Though going to bed hungry can help with sleep and weight loss, lack of access to food can actually increase your risk of obesity, asthma, and other health problems.
A lot of people in their effort to lose weight assume that skipping dinner will do the deed. But in reality, it works the opposite way. It's true that one should have low quantity of food at night, but completely skipping the meal is not ideal. It will only lead to weight gain.
You could gain weight
Even worse, sleeping on an empty stomach could lead to a big food binge in the a.m., peaking your blood sugar to unhealthy levels and throwing your metabolism for a loop for the rest of the day.
“For optimal sleep it's best not to go to bed too hungry or too full,” says Lisa Moskovitz, R.D. On one hand, falling asleep when all you can think about is the pit in your stomach is difficult AF. But eating too late can wreak havoc on your bod.
However, by going to bed on an empty stomach, your blood sugar level may drop, also referred to as hypoglycemia. The condition can be dangerous for people with diabetes and other critical health issues. Even in healthy folks, low blood sugar levels can cause headaches and dizziness and negatively affect sleep.
“If you are hungry, you should eat something, regardless of the time of day,” says Aimee Takamura, registered dietitian and director of wellness and sustainability at Restaurant Associates. “The act of eating late at night does not affect metabolism or lead to many of the adverse effects you may have heard of.
People do lose weight during sleep. However, this is mostly due to water loss through breathing and sweating. While individuals do not burn much fat during sleep, sleep is a fundamental component of well-being, and a lack of it can make maintaining a moderate weight more difficult.
As a guide, stop eating two to three hours before bed to avoid weight gain. Finishing meals earlier than this may help boost weight loss. Losing weight is hard. You need to think about working out, eating the right things, and getting enough sleep.
When you're hungry, does that mean you've burned all/most of the calories you've consumed? No, it means the hormone ghrelin is higher, usually either because you are close to a typical (for you) mealtime, or because your blood sugar is low and the body is prompting you to eat. It has zero to do with calories.
There are many reasons you can gain weight that have nothing to do with food. Sometimes weight gain is easy to figure out. If you've changed your eating habits, added more dessert or processed foods, or have been spending more time on the couch than usual, you can typically blame those reasons if you gain a few pounds.
The clock-weight connection
That being said, while the body doesn't fiendishly stockpile food as fat when the clock strikes 6 p.m., eating at night is linked to weight gain. And limiting late-night eating has been shown to result in weight loss, too.
“Those who get hungry before bed can try eating low-caloric snacks which may help with hunger, but decrease the possible adverse effects of eating so late,” McHill says. If you're needing a bigger meal later in the evening, make sure the foods aren't keeping you up with bloating, heartburn, or acid reflux.
It's common to hear the phrase “don't eat after 8 p.m.” when you're trying to lose weight. But when you think about it in terms of calories, the math doesn't work out. As long as you stick to your goal and eat fewer calories than you burn, you should lose weight.
Myth: You Shouldn't Eat After 7 P.M.
“However, there's no magic to the 7 p.m. time,” Dobbins says. “Losing weight is a matter of limiting our calorie intake, and most people tend to eat most of their calories in the evening, at dinner and snacking afterward.
A longer than normal fasting period each night allows you to burn through some of your sugar stores, called glycogen. That does a couple things. It gives your body a little bit more time to burn fat. It also may help your body get rid of any extra salt in your diet, which would lower your blood pressure, Dr.
Drink a casein shake
This means your metabolism will be kept active throughout the night, and you'll wake up feeling energetic instead of starving. Casein's fat burning credentials were confirmed in a Dutch study, which discovered a boost in overnight metabolic rate following consumption of the protein.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT): It is probably one of the fastest and most efficient ways to lose stomach fat and reduce the overall body fat percentage. HIIT is a high-intensity short period of exercise that usually doesn't exceed 30 minutes, with short breaks of recovery periods of 30-60 seconds.
You won't gain weight by merely eating later if you eat within your daily calorie needs. Still, studies show that nighttime eaters typically make poorer food choices and eat more calories, which can lead to weight gain. If you're hungry after dinner, chose nutrient-dense foods and low-calorie beverages.
What Experts Say About Late-Night Snacking. "If you're hungry at night, you should eat something," says Sarah Pflugradt, M.S., RD, a family nutrition expert. "Eating at night will not slow down your metabolism and if you're smart about snacking, you won't gain weight either.
What's more is that skipping dinner can lead to acidity, constipation, heartburn, etc. At times, it may make you feel hungry at the middle of the night and make room for sugar cravings. Not only does this interfere with your weight loss regime, but also cause sleep disturbance.