Eating in the evening?

smspencer
smspencer Posts: 14
in Health and Weight Loss
Is it true that it's bad to eat in the evenings?

Replies

  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    Nope.
  • smspencer
    smspencer Posts: 14
    But isn't it just sitting there all night turning to fat, as you're not burning anything off?
  • stuffinmuffin
    stuffinmuffin Posts: 985 Member
    But isn't it just sitting there all night turning to fat, as you're not burning anything off?

    Nope. Your body uses energy just to function, beat your heart, digest, create new cells.....it's not just exercising/movement that burns calories.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    No, that's silly. You burn calories all the time - 500 a day for your brain, another 1000 or so for the rest of your organs. And if you don't completely burn everything you ate that night, you will keep burning it the next day. The body never shuts down, never stops burning calories, and it doesn't magically reset at night.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    But isn't it just sitting there all night turning to fat, as you're not burning anything off?

    That's a myth, weight gain or loss isn't dependent on a single day let alone a single meal (unless you are somehow capable of consuming obscene quantities of food). You burn calories 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - while you're asleep & awake. You burn more per hour during active periods.

    As long as you are staying within your caloric / nutritional goals eat whenever you want.
  • smspencer
    smspencer Posts: 14
    OK, thank you very much :-)
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    Is it true that it's bad to eat in the evenings?

    Not unless you have problems with heartburn if you eat too close to bed time.
  • kadins_momma07
    kadins_momma07 Posts: 328 Member
    I agree with them! I remember reading about that somewhere lately too. I actually schedule myself to eat before bed. I do my elliptical in the evening/night while I watch tv, so sometimes I'm on there for an hour and am hungry...so I just plan on having a snack before bed almost every night, hasn't stopped me from losing weight :)
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
    I eat a cup of ice cream at midnight every night. It doesn't matter what time you eat.
  • AliciaStaton
    AliciaStaton Posts: 328 Member
    I try and eat before 8pm. If I feel hungry later I have some fruit or a packet of weight watchers crisps but all is recorded on mfp
  • Debbe2
    Debbe2 Posts: 2,071 Member
    It truly doesn't matter when you eat as long as you keep within your daily calorie goal. Unless... you find that at night you show less self control because you're tired, bored etc. then I recommend staying out of the kitchen and working on those other issues.
  • jessicae1aine
    jessicae1aine Posts: 885
    I have a snack before bed to take my handful of meds with. I've lost 3.4 pounds in a week and a half, and I'm less hungry first thing in the morning - and thus less hungry all day long.
  • amnski
    amnski Posts: 251 Member
    But isn't it just sitting there all night turning to fat, as you're not burning anything off?

    That's a myth, weight gain or loss isn't dependent on a single day let alone a single meal (unless you are somehow capable of consuming obscene quantities of food). You burn calories 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - while you're asleep & awake. You burn more per hour during active periods.

    As long as you are staying within your caloric / nutritional goals eat whenever you want.

    YEP! So true...I eat all day long, including a snack before bed...if not I go to bed hungry and wake up even more hungry and cranky. Doesn't matter when you eat, it is what and how much that matters :) Keep your log accurate (it is the non-logging and misjudging how much you eat that will do you in long before eating after 8pm lol)
  • medicinemantoo
    medicinemantoo Posts: 160
    eating in the evening is fine. the myth of not eating after 6 or at night probably started like this:

    lets say you're eating 2400 calories a day to maintain your weight, but you're not really keeping track. you eat health meals but you nibble on this or that and sneak something else, etc... during your day. But by dinner time (or after dinner) you've already consumed your 2400 calories, you just think it's less ('cuz you're not counting). So eating more in the evening is putting you over your 2400 calories and you gain weight. get it?!

    your body doesn't care when you eat; just what you eat. if you are really tracking your calories you can eat whenever you want.

    myth debunked.
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
    But isn't it just sitting there all night turning to fat, as you're not burning anything off?

    That's a myth, weight gain or loss isn't dependent on a single day let alone a single meal (unless you are somehow capable of consuming obscene quantities of food). You burn calories 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - while you're asleep & awake. You burn more per hour during active periods.

    As long as you are staying within your caloric / nutritional goals eat whenever you want.

