Eating Late at Night Causes You to Gain Fat?
The Claim: Eating late at night causes you to gain fat.
Answer: FACTOID
Gaining weight is simply a matter of eating excess calories. WHEN you eat those calories is irrelevant. But there is a persistent myth that eating late at night somehow causes you to store more fat that eating earlier in the day. There is no scientific evidence to support this idea.
If you just eat the amount of calories you burn off, then it doesn’t matter at all if you eat all of those calories at night, or in the morning or spread throughout the day.
Total calories is all that matters. So if your BMR is 1600 calories, that means you could eat all 1600 of them at midnight and not gain an ounce of fat.
John
Posted by in Weight Loss
8 Responses to “Eating Late at Night Causes You to Gain Fat?”
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February 17th, 2010 at 9:26 am
I thing I still dont understand. Why BMR is calculated on 24 hours basis? I am not a nutritional expert, thats why for me it seems logical, that when i eat something my body use it for fuelling the next couple hour activity. If I do something I use the energy from the food I consumed. If I eat a cake at midnight (even I eat only 1 salat in the morning) that energy can’t be used for afternoon activity only the needs after I ate it. So when I sleep back I need much less energy. So the cake (because no energy needed) go and make me fatter.
Or i am completely wrong and I should stfu
February 17th, 2010 at 11:16 am
BTW, our new episode of Phi Life went up today, check it out here: http://www.phi-life.com
JB
February 17th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
BMR has nothing to do with daily activity, BMR is the amount of calories you need just to keep your body functioning, respiratory system, brain, heart, etc etc….when you go to sleep, your body is still functioning, otherwise youd be dead. The activities you do in a day are extra. So if your BMR is 1,800 calories a day and you have a very active work and lifestyle, then maybe you can have an extra 300 calories (i just made that numer, it can be anything depending on your activity) worth of food and still be at maintenance.
February 17th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Gaining weight as a result of eating late is something that I’ve believed for a while but now you’ve got me thinking. But whether it does or does not help you gain weight, I still feel worse if I do eat late and sleep.
Rahim Samuel
Publisher, Wellnessbymanymeans.com
February 17th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
My last meal is typically around 11 PM or midnight. It just works out that way for the past several years. I maintain a body fat level of around 5% (with 7-position caliper assessment).
I never feel bad, guilt, or whatever it is that people are lead to believe about themselves for eating late at night.
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:11 am
This is one of those DUH! things that people have never figured out, I think it comes from the association with people that are over eating, yeah if you’re someone who eats all day long and then gets up in the middle of the night for a midnight snack on top of all the calories of course you’re going to gain weight, the way my day falls right now ill do fasts all day long and then ill have a meal when i get home before i go to bed and guess what I’ve lost 30 pounds over a period of 3 months. So, really the only time of day I even have time to eat right now is late at night and I’m still losing. I’m glad this was posted.
February 26th, 2010 at 1:24 am
One Question John.
Is there any role of Carbs in Weight Loss?
February 26th, 2010 at 11:42 am
Aditya,
There is nothing special about carbs beyond how many calories. They’re just food. (just be aware that eating a lot of carbs all at once will cause a temporary bloating of water)
JB