Vampire Eaters

whisperingdragon
whisperingdragon Posts: 334
edited September 29 in Food and Nutrition
Are you a late night snacker? Does it really matter?

I struggle with this every single night.

Replies

  • bunchesonothing
    bunchesonothing Posts: 1,015 Member
    I eat at night. It's not a problem for me.
  • barbiex3
    barbiex3 Posts: 1,036 Member
    THIS GIRL!! i just ate double my calories for the day. I had only eaten 700 before and I just ate about 850.

    I honestly don't think it matters. I'm a size 3 and I weigh 131. It's def. possible to lose weight if you ate a lot at night. I'm a firm believer in that. As long as you don't go over
  • katm427
    katm427 Posts: 227 Member
    I get hungriest at night. I usually eat more later at night than I do during the day. Most people would say that this isn't a healthy eating habit, but since I run really late hours (I'm usually up until about three or four in the morning), I allow myself to eat when I choose to eat instead of policing myself to the point of discomfort. I think that this is about what makes you comfortable.
  • Terri_39
    Terri_39 Posts: 122
    UGH!! Yes, I could eat all night...I don't know what it is about the dark but yes I just want to eat. I have pretty much broke that habit but some days I just need to snack.
  • tddudle
    tddudle Posts: 1
    glad to hear this.....i think i need to just accept that this is my way and work around it!!!
  • deadstarsunburn
    deadstarsunburn Posts: 1,337 Member
    It's bad for your body but not sure on the weight loss. Your body is trying to rest/shut down for the night and your fueling it. It's just really bad for the digestive system.
  • orting514
    orting514 Posts: 153
    THIS GIRL!! i just ate double my calories for the day. I had only eaten 700 before and I just ate about 850.

    I honestly don't think it matters. I'm a size 3 and I weigh 131. It's def. possible to lose weight if you ate a lot at night. I'm a firm believer in that. As long as you don't go over

    Guilty as charged, personally i hate going to bed hungry, so i try to eat
    the bulk of my cals in the evening
  • I am so glad that I'm not the only person who does this. Sometimes I just feel like the only one in the world who does these kinds of things.
  • It's bad for your body but not sure on the weight loss. Your body is trying to rest/shut down for the night and your fueling it. It's just really bad for the digestive system.

    I agree with you. I just don't feel so good in the morning.
  • tabi26
    tabi26 Posts: 535 Member
    I consume ALL of my snacks at night! lol
  • It's bad for your body but not sure on the weight loss. Your body is trying to rest/shut down for the night and your fueling it. It's just really bad for the digestive system.

    I agree with the above, I had never been overweight my entire life until I started eating late and then going to bed. If you can avoid it at all...do.

    Best.
  • Meggie_pooh
    Meggie_pooh Posts: 316 Member
    I always save at least 150 cals of my daily cal count for my midnight snack. I just finished my yogurt (140 cals) and it's 11:35 pm here :wink:
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
    You are definitely not alone! I always save calories for night, I'd go crazy if I didn't eat after dinner.
  • JoniBologna
    JoniBologna Posts: 653 Member
    It's bad for your body but not sure on the weight loss. Your body is trying to rest/shut down for the night and your fueling it. It's just really bad for the digestive system.

    No. This is a MYTH. Granted if you eat 1/2 a pepperoni pizza before bed you will feel like crap. Honestly, it doesn't matter what time you eat.
  • BethanyMasters
    BethanyMasters Posts: 519 Member
    It's a complete myth that eating late at night makes a difference.


    It only makes a different if you are going for that late night snack after you've already reached your calorie goal and it's going to put you over or if you are snacking on junk.

