How late do you eat?

I don't finish my workout until almost 8pm most days. I have a protein shake as soon as I get home, which is about 10 minutes after I leave the gym. Then, if I don't have leftovers from the night before, it takes me about 45 minutes to cook, prep time included. So I tend to eat my dinner around 8:30, usually closer to 9:00 :noway: . You need to make sure you get protein and carbs into your body within an hour after your workout to give you body fuel that it just burned. If I didn't eat after a "certain" time (such as 7pm), I would not make significant progress towards my goal of losing fat and building lean muscle. I need the protein to repair my torn muscles and the carbs to replace energy. And regardless of not making significant progress, it would just be bad for my body if I didn't refuel it. Recovery from a workout has everything to do with consuming carbs and protein if you're lifting after your workout. Your body is *slightly* more likely to hold onto food you eat later at night, but if you are at or under your calorie goal it really doesn’t make a difference. And I stress “slightly.” :flowerforyou:

If you workout in the morning, make sure you don't do it on an empty stomach. You'll utilize more fat for energy without the risk of catabolizing muscle protein since you haven’t basically fasted for the whole night. If you don't work out in the evening then it isn't so imperative that you eat at night. But just know that you can

starve all day, pig out at night...my bad habit

11pm at night sometimes later. Time has no bearing factor on when you eat. It's HOW MUCH you eat overall.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I work nights, so when I get home I have something small and quiet (no cooking or noisy food prep) then go to bed. Depending what time my shift started and what time I ate dinner I might have gone 6 or 7 hours without eating by that point.

I normally stop eating 3 hours before bed. I work 3rd shift so for me during the week that's at 5:00 am or 5:30 am. If I do get hungry for some reason I'll normally eat cottage cheese or eggs whites with some veggies,nothing to heavy or full of carbs. I personally stay away from starchy carbs before bed becasue carbs are used for energy, you don' need energy to sleep. On my days off I typically stop eating at about 7 or 8 pm. Once again if I do get hungry I eat as long as I stay within my calorie intake. Everyone is different though, there so much info/research that contradict one another, do what's best for your body. It's all about trial and error until to figure out what works best for you.

I really dont believe in the "certain time to stop eating" rule. I think it can be used as a tool to not over eat, but if your calories are still at ur goal then it doesnt matter when you consumed them.

I work 5 different shifts where i work from daylight to nights and eat around the clock, all hours of the night. But its all under or around my calorie goal. Im losesing weight regardless.