Myth or Truth? Not eating before sleep

when you go to sleep your body's metabolism slows down while sleeping because your not doing much of anything, your energy requirements are low. eating carbs before bed will cause your blood sugar levels to go up. since your energy requirements will be far below your current energy reserves, your body will process almost the entirety of those calories into fat storage. if you need to eat before bed, you should eat primarily slow digesting proteins.

Incorrect regarding calories going into fat storage.

For those who say it's a myth. My question is HAVE YOU TRIED IT? The answer is probably no.

From my experience I will tell you that eating right before bed will not derail you weight loss efforts since everything you eat gets broken down while you sleep anyway. HOWEVER, since you don't need nearly half as much energy while sleeping as you would to get through the day, anything that was broken down and NOT burned for energy ends up being stored as FAT. So when you go to sleep on an empty stomach, your body begins break down FAT rather than a stomach full of food. Since you don't feel hunger pangs in your sleep, you'll essentially be burning fat nonstop for 7-8 hours or however long you sleep! If you're having trouble shedding some pounds, try this for a week and I promise you'll see a difference.

NOTE: (Obviously you must still stay within your daily calory range. Overeating and stopping 3 hrs before bedtime won't do you any good. This method works BEST when your diet is balanced to begin with. Meaning your eating at least 5 times a day)


It's just basic common sense and science... there's no hocus pocus to it!. So to answer the question TRUTH but it's not a deal breaker or the end of the world if you don't follow it!

Before anyone comes after my head let me just say that I'm FAR from an expert on the subject of nutrition, but EXPERIENCE has been VERY good to me!

I'll bet all of you who believe you can't eat right before bed also believe you have to eat first thing in the morning to jumpstart your metabolism. It seems like there's a disconnect in your thinking... like you don't realize that one day just flows into another, and the food you ate the night before will be able to fuel your body in the morning.

I'll bet all of you who believe you can't eat right before bed also believe you have to eat first thing in the morning to jumpstart your metabolism. It seems like there's a disconnect in your thinking... like you don't realize that one day just flows into another, and the food you ate the night before will be able to fuel your body in the morning.

^ Also true.

And to the person asking if I've tried it, YES, I have.

I literally eat 80% of my calories before bed and I'm leaner than I've ever been. And I'm not some special snowflake that can violate thermodynamics.

Anecdotes and analogies are not science.

I'm surprised how many folks here are proclaiming myth instead of fact. It's absolutely a fact that eating just before you go to sleep isn't the wisest idea when trying to get in shape or stay in shape. Most nutrition experts agree on this. I'm surprised how many people believe this is a myth.....yikes!

I was told that I shouldn't have carbs before bedtime but lean protein or veggies are fine...but I guess it all depends on the person.....

I'm surprised how many folks here are proclaiming myth instead of fact. It's absolutely a fact that eating just before you go to sleep isn't the wisest idea when trying to get in shape or stay in shape. Most nutrition experts agree on this. I'm surprised how many people believe this is a myth.....yikes!

"When total calories are kept constant, does eating at night (whether just before bed or in the middle of the night) lead to weight gain?...

A 1997 review article summarizing the results of past research concluded that meal frequency - whether during the day or at night - had no clear effect on body weight. That is, people who chose to eat frequently, regardless of the time of day, had no higher rate of obesity than those who ate fewer large meals.

In a study of more than 2,000 middle-aged men and women, 9% of women and 7.4% of men described 'getting up at night to eat.' Overall, there was no difference in weight gain between those who did and those who did not. A study in 2004 of more than 800 men and women noted that the more people ate in the morning, the less they tended to eat during the course of a day, while people who ate more at night tended to eat more overall. A trial from January 2005 found that eating late at night was not associated with weight gain even among people with 'night eating syndrome'...

It is possible that, for some people, eating at night is associated with weight gain. Perhaps they find it easier to be careful about
portion size and food choices during the day but simply 'lose it' at day's end. For some, the structure of three meals a day may make it easier to avoid excessive calorie intake. But it's probably a myth that eating before bed has a unique ability to promote weight gain compared with eating at other times of the day. Although scientific studies someday may prove that calories ingested before bed are handled differently than calories ingested at other times, evidence for this commonly held belief is lacking. For now, it's safe to assume that one's weight reflects the balance between calories burned and calories consumed over time, regardless of when you choose to eat."

InteliHealth: Does Nighttime Noshing Make You Fat?
http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSI/9273/35323/432544.html?d=dmtHMSContent

"Myth: Eating after 8 p.m. causes weight gain.
Fact: It does not matter what time of day you eat. It is what and how much you eat and how much physical activity you do during the whole day that determines whether you gain, lose, or maintain your weight. No matter when you eat, your body will store extra calories as fat."

NIDDK (National Institutes of Health): Weight-loss and Nutrition Myths
http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/myths.htm

"Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper' - is there any truth to this?

[Dietitian Dr Trent Watson] sets the record straight: "It's the total energy you eat throughout the day that's important. You can eat all
your daily kilojoules after 6pm, and you won't gain any more weight than if you ate it earlier in the day. Weight gain occurs when you consume more energy than you expend."

