Is it bad to eat majority of cals at dinner time?

I do so well during day with watching cals and just what i eat in general but then come dinner time i just always overportion cause i know i am able to have more cals since i save them for dinner time.  Is it bad to eat over half your cals at dinner time?- i still usually stay w/in cals, but just curious if its bad for the body to eat so much later at night?

Your daily total is your daily total.  No matter when or what you eat.  Do what works best for you to keep your average close to the daily total. 

 

People are going to argue with this one, however I feel a calorie is a calorie no matter what time you consume it.

I do the same as you and I have lost a lot of weight.  Just keep in mind if it's something you can do for the long run.  It's easier for me to bring low calories things to work and keep my calories low all day.  It's much harder for me to keep my calories low once I get home... so I know (for me) this is something that I can continue to do.

Short answer, yes... Your body needs fuel evenly throughout the day, if you 'starve' yourself throughout the day, and eat most of your calories at night, you're more likely to just hold onto what you ate. Do you burn any of the calories off late at night, gym after dinner? And what exactly do you do mean by you 'overportion', whats an example day?

If your caloric intake is say 1,500 and your eating 1000 of those at night without burning them off (gym for 500+ calories), you'll def be setting your body up to just retain a bulk of those calories and i'd expect muscle loss and fat gain (your weight may even go down, but not in the way you want). Doing this once and awhile won't cause that, but setting your body up to expect it is sure to cause problems.

I have nothing to back this up, but I have read recent articles that negate what techraven said, to which I say thank God because I do the same thing. I'm busy during the day and working out (hopefully) and just not hungry. Around 4 or 5 my body will be like "hey b*tch where's the food" and I eat the bulk of my daily calories.

Haha well here, I did a quick Google search and about.com agrees with me at least

http://weightloss.about.com/library/quiz/blmy th6_a.htm

This is a very commonly-believed weight loss myth. But it doesn't really matter when you eat, only how many calories you eat and burn in a day. Whether you're eating in the morning or at midnight, your body turns any extra calories into fat.

That simply defies any logic, your body metabolises things at different rates, if you say ingest a bunch of carbs, and do nothing, your body will store it as fat. However if you ingest a bunch of carbs and burn them off, then well it doesen't store it as fat as its burnt off. I doubt anyone here will argue that most people burn more off during the day then at night (assuming no gym), most people tend to wind down at night, during the day your up/doing things, moving around, going to the gym, your body has a chance to burn off what you've input (You do burn off at night/sleep, just not as much, high GI foods will tend to be stored).

A calorie isn't a calorie, which is why we try to balance out fat/protein/carbs, and to say 'eating 5-7 small meals' a myth is ludacris.

There is no straightforward answer, it completely depends on your life style, how much your eating, are your starving yourself, and your expenditure post ingestion...

http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritio nist/f/nes.htm
This article that says exactly the opposite of what spirochete's article said (and its from the exact same site...)

Original Post by techraven:

That simply defies any logic, your body metabolises things at different rates, if you say ingest a bunch of carbs, and do nothing, your body will store it as fat. However if you ingest a bunch of carbs and burn them off, then well it doesen't store it as fat as its burnt off. I doubt anyone here will argue that most people burn more off during the day then at night (assuming no gym), most people tend to wind down at night, during the day your up/doing things, moving around, going to the gym, your body has a chance to burn off what you've input (You do burn off at night/sleep, just not as much, high GI foods will tend to be stored).

A calorie isn't a calorie, which is why we try to balance out fat/protein/carbs, and to say 'eating 5-7 small meals' a myth is ludacris.

There is no straightforward answer, it completely depends on your life style, how much your eating, are your starving yourself, and your expenditure post ingestion...

 

A calorie is calorie.  It does not matter if it came from fat, carb, alcohol or protein.  It is important to have a balance, but that doesn't mean that the value of a calorie changes with its source. 

High GI foods refer to carbohydrates that cause a high insulin response.  It has nothing to do with calories.  

Most fat burning occurs at night when insulin levels are the lowest and leptin levels the highest.  The body redistributes energy as needed.  If you are constantly eating, you are keeping insulin levels high and not allowing the body to cycle to the burning mode. 

Nonsense. Thermodynamics isn’t this simple (or well it is). By the most simple definition a Calorie is a Calorie or (1 calorie is 4.18 joules), but the body's metabolism is far from this simple... Otherwise eating 1500 calories of cake a day would be the same as 1500 calories of fruits/veggies/lean meats..

And your last paragraph essnetially agree's with my entire point. I'm not saying, that eating late is bad, by any means. But your body is always burning, and eating constantly keeps your 'burn levels' higher, you however are eating less then your BMR and therefor you surely are burning... 

