Does eating late at night after going to them gym prevent weight loss?

Question

I often go to the gym in an evening after work. Because of this, it means I eat my tea at around 8:30pm - 9:30pm - is eating this late at night reversing the positive effects of my excersise?

Answer 1

not usually...it depends on the types and more importantly the amount of food that is consumed at night. the metabolic rate actually increases during the first stage of sleep then continually decreases slower and slower until awakening in the morning.

after training the body is in a catabolic state and needs nutrients. if training at night you still want to feed after exercise you just have to select smart food items to ingest. things like fish, cottage cheese, powdered proteins, eggs, etc. if the calories consumed are within your daily totals you won't gain fat

Answer 2

The time at which you eat is totally irrelevant.
You will gain weight when the amount of energy-food (sugars, starch & fat) you eat exceeds the energy (calories) your body uses. When this occurs the extra energy-food is not wasted but converted into adipose tissue (body fat).
To lose weight you must use more energy (calories) than you gain from your food.

The most important factor in losing weight is eating less energy-food. Exercise has many benefits but you will probably give up due to exhaustion before you notice much weight loss. To understand this do a little investigating - look up the energy supplied (either in calories or kilojoules) on the packaging of, say, a chocolate bar or Pot Noodle and compare it to the energy used (cals or kJ) during various exercises here:
http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/energyexp.htm
http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/tx4394
Make sure the foods you eat (over the week) make up a properly balanced diet. Do not be tempted to eat extra protein (meat, eggs, fish, etc.) since any above what your body needs at the time is converted to carbohydrate and either used as fuel (energy) or further metabolised into adipose tissue (fat).

Answer 3

if you're going to be eating that late you should keep it a light meal instead of the big dinners most people have. grab a soup and salad or a healthy sandwish. the only problem with eating late is that when you go to sleep your body isn't burning very many calories so there's a better chance of them sticking to you. however since you go to the gym right before dinner your metabolism has been sped up therefore you will most likely burn off your dinner before you get to bed. its hard to say and varies greatly from person to person so to be safe just get in the habit of eating a lite, yet satisfying dinner.

Answer 4

Not at at all if you eat at that time and then go to bed say an hour later. It's only if you eat a big meal and go to bed immediately that you prevent weight loss and increase your belly because the meal sits on your stomach all night long. In fact what sumo wrestlers do to increase their weight and grow their huge bellies is eating a gargantuan meal at lunch time or in the evening and go straight to sleep. The sensible way that you eat at night does nothing to increase either weight or stomach size.

Answer 5

No. Contrary to what we hear all the time. It's not what time we eat, it's how much we eat that matters. You'll do just fine with your routine. Hopefully, you can keep the meal fairly light so you won't have any problems with acid reflux or heartburn, but it won't affect your weight loss at all.

Answer 6

eat in front of mirrors and youll lose weight

Answer 7

It well could be. When you eat later in the day (evening) your body gets the energy from the food 4 -6 hours later, when you are sleeping. Since you don't need much of it then, it goes into storage, that is, it is made into fat.
A better option would be to have your main meal earlier in the day, say at lunch-time, and have a lighter meal in the evening.

Answer 8

never eat any snack food out of the box carton or bag it came in you re less likely to overeat if you separate snacks into appropriate fist sized servings

Answer 9

invest in a standing desk like the ergotron workfit s 379 ergotron com or get crafty and raise your monitor and keyboard with books

Answer 10

if you find yourself at a weight loss plateau up the duration of your exercise routine by five minutes