I’m never really sure when or how late it too late to eat something. Even if I haven’t had dinner yet, I’m not sure if I should eat carbs or fruit in the evenings. Of course I try to eat something “light”, but I’m never sure how light. Does anyone know guidelines about what are the best times to eat? Or maybe an article that will point me in the right direction.
Last edited by JonnieMN; 09-13-2007 at 12:25 PM.
Reason: wrong spelling
There's probably tons of research on this but I'm not that familiar with it. Lots of people believe you shouldn't eat at night or you should eat certain things at certain times, but I just want to let you know that I personally don't buy into any of it, and I've lost 105 pounds!
This probably isn't that helpful, but I just wanted to say it's possible to just count calories and eat them at any time during the day and still consistently lose weight. I'm sure other people will have more specific answers for you, though, if you really want to know how your body is affected at different times during the day.
Different programs say different things about this. You might check on the Main page for 3FC under Diets and see what different programs suggest.
The program I follow myself is to eat something (a meal or a snack) about two or three hours apart. So, if I eat breakfast at 7, I have a snack at 9 or 10, lunch at noon, a snack at 2 or 3, dinner at 5 or 6, and then an evening snack around 8.
Some say you should avoid sweet foods (sugar) or even complex carbs in the evening, but I'm a calorie counter so I don't necessarily follow that. Typical snacks for me might be a Light popcorn serving, or some nuts, or perhaps half an apple with some cheese.
I feel fuller in the evening if I make my late snack mostly protein. I'll usually grab a piece of leftover chicken or some of the very lean sliced turkey breast I keep in the fridge. I'll have that with some 2% cheddar cheese for a tasty treat. I try to eat the bulk of my carbs early in the day with breakfast and lunch. It seems to work for me right now. Lisa
I think you should do a little research on yourself. What is most satisfying to you? I personally don't think it matters what you eat when, as long as you eat an item that is on your plan and you don't eat too much of it.
I do think you should eat regular meals. You said something about even if you haven't eaten dinner...Well, I think you should eat dinner. If you don't you will get too hungry and that will mess up your plan.
well i have personaly been told by some people that you shouldnt have a heavey meal (main meal) after seven and if you do get hungry after seven to snack of low cal and low fat things like fruit or wholegrain crackers (my fav ) im not sure if this is true or not but i try to stick to it and its working quite fine for me
That depends on how early you go to bed! If I ate dinner before 7 I'd be half starved by the time I finally went to bed 6 or 7 hours later!
What you eat and how satisfied you are is more important than when you eat. I usually have a snack of some sort around 11pm, and it's never stopped from losing or maintaining my weight.
I try to never let 4 hours go by where I don't eat something (I used to eat every 3 hours, but that's become impossible with college gearing back up again). So, if that 4th hour is at 9 or 10PM, and I'm not gonna be to bed until 11 or 12, I have a snack.
In my opinion, as long as you're figuring it into your daily allotment of calories, it doesn't matter when you eat it!
I've never been a big fan of the "don't eat after/before x o'clock" because everyone leads a different lifestyle. My boyfriend often works nights, so we sometimes don't eat dinner til after 7pm so that it's dinner for me and breakfast for him.
I think Jay and I have a similar approach. I try to eat within an hour of getting up, then every 2-3 hours. I don't necessarily have a MEAL each time - I usually end up with 3 meals and 3 snacks. When I eat certain things doesn't seem to make much of a difference, although protein with my breakfast is a must to get me going in the AM! Heheh.
Honestly, it all boils down to caloires in vs. calories out. If your plan contains, lets say, 1600 calories a day-then it doesn't really matter if you eat past 6, 7, 8, or whatever time in the evening-as long as you stick with your calorie requirements....AND you fuel yourself regularly throughout the day.
It isn't a good idea to skip breakfast, and eat your calorie heavily in the evening-but it doesn't have anything really to do with loss. It means you went half your day running on empty.
So, as long as you are getting fuel regularly, feel satisfied, and stay on plan-it doesn't matter if you eat 3 meals a day, or if you divide your food into 3 smaller meals plus a snack or two-and one of those happens to be in the evening. Whatever method works best for YOU.
I've never done any research on this subject - I think it depends on how you eat throughout the day and how your body feels later in the day. For instance, I eat breakfast at about 6:30, a morning snack of fruit around 10:00-10:30; lunch around 12:30-1:00, and dinner can be anywhere between 6:00 and 8:00 depending on what my BF and I are up to. I've found that if I don't eat my morning snack, I am incredibly cranky and grumpy the rest of the day. I've also eaten dinner at 10:00 at night and gone to bed feeling fine. I've heard that eating too much sodium before going to bed is not great if you weigh yourself the next morning, but honestly I don't like to think about "what can I not eat that will make the scale go down more in the morning?" If I thought about that all the time, I would probably never eat.
I say, eat when your body feels like it needs nutrition and substance, whether that be at 5:00 pm, 11:00 pm, 6:00 am, whenever. Just don't overeat and binge - I think it's that simple.
I know that I eat a bigger breakfast than most because I'm hungrier in the morning. My lunch is light - fruits for the most part and dinner is veggies with rice. I don't follow any rules for "no carbs the night before weigh-in" even when I used to only weigh-in once a week (I weigh daily now) because that's not realistic I think. As long as you are not going overboard with your calories, what does it matter how much carb you have the previous night for dinner? I agree with everyone else that you should just watch your calories and make sure you're fueled throughout the day.
I don't know about carbs at night, but I do find that I lose more when I eat my warm meal at lunchtime, including plenty of carbs, usually potatoes or rice.
Timing … when to eat what.
) im not sure if this is true or not but i try to stick to it and its working quite fine for me 
