Whether weight gain or decrease is influenced by a late dinner is not scientifically proven. The reason for the assumption that late eating could increase is related to insulin release. Whenever you eat something, blood sugar levels in your body rise and insulin is released. This means that if you eat your supper just before bed, your blood sugar level will rise again. Consequently, insulin is also released into your body, which can promote fat build-up during sleep. If you have a problem sleeping, maybe its your mattress.
But maybe you know that you sleep worse with a full stomach. Because if you eat something just before bed, your stomach starts working again. As you try to sleep, your stomach digests your late dinner, which makes you worse off. If this is the case, you should simply find out for yourself when is the best time for your dinner. To be on the safe side, eat something for the last time about two hours before bedtime. So your stomach has enough time to digest your supper and you come to rest more easily.
Why you can increase by a late dinner
The calorie count of carbohydrates, fats and proteins always remains the same. That means just because you’re eating an ice cream in the evening, for example, the number of calories you’re eating doesn’t double. Weight gain is always associated with a calorie surplus. That is, if you eat more calories a day than you consume, you gain body weight. The same is true the other way around: if you eat fewer calories than you consume during the day, your body weight will be reduced. If you want to break down your body fat, read our article about proper weight loss to celebrate long-term decline successes.
A late dinner can subconsciously add more calories a day and end up with a calorie surplus. To find out, you can watch yourself for a whole day. Do you come home after work, are a bit hungry, but is it too early for you to have dinner? Then it may be that you start to snack quite subconsciously. In this case, you should simply pull your dinner forward for a few hours. Even in the evening on the couch we like to eat some little things. Especially the snacks in front of the TV, quickly lead to a calorie surplus. How many times have it happened to you that you only wanted to eat a little piece of chocolate and in the end you plastered the whole table?
Omit dinner
Are you considering leaving out the dinner altogether? That’s okay as long as you don’t go to bed hungry. For example, if you have eaten late at noon and are still full in the evening, you can go to bed without dinner. Just treat yourself to an extra large breakfast the next morning. Under no circumstances should you omit the supper and then starve. If you want to lose weight, make sure you eat between 300 and 500 fewer calories per day. Especially protein-rich foods such as quark, legumes or eggs will keep you full for a long time.