Time of Day

Nope, time of day does not matter. I love my night time snacking too!

Some people can have issues sleeping if they eat late. If you aren't one of those, enjoy your snack!

This is one of the biggest myths out there, I think. It drives me absolutely insane.

For so many years, I'd hear people say you HAVE to eat in the morning, because then your body has all day to burn it, or you can't eat late at night, because it'll just lay there and your body won't burn up the calories, as if calories eaten in the morning are magically all burned away (they aren't). Or you HAVE to eat breakfast, or you'll die, you won't be able to think straight, etc.

But for me, eating breakfast early was like a diet sinkhole. If I got up at 6am and had to leave the house by 8, I could easily consume enough calories for an entire day before walking out the door. It was like flicking on a switch I couldn't turn off. And I wasn't even hungry!! I kept doing it because of all the people saying, "you HAVE TO eat breakfast." Even after consuming 800-1000 calories before 8am, I would still be just as hungry at noon. I found that waiting until about 10am, WHEN I WAS ACTUALLY HUNGRY, then eating lunch around 2, worked for me. The weight fell off. Not ONE person in over 30 years had told me, "Eat breakfast when you get hungry for breakfast."

I think the "rules" about eating and time of day developed because some people are adding extra meals late at night without even realizing it. So IF this pertains to you, then maybe not eating after a certain hour might be helpful. But the rules became perverted into this gospel everyone was supposed to follow, without even asking why. The rules also doesn't mean, "Shove all the calories in before 7pm that you want, and you'll be fine." For me, early-morning eating was just as bad as other peoples' late-night eating. The bottom line is that you have to be mindful of your calories for the whole day. It doesn't matter what time you consume them. You have to figure out what are problem spots for you, and figure out a solution to work around those.

It's all about listening to your own body and your natural hunger. Compulsive eating is eating without regard to your being actually hungry. When you get back in touch with when you are really hungry, everything becomes easier. Following someone else's arbitrary rules tells you to totally disregard what you are thinking or feeling, which FURTHER disconnects you from your body's natural signals for hunger and satiety. If a "rule" someone is giving you does not make sense for you, it is worthless and unsustainable. Listen to your own body.

work_on_it wrote: »

Does time of day matter as long as your under calories? I love my 930pm snack and always leave room for it.

I've heard eating late is worse than eating early... Say it ain't so!

If it did matter, I would never have lost 90lbs.

I always eat a late snack, I certainly can't sleep if I'm still hungry.