Eating Late.... Problem or not?

theinz_4
theinz_4 Posts: 3
edited November 8 in Food and Nutrition
Hi there, I recently started up MFP on January 1st and have lost 15, (yes 1-5) pounds so far. I love it but i have a few questions as far as dieting goes. I was told by some people that eating late is the biggest source of weight gain because of the fact that you're metabolism shuts down once you go to sleep. But recently, I was told by a friend that it's a myth and the human body will still burn calories while sleeping. For the past 3 weeks, i haven't been eating past 8PM (CT) and let me tell you as a college student, that's not easy. But I've obviously seen some results, so I'd hate to change my habits so far. Any ideas or thoughts?
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Replies

  • mgodde
    mgodde Posts: 10
    Good for you on your loss! Yes, the body burns calories while you sleep, but at a far slower rate. A large meal late at night is definitely not a good idea. However, if you have something light, a vegetable soup, salad or fruit later in the evening to stave off hunger, it's no big deal.
  • iKapuniai
    iKapuniai Posts: 594 Member
    True, your metabolism does SLOW DOWN while you're asleep at night but it doesn't shut down altogether. I really doubt it makes much of a difference, it really all comes down to the amount of calories you've consumed throughout the entire day. If your goal is to consume 2000 calories a day, it doesn't matter what time of the day or night it's consumed. Even if you DID have a late meal, you'll still have the chance to burn off those calories the next day. I don't pay too much attention to my DAILY goals as much as my WEEKLY goals. Some days I'll overeat, and the next day I'll eat less or exercise more to make up for it.
    Personally, I'll eat my dinner an hour (sometimes less) before I go to bed, because I can't stand feeling starved or even the least bit hungry while I'm trying to sleep, otherwise I'll wake up and binge... so that's what works for ME, but to each their own.

    To answer your question - NO, eating late is NOT a problem, as long as what you eat is within your calorie limit/budget.

    Love and Alohas,
    Ihilani Kapuniai
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    If you want to eat your entire days calories right before bed, it makes no difference.

    Meal timing is irrelevant. The reason late night eating gets a bad rep is because people tend to eat their daily allotment of cals in the daytime, AND THEN eat more late at night. They blame the late night eating for the weight gain, when they have simply just created a calorie excess.

    I eat 80% of my cals after 10pm, and 4-500 minutes before bed. Never done me any harm! :D
  • MrsKite
    MrsKite Posts: 35
    If you want to eat your entire days calories right before bed, it makes no difference.

    Meal timing is irrelevant. The reason late night eating gets a bad rep is because people tend to eat their daily allotment of cals in the daytime, AND THEN eat more late at night. They blame the late night eating for the weight gain, when they have simply just created a calorie excess.

    I eat 80% of my cals after 10pm, and 4-500 minutes before bed. Never done me any harm! :D

    While that may be working for you it does not mean that it will work for everyone. Eating 80% of my calories just before I go to bed is a guarantee way for me to gain weight. Those of us that are not so young and post menopause have different needs. For me if I eat before bed my body will not have a chance to burn off those calories and it will store it as fat.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member

    While that may be working for you it does not mean that it will work for everyone. Eating 80% of my calories just before I go to bed is a guarantee way for me to gain weight. Those of us that are not so young and post menopause have different needs. For me if I eat before bed my body will not have a chance to burn off those calories and it will store it as fat.

    It has nothing to do with age or menopause. If late night eating is causing you to gain weight it has to do with when you are weighing relative to the time you are eating, or it is because your late night eating is causing you to overeat for the day. Both of these are possible explanations. Adipose storage due to metabolic slowdown at night is simply silly and false.

    The only thing that matters is that OVER THE COURSE OF TIME, fat oxidation exceeds fat storage. If you are in a caloric deficit over time, fat oxidation will be greater than fat storage and your net effect is fat loss, regardless of when you eat.
  • Embera
    Embera Posts: 289 Member
    im up late like past 2 most nights so i usally have a snack around 10 or 11 but i also alot my daily calory limit around this and if i dont have enough after dinner i go for a walk the length of which depends on what i want to burn
  • Inebriated
    Inebriated Posts: 271
    If you want to eat your entire days calories right before bed, it makes no difference.

    Meal timing is irrelevant. The reason late night eating gets a bad rep is because people tend to eat their daily allotment of cals in the daytime, AND THEN eat more late at night. They blame the late night eating for the weight gain, when they have simply just created a calorie excess.
    This.
  • Cr357
    Cr357 Posts: 238
    If you want to eat your entire days calories right before bed, it makes no difference.