Original Post by techraven:

Nonsense. Thermodynamics isn’t this simple.

And your last paragraph essnetially agree's with my entire point. I'm not saying, that eating late is bad, by any means. But your body is always burning, and eating constantly keeps your 'burn levels' higher, you however are eating less then your BMR and therefor you surely are burning... 

Eating constantly is storing constantly.  Than the flow reverses at night.  A long standing debate has been going on for the last 10 years between eating several small meals and eating 3 meals.  But neither give you higher "burn levels".  Activity increases calorie burning, not eating.   So it still comes down to how many calories you intake in a day.  It does not matter when you eat those calories during the day.  

 i dont have a typical day of eating- i change my breakfast everyday - i will either have cereal w/ 1/2 cup milk or small bagel w/ cream cheese, granola bar w/ yogurt, today pancakes - ;) but i do have all together w/ coffee usually 400 sometimes 500 cals breakfast--- 100/150 cal snack----salad/spinach for lunch- 250-350, snack 100/150 cals and then its dinner time- Which i am on 2000 cal diet b/c im breastfeeding my 3 month old full time-

the reason i will eat dinner w/ so many cals is cause i tend to eat more meat at that time- lean turkey burgers, sirloin, pork roast, baked chix ,whatever........

i always over portion b/c i love meat so i eat more of it then 3 oz, along w/ our dinner we always have vegetables- like zucchini, stir fry veg, broc, peas, and occasional corn along w/ sweet pot or red pot and every now and then pasta or rice.

but i know that my portion control i worry about is my meat - i stopped eating as much pot and starch and will eat alot of veg and meat but i like potatoes so i still eat some!

is it better that my cals come from protein rather then potatoes??? I just choose to eat more at dinner b/c our dinner time at home is our luxury family time- i love cooking so i tend to love making so much--ooops!!

Original Post by techraven:

http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritio nist/f/nes.htm
This article that says exactly the opposite of what spirochete's article said (and its from the exact same site...)

You can basically find a site on the internet to back up anything. It's so frustrating! Anyway, I'm gonna respectfully disagree with ya on this one

techraven is about a year behind on his/her science.  It is known that when you eat is a MYTH... however if you space out your calories you might not feel the urge to binge OVER your daily calorie allowance.  Eating a bulk of calories at dinner (3 hours before bed time) will not mean you will turn in to a fat blob and have no muscle.  Do not buy into that crap. 

r6riderchick is right on.  techraven is off.

 Check out these sites:

Journal of Obesity Research as reported by Science Daily:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/ 060202080832.htm

"However, our research in rhesus monkeys, which are considered an excellent model for studying primate (man and monkey) obesity issues, showed that eating at night is no more likely to promote weight gain than eating during the day. Of course this research does not suggest that snacking at night after eating your normal daily ration of calories is a good idea, " said Judy Cameron, Ph.D., a senior scientist in the Divisions of Reproductive Sciences and Neuroscience at the OHSU Oregon National Primate Research Center." 

 Excellent article on GoAskAlice (the Health Promotion Program of Columbia University): http://goaskalice.com/2225.html

"There is no magic time after which the body stores fat. For instance, if you eat the same exact meal at 6 pm or at 8 pm, is one more caloric than the other? No, each meal has the same number of calories. What really matters is the total amount of food and drink you have over the course of a week, or a month or longer, and how much energy you expend during that timeframe. Excess calories will be stored as fat over time, regardless of whether they are taken in during the day or night."

Aetna Intelihealth article written by a Doctor and a Nutritionist: http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSI/9273 /35323/432544.html?d=dmtHMSContent

"It is possible that, for some people, eating at night is associated with weight gain. Perhaps they find it easier to be careful about portion size and food choices during the day but simply "lose it" at day's end. For some, the structure of three meals a day may make it easier to avoid excessive calorie intake.

But it's probably a myth that eating before bed has a unique ability to promote weight gain compared with eating at other times of the day. Although scientific studies someday may prove that calories ingested before bed are handled differently than calories ingested at other times, evidence for this commonly held belief is lacking. For now, it's safe to assume that one's weight reflects the balance between calories burned and calories consumed over time, regardless of when you choose to eat."

The amount of misinformation on the web is saddening. Types of calories and hours (Not really time of day, but more what you do before/after) are a huge factor. The myth is 'eating late at night is bad', the truth is 'Starving your body and bulking your calories at night is bad'.... Look at a body builders cutting/bulking cycles, the most effective ones will diet in ways that totaly disagree with you (not saying they won't eat at night, infact i've known them to get up in the middle of the night just to eat).

