Do you stop eating at a certain time at night?

eddlandos · March 2017

Nope, Scrambled Eggs at 10PM if there was no time to have breakfast.

jdbulger1018 · March 2017

I'm a night snacker so I try to not eat anything after dinner. I usually eat dinner between 5-6 and I tell myself the kitchen is closed after that. I don't have any calories left at that point and I know I'm just eating bc I'm bored. I also go to bed around 9 and I have found if I eat right before I go to sleep then I wake up super hungry. My body is weird like that !

AnvilHead · March 2017

I make sure I stop eating before I fall asleep. Otherwise it presents a choking hazard.

Meal timing is irrelevant to weight loss.

ladyreva78 · March 2017

I usually stop eating at least 2 hours before I go to bed. Dealing with the occasional mild hunger at night is a lot easier than dealing with acid re-flux. That usually means I stop eating at around 7pm on weekdays during the normal work week. Vacation and weekends varies depending on what I'm doing and where I am.

So unless there's a medical condition (or it helps you better stick to your calorie deficit - to each their own after all), meal timing has absolutely no importance.

annteja · March 2017

Yes. I eat only between noon and 8 pm.

BoxerBrawler · March 2017

Not eating before bed is only helpful if you have some type of stomach issues that will bother you when you lay down, like acid re-flux, like the poster before me mentioned. If there's food in your stomach, you're going to digest it. Meal timing doesn't count unless you're doing some kind of specific training and even then it doesn't count in terms of weight loss, but in terms of energy levels. For example... I eat when I'm hungry, doesn't matter what time of day or night it is. But yesterday I planned out my food types and times specifically because I had a Muay Thai stripe/stress test last night so I needed that burst of energy and didn't want to be hungry, but didn't want to feel full and bloated either.

mitch16 · March 2017

I try to, not because of weight loss implications, but because I find I don't sleep very well on a full stomach.

victoria_1024 · March 2017

I love late night snacking. I have 4 young kids so my only time to sit and really enjoy my food is after they're asleep. So I always save at least 300 calories for 9 pm. Sometimes I work until 8 and have been known to eat as much as 600 calories right before bed. I lost 90 lbs doing this, been in maintenance for a year.

stelly76 · March 2017

I got to bed around 10pm and try not to eat after 7pm for a couple of reasons: 1. I am prone to acid reflux and a Dr. told me years ago to stop eating a couple of hours before bedtime and 2. 90% of the time I'm not actually hungry and would find myself just eating out of boredom. For that 10% of the time I do get a little snackish, I will have a small, low caloric snack. Except for the 5% of the time when I say screw it and have some ice cream.

JaydedMiss · March 2017

I always eat right up till i sleep, I start eating later in the day to manage having spare calories for before bed snacks, I love them and they help me sleep beter

Coyla · March 2017

I will eat something light before bed, but nothing heavy. I have one night a week that--due to my work schedule--I have to eat late at night. I usually have nausea, bloating, and end up sick to my stomach as a result. It also messes with my blood sugar levels. So it depends on the person.

While eating late at night may not affect weight loss overall, it can often lead to confusing weigh ins. Gaining 5 lbs due to bloating from a late night meal can mess with a dieter's head. Most of us are overweight, not because we haven't tried to lose weight a million times before, but because we can't handle failure. So it can be a bit of a gamble, depending on how you define a weight gain to yourself.

Christine_72 · March 2017

I save the majority of my calories for dinner and dessert which keeps me pretty stuffed til bed time. I'm usually finished eating by 6:30pm, and i go to bed between 8-9pm. I hate the feeling of a full stomach when i go to bed.

mrspett323 · March 2017

I usually eat my last meal between 7-8pm. I eat 5 meals a day and drink around a gallon of water. My first meal starts at 7am and every 3 hrs after that. 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm,and 7pm

MsMaeFlowers · March 2017

I try to stop eating by 8pm, but only because if I eat later than that, I tend to wake up starving and feeling sick. Nothing to do with weight loss.

ndj1979 · March 2017

Nope meal timing has zero impact on weight loss

Christine_72 · March 2017

MsMaeFlowers wrote: »

I try to stop eating by 8pm, but only because if I eat later than that, I tend to wake up starving and feeling sick. Nothing to do with weight loss.

I'm the same, if i eat a huge meal before bed i wake up famished. I don't usually have my first meal til 1-2 in the afternoon, because i dont feel hungry before then. But if i eat late the night before that all goes out the window!

Rusty740 · March 2017

jenbeck18 wrote: »

I usually try and stop at 8pm. Thinking of trying 7. Just will be tough the nights I go to dinner but thinking a cutoff time could help me with these last five pounds.

Nah, don't starve yourself at night, try to fit your calories into your schedule as well as you can. Do a little planning ahead of time. If you're going out that night, maybe have a light lunch. You're correct when you said the nights you go out will be tough. Don't have such strict rules and you'll be ok. Steady as she goes.

jennybearlv · March 2017

Yes, when I fall asleep. As far as I know I don't sleep eat.

ninerbuff · March 2017

For me, my usual time is about 11:30pm............I'm asleep about 30 minutes later.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Gisel2015 · March 2017

Kitchen closed by 8PM at the latest (most of the time around 7:30PM). We may have desert 1/2 hour later because we don't go to bed until 11:30PM. However, I only have desert or a snack if I am hungry and regardless of macros or calories leftover.
I don't awake hungry in the middle of the night but if I did, I would disregard it.

ConnieT1030 · March 2017

yes. I stop eating when it's time for bed. I hate crumbs in the bed.

Unknown · March 2017

This content has been removed.

bbell1985 · March 2017

I love night eating. I purposely wait to eat my dinner at 7:30 or 8:00. Dessert is like 30 minutes before bed because I can't eat in my sleep.

AlabasterVerve · March 2017

I've done both, not eating until later in the day and eating right up until bedtime and I've also done the no snacking/eating after dinner pattern of eating. Both worked for me but I much prefer not eating after dinner - it's more structured and makes it easier to maintain my weight without counting calories.

I also wake up feeling energized instead of sluggish (probably because of ketosis) and I just plain like being hungry and eating breakfast in the morning -- it feels like a good start to my day.