Don't eat after 6 pm diet. Does it really work?

[Anonymous]

A friend told me she lost a lot of weight just by not eating after 6 pm. (eating healthy during the day for sure).

Has anyone here tried this? How did it work for you?

Or calorie is a calorie no matter when you eat it?

[rachiee]

No it doesn't work. It only works because a lot of time people tend to over eat at night when they are bored and at home as opposed to during the day when they're busy and out. So placing a cut off time makes it so that they force themselves to not eat. Its like if you wake up at 8am and make yourself not eat anything after 2pm then of course you're going to lose weight, not the healthy way but you'll lose weight. The thing is that your body doesn't tell time. It knows when its tired and when its slept enough. This can be at noon or 4pm, you body doesn't have a clock inside it. A lot of people confuse this and think that its best to not eat after a certain time but what is best is to watch what you eat. Don't allow yourself to snack on foods when you're bored. Its perfectly fine to eat a small, healthy snack after dinner and I suggest you do so if you're hungry, but a bag of chips at 11pm? Not so much. Its more about what you eat, how much you eat, and control rather than times.

[WeaponZero]

generally speaking you're supposed to not eat anything for about 4 hours before going to bed. for most people this means roughly 6-7pm. however studies have shown that eating a serving of casein protein within 30 minutes of going to bed (a type of protein that can only be found in dairy curd, most commonly in cheeses and yogurt) helps keep your metabolism running more efficiently throughout the night. there are casein protein powder mixes you can buy, but realistically speaking the BEST way to get it is from reduced fat cottage cheese.

also, not eating anything after 6pm I find is pretty unrealistic for most people as most people (in the US anyway) don't get off work until roughly 5pm and it takes them an hour or more to get home due to traffic. hard not to eat after 6pm when you're just getting home from work at 6:30 =P

[WeaponZero]

id like to add that this really only applies to people who are active and work out often with resistance training.

[AltTech]

You will lose strength and muscle doing that. And doing it for too long could put your body into a permanent starvation mode where it will be harder to lose weight because your body will become extremely efficient at holding onto nutrients longer.

The only fool-proof way to lose weight, is to exercise and eat balanced (not strict) meals.

The most effective diet-only I've ever seen is 6-8 "snacks" (less than 200 calories) per day, no meals, and at least one gallon (3.7L) of water per day. Water is possibly the most important part of losing weight that everyone overlooks.

[Kain6th]

Nice I like it. The Alt Tech diet? :-P

[Asker]

If you don't mind I have another question for you. I heard that drinking lots of water should be done mostly in the morning and should be limited at night. Is it true?

[AltTech]

No, not true at all. You do wake up dehydrated, so its important to rehydrate in the morning, especially with breakfast. But limiting hydration at night is not smart because you could further dehydrate yourself overnight. If I wake up during the night, I always drink at least 8-10oz of water before going back to bed.

[Asker]

Thank you. :)

[WoIIie]

It works to a degree, but this technique is far more effective if you stop eating after 6pm, work out hard, and finish your workout with a low-calorie protein meal/shake. That way you maximize your afterburn throughout the night, and once you wake up, you'll feel leaner and stronger.

[islands7]

calories in vs calories out period

however

there are times of the day when not eating can be easier

like nightly exercise, then water, to bed, no food

brunch instead of breakfast + lunch BUT some overeat to overkill hunger pains

others just snack around like kids all day - avoid processed foods if this is your bag

[kheserthorpe]

When you eat it has very small impacts on how you store it. There's some, but relatively small.

It can have significant impacts on overall hunger though.

[Anonymous]

Iv tried it before. Its really more for health reasons. Eating late at night isn't good for your digestion. But if you stuff yourself all day and then stop at 6pm you'll still gain weight lol

[Asker]

exactly!

[Anonymous]

You could eat some protein after 7PM. I'll have 0 fat Greek Yogurt almost every evening.