On Wednesday, we co-hosted a Twitter chat for Shape.com. There were so many questions, but one in particular stand out for more than one participant asked: "How is it bad to eat after 18 hours (or 20 hours) for weight loss"
I love this question. Actually, my patients asked all the time. And my answer is almost always the same: "eating late at night does not make you gain weight, but eating too late at night."
Let's review: If your body needs 1800 calories to maintain a healthy body weight and eat only 900 calories when it was 9 hours, you can actually eat another 900 before bed. The problem is that it gets to eat, hunger you get, and for most people, increase the chances of overeating. So what ends up happening is that excess calories are consumed. Sometimes I said that the "domino effect". You've waited so long to eat that when you do, you can not stop.
But what to do if you eat a balanced meal within a reasonable time and you're still hungry before bed? First, usually recommend trying to find out if you really are hungry. I like to use the acronym HALT. Ask yourself: "Am I hungry? Am I angry? Am I alone? Or am I tired?" Many times we eat at night have nothing to do with actual hunger. Once you identify what is really going on, you may be able to avoid the late night munchies.