Mostly I don't think it matters. Deficit is deficit.

I worked a graveyard shift for several years and managed to lose weight with a schedule that was opposite the norm. The family ate supper, to them, breakfast to me about 8 p.m., I ate lunch at 3 a.m. and supper for me after work at about 8 a.m. Then on the weekend I switched up to a more normal schedule.

In the long run it really does not matter that much as long as you are eating at deficit.

I don't think it matters, as others have said. But everybody has a different rhythm to their day. Took me awhile to find mine.

I seem to be the hungriest in the late afternoon and into the evening. I can't sleep unless I've got a bit of food in my stomach. If the last thing I eat at night is a bit richer in fat. If I have something heavy on the carbs, that's when I wake up famished. But with a rich dinner, I can easily go for 12+ hours without eating. I don't weigh myself until 12 hours have passed.

I think it matters (to me ) I TRY not to eat past 6pm. I feel MUCH better my reflux is kept at bay & digestion slows down @ night time.

Think of it this way: the food you eat will in no way be burned off because you don't burn any calories sleeping

That's untrue. Calories are burned while sleeping.

You most certainly DO burn calories by sleeping! That's the entire premise of the BMR - calories burned by bodily functions during a completely sedentary state, ie: what it takes to run your engine. The only way to be burning NO calories is to be dead. Even comatose patients have a basal rate of calories burned in a given day, though it may be less than someone who can engage in physical activity like sitting, talking, walking, etc.

Calories matter - not when you ingest them - if all other variables stay the same.

Even if it WERE true that you didn't burn off the food at night (and it's not, you burn calories 24 hours a day), but say for argument you didn't - you'ld just start burning them again in the morning when you got up.

This is like saying that you'd have more money every month if you paid your rent at the end of the month, instead of at the beginning.

Calories are the body's currency. Storing body fat is like having money in the bank. Unlike money, having a lot in the bank isn't a good thing, so it's important to spend more than you earn (so you start depleting your "savings"), but when you eat (get paid) and when you burn (spend) doesn't matter - as long as your spending more than you're paying yourself.

Exactly! Thanks for saying what I always think when someone says you shouldn't eat late at night because you won't burn the calories. If your total daily activity remains the same, it doesn't matter when you fuel the tank.

F.

Even with all the wonderful advice given here, the only true way to know if it makes a difference for you (OP) is to experiment with it. :)

I lost a ton of weight eating most of my calories in the late afternoon/evening. I don't get hungry during the day but do towards evening. So, eating late didn't hurt me. I can't stand going to bed on an empty stomach!

It doesn't matter, but eating a heavy meal/big snack before bed often produces funny/vivid dreams and waking up with "carb mouth."

My husband an I eat dinner between 5:00-6:30 after that we usually drink a small chocolate milk at 8:00 then go to bed around 10 or 10:30. I do not like eating any later than that.

What's carb mouth?

F.

I think the only thing about eating late for me is that I tend to eat more out of wanting to munch than hunger. Other than that it doesn't matter when you eat. As long as you are staying within your target you will be fine. We eat dinner really early because our kids go to bed early but I think I need to push dinner time later because I have been finding myself munching way to much late at night. :/