Time

bandatx
bandatx Posts: 10 Member
in Getting Started
Does eating at 12 or 1 am cause weight gain

Replies

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,349 Member
    No. Meal timing is irrelevant in practical terms. What matters is your average calorie intake.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,617 Member
    No. When it comes to body weight, what matters directly is the total number of calories you eat on average daily.

    If some food or time of eating factor affects your energy level, appetite, or even happiness, that could change how much you move, how much you eat, and whether you can stick with the calorie level long enough to lose the weight you want to lose. That part is very individual.

    I frequently ate at midnight or 1AM or even later while losing weight, and have done likewise during the 8+ years of maintaining a healthy weight since. That part isn't different from the time of day I ate when I was overweight/obese for around 30 years before that. What changed was the total calories I was eating.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,986 Member
    No, it doesn't matter. Of course the food you eat has weight, and once it's in your body then your body is also heavier. From the food you added. And once it's digested and pooped out that food weight is gone. Hey, get onto the scale and note the weight, then drink 500ml of water and step on the scale again. Just by magic you're 500g heavier as the 500g of water formerly in the glas are now in your body until you pee it out again. This means that if you eat in the night and step on the scale in the morning there might be a small uptick from more food not being digested yet compared to eating last in the early evening. But that's not fat but food in transit.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    edited December 18
    “Food in transit”


    Loving that @yirara

    Always amazes me how food in transit can cause an utter meltdown in folks.

    FWIW I weigh immediately after getting out of bed, then drink 2+ quarts of fluids with a 500’ish calorie breakfast and morning vitamins, do a couple of active workouts, and then weigh again before showering. I’m always a pound or two or three down because of water loss (sweat) and food that’s, ummm, no longer in transit. A large calorie burn doesn’t even matter. It’s simply transiting food and all those fluids.

    Btw, not recommended if you booked swim lanes earlier than usual. 🤨 (unless part of your plan is to get steps running to and fro pool to potty. )

    As to OP’s question, if you eat it late, ya gotta digest and pass it. It’s not a crisis. It’s just food in transit, that happens to be transitting later than usual.

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