People always say that you shouldn’t eat too much before bed, because you don’t have the time to burn it off… This makes sense. You do still burn calories while you’re sleeping of course, but not as many as if you were active. So is eating late at night really that bad? And does it cause weight gain?
YES
Eating late at night may not be the main factor here. It is mostly WHAT you are eating. Most people snacking late at night are not eating healthy foods. Or if you’re out for dinner with friends, it’s highly likely that you will overeat. If you know that you have poor self control at night, then it’s best to just avoid snacking.
Also, if you have already eaten your recommended amount of food for the day, then snacking late at night WILL cause you to gain weight. This is purely because you have overeaten that day, not necessarily because it has been late at night. To find out how much food you should be eating in a day, read my blog post here.
NO
Eating late at night isn’t all bad, but it depends. If you haven’t eaten much during the day and eat a lot at night, it doesn’t really matter. As long as you’re eating the right amount of food for your body. Eating more of it at night compared to in the day, won’t make much difference.
If you have done a really hard workout at night and need to snack, then this is also fine. The best time to eat carbs and all food in general is within 90 minutes of exercising so you need to eat.
But of course, remember that while it is still OK to snack at night in these circumstances, WHAT you snack on is still important. Don’t starve yourself all day to come home and binge on junk food. Or use your workout as an excuse to pig out on dessert. If you’re hungry, have a snack, but make it a healthy one and preferably something high in protein! Read my blog post on my top healthy snacks here.
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