Eating late at night makes you gain weight

Myth: If you eat late at night you will gain more weight because your metabolism is slower

Truth: Consider this, let’s say I ate 1000 calories in the morning (my only meal). The next day I ate 1000 calories at night (again, my only meal). On which day do you think I’ll more likely gain weight? The second day?…Nope. It’s the exact same thing. Yes my metabolism is slower during the night or approaching bedtime. But remember, I’m still burning calories in the morning and throughout the rest of the day. The net effect is the same.

Okay having said that, here is some new research being done on humans and mice about time restricted feeding (TRF). In mice, it was found that restricting calories based on circadian rhythms, resulted in weight loss. Essentially if  meals were eaten during an 8-12 hr period, regardless of what was eaten, the mice that followed the TRF, lost more weight than the ones that didn’t. This occurs when the feeding period ended well before sleep.

What’s also important is your overall calorie intake for the whole day. Now, if you’re the type of person who likes to snack at night because you’re stressed and you go after comfort foods (ice cream, chocolate…), then there is a problem. Your choice of late night foods is important, and so is your daytime consumption. People generally leave a lot of junk food snacking, for late at night.