Eating During the Evening: Large Meal of the Day in the Evening and Snacking at
Night: Does Not Have To Add Extra Weight
It has been commonly assumed that eating a large meal late in the evening or eating a snack between dinner and bed time is the worst thing you can do for losing weight. The logic: metabolism is slowest at night. Makes sense. But NOT exactly true. Numerous measurements of metabolism at different times of the day show no significant variation except for a slight rise at 2- 3 PM, otherwise resting metabolic rate is very stable thru the day and night. Even if it were a little less late in the evening or at night it has no effect on weight gain or loss in humans.
Metabolism changes little thru the day:
Metabolism does actually change through out the day, depending upon eating and activity. For most individuals with sedentary jobs it is insignificant. For example, the average person with a sedentary job burns 55 calories an hour sitting, sleeping, 75 calories an hour watchiMetabolic rate thru thu the dayng TV or using a computer, and 95 calories doing light house or office work. Not much of a difference.
NO evidence eating at night makes you fat:
Forgetting all of the metabolism calculations, here is what we know about night eating from human testing. There are no conclusive studies proving the assumption that eating late meals causes fat gain more than eating early meals. A study at the Dunn Nutrition Centre in England found that volunteers who were fed a large lunch and small evening meal for one test period, then a small lunch and large evening meal during a second test period, had no difference in the amount of body fat that was stored, it was only total amount eaten in a 24-hour period that's important.
Misunderstanding that evening meal may be extra:
The widely held belief that late night eating causes weight gain originated in the misunderstanding revolving around the fact that the late night meal might or might not represent an extra meal. Skipping meals leads to impulsive eating and large portions at the end of the day, but eating the large meal of the day in the evening, either early or late has no effect on weight gain or loss as long as the calories for the whole day remains the same.
Late evening meal may help obese people lose weight:
Indeed, eating regular meals helps people regulate their appetite and overall food intake In fact, for some individuals who have severe problems eating in the evening, often made worse by working on a computer or watching TV late at night, shifting the large meal a little latter in the evening decreases the time for food mistakes. Most people are fatigue in the evening and have the least control of the whole day, thus “saving” the calories for evening makes sense for many people.
It's all about what not when you eat--NOT WHEN YOU EAT IT!!!
It’s all about what you eat, not when. Portion controlled snacks between dinner and bedtime has no effect on body weight unless they represent excess calories for the day.
How You Can Enjoy the Evening Munchies & Still Lose Weight- Controlling the Evening Munchies:
4 Great Tips About Evening Snacking Without Gaining Weight
1. Clean the house, no boxes or bags of any snack, no ice cream in containers, NO leftovers from dinner, throw all these away, you will eat them if you see them.
2. Snacks are all 120 calories or less in portion controlled containers, the portion is more
important than what is inside, but try for low carbs and high protein
3. There is 1 snack a night, and all the free ones you want like jello, fruits, zero sugar popsicles, "cup of soup," fudgsicles
4. Make sure you narrow the time from eating dinner to going to sleep to minimum. If you eat dinner at 5:30 or 6 PM and go to bed at midnight there is a lot of time to make
Is It “Really” Hunger, or is it Boredom, Stress or Habit?
The "secret" is to first find out which it is and then get the "right" foods or snacks. Depriving your self of a snack if this is part of your lifestyle will only not work. The secret is the find some low calorie, low carb pleasing foods in portion controlled containers.
Clean Up the House is Always the First Step:
Whether this type of eating is due to cravings or actual hunger, the first step is not having any leftovers in the house after dinner. Cook less, or discard whatever you do not eat. If it is not there, you will not eat it.
Avoid the Carbs and Alcohol:
Make sure you are not eating a lot of carbs at dinner. Eating these foods produces hunger a few hours later. Substitute white rice with brown rice or whole wheat pasta for potatoes.
True Hunger, Habit, Anxiety or Boredom: If the first two ideas do not help the next step is to determine the cause of the problem—is it real hunger or is it cravings, habit, anxiety, boredom or stress? It's not so difficult. It you are looking for a snack 30 minutes after eating a large meal, that's not hunger, it's one of the other feelings being confused as hunger. Usually after you had the snack, you feel guilty, and 20 minutes latter you may seek even more food. The cycle keeps repeat itself. Boredom and anxiety are not relieved by eating a bag of chips.
Here are the different types of evening eating and what you can do about it:
True Hunger
True hunger can not occur within an hour of eating. It usually occurs after a few hours. You probably have hunger when you:
• skip dinner,
• have very small dinner
• have dinner early & go to sleep late
• you will eat just about anything
What to Do?
The first step is recognizing what type of eating you are doing since the treatments are different. If you are really hungry because of the first two issues, get some bulky foods. In the future try to narrow the time between dinner and bed time.
Eat BulkyFoods:
• popcorn
• sugar-free gelatin with extra fruit
• high-protein/low-carb shakes with extra fruit bulky fruits like cantaloupe. watermelon, veggies
Evening Hunger which is NOT Hunger at All: Cravings, Stress, Boredom, Habit:
This is the most common type of eating, it has nothing to do with hunger at all. It's so irrational that it is difficult to solve. So many of the hunger feelings are mixed up with pleasure, calmness, anxiety, boredom and often just
plain habit.
These feelings can occur immediately after eating, or at any time in the evening, independent of how much you eat. You are usually looking for
• salty or sweet
• prefer to “pick” from bags or boxes
Eating in response to feelings which are misinterpreted as hunger only leads to more and more eating. Immediate pleasure soon turns to feelings of guilt, usually not strong enough to stop eating cycle.
Eat: All must be low calorie and have easy portion control
• Frozen bars
• 100 calorie packs of chips, cookies, pretzels, candy, crackers,
• 100 cal. microwave popcorn
You saw the solutions to evening eating for the majority of overweight individuals are to first identify the problem and then find some pleasing, low calorie portion controlled alternatives. I call many of the new products “the look-a-likes” because the look, taste, have the same texture and produce the same pleasing feelings of the high calorie originals.
This is the age of fast foods, inexpensive bags of chips, cookies, candy, crackers and tubs of ice cream. No longer will the older, “traditional diet” snacks, such as carrot or celery sticks, or a piece of fruit , even partially satisfied the obese individual searching for snacks all night long as advocated by older diet plans.