    It's not about when you eat or even how often, its about what you eating and how much.
  • megala65
    megala65 Posts: 34 Member
    It's gotten worse for me since I quit smoking. I'm a night owl too, it's a long time between dinner at 6 or 7pm and then bed at 2 or 3am. Chewing sugarless gum helps sometimes. I should probably figure out how to better spread out my calorie intake so I can have something late at night.
  • niavalentino
    niavalentino Posts: 131 Member
    Totally a vamp eater though I've broken my habits pretty much. The latest I'll eat will be around 10pm now in comparison to 2,3 or 4am in the morning. Unless I'm practically STARVING at any of those times, I usually just grab some blueberries or nuts, and drink a glass of water.
  • Aileen46
    Aileen46 Posts: 176 Member
    I always have a snack after I walk the dog at night. Usually around 10pm, I'll be having some sort of treat. I hate waking up starving. Especially if I wake up at 5am to pee and the hunger sets in!! lol
  • SheilaSisco
    SheilaSisco Posts: 722 Member
    What I've heard is not to eat within 2 hours of going to bed... that way your body has time to process at least MOST of what you ate and it's less likely to hit fat stores. Your body doesn't know day from night, so as long as you give it those 2 hours you should be fine. :)
  • nextrightthing
    nextrightthing Posts: 408 Member
    Sorry this is super long but I think it answers your question very well.......in that fact that there may not actually be an answer :-)

    This is a super-common question we see a lot — what time is best to eat, or conversely, when is the worst time to eat?
    Is There a ‘Late Night Eating’ Myth?

    If we’d been writing this article a few months ago, there’s no doubt we would have quoted a few common responses online, and told you that in the end, there’s zero evidence to support time-of-day eating theories. A calorie in is a calorie out, in other words, and your body doesn’t process food or calories different when you’re sleeping than when you’re awake.

    If you do a search online, you’ll find lots of evidence for this theory. Take a quick look at these quotations:

    The common assumption is that eating late at night will not give your body the chance to burn off the calories and you will gain weight. The truth is that your body processes calories the same way at night and during the day. The problem with late-night eating is that people tend to indulge in junk food rather than something healthy and that is what leads to weight gain.

    — askmen.com

    There is no magic time after which the body stores fat. For instance, if you eat the same exact meal at 6 pm or at 8 pm, is one more caloric than the other? No, each meal has the same number of calories. What really matters is the total amount of food and drink you have over the course of a week, or a month or longer, and how much energy you expend during that timeframe.

    — Columbia University

    This is a very commonly-believed weight loss myth. But it doesn’t really matter when you eat, only how many calories you eat and burn in a day. Whether you’re eating in the morning or at midnight, your body turns any extra calories into fat.

    — about.com

    So It Seems Like a Myth. But Hold On…

    But then, hang a second — there’s a BBC article floating around from last September that seems to go against what all these studies are saying:

    Scientists found that when mice ate at unusual hours, they put on twice as much weight, despite exercising and eating as much as others.

    The study, in the journal Obesity, is said to be the first to show directly that there is a “wrong” time to eat.

    In the end, what does this tell us? We have one study that shows a definite link in mice. We have lots of other studies (some with monkeys) that show no link whatsoever. And we have lots of circumstantial evidence that points to bad eating habits getting worse at night. That shouldn’t really be a surprise — when we aren’t sitting down for a proper meal, but rather just scarfing food out of the fridge, all those things that kick in: portion control, the sense of taking more time to eat, talking with someone else at the table — they just aren’t there.
    Everyone’s a Scientist (Including Us!)

    But there’s a larger issue here: we’re at risk of being snowed over by studies and facts, and there’s nothing like a good diet study to make everyone (ourselves included) an amateur scientist. Really, is there any other aspect of our lives in which we trumpet (or parrot, or dismiss) the results of scientific studies so much as with diet and exercise?

    I’m not trying to push an anti-science approach, but there have been tons of studies that both prove and disprove many of the big nutritional theories out there. Michael Pollan addresses this science-fixation quite well in In Defence of Food — he says America “knows more” about what it eats than any other nation in the world, and yet it eats worse than nearly all of them. Again, read all the studies you want, but always remember that the media loves to hype up what looks like a definitive myth-smashing or myth-confirmation study, often at the expense of coherency.
    The Internet Makes it Easy to Prove Either Side.

    Just as a reminder, if you search online for “eating late at night”, you’ll get two BBC articles on the first page of results. One is called ‘Eating at night myth exploded’, and the other is called ‘Eating late at night adds weight‘. Both report scientific studies in a way that’s accessible to the general public. One is right, one is wrong; or wait — both are wrong. Or maybe both are right.

