Bonus calories are killing me HeLp!

because by that time it’s too late in the evening.

Thanks for your service.

Can you elaborate on the above comment? Is there a reason you can't eat late at night?

I work out late in the day as well. I use a calorie rich protein shake right after workingout to ease the extra calories.

Chocolate protein powder - 120cal
Almond Milk chocolate flavor - 120 cal
Banana - 105 cal
Almond extract - 0 cal

That's 345 calories. If you need more just add two scoops of powder instead. Then just add some extra calories to dinner.

It's just based on everything I've read on not eating late on or nearbed time because your body metabolize food slower thru sleep then when your up and about.

That's been challenged. Google the issue and you'll see that the consensus is moving to the position that it doesn't matter when you eat during the day so long as you are not exceeding your calorie limit. I also would be aware that most calories burned estimates are inflated. You probably don't want to eat back all those reported exercise calories.

It's just based on everything I've read on not eating late on or nearbed time because your body metabolize food slower thru sleep then when your up and about.

What you have read is entirely false, specifically the above.

My physician keeps stating that I need to eat what am eating for lunch for dinner and have my dinner calories at lunch-because he says I am eating too many dinner calories before bed. I usually eat dinner around 6:30 (about 4 hrs. before bedtime and I do an evening workout before bedtime). I didn't loose at my last weigh-in (nor gain) and I felt like he was out of line for chastising me. He also stated that I need to start walking 2 miles a day which was almost amusing considering I typically walk about 4 miles a day. (He has never took my measurements)

My physician keeps stating that I need to eat what am eating for lunch for dinner and have my dinner calories at lunch-because he says I am eating too many dinner calories before bed.

Now that I'm home and not posting from my phone, let me clarify and better explain myself. This is also directed at the OP since he has some concerns regarding late eating.

First of all, the notion of trying to "burn off what you eat" in the short term, is silly and useless. You can't just look at what happens in a snapshot and apply that over the course of weeks or months and assume consequences based on it.

In this particular case, lets just assume, for purposes of discussion, that every calorie you eat right before bed goes into fat storage. This is absurd but allow me to make a point using a very extreme example.

Now lets assume that you always eat all of your calories right before bed. Lets say you eat 2000 calories and lets say that you burn 2000 calories (so in short, you eat at maintenance). Follow me so far?

So, you eat 2000 calories right before bed and OH NO! IT ALL GOES TO FAT! (Again, we're in make-believe land per my example. This doesn't really happen but we are assuming a worst-case-scenario).

You wake up the next day, 2000 calories fatter, and guess what you do? You don't eat, because you only eat before bed. You burn 2000 calories during the day (by definition, see above) and guess what? You just burned off what you stored at night during your sleep. (You created a 2000 calorie deficit without eating anything during that time).

So even IF you somehow magically slowed down your metabolism at night and that caused the insulin fairy to show up and give you teh fat storez, it wouldn't make any damn difference at all because you're just going to burn that off the following day.

Acute fat storage and fat oxidation are relatively meaningless. Big picture is critical.

If you are eating at a calorie deficit, fat oxidation will exceed fat storage OVER THE COURSE OF TIME. It does not matter if you store fat after that big bowl of cereal and it doesn't matter if you ate that steak right before bed. When you zoom out and look at the balance of processes that occur over the course of a longer period of time, your net energy balance is going to drive things, not when you ate that piece of toast or whether or not you burned carbs or fat during your elliptical bout.

Now for the nitty gritty:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9040548
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17909674
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3508745
http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html (Note myth 10 but read all of them as it's good stuff).

Lastly, you should ask your physician to clarify. Based on what you've posted I can only conclude that you should stop taking nutritional advice from him, but it's possible that he intended something else.

The only effect I personally experience from eating too close to bedtime is that my stomach feels fuller and I find it more difficult to relax into a good night's sleep.

To address the OP's original dilemma - I plan my day as best I can and pre-log it. Not only does it help keep me accountable to myself, but it also allows me to plan to spread my calories over the day. I get most of my exercise in the morning in the form of a walk or a long bike ride but also exercise in the evenings a couple of times a week with swimming and dancing.

Best wishes

My question is I’m in the gym 5 X’s a week and gain too much bonus calories from Cardio/weight trng but cannot eat 700+ calories of food to be within range because by that time it’s too late in the evening.

I have the same problem. It's not because I think it's bad for you to eat late at night, but because I just can't sleep well if I eat a hearty meal before going to bed. I've been making changes every day to try to up my calories earlier in the day to be able to better balance the whole "eating late" dilemma. It's a work in progress in my case, but I'd suggest starting with upping your calorie intake earlier in the day and you can adapt based on what works for you.

It's just based on everything I've read on not eating late on or nearbed time because your body metabolize food slower thru sleep then when your up and about.

Don't worry too much about the "eating after a certain time" issue. A lot of that mythology has been challenged recently and so it shouldn't worry you too much.

It's a good idea to make sure that you are at least consuming your BMR. Nonetheless, I understand that sometimes, especially if you are like me where where you won't eat the extra calories until you've actually done the workout, the late workouts that you do leave you with an accumulation of calories right before bedtime.

A couple of things that I've discovered that use the calories without a lot of eating are things like nuts, especially almonds, and fiber cereals like some of the Fiber One cereals, GrapeNuts, and Kashi or oatmeals. Almonds will typically use up about 160-170 calories for an ounce, but have good protein and lots of the "good fat" ... mono- and polyunsaturates. They also now come in flavors like butter toffee and mint chocolate, so you can eat them as a dessert treat or as a savory snack if you eat the more traditional smoked almonds or the chili almonds. A double serving of almonds will consume about 320 of your calories, 10 grams of protein, and about 6 grams of fiber. I also find that a double-serving of oatmeal right before bed takes up 300 calories, but more importantly has about 8 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber. It calms me down and helps me start getting in that "sleepy mode" ... really great right before bed in the winter.

You probably have a good idea of how many calories your workouts burn by now. You can just plan your meals earlier in the day to be larger by some average workout estimate, and it'll balance out in the long run. If you happen to be a little over one day and a little under the next, it's no big deal.