Logic Behind Not Eating After 8?

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  • cspong
    cspong Posts: 260 Member
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    Okay, so the people who keep saying that as a rule are basically taking it out of context... Like, they don't realize it's to stop snacking and binging, rather than actually physically having an effect on your weight loss...

    I was like "What? My body keeps working... even when I'm sleeping..."

    You're a smart lady.

    Lol, I think that may have been sarcastic... but thanks :D
  • mamamc03
    mamamc03 Posts: 1,067 Member
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    N/A
  • ValerieMartini2Olives
    ValerieMartini2Olives Posts: 3,024 Member
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    I start consuming food as soon as I get out of bed. And I eat up until bedtime (usually like a half hour before just so my stomach isn't super full when I lay in it). I do this everyday. I'm losing weight just fine.
  • wiltl
    wiltl Posts: 188 Member
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    There isn't an impact to overall weight loss, but not eating a couple of hours before bed does help with other digestive issues. With reflux especially, not eating after eight (or whatever is 2-3 hours before bed) will help with this so that you aren't refluxing acid and food all night. All of my doctors and my own research strongly suggested this over the 12 years I had reflux, up until I had surgery to repair it all. Now, I still eat early just because its what I'm used to and hate going to bed full.
  • kokaneesailor
    kokaneesailor Posts: 337 Member
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    Urban legend. Eating before you go to bed doesn't make you fat, eating too much food does though. Your body is a furnace that is on 24/7. :smile:
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    I know for me, when i don't eat late at night, i am hungry enough for a proper breakfast in the morning. If i eat late, i am not hungry until later. When i eat breakfast, i am less likely to binge at night. That's not very scientific, but based on my own experience, i get better weight loss when i eat my meals earlier in the day. And i sleep better, too.

    That's great - you've worked out what is right for your body and your lifestyle, so you should keep doing that.

    I think the point of this post is that some people get all caught up in these crazy "rules" and it makes them more stressed - when it isn't necessary.
  • HardyGirl4Ever
    HardyGirl4Ever Posts: 1,017 Member
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    I read everywhere that you should "close your kitchen" after dinner. I don't. Like you, I eat until just before bed. Apparently if you go to bed on an empty stomach, it allows you to wake feeling thin, rested, and hungry for breakfast. Going to sleep without food awaiting digestions in your stomach keeps your body's metabolism in a fat-burning state. (Chalene Johnson)

    On the other hand:

    Dr. Tim Harlan (Dr. Gourmet) says
    MYTH: Eating late at night or just before you go to bed makes you gain weight.
    TRUTH: Calories are calories. Period. If you eat too many and don't exercise enough, you will gain weight. Eating late or just before going to bed simply doesn't matter.
    When you eat too much, your body has an amazing ability to store the extra calories as fat. Eating later, for most people generally means that they postpone their meal and then in response to their hunger, eat more calories than they need.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    I agree with everything everyone said about that being a rule for people who can't count calories.

    That said, one thing I've learned in the last few months is that I will often feel hungry but if I wait a while, the hunger will pass. So if I have eaten dinner at 5, I'll often get hungry again at 7/8. I could eat then. Or I could wait until 9 and probably find I wasn't really hungry at all.
  • quantumpion
    quantumpion Posts: 8
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    Eating pizza after 9 pm makes my tummy angry rawr.
  • sandyyy712
    sandyyy712 Posts: 94
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    I heard that because when you eat carbs they immediately go to replenishing your glycogen stores and when you sleep you're burning calories and the first source used to burn calories is your glycogen stores, so by not eating right before bed your body will move on to different sources for calories....idk if that's true, it's just what I've heard before.
  • offthedeependay
    offthedeependay Posts: 435 Member
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    I think that the only logic is that a lot of people have the bad habit of binging before bed. Having a firm end time for eating can help end that.

    Besides that, I see no reason to not eat past certain times.
    This is why I stop eatting after 8 pm ,if not I tend to rummage through the cupboards and snake past my calories,,it has helped me but if I am under my calories for the day I don't care what time it is..
  • katharineacox
    katharineacox Posts: 4 Member
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    I heard that because when you eat carbs they immediately go to replenishing your glycogen stores and when you sleep you're burning calories and the first source used to burn calories is your glycogen stores, so by not eating right before bed your body will move on to different sources for calories....idk if that's true, it's just what I've heard before.

    MOST of the people on this thread are wrong, I hate to say. Eating before bed, especially WHAT you eat has a great impact on your weight loss results.

    When you eat carbs right before bed, it messes up your whole system. As Jillian Michaels' "Master Your Metabolism states;" The "levels of fat-storage hormone cortisol dip after breakfast and lunch, but not after dinner or evening snacks. Eating more calories during the evening will pack more fat around your belly...eating the bulk of your calories after dark also sends your bad LDL up and good HDL down."

    "About one hour before you fall asleep ... your body releases its largest pulse of growth hormone for the day. Insulin inhibits growth hormone production, so the last thing you want to do is eat any carbs that will drive up your insulin and interfere with this precious fat-burning growth hormone supply."

    "As soon as you have your evening meal, shut the kitchen down and don't head there anymore." - Jillian Michaels
  • tvanhooser
    tvanhooser Posts: 326 Member
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    I don't know about all the scientific, professional details. The only logic I know is that if I eat after 6-7ish in the evening, I gain weight. If I don't, I lose weight. I'd imagine that the comments on here about not self-sabotaging by mindlessly snacking and thoughtlessly upping my calorie intake are probably true and have alot to do with it. I tend to try to keep things simple because if the plan is too complex or tedious, I won't stick to it. So the simplest explanation I've heard of weight loss philosophy works for me: consume less calories than you use each day and mathematically you can't help but lose weight eventually...just don't cut back so much that it's unhealthy and dangerous.

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