Eating after 8 pm? yay? nah? does it matter? I know you shouldn't eat at least two hours before bed time because it is hard on your digestion. However, i work weird hours sometimes and i'm up more at night so dinner is later yet i still go to bed at about 11 or 12. So i'm not really sure about the 8 pm rule.

Some think it is important.

Personally, I eat whenever I am hungry (staying OP of course).

I try to eat healthy and ON PLAN foods - but the time of day doesn't seem to matter much for me.

Keeping my calories clean and within my daily total are key - not WHEN I eat them.

Never once paid attention to what time I ate in relation to bedtime - but that's what worked for me. It didn't stop me from losing 70+ lbs and keeping it off for 4.5 years.

In fact, when I was actively losing weight, I had a super busy job and often didn't get home until 8. By the time I ate dinner, it was usually 9 and I was in bed by 11. For months!

I would say do whatever works for you.

I do better staying op if I dont make this rule for myself.I can get very hungry and crabby at night....a girl needs to eat

I'm with Counting Down. I don't think the time of the day matters, because everyone has a different schedule (like yours, for example). I do follow a personal rule of not eating less than 3 hours before bedtime, only because I feel awful when I wake up the next morning.

If you plan out your calories for the day, I think you can eat them all at once or distribute them throughout the day and the effect should be the same. There are different schools of thought on the matter, so this is just my take on it.

I think your total calories in a day is what matters most no matter when you eat them. I have recently adopted this rule but that is because usually anything I eat after 8 is bad for me and I just eat it on impulse or because I'm bored.

But if that is the time that it's convenient for you to eat dinner, that is ok. Just work it into the rest of your meal plan.

If you're eating healthy food it shouldn't bother you. Unlike spicy or greasy foods or alcohol that may cause indigestion.

I've heard this, too, but I don't get done with work until 8:00 p.m. I don't think there's any truth to it, I just try not to eat anything too heavy because it makes it difficult to sleep.

I think it makes more of a difference if you tend to munch a lot at night. Some people swear by it, so whatever works I guess.

I lost all my weight not adhering to the two-hour rule. I like to eat a bowl of cereal or a sandwich right before bed. So I have two dinners. I just don't usually eat a lot from noon to 6:00 p.m.

Nope, never. I work shift so ....

In fact, I just ate a banana and will probably still have an apple and a piece of cheese.

katie hit the nail on the head. calories in vs calories out (unless you're on low carb, or another plan). doesnt matter when those calories get in or out.

i would think it applies the same on any plan though, your body doesnt care WHEN the food gets in it, only how much and what kind. i have eaten a midnight snack (literally at midnight) every night of my diet. i think the theory stems from the idea that people tend to eat more junk late at night because they dont feel like cooking. also, the theory assumes that since you're going to sleep soon, you wont burn those calories off and they'll become fat. however, whether you burn the calories before you go to sleep or the next day is irrelevant.

I'd starve most nights if I couldn't eat after 8pm lol. I do my exercise after work and often don't get home until about 8...eating afterward definitely doesn't affect me.

Having said that eating to close to going to bed DOES make me feel a little lethargic if it's a big meal. But thats about it.

i'm the type of person who doesnt eat a whole lot during the day so i get most of my food in the evening. if i didnt eat after 8 i'd be going to bed starving and wouldnt be able to sleep properly and waking up being so hungry i feel nauseous.
i think it all depends on the person and their natural eating patterns. i think any "diet" is about listening to your body and what it needs. i dont mean "omg i need a cheeseburger", but when your body is saying i need food now, or dont feed me just yet, that kinda thing.

I try to do one snack after dinner....like a dessert or an ice cream/popsicle type snack. Then I tell myself that's it. It's not so much the time as the shutting down of the kitchen that helps me. In the past, I would consume so many empty calories at night by snacking. Since I tell myself no more snacking, I think it's help save a lot of calories for me.

Sometimes I will eat air-popped popcorn with flavored salts while watching movies with my kids, though!

Remember when Oprah's trainer insisted that you have to work out in the morning? Well I barely make it out of bed for my job and they pay me to do that. Any exercise program that depends on me getting up early is going to fail on day one. So I work out in the evenings. I think all the advice for specific timing is for folks that must have follow a plan devised for them. Seems the most successful people I've seen on these boards define their own plan based on what they have found works for them.

It doesn't matter when you eat food, your body digests it just the same.

That being said I usually don't eat after 8 pm just because I like to have a few hour break between when I eat and go to sleep.

I remember my mom used to say don't eat late cuz the food in your stomach at night turns into fat. lol.