By the time most of us have left the office at 6:00 p.m., run a few errands, and hit the gym, it’s already eight or nine o’clock. Time for dinner—but what about that rule about not eating after seven? Will eating late pack on the pounds, or is a calorie really just a calorie? As if weight maintenance could get any more complicated, the answer to both questions is yes.
Midnight Metabolism
Hormones do go through cycles that influence metabolism, helping our bodies burn fuel during the day and keeping us satisfied at night so we can sleep, but these fluxes matter far less than the balance between calorie intake and expenditure for the whole day. Calories are calories; a 250-calorie slice of pizza doesn’t suddenly become 450 calories after 7:00 p.m. The rule against eating past a certain time is meant to curb late-night snacking, not keep you from eating dinner if you get home late.
Though the specific time at which you eat may not matter in terms of how you store fat, your relaxation level during meals does—and most working adults don’t really get to relax until after 7 p.m. Stress sabotages our eating on several fronts. It stimulates production of cortisol, which contributes to weight gain and raises blood sugar, and it suppresses the release of leptin, which signals your brain when you are full. Also, scarfing down a sandwich without being focused on the meal may lead you to overeat because you’re not paying attention to cues that you’ve had enough. So if you have to choose between eating earlier, when you’re distracted and rushed, or dining late, an 8 p.m. meal is actually the healthier choice.
The Big “But”
Though eating late won’t “undo” a day’s worth of disciplined eating, it can lead you to behaviors that are known diet saboteurs. In order to have dinner at 8 or 9 p.m., you have to either abstain from eating for several hours after lunch or snack through the afternoon. Not eating for long stretches slows your metabolism because your body doesn’t know when it will eat again, so it holds on to whatever you give it. People who wait to eat until very late also tend to overindulge to compensate for the feelings of deprivation they’ve experienced from being hungry throughout the day. The alternative, snacking, can be a great solution to this problem, but hunger often leads to bad decision making, especially when the office vending machine is right down the hall.
Dining too close to bedtime can affect your sleep, too, and restful sleep is an important part of sticking to a healthy eating plan. A good night’s rest recharges your metabolism like a battery and helps to regulate your appetite. If you’re hoping to be in bed by ten or eleven, a full dinner at nine is a bad idea; when you hit the hay, your gastrointestinal tract will still be working to digest the food you’ve ingested, keeping you awake. And if you wash down that dinner with a glass of wine, the alcohol will also disturb your rest by preventing you from entering REM sleep. People susceptible to acid reflux and sleep apnea find that late meals exacerbate these conditions, causing interruptions in their sleep. So if you do choose to eat late, leave at least four hours between consuming your evening meal and going to bed, though a small snack to keep hunger pangs from waking you is okay.
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For most women, trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle usually comes down to choosing the lesser of two evils. Eat too close to bedtime, or grab something earlier and be unable to focus on the meal? Wait for dinner or grab a snack? Prioritization is key.
Eating the majority of your daily calories when you’re most active is always a good idea. You’ll have fuel to burn when you really need it. For most people, that means eating a substantial breakfast and lunch, a light dinner, and one or two sensible snacks later in the day. However, if you hit the gym after work, a satisfying, protein-rich dinner after your workout will aid muscle recovery and feed the post-exercise appetite surge. Just remember that both exercising and eating too close to bedtime can prevent you from sleeping well.
If you really don’t have time to sit down to meals during the day, make snacking your ally in battling the bulge. Instead of letting afternoon hunger overtake you and cause you to make bad choices, plan snacks of no more than 250 calories that blend protein and fiber for optimal satiety and staying power. Keep yourself fueled throughout the day, never going more than four hours without eating.
Most important, remember to relax. Dinner should be a time when you shut off the stressors that have followed you through your workday and sit down to a leisurely meal with your family. If that can happen only after 7 p.m., so be it.
The Essentials
Food is a basic human need, and refueling our bodies is a daily function. Yet it causes a great deal of stress when there are new theories out every day about what, when, and how we should eat. It’s important to be healthy, but a huge part of health is relaxing and enjoying life. Armed with knowledge about timing meals, you’ll be better able to make good choices. But if worrying about when to eat becomes a source of anxiety, remember that the way your food habits make you feel is the most important thing.