When to stop eating before bed

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Goldenbast
Goldenbast Posts: 227 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have been reading around the internet about proper meals and such but one area that is contradictory is eating before bed. I have seen the whole range, from 15 minutes to 3 hours! And all of these come with seemingly sound nutritional advice and even references to various scientific articles. So I decided to ask it here:

When should a person stop eating before bed and why?
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  • krystalselanders
    krystalselanders Posts: 9 Member
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    ive heard between 7-8pm. you want to stop eating because you aren't active at night usually, and it will all turn to fat....
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,806 Member
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    There is no time where you have to stop eating before bed, unless you have intestinal issues or something.
  • Goldenbast
    Goldenbast Posts: 227 Member
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    ive heard between 7-8pm. you want to stop eating because you aren't active at night usually, and it will all turn to fat....

    I don't mean a specific time, for example that would not work for me because I am on a graveyard, I wake up at 3pm and goto bed at 7 am..I exercise somewhere around 2am.....just wondering how long in general..
  • rudegyal_b
    rudegyal_b Posts: 593 Member
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    ive heard 2 hours but i eat pretty close to bedtime
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,806 Member
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    It's a myth. Simple as that. There is no time. Your body is always functioning, thus always using calories. The only reason people tend to try to limit it is because some people tend to overeat at this time because you're more tired and use food to try to satiate the tiredness.
  • krystalselanders
    krystalselanders Posts: 9 Member
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    i personally stop eating 5 hours before bed.
  • kellylara93
    kellylara93 Posts: 228
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    I find I lose weight wayyyyy quicker when I stop eating more 5 or 6 hours before bed.

    For example, I try not to eat after 6pm, but I won't go to sleep until 11 or 12.

    But in the time after 6 I drink about 2 or 3 litres of water. Weight just falls off.

    Maybe I'm just weird...
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,701 Member
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    I have been reading around the internet about proper meals and such but one area that is contradictory is eating before bed. I have seen the whole range, from 15 minutes to 3 hours! And all of these come with seemingly sound nutritional advice and even references to various scientific articles. So I decided to ask it here:

    When should a person stop eating before bed and why?
    Once you reach your calorie goal limit for that day. The is NO scientific peer reviewed studies that show that eating after 7pm causes any calories to turn to fat. Fat is gained when you are in surplus.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,701 Member
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    ive heard between 7-8pm. you want to stop eating because you aren't active at night usually, and it will all turn to fat....
    Myth.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,806 Member
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    Looks like the myth perpetuaters are out in droves tonight.
  • krystalselanders
    krystalselanders Posts: 9 Member
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    works for me
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,806 Member
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    works for me

    That doesn't mean anything as far as an actual time cut-off for the general consensus, which has not been shown to make any difference in any actual science.
  • krystalselanders
    krystalselanders Posts: 9 Member
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    works for me

    That doesn't mean anything as far as an actual time cut-off for the general consensus, which has not been shown to make any difference in any actual science.


    i was giving advice, not scientific information
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    It's a myth. Simple as that. There is no time. Your body is always functioning, thus always using calories. The only reason people tend to try to limit it is because some people tend to overeat at this time because you're more tired and use food to try to satiate the tiredness.

    this above...


    i also work night shift. I do my workouts after work, and I intake a whey isolate protein 'shake', and some sort of breakfast right before bed. Whether its complex carbs or protein before bed, it wont affect weight loss or gain. what you should avoid are sugary simple carbs, fruits etc. this will spike insulin and thats not good, as it can promote fat storage. a good steady influx of nutrients from proteins and complex carbs are much better to eat before sleep.
  • kellylara93
    kellylara93 Posts: 228
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    No need to be so rude about it jee..she was just offering her opinion.
  • Nopedotjpeg
    Nopedotjpeg Posts: 1,806 Member
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    No need to be so rude about it jee..she was just offering her opinion.

    Who's being rude? I'm disagreeing, and showing that there's no evidence for it. Why is it always considered bad in our society to try to base your information off of science rather than hearsay?
  • takehimaway
    takehimaway Posts: 499 Member
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    Night shifter.
    I might eat fruit/cheese/a yogurt before I go work out at six in the morning.
    I sometimes eat a Ramen [yes, a ramen!] before I got to bed around eight or nine. I weigh LESS when I weigh myself when /I/ wake up, not when the rest of the planet wakes up.
  • stephaniethomas80
    stephaniethomas80 Posts: 190 Member
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    i dont eat right before bed because I get acid indigestion, but I agree that it is a myth not to eat before bed
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
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    Your body cannot tell time. You can eat at any time of day or night. As long as you are within your caloric intake goals, it does not matter. Trust me.
  • Goldenbast
    Goldenbast Posts: 227 Member
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    I realize that once you eat your needed amount of calories that's it..but WHEN to eat them?

    If you eat 3 hours before bed, lets say you eat at 7pm and go to bed at 10pm and wake at 6am and eat by 7am....so you would not eat anything for 12 hours.

    The eat hours before bed mindset argues that when you sleep you are only burning a minimal amount of calories and your metabolism slows down naturally, that when you eat and then sleep your body will just store it as fat, and that upon waking you will not be hungry and have a chance of skipping breakfast...therefor losing the metabolic boost you get when you eat breakfast.

    The eat closer to bed mindset argues that doing this is bad because your body could go into a catabolic state and after keeping food from your body for such an extensive period of time that when you do eat when you wake up that your body has a bigger chance of storing the food as fat.

    From reading all these things I kinda fall in the middle category....eat something light about an hour before bed, don't go to bed feeling full but don't go to bed on a completely empty stomach either....what do you guys think?

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