Meals at any time?

[adamuk]

HI Guys,

Im new here (please check out my first question as I need alot of help with that)

I was wondering since atkins is sound diet, then in theory it shouldnt matter how late you eat right, as long as you adhere to the instructions? (im focusing more on the induction phase for this questions)

Thank you

Adam-UK

[clogger]

Re: Meals at any time?

Hi Adam! Welcome to ! That's a good question.

In my opinion, it does not matter what time of day you eat. I don't have my book with me so this is from memory (hope it's correct!)...Dr. Atkins suggests eating something within a 1/2 hour of waking. He also says not to go more than six hours between meals. He doesn't say to not eat after a certain time at night or a certain number of hours before bed.

Good luck!

[carbless_in_seattle]

Re: Meals at any time?

eat when you wake up, don't skip breakfast, it jump starts your metabolism.

like she said above, don't go more than 6 hours without eating.

I don't recommend eating late at night, unless of course, it's been 6 hours since you ate last.

What's worked best for me has been Breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner.

[Greeneggs&ham]

Re: Meals at any time?

This was the one way of eating where I have found that I could eat late at night without negative consequences assuming I'm eating legal foods. A word of caution though: the idea is to eat only when you are hungry, and then only until you are just satisfied. Since my tendency has always been to binge after dinner, I slowly tried to break my late night eating habit altogether. Good luck!

[Conchis]

Re: Meals at any time?

I just saw a thing on TV...(yeah I know you can find something on TV that says anything)... BUT, they said that eating late at night has nothing to do with weight gain or loss....X number of calories a day are X number of calories a day, no matter when they are spread around.

[DLS]

Re: Meals at any time?

I eat a snack every night. I know it's not the best habit but I do stick with low carb good for me stuff. I have a low carb yogurt or almonds sometimes both almost every night. If I have had a bit too many carbs that day I will have pork rinds.
I have had no problems eating this way.

[SugarFreeSheila]

Re: Meals at any time?

I remember still holding on to this archaic "extra" (you know those ridiculous pieces of diet advice you hear through the years like, "Drink a really cold glass of water first thing in the morning to rev up your metabolism & make you skinny!" or "Cut your meat into tiny pieces to get skinny!" etc., etc.) & incorporated it unnecessarily in the very beginning. Then once this rule was out the window & I would snack on this or that at night, it didn't affect my weight either way.

Moral of the story? Only do what proves necessary!

[TWS]

Re: Meals at any time?

I just saw a thing on TV...(yeah I know you can find something on TV that says anything)... BUT, they said that eating late at night has nothing to do with weight gain or loss....X number of calories a day are X number of calories a day, no matter when they are spread around.

I found something like that on the posted site. (Just offered for thought, not as a guideline or new diet rule)

Eating More Meals Does NOT Speed Up Your Metabolism | TheIFLife - Simple Fat Loss, Muscle, Health and Longevity

I've been looking into a Paleo/Primal diet. Intermittent eating seems natural but I don't have any personal experience with it to offer any opinion.

TWS

[boonie stomper]

Re: Meals at any time?

Good stuff from everyone.... for such a controversial subject. I played both hands at one time or the other. Not eating after a certain time = trouble if I'm up late and haven't eaten in 6 hours; can lead to cravings getting out of control from waiting until you are too ravenous to eat just to the point of no longer being actually hungry. On the other hand, eating right before bedtime just out of habit (including when not hungry) even if you go to bed early, is like emotional comfort food too much, and could grow into a bigger, worse habit - getting up to eat and then going back to sleep.

Moderation is probbly a good approach, if you do eat late, eat light and less than a regular meal.

(like you all pretty much said already)

Oh, last of all, I do sometimes munch skins, or an extra piece of meat in my bed....

[Greeneggs&ham]

Re: Meals at any time?

Eating More Meals Does NOT Speed Up Your Metabolism | TheIFLife - Simple Fat Loss, Muscle, Health and Longevity

I've been looking into a Paleo/Primal diet. Intermittent eating seems natural but I don't have any personal experience with it to offer any opinion.

Ahh! I love you. I saw a link to that site somewhere else around here awhile back, but then when I went to show it to someone at work I couldn't find it again. I'm bookmarking it this time.

[rweeks]

Re: Meals at any time?

I you are hungry, eat something small. Wait twenty minutes. If you are still hungry, repeat. Give the brain a chance to tell the body that you are not hungry anymore. Works for me. Good luck!

[Chicklady]

Re: Meals at any time?

I found something like that on the posted site. (Just offered for thought, not as a guideline or new diet rule)

Eating More Meals Does NOT Speed Up Your Metabolism | TheIFLife - Simple Fat Loss, Muscle, Health and Longevity

I've been looking into a Paleo/Primal diet. Intermittent eating seems natural but I don't have any personal experience with it to offer any opinion.

TWS

Well, it worked to kick start my losing again. And grazing does seem like a natural for humans. Beats me.

I did read that eating before bed screws with your sleep more than it does with your weight....

[sadie147]

Re: Meals at any time?

I'm a believer that this will vary from person to person for different reasons.

Part will depend on what you eat, how much etc. Personally I think since your body can't tell time, how does it even know it's night? Your body does what it does 24 hours a day. Sure you're sleeping and not up and moving around when your in bed so your burning less calories etc, but your body does still digest food.

As mentioned, it will be an issue if you're not actually hungry and it's emotional eating and not actual hunger.

Eating before bedtime if you have stomach issues such as an ulcer etc can cause differnt problems like reflux etc, which can affect your sleep. Lack of sleep/quality sleep apparently can be an issue with weight gain.

[lindsayanne0]

Re: Meals at any time?

I really think this depends on the person. I did take a recent class and the speaker there recommended not eating 2 hrs prior to going to sleep. IF I'm recalling correctly, the body's metabolism slows while you sleep and will not process/digest food like it does when you are active and awake so more gets stored as fat. I remember her also saying that it also helps with a more 'sound' sleep which is important for weight. She did say that if you are really hungry before bed, it is okay to have something, as long as it is a small non-sugary snack. Hopefully I remembered that right! And I'm no doc so...

One thing she did mention is that she has had clients (she was a nutritionalist) who, as a diet change, cut out eating 2 hrs before bedtime. She said that she had one person lose 25 lbs in a year just by changing this one habit. Don't know how common that result would be...