Before bed eating.. Is it really bad?

I eat about 1600 cal/day. On intense exercise days more. I intake approx 800 from 0730 to 430. Then I exercise burning about 200-600. I eat dinner around 500 calories. But before bed I crave food. I intake approx. 300 calories before lights out. Is this slowing my weight loss? It's typically been dairy and peanuts that I've been eating in the late night rushes.

I usually do the same thing... I eat a decent breakfast, snack, light lunch, snack... DINNER!  haha.  I have read in a lot of differnet places that it is better to eat more in the morning and less at night... but better for who?  I say stick with what works for you if you are losing weight and able to maintain the life style.  If you aren't losing or you plateau then maybe you should think about switching it up.  

I don't know about you but I'm not a fan of going to bed hungry :)

I have been plateuing over the last three to going on four weeks now. Maybe I will switch it up for a bit and eat most of my calories during the day. Thanks!

I'm working through a plateau now that I can totally blame on snacking before bed.  My own personal weight loss style means no snacking after dinner if I want to lose any weight.  That's even with exercising like crazy and sticking to between 12-1500 calories a day.

If I am absolutely hungry (not just bored or grazing), I'll stick to fruit or a salad, but not right before I go to bed, at least an hour or ideally two before I go to bed.  Carbs in the form of whole grains (bread, crackers, etc.) don't work for me after dinner.

I've read a lot of places that when you have a full stomach and go to bed your body has to divert effort away from it's normal "housecleaning" and put it's efforts rather to the digesting the food, thereby lessening the quality of your sleep restoration.

Everyone is different, though.  There are a lot of people on here who aren't affected in their weight loss by when they eat.  I would just say that if you're struggling to lose weight or at a plateau, eveing snacking/ wine consumption is always my first area to evaluate.

i am deeply concerned with this as well since dinner for me is 9-10pm...with my schedule i really cant have a normal dinner.

i dont want to hog your thread but maybe we both can get answers.

Im now in a routine for eating breakfast which usually is oatmeal and some type of fruit...around 8-9am

i have lunch which consists of a turkey sandwhich (or a boca burger), some mixed vegies (raw or cooked), fat free pudding cup, jello cup, and 2 rice cakes....i dont eat this all at once but prob once an hour id take one of the mentioned items and eat...so lunch lasts from 12-4pm....

i get out of work at 5pm and head home, shower, and drink a muscle milk shake with a banana blended in...this is filling for about an hour which is enough to get me through a 3 hour work out session (30 mins with trainer, 1 by myself lifting weights , and 45 mins on tradmill, plus extra time to BS with friends lol)... By the time im out its 9pm or later.

now when i get home i have about an hour or 2 to do school work online, which at the same time i usually eat dinner...dinner varries, could be a salad (like last night) or it could be meatloaf and potatoes...depends what was cooked, and whats the easiest to prepare...im up till about midnight then i sleep for about 7 hours to do it all again.

i set a goal for myself of 2200 calories and so far have been floating between 1800 and up. on my off days (weekends) my calorie intake is higher since i have time to sit and eat full meals at appropriate times.

Weekdays are bad and im eating so late at night, im concerned this could be hurting my weight loss. im loosing weight at a steady pace btwin 1-2 lbs per week but i feel im concerned i could be loosing more if i didnt eat so late. Any suggestions or recomendations.

Normally, a person's metabolism slows down during te evenings. That's why it's a good to keep your intake low during dinner and at night.

HOWEVER, You mentioned that you work out right before dinner. Exercising speeds up your metabolism for about 5-6 hours, depending on how hard you worked out. So as long as you're staying within your calorie limit, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about

Original Post by j_sand:

Normally, a person's metabolism slows down during te evenings. That's why it's a good to keep your intake low during dinner and at night.

HOWEVER, You mentioned that you work out right before dinner. Exercising speeds up your metabolism for about 5-6 hours, depending on how hard you worked out. So as long as you're staying within your calorie limit, I'm sure you have nothing to worry about

 thanks for the answer, on days i work out i say i get a pretty good workout in, my walks on the treadmill are at a pretty steep inclnie since im not able to jog effectively yet so i get the same intensity, i do a fairly solid hour of weight lifting, and my trainer (tues and thurs) gives me a nice change up of stretching, calistetics (sp?) and mixed martial arts training and with all that i feel great afterwards. According to CC i burn btwn 1500-1800 calories just form my workout. With my level set at sedentary+my workout im close to 4k calories burned a day. And i eat btwn 1800-2000 calories on my workout days and about 2400 calories on weekends with my last meal around 6pm. I was hoping that with all my activity i can see minimal effects of eating late.

what im going to do is try to eat lighter foods late..i just need something to satidfy my hunger long enough for me to fall asleep...i dont need to be stuffed. Maybe a hearty boll of cereal or a salad...something easy to digest through the night.

Anyone else notice bad digestion with eating late...i see that when i eat very late..like past midnight i wake up with a bad stomach ache and bad bathroom experiences lol..all the more reason to not eat at night lol