    Meal timing is irrelevant. The reason late night eating gets a bad rep is because people tend to eat their daily allotment of cals in the daytime, AND THEN eat more late at night. They blame the late night eating for the weight gain, when they have simply just created a calorie excess.
    This.
    These^^^^
  • ahealthy4u
    ahealthy4u Posts: 442 Member
    I have been told that while sleeping you can still burn calories, but a good rule of thumb for anyone to fallow that I have been told is nothing 3-4 hours before you go to bed. So say you have dinner at 6pm that would be your last meal/snack if you plan on going to bed around 10pm. Good luck to you! I know it is hard when one is a college student or for someone who has a night job.
  • Nana_Booboo
    Nana_Booboo Posts: 501 Member
    Eat when you want to eat. It doesn't matter.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    I have been told that while sleeping you can still burn calories, but a good rule of thumb for anyone to fallow that I have been told is nothing 3-4 hours before you go to bed.

    You can disregard what you were told unless it causes you discomfort to eat before bed. The time at which you eat will make absolutely zero difference assuming you are monitoring total daily intake and eating correctly.

    To be abundantly clear, I'm not telling you this because I want to be right, I am telling you this because you may be applying a restriction to your plan that simply doesn't need to exist.
  • piccolarj
    piccolarj Posts: 488 Member
    If you want to eat your entire days calories right before bed, it makes no difference.

    Meal timing is irrelevant. The reason late night eating gets a bad rep is because people tend to eat their daily allotment of cals in the daytime, AND THEN eat more late at night. They blame the late night eating for the weight gain, when they have simply just created a calorie excess.
    This.
    These^^^^
    ^^^^Those^^^^
  • Qatsi
    Qatsi Posts: 2,191 Member
    Everybody's different, of course. Personally, I avoid eating after 8pm because I suffer from acid reflux. If I eat late at night, I'm awakened at 3am with a reminder why it's bad for me to do so.

    But if you don't have that problem, this doesn't apply to you.
  • NeuroticVirgo
    NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
    If you want to eat your entire days calories right before bed, it makes no difference.

    Meal timing is irrelevant. The reason late night eating gets a bad rep is because people tend to eat their daily allotment of cals in the daytime, AND THEN eat more late at night. They blame the late night eating for the weight gain, when they have simply just created a calorie excess.
    This.
    These^^^^
    ^^^^Those^^^^

    I have to jump onto this band wagon. As long as your calories are still spread out it shouldn't make a huge difference when you eat them. I have a friend who eats dinner almost everyday after 8pm because of her work schedule. She's almost down 60lbs. I stay up late, and therefore I tend to eat light all day, dinner being my biggest meal, and then snack or snacks before bed and I'm down 60lbs as well. Its just eating late when all your calories are gone already.

    Side note from experience, if you eat late (and heavy) and then weigh yourself early the next morning you might not see a loss, or even a gain, it depends on the length of time between when you ate and how heavy you ate. I've eaten a heavy meal at like 11pm and then turned around and weighed myself at 6-7am....wasn't as good as when I eat a snack before bed, and then weigh in the next day.
  • extremewinner
    extremewinner Posts: 98 Member
    Eating late is a problem. Anything after 7 or 8 pm wont be processed the same. Unless you have reversed schedule where you work in the night and sleep in the morning. If you switch between working day and nights then thats a toughy but biologically zour bodys made to process efficiently in the day.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    Eating late is a problem. Anything after 7 or 8 pm wont be processed the same. Unless you have reversed schedule where you work in the night and sleep in the morning. If you switch between working day and nights then thats a toughy but biologically zour bodys made to process efficiently in the day.

    ^ This is entirely false, no offense.
  • Virginia90
    Virginia90 Posts: 317 Member
    Eating late is a problem. Anything after 7 or 8 pm wont be processed the same. Unless you have reversed schedule where you work in the night and sleep in the morning. If you switch between working day and nights then thats a toughy but biologically zour bodys made to process efficiently in the day.

    Yeah..because our bodies inherently know how to tell time! As soon as 7pm rolls around, it goes, "Metabolism, STOP!" Day lights saving really throws it all off! </sarcasm>

    It makes no difference when you eat - you can eat your entire daily calories at 11PM and go to bed as soon as you are done, and the only thing it hinders is a good night's sleep because you would be overly stuffed. Most of my calories are after 6PM because during the day I'm almost too busy to eat a lot. The only reason they don't recommend eating at night is because most people will grab a bag of chips, or cookies, or *insert other binge food here* and go way over their daily calories. If it fits into your calorie budget, have at it!
  • BlondeLisa1
    BlondeLisa1 Posts: 106 Member
    Man, I love MFP. You guys know everything and make life so much easier for people when you debunk bogus dieting myths. Seriously, THANK-YOU!
  • BobbyMorgan
    BobbyMorgan Posts: 20
    http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

    Thank you for this link!

