I personally think (based on what I've read in the past) that eating right before bed isn't good because it interferes with the quality of sleep you get. Rather than resting, your body has to continue with digestion. I think it's best to stop eating a minimum of 2 hours before going to bed, but 3 is better. In terms of weight loss consequence, I can only speculate that worse quality sleep can increase hunger, but if you still eat the same calories and create a deficit, you will lose.

I think that eating before bed is okay, just depends what you eat and how much of it you eat

It really depends on so many other things.
Fact is if your calories overall are bellow what you need to stay the same you will eventually lose.
But what makes someone lose faster etc is still to some extend a mystery.
People that wake up during the night and drink soda and eat food probably eat a lot during the day too, or worse, starved themselves all day and overeat later.

What eating heavily before sleeping does is mostly endager you of throwing up in your sleep and chocking to death, which has nothing to do with weight loss. It might also cause unrest to some, as well as lower the overall quality of sleep.

If you eat something bad it might take 3-4 hours for the body to realise in most cases and if you sleep during that it is dangerous...

Well there is more, but I'm straying from the issue. I know of no proof that you "gain" weight by eating late, but overall it is risky for your cardiovascular and diggestive system, as well as your sleep.

Speaking for me personally, I always eat within an hour of going to bed (usually it's something around 90 calories and very high in protein). I never have any problems sleeping through the night and it hasn't stalled my weight loss. But every body is different and yours may not like eating late at night. As others have said, what it comes down to in the end is calories eaten vs calories burned.

Nothing scientific here, but I always save 300 calories for my nighttime snack(s).

Everyone who hasn't should read this.

It is a myth that eating at night causes weight gain. Sorry to dissapoint but I can't seem to find the study that best demonstrates this but here is the basic idea behind it. They took two groups of obese women and put them on calorie matched diets. One group ate a larger breakfast, and the other a larger dinner. What they found is that weight loss was same for both groups but the group that ate a larger dinner retained slightly more LBM.

It is true that our metabolisms are slower at night while we're sleeping but that is irrelevant because our bodies are constantly utilizing energy to function. This article has a nice graph that shows flucuating levels of insulin. You could also think of those dips as energy in vs energy out. NET ENERGY is what matters.

Of couse - some people will have their sleep affected by eating a large amount at night so that has to be considered. Studies also show that not getting enough sleep can affect weight loss.

In the end - it always comes back to a caloric deficit and the plan that works for you and therefore is sustainable over the long term.

dieting myth. there are likely statistics that support it simply because not eating at night helps people further regulate their calorie intake and they are far less likely to splurge. i no longer have a snacking problem, so eating later at night has not prevented me from weight loss.

Even if your overall metabolism does slow at night as you sleep, that means everything slows down, including digestion and conversion of food into fat.

If you're driving 50 miles an hour and slow to 25, everything in your car is likewise decreasing in speed to 25 miles an hour. While that's an oversimplification of the complex process of metabolizing food, it's a good way of not sweating the late-night snack or fretting about not eating breakfast if you aren't hungry enough to eat it upon waking. Your car's fuel travels at the same rate as the rest of the vehicle.

I was struggling with the same question.. thank you for all of the advice. I don't usually eat dinner until past 9pm every night (due to my schedule) and it was concerning me, but I feel better about it now.. thanks everyone!!
~Newbie here

well even though oprah swears by it (says stopping eating after 7 pm is key) i don't think it matters.. i work out after school and i never leave the gym til 6:30 so by the time i get home, shower, and make dinner i am usually eating at 7:30 sometimes 8.....i too think it doesn't matter as long as you don't eat too many calories total for the day...i can't eat before i work out, i usually have a small snack and then when i get home enjoy dinner which is the biggest meal of the day....sadly all during my workout i am dreaming and thinking of my dinner lol!!

Absolutely, positively... does not matter.

And when I say does not matter, what I mean is it is individual.

I can eat whenever I want and as long as I keep my food within my Points I'm on plan and I lose weight.

Some people might find that eating at night is just mindless grazing; they're adding calories to their bodies, because they're bored or looking for something to do while watching TV. They aren't actually eating because they're hungry... the solution to that? They just make the kitchen off-limits.

However, it somehow turned into this big "You can't eat at night and lose weight" myth. That's just not true. For some people, it's better if they avoid night eating. For others it's not a problem, and therefore they don't have to avoid it.

Do what works for you. And as long as you're following plan, you'll be fine.

The later you wait to eat, the hungrier you'll get, and thus the more likely you are to overeat. Maybe it's that?

Actually, for some people struggling with blood sugar issues, eating at night is recommended.

My husband is diabetic, and the dietitian recommended evening snacking because for some people with blood sugar issues, going a long stretch without eating can cause what she called "leaky liver", wherein the glucose reserves held in the liver start to leak into the blood, causing higher blood sugar overall.

I have always been a night time snacker, and I still snack at night. It has not hindered my weight loss at all, except when I make poor snacking choices, which happens from time to time. That issue is my fault, not the fault of the snack or the clock.

No way! I eat a night all the time!!

I think eating late does cause weight gain for me just because i usually pass bfast and lunch eat dinner and then binge at night so for me personally very bad!