Eating late..Does it really make you gain fat?
Here is one of the most common misconceptions of all time! This has been around since the dark ages I’m sure and still to this day it confuses people.
A lot of people think that the time you eat your food (e.g. after 8pm) has a bigger impact on weight loss/gain than the amount of food you actually eat!
This fallacy seems to stem from the idea that since many people don’t move much in the evening, they fear that this will suddenly lead to greater fat storage.
What does the science say about this?
- One study says that late night eating didn’t affect weight loss (1)
- Another study found that late night carb eaters lost more weight and fat then those that ate more carbs in the earlier part of the day. (Although this may have been because they had more fat to lose in the first place). (2)
- On the other hand, another study found that groups that ate larger meals in the morning and less at night noticed more weight loss. (3)
So there is actually a mixture of what the evidence shows. This is most likely because with food trials and weight loss there are normally so many variables, calories taken in, protein, carbs and fats taken in, activity levels, green veg, fibre and micro-nutrients taken in. It becomes impossible to control all these things; especially when it comes to dealing with a really large number of people.
Important
Now there is ‘A link’ between eating late and fat gain BUT not for the reason’s we might think:
- Most people tend to do a lot of evening socialising, so of course this tends to be coupled with drinks and high calorie consumption. You don’t really have a bunch of people meeting to binge for breakfast and have loads of alcohol with it.
- The people that eat massive meals at night tend to make poor quality food choices during the day and make equally poor choices at night.
In both these scenarios, the key point here is that people are over consuming energy/calories/ food whatever you want to call it, they are having too much.
Logically thinking about it…
If I need to eat 2000 calories per day to lose weight.
BUT I am eating 3000 calories per day at what is considered ‘The Perfect Times’ ie last meal before 7pm.
Will I Lose weight?
The answer is obviously No. Why would my body suddenly decide to ignore the fact I’m eating 1000 calories more than I should, simply because I stop eating after 7pm?
It doesn’t really matter what time I eat if I’m eating too much.
Myself and a lot of my clients tend to eat a significant portion of their calories after 8pm because that is what makes the most sense for their lifestyle. And we all have fantastic results. So clearly food timing is not the main factor here!
Take home message!
I’m not saying the time you eat your food has zero influence on the body BUT if you are eating too many calories (which most people struggling to lose weight are) you will not even get a chance to realise the impact of proper meal timing.
It comes down to energy in vs energy out once again guys. Get that fundamental principle right and you will achieve 90% of your success from that alone!
I highly recommend you also read this blog BEFORE you look to drop calories…
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