    I am three weeks in i am having some issues eating all of my calories on my cardio days because of this myth.
  • beautyreaps
    beautyreaps Posts: 151
    Eating late is not a problem. As mentioned above, your body cannot tell time. So long as you stay within your caloric goals, then you should be fine. Your body DOES burn calories as you sleep (Otherwise you'd be dead, haha. The body needs calories to operate, even at rest).
  • KristinC4
    KristinC4 Posts: 81
    The time you eat does not matter; it's what you are eating that makes all the difference. Most people crave junk food at night and don't make the smartest choices during this time. If the choices you make at night are healthy then you should not gain weight. Congrats on your weight loss so far and good luck in the future!
  • SergeantSunshine_reused
    SergeantSunshine_reused Posts: 5,382 Member
    Eating late is a problem. Anything after 7 or 8 pm wont be processed the same. Unless you have reversed schedule where you work in the night and sleep in the morning. If you switch between working day and nights then thats a toughy but biologically zour bodys made to process efficiently in the day.

    ^ This is entirely false, no offense.

    Exactly.

    So with this BS, if I go to Washington from Iowa, then I should stop eating at 5pm over there since my body knows what time it is and time zone?
  • SergeantSunshine_reused
    SergeantSunshine_reused Posts: 5,382 Member
    The time you eat does not matter; it's what you are eating that makes all the difference. Most people crave junk food at night and don't make the smartest choices during this time. If the choices you make at night are healthy then you should not gain weight. Congrats on your weight loss so far and good luck in the future!

    Doesn't matter what you eat at night either. If I ate ice cream every night before bed and still hit my calorie goal for the day I would not gain an ounce
  • wftiger
    wftiger Posts: 1,283 Member
    You can eat every one of your calories and then go to bed and you will still lose weight if you are a calorie deficit.

    You do not have to eat your meals spaced out, you can skip meals, you can **gasp** go under 1000 calories occasionally, you can go to McDonalds every day, it doesn't matter. A deficit is a deficit.
  • Cr8tive_Ingenuity
    Cr8tive_Ingenuity Posts: 181
    its calories in vs calories out..not the time of day.on the other hand if you suffer from a sleeping disorder or GERD than its probably not a good idea to eat before bed..otherwise it makes no difference. The reason why people might not eat late at night is if you weigh yourself in the morning and your last meal was at 8pm and a small snack at 10 and you weigh yourself at 8am after you do your number 2, you would probably weigh less than if you eaten a half of pizza at 12am and weight yourself at 8am
  • brittanyjeanxo
    brittanyjeanxo Posts: 1,831 Member
    Good for you on your loss! Yes, the body burns calories while you sleep, but at a far slower rate. A large meal late at night is definitely not a good idea. However, if you have something light, a vegetable soup, salad or fruit later in the evening to stave off hunger, it's no big deal.

    This :) As a student in the medical assisting field, I can tell you that the body most definitely burns calories while you're asleep! I try to stick to the 3 hour rule. No eating 3 hours before bed. Why? Because, for me, if I have something in that time period, I wake up bloated. Your metabolism doesn't have a magical switch where it just shuts itself off as soon as your head hits the pillow, but everything in your body does go at a much lower rate. You heart slows, your BP gets lower, and you digest things much, much slower. That's why I find it better to give myself time to digest a bit of whatever I've eaten before I fall asleep. Hope I've helped! *ETA: and that's just me. I weigh in when I wake up, so if you don't, I say eat whenever :)
  • extremewinner
    extremewinner Posts: 98 Member
    Your body cant tell time but it has its own pace and usually if you eat during the day regularly then by 7 you should stop. Its logic. By 7pm you should be done your 3 to 5 portions anyway so eating healthy but in the wrong proportions affects you negatively.

    I can see reason in both.
  • sandhillcrane
    sandhillcrane Posts: 301
    I eat right until bed time most days. Not much but I snack into the evening. NO PROBEM!! AND....I am 55 so I say 'baloney' to the no eating after dinner. I am down 25 pounds. Good luck! :glasses:
  • extremewinner
    extremewinner Posts: 98 Member
    The time you eat does not matter; it's what you are eating that makes all the difference. Most people crave junk food at night and don't make the smartest choices during this time. If the choices you make at night are healthy then you should not gain weight. Congrats on your weight loss so far and good luck in the future!

    Doesn't matter what you eat at night either. If I ate ice cream every night before bed and still hit my calorie goal for the day I would not gain an ounce

    If your idea of being 'healthy' is to just maintain calorie counts then yes.
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