QUESTION:

Tom, thanks for the valuable info you provide through
your BURN THE FAT e-book and through your email newsletters.
I have one importantQuestion: I come home from work at
6:30 pm, work out from 7:30 to 8:30 and have my last meal
(veggies and protein) at about 9:00. I go to sleep two
hours later. Is there any problem with eating just two
hours before going to bed? Is it probable that it gets
stored as fat for any reason?

Eleni


ANSWER:

"Does eating at night make you fat?"

That is definitely one of the most commonQuestions asked
about fat loss, but what's frustrating is that you hear so
many conflicting answers.

Let me share the facts with you, as well as my opinions,
personal experience and then some practical suggestions.

The fact is, eating at night does not necessarily make
you fat. There are too many other variables involved to
make such a big assumption

The primary factor in whether you gain or lose fat is not
when you eat but rather how much; i.e., the total calorie
intake and energy balance for the day (surplus or deficit).

However, that doesn't mean meal timing doesn't matter, it
simply means that it's entirely possible to eat one of your
meals late at night right before bed and still lose body fat,
as long as you're in a caloric deficit.

It would be more accurate to say, "Eating large meals late
at night before bed, especially calorie dense high carbohydrate
meals, increases the *probability* that you will store some of
those calories as fat."

Based on my personal experience as a bodybuilder and my work
with thousands of clients, I've found that tapering your calories
and carbs so you eat more early in the day, and slightly
fewer calories and carbohydrates at night, will accelerate
fat loss or make it easier to lose fat. (that's not the same as
saying "eating at night makes you fat.")

Although some scientists and dieticians reject the "eat less
at night to burn more fat" theory and believe that 24 hour calorie
balance is the only thing that matters, there are some logical
and scientific reasons why fat loss is accelerated if you eat less
at night and keep the last meal at least two hours from bedtime:

1. You are less active at night and are burning fewer calories
2. Your metabolism is slowest while you are sleeping
3. You will release more insulin at night compared to in the morning
4. Your glycogen stores are fuller after a day of eating so you are
more likely to store excess carbohydrate as fat instead of storing it
as muscle glycogen

Whether you decide to restrict your calories (and/or carbs)
depends on variables such as:

* Your goal (fat loss or muscle gain)
* Your body type (ecto, endo, or meso morph somatotype)
* when you work out (a.m. or p.m.)
* Your results (are you losing fat or stuck at a plateau?)

First, be sure to adjust your nutrition according to your
goals. For thin people ("ectomorph body type") who
are having difficulty gaining lean body mass, eating
right before bed could actually be quite beneficial.

If you're on a strict fat loss program, or if you want to
accelerate fat loss, ideally you would want to eat your last
meal 2-3 hours before bed, if it's practical. You would also
want to eat fewer concentrated carbs at night, keeping the
evening meals small and mostly consisting of lean protein
and fibrous carbs/green veggies (small amounts of healthy
fats are ok too).

Also consider what time of day you're training. If you usually
train in the evening, I would definitely recommend eating after
your workout because post workout nutrition is so important
for the recovery process.

The food you eat right after training is very unlikely
to be converted to fat because it's needed to restore
depleted energy substrates (muscle glycogen) and to begin
the muscle repair and growth process.

Most importantly, and I repeat this often because it's
SO vitally important, but so often ignored:

Make your decisions about your nutrition based on
your results:

If you're successfully losing fat while eating at night,
even right before bed, even large meals, even with a lot
of carbs, then there's no need to need to change a thing,
is there?

If you're trying to lose fat, but aren't successful
yet, THEN consider making your diet stricter, and one
way to make your diet stricter is to move back the last
meal of the day and / or make it smaller by dropping out
the starchy and concentrated carbs.

The idea that "eating at night makes you fat" is not
literally correct, but YES, there are situations when you
may want to eat less at night and eat your last meal earlier...
that is, if you want to really want to kick your fat loss
into high gear!