Why do you eat at night?
I thought we we're supposed to eat after 7:00 PM?
Won't you gain more weight if you eat at night time?
I thought we we're supposed to eat after 7:00 PM?
Won't you gain more weight if you eat at night time?
This is a question that I personally have walked around the block with MANY times. There is a lot of water under this bridge.
For years, YEARS, I was a major late night eater. Of course, when I was overweight it was to the tune of ice cream, chocolate, cake, cookies, bags of Hershey Minatures... Basically everything that I had the willpower to turn away from all day long, by 8 or 9 o'clock at night I'd had it and just stuffed my face until my head hit the pillow.
After I lost the weight, I still could not give up that late night snack. This was my routine: eat dinner, then right before bed I'd HAVE to eat plain yogurt with something crunchy in it. Grape Nuts, rolled oats, Kashi cereal, then graduated to all of those plus walnuts and almonds. Oh, and don't forget the flax seed. This was health food people. Looking back I realize I must have been downing around a 400-500 calorie "snack". I justified it by arguing that it was plain yogurt for crying out loud! And nuts! I needed nuts, right?
The worst part about it was that I was eating it out of habit, not hunger. I would come home from a dinner date totally full, but sit down for the 500 calorie yogurt ritual at 11:30 PM just because THAT WAS WHAT I DID. I ate it mindlessly.
Finally, after Baby #3 -- I challenged myself to an experiment. I axed the Late Night Yogurt Habit. I moved it to earlier in the day at a normal snack time (around 10:30 AM or 4:00 PM) and reduced the amount of calories in in drastically (like to around 200-250). Guess what? I am still alive. I did not die in my sleep. And it help shed the last 10 pounds that I was struggling with.
So, that brings me around to now. Why in my Eat With Me posts do I usually eat right before bed? Because I have the extra calories to do so.
The difference is that with my Late Night Yogurt Habit I didn't have the calories to spare. I was eating plenty during the day, plenty at dinner, but still added that extra 500 calories to top me off.
Now that I am tracking my calories because I'm Lose It Land, I have discovered that I do have a few extra hundred calories right before bed -- I call those discretionary calories. Bonus. Extra. Score. And, frankly, I'm hungry. I eat just a little something so I don't wake up in the middle of the night ravenous (which does happen to me and drives me nuts).
For years, YEARS, I was a major late night eater. Of course, when I was overweight it was to the tune of ice cream, chocolate, cake, cookies, bags of Hershey Minatures... Basically everything that I had the willpower to turn away from all day long, by 8 or 9 o'clock at night I'd had it and just stuffed my face until my head hit the pillow.
After I lost the weight, I still could not give up that late night snack. This was my routine: eat dinner, then right before bed I'd HAVE to eat plain yogurt with something crunchy in it. Grape Nuts, rolled oats, Kashi cereal, then graduated to all of those plus walnuts and almonds. Oh, and don't forget the flax seed. This was health food people. Looking back I realize I must have been downing around a 400-500 calorie "snack". I justified it by arguing that it was plain yogurt for crying out loud! And nuts! I needed nuts, right?
The worst part about it was that I was eating it out of habit, not hunger. I would come home from a dinner date totally full, but sit down for the 500 calorie yogurt ritual at 11:30 PM just because THAT WAS WHAT I DID. I ate it mindlessly.
Finally, after Baby #3 -- I challenged myself to an experiment. I axed the Late Night Yogurt Habit. I moved it to earlier in the day at a normal snack time (around 10:30 AM or 4:00 PM) and reduced the amount of calories in in drastically (like to around 200-250). Guess what? I am still alive. I did not die in my sleep. And it help shed the last 10 pounds that I was struggling with.
So, that brings me around to now. Why in my Eat With Me posts do I usually eat right before bed? Because I have the extra calories to do so.
The difference is that with my Late Night Yogurt Habit I didn't have the calories to spare. I was eating plenty during the day, plenty at dinner, but still added that extra 500 calories to top me off.
