Why is it bad to eat food after 12AM?

[Speed Weed]

Why is it bad to eat food after 12AM? My mom always say, "Don't eat food after 12AM because you will get fatter easily."  So food after 12AM automatically will become 2x fatter than on normal day time?! 

[DeafeningSilence]

It's not a direct ratio of 2x faster overnight. However, there is truth in that during the hours that you are supposed to be sleeping, your metabolism is decreased. Combine this with decreased activity, simply put you are not as active in the wee hours of the morning as you would be during the day. So the eating, slower metabolism, and decreased physical activity during these hours can lead to increased weight gain. However, everyone is built differently and everyone's Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is different. But overall, it is generally a good idea to avoid food during the "sleeping" hours. If you do find the need to eat, try drinking a glass of water or some fruit and wait 20-30 minutes. This should give you a feeling of "fullness". Hope this helped!

[MoonSpot]

20 minutes ago, DaPhuc said:

So food after 12AM automatically will become 2x fatter than on normal day time?! 

Yes and no.  It's not a pretty evolution for Mogwai at least.

Stay away from water too, if you know whats good for you.

 

[Eaglerino]

Your body gets fat based on calories in, calories out. You won't magically get any fatter at night than if you ate it early the next morning or in the day. You just need to stay at or below your daily caloric use which depends on your height and activity level throughout the day (generally around 2000 calories)

[Guest]

Because then there won’t be anything for breakfast the next morning. 

[wONKEyeYEs]

1 hour ago, DaPhuc said:

Why is it bad to eat food after 12AM?

Everyting is good mon.

Just stay up till dawn.

[Guest]

So the way your body makes use of its food intake is to break down food into tiny little bits called "glucose" (Other simple sugars are available)

Once glucose is passed into your bloodstream, from usually the liver (Other organs are available), this activates a special substance, a hormone, called Insulin. Insulin packs up all of these glucose molecules into large branched species called "Glycogen". Insulin competes with cells wanting to take up the glucose and use it for energy.

 

In essence, when you are awake your cells need more energy for their bodily functions (DeafiningSilence had a good answer which says why), and hence your cells will take up more of the glucose that is available. If your cells are not competing as much, then Insulin will turn that glucose into glycogen and fat. 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

4 hours ago, DaPhuc said:

Why is it bad to eat food after 12AM? My mom always say, "Don't eat food after 12AM because you will get fatter easily."  So food after 12AM automatically will become 2x fatter than on normal day time?! 

That is a myth.

2 hours ago, RorzNZ said:

So the way your body makes use of its food intake is to break down food into tiny little bits called "glucose" (Other simple sugars are available)

Once glucose is passed into your bloodstream, from usually the liver (Other organs are available), this activates a special substance, a hormone, called Insulin. Insulin packs up all of these glucose molecules into large branched species called "Glycogen". Insulin competes with cells wanting to take up the glucose and use it for energy.

 

In essence, when you are awake your cells need more energy for their bodily functions (DeafiningSilence had a good answer which says why), and hence your cells will take up more of the glucose that is available. If your cells are not competing as much, then Insulin will turn that glucose into glycogen and fat. 

Uh, the pancreas makes insulin, not the liver (the liver does make an insulin like hormone but it doesn't behave like insulin).

 

The time of day you eat food does not mke a difference in how much fatter it will make you. 

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

 

Uh, the pancreas makes insulin, not the liver (the liver does make an insulin like hormone but it doesn't behave like insulin).

A grammar error in my post, however gluconeogensis takes place mainly in the liver to synthesise glucose from other precursors, such as proteins and starch. Insulin is also controlled by processes in the liver. 

[BuckGup]

It's not. This was disproved a bit ago

[wasab]

19 hours ago, DeafeningSilence said:

It's not a direct ratio of 2x faster overnight. However, there is truth in that during the hours that you are supposed to be sleeping, your metabolism is decreased. Combine this with decreased activity, simply put you are not as active in the wee hours of the morning as you would be during the day. So the eating, slower metabolism, and decreased physical activity during these hours can lead to increased weight gain. However, everyone is built differently and everyone's Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is different. But overall, it is generally a good idea to avoid food during the "sleeping" hours. If you do find the need to eat, try drinking a glass of water or some fruit and wait 20-30 minutes. This should give you a feeling of "fullness". Hope this helped!

Doesn't matter. These calories will be used up during day time. Input x amount, the body will store x amount. Changing the time when you eat doesn't magically make input x increase. This isn't about biology, it is simple physics. The best time to eat can be whenever . It doesn't matter. Your body will learn and adapt itself as well if your body goes on werid schedule like sleeping during the day or eating at midnight. 

 

In other words, it is a myth that eating late night will lead to weight gain. Else all the starving children in African can easily fight off Malnutrition by eating at 3 am.

[Speed Weed]

36 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

That is a myth.

I don't know though because I did read some scientist research articles in the past, and they said it does make you fat when you eat after 12AM. Some scientist research said it is not true. 

 

3 hours ago, RorzNZ said:

So the way your body makes use of its food intake is to break down food into tiny little bits called "glucose" (Other simple sugars are available)

Once glucose is passed into your bloodstream, from usually the liver (Other organs are available), this activates a special substance, a hormone, called Insulin. Insulin packs up all of these glucose molecules into large branched species called "Glycogen". Insulin competes with cells wanting to take up the glucose and use it for energy.

