Is what I’m doing going to result in weight gain?
danielleg0094
Posts: 38 Member
There’s that theory that eating late will cause weight gain. But there’s cases where that’s been debunked too. I try to eat around 1200 calories per day,as of recently, I’ve been eating pasta & bread around midnight 2-3 times per week. And I’ll eat something light during the day, maybe a bfast sandwich and light smoothie for the rest of the day. I’m falling anywhere between 1200-1500 per day at most I think. Will this cause weight gain, even if I stay within range?
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Replies
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No, the only thing that might happen is a bit of extra weight on the scale when you eat late, from still having a bit more food in your system in the morning (if you weight the morning after).
The amount of calories determines fat loss or gain, not the timing.5 -
When you eat whatever you eat and how you spread it through the day makes no difference
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It's a myth, not a theory.8
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Weight gain as in seeing the weight of food reflected on the bathroom scales in the morning as it's still passing through your GI tract or weight gain as in gaining fat over time?
As gaining fat requires a calorie surplus I think you can see that by itself "eating late causes you to get fat" can't be true.
Now if someone eats MORE because they eat late you might see where the myth comes from. But you are calorie counting.......3 -
The only thing that is likely to cause weight gain is that “at most, I think.” You don’t know?
Log accurately, count and weigh accurately, and you will know.
One way in which eating late might lead to weight gain is that when you are tired you have less self-control and may be less honest with yourself. If your midnight meals have more calories than you admit, you will gain weight.11 -
I have a friend who wakes up and eats chips, candy, etc in the middle of the night. Always been about the same small size since I met her 6 years ago.
However, I’m more interested why you’re eating heavier at midnight, 2-3 nights/week? I would have assumed you had a weird schedule until you said it was 2-3 nights.1 -
your body does not care when you eat. it cares how MUCH you eat. you're fine.4
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If anything, not knowing how much you're eating is going to be the cause of weight gain, not the timing. Are you weighing and tracking what you eat?
The "No eating after 8 PM" thing is a myth.4 -
Nope, it's total calories that matter.3
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If that were true I should be obese (not by BMI standards) by now. I eat up to 11pm EVERY NIGHT for years. But I stay within a decent calorie allotment each day.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I’m falling anywhere between 1200-1500 per day at most I think. Will this cause weight gain, even if I stay within range?
You're going to have to be a little more precise if you want to be able to accurately manage your weight.
"I think" isn't really good enough, especially with things like bread and pasta which are very easy to eat 400 calories and saying it's 200.
Start weighing that pasta and see how many calories you are actually taking in.
Everyone else already covered the timing.6 -
cmriverside wrote: »I’m falling anywhere between 1200-1500 per day at most I think. Will this cause weight gain, even if I stay within range?
You're going to have to be a little more precise if you want to be able to accurately manage your weight.
"I think" isn't really good enough, especially with things like bread and pasta which are very easy to eat 400 calories and saying it's 200.
Start weighing that pasta and see how many calories you are actually taking in.
Everyone else already covered the timing.
I nearly wanted to cry the first time I weighed out what a true serving of pasta is years ago, versus what I thought it was!9 -
I hate the scale and run from it.. then embrace it.. run again.., and let it toy with my common sense.
My husband is different. He weighs all the time...before bed..during the night..and in the morning..every day... to collect data on how he loses and gains. Doesn't bother him a bit.
What I've learned from him; He only records Friday mornings weight on MFP ...and the graph provided that shows the trend of weight loss overall going down. This, after times when he gained 6 pounds over the weekend after eating out...but he always compares the gains against each other on the same day to the Friday morning loss.. and he steadily is losing.
Also by doing this.. he learns what foods make him stall more than others.. what splurge meals take longer to lose and which ones don't affect his next weeks losses.
So...it is the trend down you need to be focusing on.. not fluctuations that happen naturally because you're a human being and a complex machine.3 -
Weight gain as in seeing the weight of food reflected on the bathroom scales in the morning as it's still passing through your GI tract or weight gain as in gaining fat over time?
As gaining fat requires a calorie surplus I think you can see that by itself "eating late causes you to get fat" can't be true.
Now if someone eats MORE because they eat late you might see where the myth comes from. But you are calorie counting.......
If I continue to do this will it cause weight gain? Not just being heavier the day I weigh because I ate late
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danielleg0094 wrote: »Weight gain as in seeing the weight of food reflected on the bathroom scales in the morning as it's still passing through your GI tract or weight gain as in gaining fat over time?
As gaining fat requires a calorie surplus I think you can see that by itself "eating late causes you to get fat" can't be true.
Now if someone eats MORE because they eat late you might see where the myth comes from. But you are calorie counting.......
If I continue to do this will it cause weight gain? Not just being heavier the day I weigh because I ate late
If you are in a calorie surplus you will gain fat over time - doesn't matter which part of the day you eat most of your food or when you stop eating.
If you are in a calorie deficit you will lose fat over time - doesn't matter which part of the day you eat most of your food or when you stop eating.
Back to the fundamentals:
You do understand that your body fat is a store of energy?
You do understand that calories are a unit of energy?
You do understand that to increase your store of energy you have to over a period of time eat in a calorie surplus?
If you understand those three things it should become clear I hope.
You could do a little experiment to illustrate that weight gain and fat gain are not the same thing:- Weigh yourself.
- Drink a pint of water.
- Weigh yourself again and you will have gained a pound in weight.
But you KNOW that you didn't gain fat, that pint of water is just temporarilly part of you, just like the weight of the food from eating late is temporarilly part of you.8 -
You are a bucket of water sitting under a slow dripping tap, in the sun, with a small hole, sitting on a scale.
Water is going in via the tap, water is going out via the leak and evaporation, therefore the scale reading changes.
The bucket itself does not change its size or weight.
Same with the body - this sort of water weight will vary throughout the day but is not fat gain.
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dragon_girl26 wrote: »I nearly wanted to cry the first time I weighed out what a true serving of pasta is years ago, versus what I thought it was!
I was okay finding out what 1 serving of almost all foods actually was....but pasta was the one that broke my heart. Now, if there is a day where I know I'm eating pasta, I'll have a light breakfast and lunch or bank some calories over a couple days to give myself the leeway to have at least 2 servings.4 -
danielleg0094 wrote: »There’s that theory that eating late will cause weight gain. But there’s cases where that’s been debunked too. I try to eat around 1200 calories per day,as of recently, I’ve been eating pasta & bread around midnight 2-3 times per week. And I’ll eat something light during the day, maybe a bfast sandwich and light smoothie for the rest of the day. I’m falling anywhere between 1200-1500 per day at most I think. Will this cause weight gain, even if I stay within range?
You said in your other thread that you have been more or less maintaining for the past 2-3 years, with a possibly 10 pound weight gain and: one cheat day every week.
Sounds like you eating 1200 calories is leading to this:
https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/
I calculated your maintenance calories on your other thread. Try eating just slightly below maintenance and see if doing that gets rid of the need to eat at midnight several times per week.
However, since you said on your other thread you are not using a food scale, for more accuracy, do get a food scale and weigh EVERYTHING.3 -
Having read both your threads, yes, if you continue eating such that your total calories exceed your maintenance (which is what you have been effectively doing by overeating late at night), but will continue to gain weight.
part of your problem is that you're dropping your calories during the day too much and then compensatorily overeating at night.
Part of your problem is that you're not weighing and measuring your food correctly and you're actually eating appreciably more calories than you think.
From a person who has lost and maintained weight eating most of his calories after 5:00 p.m..... you're not gaining weight because you're eating late; but you are gaining weight because in total you're overeating....8
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