutting I don't eat 3 hrs before bed. When trying to add muscle I eat right up to bed time.

You're body doesn't magically store everything as fat because you are asleep. Excess nutrients are stored as fat but if someone is in a deficit your metabolism doesn't just shut down. Yes, it slows, but no studies actually show any link between fat storage and eating before bedtime. It's fantastic if that works for some people to prevent overeating but there is no science to back up that claim.

I didn't say that. What I said was you still burn calories while sleeping...if you're stomach is empty the energy required to run your organs has to come from somewhere...fat stores.

The math on that doesn't add up. If you'd eat the same amount and the only difference is the time you are eating then you would have exactly the same BMR, fat burning, food digestion, all of that. The only difference is what burns when - not how much.

Bingo!

At the end of the day, regardless of when you eat, the net fat loss will be the same assuming you maintain calories/macronutrients. If you eat most of your calories earlier in the day, more fat loss will occur later in the day. If you eat most of your calories later in the day, more fat loss will occur earlier in the day. Your body seriously does not care when you feed it outside of EXTREME circumstances which, I can almost guarantee, no one here will endure.

Ummm, if you eat most of your calories earlier (tapering your meals) you will burn off more of it with daily activity as opposed to eating a larger meal at the end of the day when you're less active...so yes it does matter. Unless you're working out at night, you want the smallest meal at the end of the day and at least 3 hrs before bed.
Really, this is common sense...this is not that hard to understand. Walking / Daily activities increase HR and consumes more calories than does sleeping.

Except, if you're not overeating and tracking your calories, you're not necessarily worried about future burn with that food, later in the day. You're filling an empty tank.

I'm with Laddyboy to an extent.

The body needs energy when you sleep. If you eat shortly before going to sleep, your body will utilize the food you just ate for that energy instead of the stored nutients/fat. I have read multiple studies saying some things are okay to eat before bed, and some things you should absolutly not eat right before bed (like carbs, sugar).

In essence, going to bed on an empty stomach causes your body to burn fat as a means of energy to keep your systems working throughout the night. As laddyboy said, this is probably not something that will give drastic changes...but it should certaintly be taken into consideration.