Now that I am tracking my calories because I'm Lose It Land, I have discovered that I do have a few extra hundred calories right before bed -- I call those discretionary calories. Bonus. Extra. Score. And, frankly, I'm hungry. I eat just a little something so I don't wake up in the middle of the night ravenous (which does happen to me and drives me nuts).
The BIG question remains is this:
Does it matter WHEN we eat our calories?
Or are calories, just calories no matter when we eat them?
Here's the truth, gals. There are a lot of myths and misunderstandings when it comes to late night eating. However, the time of day has no effect on your metabolism. A calorie does not count more just because you ate it after 8:00 PM. Your body will use it the same as it would if you ate it for your morning meals.
The reason most fitness professionals (including myself) recommend to avoid late night eating are for a few reasons:
- Late night eating usually is mindless eating. It's not really a meal or a snack -- it's just extra. We typically don't need it and don't have the calories for it.
- Late night eating it typically not full of nutrient dense foods. Traditionally, it is finishing of the half gallon of ice cream, eating a few extra cookies, scarfing down the last piece of pizza. Rarely are we snacking on things that are doing our bodies good.
- If we wait to eat and just eat a late dinner, typically we are SO starving that we eat everything and anything that happens to cross our path. The bread, appetizers, the entree, big dessert -- you know what I'm talking about. We've all done it. It is better to eat at closer intervals so we don't get so hungry.
The reason most fitness professionals (including myself) recommend to avoid late night eating are for a few reasons:
- Late night eating usually is mindless eating. It's not really a meal or a snack -- it's just extra. We typically don't need it and don't have the calories for it.
- Late night eating it typically not full of nutrient dense foods. Traditionally, it is finishing of the half gallon of ice cream, eating a few extra cookies, scarfing down the last piece of pizza. Rarely are we snacking on things that are doing our bodies good.
- If we wait to eat and just eat a late dinner, typically we are SO starving that we eat everything and anything that happens to cross our path. The bread, appetizers, the entree, big dessert -- you know what I'm talking about. We've all done it. It is better to eat at closer intervals so we don't get so hungry.
If you know that you have the extra 150-200 calories to spend and you are hungry right before bed, by all means eat! It will help you sleep better. However, if you have eaten plenty that day, are bored and need something to munch on while watching 30 Rock -- THAT'S where the trouble lies.
Fit Mommas -- what is your experience with after hours eating? Any thoughts?
Fit Mommas -- what is your experience with after hours eating? Any thoughts?
Feel free to email me any fitness, nutrition or weight loss questions/ideas here. I genuinely enjoy hearing from you so don't be shy about shooting me an email anytime!
9 comments:
I'm glad you posted this! I eat almost every evening (a bowl of healthy cereal with berries) and my weight loss is going great.
I love this post. The evening is a weakness for me as well! Good info here... glad I found your blog!
Glad you posted about this. I always seem to need to eat something at night, whether I'm hungry or not. It IS good advice to almost plan for it, though, or all the guards go down, and you're like me eating every M&M in site!
Oh and nothing is worse than waking in the middle of night being hungry...what to eat then?!?
I work evening shift (3-11:30pm) and I notice that when I've had a good workout that day, I tend to get hungry about 10pm. So I pack myself a Clif Mojo bar, or have a slice of whole wheat toast w/ pb to tide me over. Sometimes just a glass of milk will work, but I do try to keep it healthy and eat only when I feel legitimately hungry.
When I am starving in the middle of the night I get up and get a glass of milk. If that doesn't do the trick then I'll either have a slice of bread or a banana.
What it all comes back to (for me) is the calories in-calories out thing. You can lose weight if you burn more than you eat- period. Even if you eat at "odd times" or late. When I have allowed myself the freedom to eat something small at night, it has actually helped my weight loss! That way, I can enjoy something, esp. when my family is eating a late snack too.
i eat like you--a newborn baby EVERY 2-3 hours--but my meal is something SMALL...LOVE IT-so i eat dinner at 6pm, then have my snack at 830--then im done for the day--
my problem with the night time snack is once I start, I have a hard time stopping, because of the bad habbits you mentioned. So I do better just to say "nothing after 7". Maybe someday I will get some willpower, then it's good to know I can actually eat at night if I have colories left over. Thx!
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