    YEP! So true...I eat all day long, including a snack before bed...if not I go to bed hungry and wake up even more hungry and cranky. Doesn't matter when you eat, it is what and how much that matters :) Keep your log accurate (it is the non-logging and misjudging how much you eat that will do you in long before eating after 8pm lol)

    I just want to admire how amazing you look! those abs...so jealous
  • conniehv40
    conniehv40 Posts: 442 Member
    I can't eat at night because I usually have already eaten my calories. I try to stay away from food if it is because I am bored versus hungry.... (doesn't work too well with a weak will power, but ....)
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
    eating in the evening is fine. the myth of not eating after 6 or at night probably started like this:

    lets say you're eating 2400 calories a day to maintain your weight, but you're not really keeping track. you eat health meals but you nibble on this or that and sneak something else, etc... during your day. But by dinner time (or after dinner) you've already consumed your 2400 calories, you just think it's less ('cuz you're not counting). So eating more in the evening is putting you over your 2400 calories and you gain weight. get it?!

    your body doesn't care when you eat; just what you eat. if you are really tracking your calories you can eat whenever you want.

    myth debunked.

    This could be true! I know some people sware by "skipping" dinner making them lose weight. They eat big breakfast and lunch and that's all. Nothing after 3 pm...But I always wonder how many calories they actually consume even without the dinner.
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
    I can't eat at night because I usually have already eaten my calories. I try to stay away from food if it is because I am bored versus hungry.... (doesn't work too well with a weak will power, but ....)

    I try to spead out my calories throughout the day until bed time. but my weakness is at night too. :( I wonder if I do the reverse, like eating the majority of my calories during the day so I wouldn't feel so hungry at night....Some people claim it works for them.
  • amnski
    amnski Posts: 251 Member

    I just want to admire how amazing you look! those abs...so jealous

    :blushing: :flowerforyou:
  • smspencer
    smspencer Posts: 14
    I'm so confused by this. So many people say not to eat in the evenings. Even the trainers at my gym say don't eat after 8pm. It seems there are two very different opinions on it - wonder which is right?!
  • amnski
    amnski Posts: 251 Member
    I'm so confused by this. So many people say not to eat in the evenings. Even the trainers at my gym say don't eat after 8pm. It seems there are two very different opinions on it - wonder which is right?!

    Whatever works for you...I eat and do just fine and don't wake up ravenous. For some people, it interrupts their sleep...each to their own :)
  • smspencer
    smspencer Posts: 14
    Sorry, I meant in terms of weight loss. So many people say that if you're dieting you shouldn't eat in the evenings. The guys at my gym say you shouldn't eat after 8pm or 6pm - I can't remember which - especially not carbs. They say that to lose weight you shouldn't eat after that time.

    I seem to be naturally more hungry in the evenings than during the day, so I usually have between 300 and 500 calories left which I eat in the evenings. My weight loss is slow - practically non-existent - so I wonder if that is why?? But if I try eating all my calories during the day I feel ravenous in the evening :-/
  • Cait_Sidhe
    Cait_Sidhe Posts: 3,150 Member
    Is it true that it's bad to eat in the evenings?
    Not at all. It makes absolutely no difference what time you eat. Even when it comes to weightloss. As long as your within your calorie goal, eat whatever time you feel like it.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    Sorry, I meant in terms of weight loss. So many people say that if you're dieting you shouldn't eat in the evenings. The guys at my gym say you shouldn't eat after 8pm or 6pm - I can't remember which - especially not carbs. They say that to lose weight you shouldn't eat after that time.

    I seem to be naturally more hungry in the evenings than during the day, so I usually have between 300 and 500 calories left which I eat in the evenings. My weight loss is slow - practically non-existent - so I wonder if that is why?? But if I try eating all my calories during the day I feel ravenous in the evening :-/

    I doubt that eating in the evening has anything to do with your slow weight loss. I eat late in the evening nearly every day, often right before I go to bed - carbs and everything. It hasn't affected my weight loss. Are the guys at your gym nutritionists? Or are they just repeating things that they've heard from other "guys at the gym"? Even trainers are capable of giving out incorrect advice about nutrition. Perhaps ask them if they can point you to any peer-reviewed scientific studies that show that eating after a certain time will slow down weight-loss.
  • smspencer
    smspencer Posts: 14
    Yep - nutritionists. If you eat and then sleep you're not burning it off apparently, so it is sitting there turning to fat.

    I am having so much trouble losing weight. I'm on 1600 calories and working out 4 or 5 times a week - not losing weight or inches - very demoralising.
  • Nataliaho
    Nataliaho Posts: 878 Member
    This isn't about opinions it is about science and the science shows that meal frequency and timing is irrelevant. The root of this belief is the fact that studies have found a correlation between people not eating breakfast and/eating late and being overweight. But correlation doesn't mean causation. Obviously if you have already eaten all your calories and then binge on extra cals it won't work. However if you are holding a spare 300 cals after dinner for exactly the purpose of snacking you are all good.

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