What happens to your body if you eat bedtime every day

Together with the “Championship” expert, nutritionist and fitness consultant Andrei Semeshov, we examine how late dinners affect the body and whether there are those for whom they are suitable.

The question that concerns many people who go on a diet in pursuit of a dream figure: what time can you have dinner? In the most extreme recommendations, everything is simple – no later than 18:00 and that’s it! But what about those who, for example, come home from work closer to midnight? Or those who are used to waking up by noon and by six o’clock in the evening only just beginning to pick up the pace? To lose weight is not destiny? Of course it is. You just need to understand the general principles and adjust the methodology to yourself.

I propose to deal with the question once and for all and find out what will be the optimal time of dinner in your case. At the same time I will tell you what will happen to those who eat at night constantly. Tested on myself.

Calorie counting: it’s all down to math

Let’s take it as axiomatic that we gain and lose weight based on the balance of calories eaten and spent. Those who eat little and move a lot – will lose weight. Fans of fast food and sofa, respectively, vice versa. Leaving aside cases of serious illness, there are no exceptions to this rule.

Then maybe at night our metabolism stops and everything we eat turns to fat? We sleep, we don’t move, we don’t expend energy. I agree, it sounds logical at first, but only if you don’t know physiology. In reality, our body expends energy around the clock, with no breaks for sleep. It’s called basal metabolism. Even when we lie down with our eyes closed, the process doesn’t stop. But when we sit down, the consumption increases slightly. Get up and walk – energy expenditure goes up again.

In the ratio of basic metabolism and household activity is not in favor of the second. Those who are not accustomed to bother with physical training, the ratio will be about 80/20. That is, 80 percent of the daily energy consumption is not related to training and sleep. And the remaining 20 percent (or more, if you exercise regularly) are also loosely related to the rest regime. Whether you work out in the morning or eat in the afternoon, your body will count everything separately and make a balance. You will see the result on the scales – plus or minus.

Moreover, you can focus not even on the daily calorie ratio, but on the weekly. For example, from Monday to Wednesday you ate moderately and did a lot of sports. And from Thursday to Sunday on the contrary: you paid more attention to food than to exercise. So if the calorie deficit created at the beginning of the week is greater than the surplus at the end, the final result on the scale will still please. So there is no reason to worry about the fact that you had a big dinner. If during the day you moved a lot, had a workout, and the calories eaten before bedtime are within the daily norm, everything will be fine.

And yet a dense dinner before going to bed – is it harmful?

I may argue that a heavy dinner prevents you from falling asleep properly and prevents you from getting a good night’s sleep. This is quite possible! Here individual peculiarities, preferences and habits come to the forefront. The fact is that our body is designed with a huge margin of safety and fantastic adaptability. There are plenty of examples. Take from the same sphere of digestion.

Let’s say that those who adhere to vegetarianism or veganism, suddenly eat a piece of meat. And quite rightly complain of heaviness in the stomach and other unpleasant symptoms. Conclusion – meat is harmful and unnatural for us? Not at all. Just the body of these people adapted differently and learned to secrete those enzymes that are necessary to digest animal food. But if vegetarians begin to return a little bit of meat dishes in the diet, the body will reorganize and soon the unpleasant symptoms will disappear.

So is eating at night harmful or not? In terms of body composition, everything will decide the consumption and consumption of calories during the day and week. Therefore, you need to listen to yourself. For example, conduct a simple experiment. Have a heavy dinner a couple of evenings, and in the next two days limit yourself to a light snack 2-3 hours before going to bed. And compare your own feelings: in which case you managed to sleep better and recover. This way you can most competently answer the question about eating at night, based on the needs of the body, and not on the fears about starvation after six.

After the trip to Europe, I was first on self-isolation individual, and then already on the general. And spent already five weeks in an apartment. It took a toll on my daily regimen. At some point I caught myself falling asleep in the morning and waking up at noon. Sticking to a standard healthy eating regimen on such a schedule was not easy. So I decided to try the 16/8 method. Except that these eight hours were close to falling asleep. That is, I had a dense dinner with half or less often a third of the total daily calorie intake. Since I tried to eat as much as I spend, even a little less, at the end of two weeks the scales showed -1 kg. Apparently, I overdid it with home workouts. But I, fortunately, fall asleep with a full stomach. But the idea of going to bed on an empty stomach has never caused delight. How about you?