Last meal of the day

[Sinuosette]

I am hearing different opinions on the subject. Some people say it doesn't matter how long before going to bed one eats, some say it's bad both if you want to sleep properly and if you are trying to reduce your body fat.

I know that I was used to having dinner between 8 and 9pm and now that I am being more active I prefer working out/run/skate first than eating, so I normally end up doing it between 10pm and midnight.

Can anyone shed some light on this? It is gettign really confusing

[Jack22]

I actually just signed up to ask this exact same question. I run a cocktail bar and usually start at around 3pm and finish at 2am. Thats a long time without food but its only kebabs and chip shops open after hours. I normally have a pasta dish or something pre-prepared for when I finish but I go straight to sleep afterwards. Is this doing me no favours or is the whole food before bed thing a myth?

[msuroo]

I wouldn't worry about it - I also prefer to run before I eat, which makes for later dinners. In the grand scheme of things, when you eat doesn't really matter that much. It's what you eat that you should focus on.

[msuroo]

I actually just signed up to ask this exact same question. I run a cocktail bar and usually start at around 3pm and finish at 2am. Thats a long time without food but its only kebabs and chip shops open after hours. I normally have a pasta dish or something pre-prepared for when I finish but I go straight to sleep afterwards. Is this doing me no favours or is the whole food before bed thing a myth?

See above. It's not that timing is completely irrelevant, see our monster thread on intermittent fasting, for example, but the overall amount of your food intake and the makeup of that food is so far ahead of when you eat it in terms of affecting fat loss, it's almost not even worth talking about timing unless you are looking at hitting a really low BF% (and are getting very close) or are otherwise struggling with workout recovery.

[Jack22]

Thats good advice, thanks muchly! I didnt think it was a huge issue but glad to have confirmation.

[Sinuosette]

I'm not quite down to that last percent of body fat, so I will eat when I get the chance.

Thanks for the info