Movement after Meals

Does anyone else just sit around after they eat? I am only really active during the day when I am doing my cardio or if I am at work. Other then that I am on the computer, doing homework and pretty sedentary. If I am sedentary a lot after my meals, does that effect weight loss/gain? Opinions appreciated!

Not really, the true name of the game is a calorie is a calorie and a calorie burned is a calorie burned.  If you burn more than you consume then you can lose weight.  Some people feel that a little walk after a meal help burn away some of what you ate but the truth of the matter is the only thing it does is burn calories.  It will burn the energy that is in your body and what you ate is not even in that form yet so burning off what you just ate is not totally feasible. 

Makes sense. That is what I was thinking too, it just helps to have thoughts confirmed at times. Thanks!

Then why is it so bad to eat at night? I'm not disagreeing it may be a wives tale..

It is not bad to eat at night if you are still in your allotted calories for the day.  But a lot of late night snacking is not healthy, chips ice cream etc., also it is done in front of the TV with out portion control.  If you were to eat a serving of chips as part of your calories it would not hurt you but if set with the bag in front of the TV with no idea how many you ate then that is where the trouble starts to happen.  Also remember that every one is different so digestion might be a problem for some people and they may need three or four hours before they lay down for the night.  If you are truly in a caloric deficit, burned more than you ate, and you weight trained your body is busy repairing your muscles up to 30+ hours after you have worked out.  So what ever is taken in is being used as fuel.  Easiest way to think of it is your body keeps burning calories all the time, you feed it calories and as long as you are burning more than you are taking in then you will lose weight. 

how does sleep or rest affect digestion?  Will my body convert the food any differently?

I've heard that sleep slows digestion.... don't know for sure though

When I was having major digestive problems the dr told me to walk for at least 10 minutes after each meal to help move things along better.  I don't have to do that anymore, but do some sort of ab workout every couple days which also has helped. 

I also have suffered from terrible insomnia for years and find if I eat a good carb before bed snack I sleep better.  I don't know if the late night eating has slowed my progress or not but I personally am not going to try to find out because lack of sleep I do know effects weight loss and sleep is very important for me!!