Nutrition - eating before bed

[Timmy Boy]

I understand that you're not supposed to eat late at night as it just gets stored as fat. But what do you do if you're really hungry late at night - particularly after a training session? Is it good for you to go to bed hungry?

[tonyv107]

If I'm that hungry after a later training session I'll have some lowft cottage cheese and maybe a pb&j sandwhich. Then again I'm not too picky about what I eat but its working for me.

[Commander Nitro]

I can't sleep when I'm hungry so I eat but just enough to ease hunger pangs. You can also have your training session during the day or early in the evening that way you don't go hungry late in the night.

[slipthejab]

This has been one thing that always bothered me about nutrition. Within reason... if you're body is telling you it's hungry... it's for a reason. I find that most people that try to stick to really rigid eating regimes almost invariably go off them in a weeks time. Trying to sock in that diet isn't the same as setting good eating habits. Much of which are down to timing and your overall lifestyle. The bigger picture here is always important and it's hard to keep in mind. Sometimes I think we as humans tend to be specialists and not generalists.

Personally I've never had problems eating before I sleep. Unless you consider the massive lamb kebab I do occasionally scarf right before crashing out. Damn those Lebanese and their tasty food. :p Granted.. this is also from the stand point of someone who has always been lean.. probably your classic 'hard gainer' so it's not like fat has really ever been an issue.

To that point... my day is absolutely rammed out with training. If not for me then for clients - which I end up having to umpteen number of reps of whatever to explain the movement and provide encouragement. Also.. it's pretty hard to see someone busting out a good hard session and not want to join in. So I burn enough calories all day long that I can always add another 1K's worth and not even blink.

I'm not entirely sure how it squares up with the nutrition/science side of it... but as an example last nights meal was such:

10:00 pm
-
Arrived home from a long day of Muay Thai, PT's that started at 6am and 2 hours of BJJ
-
Prepared dinner consisting of:

X2 large size flank steaks in black pepper sauce (sauteed)
X1 large bundle of kale (stalks and leaves) in oyster sauce (steamed)
X1 large portion of brown rice (browned then boiled)

X1 large portion of Greek style yogurt with muesli

right before crawling into bed I'll do

X3 large glasses of water to lug down the 3 large ZMA (Zinc, Magnesium, B6) pills

I gave myself about an hour and a half to digest while I read and did bits and bobs around the gaff. I didn't have to be up ass early for PT's this morning so I finally crawled into bed about midnight. Later than I normally would have if I'd been up at 5 or 6am. For me drinking that much water late at night isn't a problem because it means comes 6am I have to wazz something fierce so I might as well get up and get at 'em. I mean really... the only other option is to wazz right there in the bed and we all know that really isn't an option. :p

That's not an uncommon routine for me. I wake up feeling good and not heavy or like I've got a lump in my stomach. I think 1.5 hours for a meal of that size and substance is really about the min. time you need to digest. But again everyone is different. I'm a very slow eater and I for some crazy reason chew very completely all my food. In contrast to many of my mates who simply inhale their food.

I personally don't think eating late is all that bad if:

A) you have the calorie and nutrition needs
B) you allow ample time to digest
C) you consider and plan so that it works with your sleep/wake schedule
D) you aren't eating garbage(fast food) for the last meal of the day

Who knows.. I could be way off base here with the way I eat but I've eaten late my entire life. For me the biggest change has been becoming an early riser. Which means I've had to make some adjustments. But it does feel good too be up slightly before dawn which normally was the time that for most of my life I was starting to go to sleep.

[Patrick Smith]

I agree with Slip. Outside of Intermittent Fasting, if you're eating healthy stuff with the proper food combinations, it seems natural that you should be able to eat when you're hungry. Even if it's late at night.

Speaking of which, how much evidence supports the "food eaten late at night will be stored as fat" position, anyway? It doesn't seem like it would make much sense. Your sleep seems like a great time to digest and assimilate all the nutrients you've eaten. I've read of coaches who tell their athletes to get a protein shake and take a nap immediately post-workout because sleeping increases production of growth hormones (can't speak for the truth of that, though, as I haven't spent any time researching it).

