How Late Is Too Late to Eat? There's no be-all and end-all on what time you should close the kitchen. Some researchers define "eating late" as eating your last meal less than two hours before bedtime, while other research suggests cutting yourself off by 6 p.m. delivers the greatest health benefits.
So when exactly should you stop eating? Scientists can't agree on a single set time, but the consensus seems to be within three hours before bedtime. So if you go to bed at 11 p.m., don't eat after 8 p.m. Banishing late night snacks after that time could help alleviate the symptoms of acid reflux disease, too.
There's no one rule for when you should stop eating at night, but as a general guide you should have your last meal between one and three hours before you go to sleep. This gives your body time to digest your food using the energy it has left before it rests and avoids your body storing the food as fat.
There's no such thing as a set time you should eat dinner.
Someone who wakes up at 5am could be having dinner at 5pm, while someone who goes to sleep at 1am could be having dinner at 10pm–none of it is inherently wrong or unhealthy, according to Farah Fahad, registered dietitian and founder of The Farah Effect.
It depends on what you eat. Planned healthy snacks that contain protein and fiber can actually be beneficial, but late-night binges won't do your body any good. As long as you don't eat too many calories and stick to healthy eating habits, it's generally okay to eat whenever you want.
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.
Your body will not store more fat after eating the same meal at 9:00 pm as opposed to 6:00 pm—the calorie intake is the same. If you overeat, your body will store the extra calories as fat no matter what time you consume them.
Eating dinner at 10 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. may affect your blood glucose and the ability to burn fat. The study found that late eaters had peak blood sugar levels almost 20 percent higher and fat burning reduced by 10 percent, compared with those who ate dinner earlier.
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.
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.
Experts say that having a late-night meal keeps the body on 'high alert' at a time where it should be winding down, which can have dangerous implications for our health. Researchers have now said that we should never eat within two hours of our bedtime, and ideally, nothing after 7pm.
Recent medical studies have shown that eating between the hours of 12pm-11pm resulted in higher levels of blood glucose, insulin and cholesterol, than eating between the hours of 8am-7pm. So, if your goal is to reduce your body fat or your cholesterol, it may be beneficial to try curbing your late night eating habits.
Keep hydrated during the shift—water is best. “Avoid eating between midnight and 6 am, if possible, and if you do need to eat during the night, go for low calorie, protein rich snacks—don't graze your way through the night. “Finally, eat a healthy breakfast before your daytime sleep so you don't wake up hungry.
Researchers say a diet plan that restricts eating to between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. can help you lose weight.
Having a decent overnight fast may be a great place to start to give your gut bacteria a helping hand. Having a 10-12-hour overnight period, say 7pm-7am where no food is consumed, is a very traditional way of eating.
If you still want a specific time to stop eating before bed to lose weight, try having your last meal before ten o'clock. Any snack or meal you had after ten o'clock, could delay the body's ability to break down unused macronutrients.
The bottom line
The ideal time to eat dinner appears to align with your circadian rhythm and allow your body time to adequately digest food before laying down for sleep. This typically means eating dinner at least 2 to 3 hours before bedtime.
Pro: Protein-filled snacks aid in rebuilding muscle while you sleep. Late-night eating can be a boost for your muscles if you worked out earlier in the day. Choose snacks that are high in protein, such as cheese, nuts, or chickpeas, to prep your body to rebuild while you sleep.
Why do so many of us get so fat? the answer appears obvious. “The fundamental cause of obesity and overweight,” the World Health Organization says, “is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended.” Put simply, we either eat too much or are too sedentary, or both.
But in fact, even though your metabolism is slower at night when you are stationary than when you are active, your metabolism never stops working, even when you are sleeping. Calories consumed at night won't change your metabolism or count more than calories consumed during the day.
As you sleep, your body burns calories, causing you to lose between 1 to 4 pounds of your weight overnight; this weight loss can be regarded as temporary weight loss because you need to consume fewer calories than you burn to avoid weight gain.
There's nothing wrong with wearing a bra while you sleep if that's what you're comfortable with. Sleeping in a bra will not make a girl's breasts perkier or prevent them from getting saggy. And it will not stop breasts from growing or cause breast cancer.
No, being hungry does not burn fat. Your body burns calories from food in order to fuel your daily activities, including physical activity and metabolism. When you don't eat enough calories, your body may start to break down stored fat for energy, which can lead to weight loss.
During the day, the cemetery attendants would listen for bells ringing, but the shift of workers whose sole job was to listen for the bells of the buried but undead, from midnight to dawn, became known as the Graveyard Shift.