Is eating at night bad, if you have the calories for it?

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  • armacd
    armacd Posts: 95
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    I have an article I can send to anyone interested, just send me a message, that talks about this. The gist of it is that your body has a growth hormone spike while you sleep, this aids in the metabolism of fat and having food in your system can interfere with that spike, so by sleeping while your body is not in the midst of digesting your body will access stored fat for energy.
  • jjgrant07
    jjgrant07 Posts: 3 Member
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    It is for me! If i go straight to sleep I do not burn off those calories while sleep.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
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    It is for me! If i go straight to sleep I do not burn off those calories while sleep.

    You think your metabolism just .... stops...when you get to sleep?!
  • windowhotel
    windowhotel Posts: 11
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    As far as I understand it, the reason why eating at night is bad (some people say you shouldn't even eat after you get home from work) is because you eat excess calories which your body won't burn off entirely while sleeping/watching television and that becomes fat. So if you want to eat at night, eating light and healthy is probably the best option and it probably won't have any negative effect on you.
  • samb
    samb Posts: 464 Member
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    I don't see a problem with it. I was doing intermittent fasting and still try to, but if I am hungry at night I won't sleep so lately I have been needing to eat before bed or in the middle of the night if I don't and I have been losing weight....seems it may even accelerate it for me for some reason. Not sure though. But I think the problem is when people eat crap before bed because it is easy. I, on the other hand, eat pistachios or something low carb and not too damaging lol. I don't think it'll matter if you find a healthy snack.
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    It depends on how your body responds to it. I've heard/read in several places cases both for and against. For me it comes down to the fact that my body responds MUCH better when I don't eat at night. I sleep better, I feel better in the morning, and I'm more likely to lose weight.
  • horizonflight
    horizonflight Posts: 75
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    It's fine, your body doesn't know what time it is. As long as you have a calorie deficit, you're good.

    Although I agree with what you're trying to say in this statement, the wording is off. Your body DOES know what time it is. Circadian Rhythms are what help our bodies differentiate between day and night. Additionally, melatonin, which is considered a "darkness hormone" (and often described as a sleep hormone), is secreted by the pineal gland which controls the "light-dark cycle".
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,241 Member
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    As far as I understand it, the reason why eating at night is bad (some people say you shouldn't even eat after you get home from work) is because you eat excess calories which your body won't burn off entirely while sleeping/watching television and that becomes fat. So if you want to eat at night, eating light and healthy is probably the best option and it probably won't have any negative effect on you.

    That sort of thinking completely misunderstands how the body works. The vast majority of what you burn in a day is your body just doing what it does to keep alive. Much of that happens at night while you sleep. Thus, your body will most certainly use those calories for something other than fat.
  • swillis21
    swillis21 Posts: 251 Member
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    Take a look at this...hope it helps :)

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3263249.stm

    great link! thank you for sharing!! And to the OP I was wondering this lately too! Those of us w/kids really like having some adult time to just relax and enjoy a snack :) given we've eaten well that day~

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