Are you eating primarily primal (lol!)? It's also known as paleo...

[holyheadjch]

I'm pretty sure* it's a myth.

* read: certain, but can't be bothered finding a study to evidence it.

[Emil]

The time of day that you eat is not really important - it is what and how much you eat, and how much physical activity you do during the day that determines whether you will gain weight, and regardless of what time you eat, your body will store extra calories as fat. Weight gain occurs when you consume more calories than you expend.

Having said that, an article in the American Journal of Epidemiology did provide some interesting reading:

Subjects who eat late in the evening may increase the amount of
glucose stored in muscle as glycogen. In humans, muscle glycogen
fluctuates in accordance with periods of muscle activity and
subsequent carbohydrate consumption. Data suggest that the consumption
of carbohydrate-rich foods in the late evening leads to increased
glycogen levels in the muscles. Unless this stored glycogen is burned
as fuel, it will ultimately be stored as fat. Therefore, consumption
of late-evening meals with carbohydrate-rich foods may also be related
to obesity through its effect on hormonal regulation of energy and
lipid metabolism. However, we found that the interval of time between
the last episode of eating and the time to bed was not associated with
the risk of obesity. Further investigation is warranted to examine the
association of this interval, as well as the nutrient composition
(i.e., percentage of calories from carbohydrate) of the last eating
episode, with obesity. 1(Ma, et al, 2003).

Although eating in the evening may lead to an increased ammount of stored glucose, it is important to note that if your daily physical activity is sufficient, said glucose will not be converted into fat, but will be burned as energy.

One interesting study that I have read has actually suggested that eating a large meal in the evening may aid long term fat loss, although the scope of said study's reasearch could possibly come into question:

To conclude, ingestion of larger AM meals resulted in
slightly greater weight loss, but ingestion of larger PM meals
resulted in better maintenance of fat-free mass. Thus, incorporation
of larger PM meals in a weight loss regimen may be important in
minimizing the loss of fat-free mass 2
(Keim, N, et al, (2003)

1Ma, Y; Bertone, E; Staneck, E; Reed, G, Herbert, J; Cohen, N; Merriam, P; Ockene, I. (2003) Association between Eating Patterns and Obesity in a Free-living US Adult Population. American Journal of Epidemiology.
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/158/1/85

2Keim, N; Van loan, M; Horn, W;Barbieri, T; Mayklin, P. (2003) Weight Loss is Greater with Consumption of
Large Morning Meals and Fat-Free Mass Is Preserved with Large Evening
Meals in Women on a Controlled Weight Reduction Regimen The Journal of Nutrition. http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/127/1/75

Regards
Emil

[Freeform]

I think in reality it comes down to:

"What do the majority of the population eat when they are hungy late at night?"

Answer: "Crap. Junk food, sugary simple carbs and other crap."

Calories are calories. Make sure your diet is balanced and you'll be ok.

Also.... from the obesity surgeon from the documentary 'World's Fattest Man' and I paraphrase (because I can't remember the exact quote):

"The trouble today is that in a society of great means and easy access to food, it seems to have become a sin to be hungry. Humans are designed to hungry at certain points of the day to increase their drive to find food. If you never feel the sensation of hunger you're most likely overeating."

He then goes on to say:

"In nature Lions eat large game mammals, which they have to catch. They sometimes go weeks without catching one. You never see a Lion say 'I'll just have a Chipmunk to tide me over to the Wildebeast'". ;)

[Timmy Boy]

Cheers for the advice guys.

[seiken steve]

I'm ALWAYS hungry between 10-11 pm.
And i always eat.
Last night at 1030 i had a dish i like to call 'left over stir fry'
All left over veg goes in a wok with some noodles bean sprouts and chicken + whatever left over meat i can find.
It's a horrendously British attempt at a stir fry but damn tasty.
Then about 1130 before bed I had 2 ZMA and a pint of milk
I don’t see any reason not to eat as long as you are getting enough sleep.
Like slip I am a typical ‘hard gainer’

Most nights I plan for the inevitable late night meal, its easy enough, whatever you make for tea, make two, the eat It cold or warm it up when your hungry.