    In the end, we think it’s best to move past the minutia of studying mice and monkeys to figure out if it’s a good idea to eat that sandwich at 2AM. If you’re doing everything else right, eating well and with lots of variety, in moderation, and working out, these are the kinds of debates you can start to forget about.
    What About Spain?

    After all, there’s a very healthy Mediterranean country out there by the name of Spain. They eat notoriously late, but they also eat very well. While obesity has doubled in Spain over the last 23 years, it’s not due to some epidemic of late eating, which has gone on for a very long time. Rather it’s the same old culprits — prepared and fast food, and increased ignorance of traditional cuisine.

    So — if you’re already eating well, you probably don’t have much to worry about. On the other hand, there is some new evidence that suggests cutting out late night eating might make a big difference — to both the healthy and the not-so-much among us.
  • IMYarnCraz33
    IMYarnCraz33 Posts: 1,016 Member
    Yep I'm a Vamp Eater.
    between 8pm and 11pm is usually when it hits (if it hits).
    And of course this time of night is when all the fast food commercials
    just happen to be all over the TV.
  • HollieDoodles
    HollieDoodles Posts: 678 Member
    I'm a Vamp eater too. For me it isn't good because I'm a little sleepy by the time I want to eat or I get hungry. That means it's hard for me to make a good decision. When I'm sleepy I don't feel full and can eat until I explode! LOL
    Whether or not it's okay for my body technically, it's just a poor choice for me personally.
  • sexforjaffacakes
    sexforjaffacakes Posts: 1,001 Member
    Late night eating definately makes you put on weight, because your metabolism slows down overnight while you're asleep, so the food is just sitting in there not burning up properly. Just make sure you eat enough at tea time to keep you going, and try to drink lots of water or something if you peckish before bed
  • carmillablk
    carmillablk Posts: 10 Member
    I have weeks when I replace day for night so I can say I eat at night but I don't wake up in the middle of my sleep to eat. If I feel hungry before I go to sleep I eat some low fat cottage cheese (a spoon or two) before I go to bed. It is absorbed by the body fast so the body can go to rest/repair mode very fast and hunger will not wake me up.
    I wouldn't advise eating complex carbs before bed. Body will have to work long and hard overnight to process them and you really want your body to have enough time do rest and recharge batteries for the next day ( sleeping is like maintenance ) . Something fast absorbing and rich in nutrients will give the body enough energy to work overnight and not wake you up because it ran out of gas.

    I read on many forums, magazines and blogs the idea that it is not healthy to eat after 20h (some even say 18h) but if you go to sleep at 00 you will be hungry as hell. 2-3 hours before sleep seams like a reasonable time to eat (a healthy meal). Your body will process most of the food you ate before it goes to rest mode but still it will have enough energy and material to work properly in the rest mode. The body doesn't stop working while we sleep. If it doesn't stop than it burns calories...it can't burn calories if we didn't give him any. :)

    Also I'm hungry in the morning and first thing I do is eat. Complex cards, some fat and a good amount of proteins to get me going. Don't skip or postpone breakfast. When you wake up the body is ready to go go go :D

    If you do wake up in the middle of the night don't go and eat something heavy and bad. This is not the time to eat those yummy oat muffins. :P
  • SpaceMarkus
    SpaceMarkus Posts: 651
    I've had to really work on not snacking at night. But I got through it. I think it all depends more on when you're going to bed than the time of day. If you work something like 2nd or 3rd shift, of course you'll have to eat at night. But if you're going to bed around midnight, try not to snack past 10pm :)
  • Icewolf_The
    Icewolf_The Posts: 308 Member
    I have found one of the best ways, for me, to curb late night snacking is to grab a bottle (500ml) of ice cold water. Chug a lug. I down about half of it. And then sit and wait... and about 95% of the time the food cravings go away. The other 5% I'll grab literally a handful of almonds or rice crackers and then sit and enjoy them. S.l.o.w.l.y. With the rest of the water... it helps. It also keeps your mind off of the problem.

    I found that mostly it's because I am bored, and that's not a reason to eat. :)
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