The Daily Telegraph: Top 10 food myths busted
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20004610-5006047,00.html

"Subjects who eat late in the evening may increase the amount of glucose stored in muscle as glycogen. In humans, muscle glycogen fluctuates in accordance with periods of muscle activity and subsequent carbohydrate consumption. Data suggest that the consumption of carbohydrate-rich foods in the late evening leads to increased glycogen levels in the muscles. Unless this stored glycogen is burned as fuel, it will ultimately be stored as fat. Therefore, consumption of late-evening meals with carbohydrate-rich foods may also be related to obesity through its effect on hormonal regulation of energy and lipid metabolism. However, we found that the interval of time between the last episode of eating and the time to bed was not associated with
the risk of obesity. Further investigation is warranted to examine the association of this interval, as well as the nutrient composition
(i.e., percentage of calories from carbohydrate) of the last eating episode, with obesity."

American Journal of Epidemiology: Association between Eating Patterns and Obesity in a Free-living US Adult Population
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/158/1/85

"The purpose of this study was to determine whether meal ingestion pattern [large morning meals (AM) vs. large evening meals (PM)] affects changes in body weight, body composition or energy utilization during weight loss. Ten women completed a metabolic ward study of 3-wk weight stabilization followed by 12 wk of weight loss with a moderately energy restricted diet [mean energy intake ± SD = 107 ± 6 kJ/(kg·d)] and regular exercise. The weight loss phase was divided into two 6-wk periods. During period 1, 70% of daily energy intake was taken as two meals in the AM (n = 4) or in the PM (n = 6). Subjects crossed over to the alternate meal time in period 2. Both weight loss and fat-free mass loss were greater with the AM than the PM meal pattern: 3.90 ± 0.19 vs. 3.27 ± 0.26 kg/6 wk, P < 0.05, and 1.28 ± 0.14 vs. 0.25 ± 0.16 kg/6 wk, P < 0.001, respectively. Change in fat mass and loss of body energy were affected by order of meal pattern ingestion. The PM pattern resulted in greater loss of fat mass in period 1 (P < 0.01) but not in period 2. Likewise, resting mid-afternoon fat oxidation rate was higher with the PM pattern in period 1 (P < 0.05) but not in period 2, corresponding with the fat mass changes. To conclude, ingestion of larger AM meals resulted in slightly greater weight loss, but ingestion of larger PM meals resulted in better maintenance of fat-free mass. Thus, incorporation of larger PM meals in a weight loss regimen may be important in minimizing the loss of fat-free mass."

The Journal of Nutrition: Weight Loss is Greater with Consumption of Large Morning Meals and Fat-Free Mass Is Preserved with Large Evening Meals in Women on a Controlled Weight Reduction Regimen
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/127/1/75

So it appears that for most of us there's nothing wrong with eating at night, as long as the entire day's calorie count is appropriate.
However, there may be health risks associated with nighttime eating for people who have GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and/or asthma.

"Compared to nonasthmatics, asthmatics have significantly more frequent and more severe day and night GER symptoms and significantly more of the pulmonary symptoms (nocturnal suffocation, cough, or wheezing) so often attributed to GER. The habit of eating before bedtime appears in asthmatics to have serious and life-threatening consequences."

American Journal of Gastroenterology: Asthmatics have more nocturnal gasping and reflux symptoms than nonasthmatics, and they are related to bedtime eating.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=15128338&query_hl=6&itool=pubmed_docsum

Thanks ElExGordo, for posting studies on this.

1) IMHO, it's a myth that not eating before sleep magically increases the number of calories you burn in a day. So if you move your evening snack up to mid-day but eat the same number of calories per day, you shouldn't see any change over time.

2) On the other hand, if cutting out evening snacks helps you to keep total calories lower than they would be otherwise, you should see the same effect as you would get from cutting out any other daily calories.

For those who say it's a myth. My question is HAVE YOU TRIED IT? The answer is probably no.

From my experience I will tell you that eating right before bed will not derail you weight loss efforts since everything you eat gets broken down while you sleep anyway. HOWEVER, since you don't need nearly half as much energy while sleeping as you would to get through the day, anything that was broken down and NOT burned for energy ends up being stored as FAT. So when you go to sleep on an empty stomach, your body begins break down FAT rather than a stomach full of food. Since you don't feel hunger pangs in your sleep, you'll essentially be burning fat nonstop for 7-8 hours or however long you sleep! If you're having trouble shedding some pounds, try this for a week and I promise you'll see a difference.

NOTE: (Obviously you must still stay within your daily calory range. Overeating and stopping 3 hrs before bedtime won't do you any good. This method works BEST when your diet is balanced to begin with. Meaning your eating at least 5 times a day)


It's just basic common sense and science... there's no hocus pocus to it!. So to answer the question TRUTH but it's not a deal breaker or the end of the world if you don't follow it!

Before anyone comes after my head let me just say that I'm FAR from an expert on the subject of nutrition, but EXPERIENCE has been VERY good to me!

Actually, if you'd read my post, you'd see that I do eat right before bed. I always have, if I'm hungry and have the calories, and have lost 50lbs just fine that way.

I also posted that while I sleep I burn an average of .9-1 calorie per minute while I sleep. Sometime 1.1-1.2. When I sit at my desk typing all day, I burn 1-1.2 calories per minute.

So how, exactly, does my body only need half the amount of energy while I sleep? Heck, Sunday I took a fully lazy day where the hubby and I did nothing but sit and watch TV all day except for eating and using the restroom. I burned an overall average of 1.23 cal per minute for that entire (midnight to midnight) day.

Based on my personal experience and minute by minute data points on what my body does each day thanks to my BodyMedia Fit, I'd say that your claim about energy expenditure while asleep needs some backup.