 

In essence, when you are awake your cells need more energy for their bodily functions (DeafiningSilence had a good answer which says why), and hence your cells will take up more of the glucose that is available. If your cells are not competing as much, then Insulin will turn that glucose into glycogen and fat. 

So if my stomach making the hungry noise and making me uncomfortable than I have to deal with it till the sun rise? 

[Guest]

31 minutes ago, DaPhuc said:

So if my stomach making the hungry noise and making me uncomfortable than I have to deal with it till the sun rise? 

No just eat something, your body is designed so you can pretty much do what you want, if you aren't trying to lose weight it's not an issue. Remember it takes around a day to digest food fully. 

[Froody129]

I dunno how this would be disproved at all. If you eat just before bed then the body is more likely to turn it into fat because it's not using it. The fat is quite easy to break down though so it's not a big deal. Sumo wrestlers use a cycle where they do not eat at all until the afternoon and then they eat a boat load. This allows them to put on maximum weight as fat without having dangerous fat around the organs.

 

35 minutes ago, DaPhuc said:

I don't know though because I did read some scientist research articles in the past, and they said it does make you fat when you eat after 12AM. Some scientist research said it is not true. 

 

So if my stomach making the hungry noise and making me uncomfortable than I have to deal with it till the sun rise? 

You sound quite young so I would say unless you're fat already just go ahead and eat, you do most of your growing at night so that energy is going somewhere. Just don't eat sugary stuff late at night or you'll feel horrendous 

[LAwLz]

That does not make sense and it is actually the first time I've heard of this.

In any case, the only thing that matters when it comes to gaining or losing weight is how much you eat. That's it. Eat too much and you get fat. Eat too little and you get thin.

 

I don't see how or why time would play a part in this at all.

The only thing that matters is that you use the same amount of energy (kcal) that you take in. 100 calories are 100 calories of energy no matter when you eat them. Food doesn't have two nutrient labels on them for day/night, right? It's just like your car doesn't use less fuel during the night. 1 liter of gasoline will get you a certain distance, regardless of when the gasoline was put in the tank or when you are driving.

[davrosG5]

I actually asked a dietitian this question once. When you eat makes no difference in terms of weight loss or gain, it's what and how much you eat that matters.

What eating late at night (or rather before going to bed) can do is give you issues getting to sleep and you may be more susceptible to things like acid reflux while you're digesting your food if you're lying down. Basically, you'll probably find it easier to get to sleep if your stomach isn't churning away trying to deal with what you've just eaten.

[mr moose]

Quality of food makes a difference too,  From what I've gathered, the human body is essentially set up for survival, if you starve it it will think you are in a famine and try use as little as possible and store as much as possible*, if you are fit and healthy with a good regular diet your body is more likely to use up the energy you consume and less likely to want to convert it to fat.  This is why healthy people tend to eat a lot of good food and have energy to spare while unhealthy people who are new to dieting have to essentially have a serious illness before the body manages to use up the energy stored in fat.   It is also why slowly reducing calorie intake has a better result on long term weight loss while crash diets are only effective short term (the weight comes back very easy).

 

*obviously if you consume less than you burn the net result will be a loss regardless.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

8 hours ago, DaPhuc said:

...So if my stomach making the hungry noise and making me uncomfortable than I have to deal with it till the sun rise? 

No, it will do no harm to eat a light snack. It's the total amount of food, the type of food, and the amount of exercise you get in a day along with your metabolism rate that determine whether you get fat or not. Genetics also are a factor in how fat one may or may not become.

[Speed Weed]

1 minute ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

No, it will do no harm to eat a light snack. It's the total amount of food, the type of food, and the amount of exercise you get in a day along with your metabolism rate that determine whether you get fat or not. Genetics also are a factor in how fat one may or may not become.

Is it okay to eat pickles in that situation? 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Just now, DaPhuc said:

Is it okay to eat pickles in that situation? 

Probably.

[Syntaxvgm]

People who eat late at night are much more likely to be fat, and you are probably more likely to keep these calories as fat. Of course, people who eat late at night are more likely to have other unhealthy habits as well, so that skews th average. It's all relative to your schedule, if you go to sleep at 4am then eating at 12 is dinner. 

[Majinhoju]

I doubt it's very harmful but I would guess your body just wouldn't burn as many calories if you go to sleep right after thus you being more likely to gain weight.  

[TetraSky]

The time is not the thing that's important here, since someone who work the night shift would obviously need to be awake and eating after 12am.

It's only bad if you're going to bed right away and sleeping on the wrong side(on your right side), which may cause acid reflux. Other than that, it really doesn't matter.

As always, eating more calories than you need in a day is what will cause you to get fatter, not a light, late night snack because you're hungry.

[Speed Weed]

Thanks a lot guys. I learn new things everyday. 

[asus killer]

digestion last a lot longer than a night, eating at night WILL NOT make you fatter, that is DUMB. 

But going to bad in a full stomach is not at all recommended, it will disturb your sleep and leave you discomfort.