It's not the fact she's eating at night, thats fine, its the fact of eating a majority of your calories at night... Try eating nothing all day and going to a once a day meal plan... Have fun blowing up like a balloon and saying 'it doesent matter, I still ate only 1800 calories'. Honestly her schedule isn't that bad, but i've seen people that basically don't eat all day and eat most at night, stay in their caloric intake and wonder why they are gaining weight..

There is a reason everyone says eating breakfast matters, or I guess thats 2 year old research as well?

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0887/i s_3_24/ai_n13648415
http://www.cababstractsplus.org/google/abstra ct.asp?AcNo=20053082855
Objective: To compare the effects of two diets, which had their carbohydrates profile modified, on the energy metabolism of two groups of subjects: normal lean men and overweight ones. Methods: Two isoenergetic meal plans were used, to evaluate their effects in the energy expenditure of 13 lean and 13 overweight men. Three regular meal preparations and their diet analogous preparations were used to compound the regular meal and the modified meal, respectively. Indirect calorimetry was used to estimate the energy expenditure. Results: Overweight subjects had a higher energy expenditure (p<0.01) and lower thermogenesis (p<0.01) comparing to lean subjects, independently of the meal tested. Modified meal was higher in complex carbohydrates and, independently of the group, its consumption caused rest respiratory quotient, rest energy expenditure, thermogenesis, and carbohydrate oxidation to be greater (p<0.05) than those observed when regular meal was consumed. Conclusion: Our results suggest that an isocaloric meal, higher in complex carbohydrate, can increase the respiratory coefficient, and, consequently, can increase thermogenesis and energy expenditure.

I do hesitate to put in my two cents when the topic is heated, but here goes.

Shauna_182 isn't doing a one meal a day thing, so I would agree her general trend is working for her and not unhealthy.  I tend to concentrate the day's calories in a single meal as well.

I would like to remind folks of how long it takes your body to pull calories out of your food.  A meal will enter your stomach and START the digestive process at that point.  Once your body moves that meal from your stomach into your small intestine, that is when your body will generally send a signal to you that you are "empty now! - ready to eat more food if you find it!" message.  But that does not mean you have completed digestion.

Your food has to continue to be processed, you are looking at usually a two day process of winding its way through the small and then large intestine.  Your body is pulling nutrients and calories during this process.

The above description DOES NOT try to address blood sugar spikes and the like, that is another topic and should not be confused with calorie extraction.  There are multiple reasons that you would not want to eat ALL calories for the day in a single meal.... but a trend towards having a single meal be your main meal of the day is not unhealthy and if you want that food at night, then have a wonderful dinner!

Original Post by techraven:


It's not the fact she's eating at night, thats fine, its the fact of eating a majority of your calories at night... Try eating nothing all day and going to a once a day meal plan...

Have fun blowing up like a balloon and saying 'it doesent matter, I still ate only 1800 calories'.

 i've seen people that basically don't eat all day and eat most at night, stay in their caloric intake and wonder why they are gaining weight..

  I know someone who will eat a slimfast shake for breakfast and maybe lunch but sometimes just breakfast then goes home and eats double portioning at dinner time and snacks on crap/junkfood right after work.  HE claims he has no time for lunch and besides he will lose weight this way so whatever! I told him he was wrong and that hurts his body! - I dont think he counts cals but still wants to lose weight!  I dont know- i think he needs to eat more during the day especially for energy at work!!

From a personal non-scientific point of view...I eat the bulk of my calories with dinner.  I am just not that hungry during the day and would rather be full at night, when I am hungrier.  I leave room for a 100 calorie snack that I will eat in the evening (sometimes late).  I have lost 15 pounds since Jan 7th, and I am 38, so it works for me.

I try to balance the majority of my calories per day between breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Then I also try and eat a snack in the afternoon and usually one in the evening.  This seems to work for me and I dont have that "hungry" feeling all day long like I used to when had bad eating habits of just eating mainly at night.

It's only been a couple months, but I cram in almost half of my calories in the three hours just before I go to bed, and I'm losing pretty steadily. =]

From my neurobiology and endocrine classes, it can make a difference. When you eat, you increase insulin in your body which lets you absorb more glucose and then convert it to glucagon and then into your fat tissue. This happens any time you eat. However, if you eat late at night (and you arent going to do anything to burn it off, like say, sleep) you will have a lot of glucose in your blood and then most of it will go into your adipose tissue because you aren't doing anything to turn glucose into energy.

 

In other words, it's easier to burn the glucose that you just ate than to get glucose from your fat tissue. Therefore, you'd burn more calories. It's not something you should rely on though because if you have a net caloric input of -500 calories per day, I'm sure eating some of the calories later at night will not put you into a net gain of calories. 

 

Either way, its practically insignificant to a diet plan/exercise!