Does eating late at night make you fat?

It’s a few hours later than usual but fret this weeks issue of The Wellness Report newsletter is here.

I was back in England last Friday for a friends birthday/housewarming, and me and a few of the lads were barbecuing.

As everyone knows I’m a coach, inevitably at some stage we will pause the sports talk and chat about the gym, or nutrition, or the newest supplement around.

One of the guys asked me about late night eating and wanted my opinion was on the matter, as he had it on good authority that eating late at night made you fat.

So, that’s the first topic I want to discuss today…

Does eating late at night cause you to gain body fat?

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What have I got for you today:

• Does eating late at night make you fat?

• My 5 favourite stretches for stiff hamstrings

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 Does eating late at night make you fat?

This has plagued the health and fitness industry for a long time, but in the next couple of minutes you will have a crystal clear answer and I have the research to back it up.

First let’s get down to the basics of nutrition and body composition.

The law of thermodynamics is as rock solid today as it was 30 years ago, and I will confidently say that it will be equally as rock solid in 50 years time.

At the end of the day, your body composition is determined by your energy intake, aka, calories in vs calories out. Yes there are other factors to take into consideration such as hunger, social setting, outside influences, and psychological factors, but the buck stops with cals in vs cals out.

So, when you hear outlandish statements like eating late at night slows down your metabolism, or it automatically turns food into fat, please turn a deaf ear to it all.

Once you are staying within your calorie target, then you are perfectly safe to eat at anytime of the day as you would like.

Is eating late at the night the most ideal scenario?

In my opinion the answer is no, simply because it has been shown that eating close to bed time can disrupt your sleep as your body is busy digesting food, rather than relaxing and actively trying to sleep.

And there’s been some research to suggest that eating earlier in the day helps with satiety levels, which can improve diet adherence.

But, one again it’s important that you take individual circumstances into consideration before judging someones eating habits.

To make it as clear as I possible can, there was a study done by Ruddick-Collins et al (1), in which they ran a trial which compared what impact eating the majority of your food in the morning versus in the evening, had on body composition levels.

At the end the trial the results showed that both groups had lost practically the same amount weight and there was no significant difference between the two.

This provides further evidence that when you eat is not as important as how much you eat.

I suggest you use your judgement when it comes to when to eat your food and try your best to stick to some resemblance of a routine around meals. This makes adherence much easier as a stable routine puts the power back in your hands and lets you control what you eating.

At the end of the day, a good diet is one that you can follow consistently without it causing you much stress.

If that means you eat early, or late, or once per day, it doesn’t matter all that much as long as you are able to stick to a nutrient dense, calorie controlled diet.

Oh and remember, if you eat late at night then your bodyweight measurement first thing in the morning will be a little skewed as your system is holding that food.

Just something to be mindful of when going through a fat loss stage.

My 5 favourite exercises for better hamstrings

When it comes to living a pain-free life, strong, flexible hamstrings should be high on everyone’s priority list.

If you suffer with lower back pain, a lot of your issues could be helped by simply strengthening your hamstrings.

And if you have hamstrings that feel stiffer than two steel cables, which is the case for a LOT of people, than strength should be your focus.

Answer me this ⬇️

Have you tried and tried to stretch your hamstrings, but they seemingly never improve?

If you answered yes then you are not alone.

I was in that same situation years ago, until I dove a little deeper and realised what the issue was.

See, your body is very clever at protecting itself. One of the ways in which it protects itself, is disguising weakness for flexibility issues.

So if you have the hamstring strength of a 4 year old girl, your body will reduce your ability to stretch those muscles because it’s afraid of getting hurt.

Therefore if you want to loosen your hamstrings and increase your flexibility, ditch the endless stretching and shift your efforts towards targeted strength work.

As big as I am at 6 foot 5, I shock people with flexibility and mobility, and when it comes to the hamstrings, these 5 exercises have helped me massively.

• Monkey bar of death (I just love the name of this one)

• Wall assisted hamstring stretch

• BB Stiff-Legged Deadlift

• DB Single-Leg RDL

• Ball hamstring curl

👉🏻 I’ve just released a new episode of the Paradigm Project podcast today. In this episode I discuss the subject of pain and the impact that it can unknowingly have on your life as an entrepreneur. To check it out simply click here.

Are you an ambitious entrepreneur or professional who wants to become stronger, fitter, and more energetic, while eliminating their pain? Click this link to apply for my coaching program.  

A Quote For The Moment

“Our attitude towards life determines life’s attitude towards us”

- John Mitchell

How you perceive your health and fitness is pivotal to your success.

If you go into situations with a negative mindset, such as walking into the gym telling yourself you are going to hate this,

Or cursing the fact that you have to track your calories,

You won’t be successful.

Your self talk plays a much bigger role then you may be aware of, so use it in your favour, not against.

Have a great weekend,

Mark

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here’s a few ways I can help you:

1. Are you an ambitious entrepreneur or professional who wants to get strong, lean, and boost your energy? Then apply for my 1-1 coaching here.

2. Take my free Professionals Health & Fitness Strength test to uncover the areas needed to take your results to the next level. Click here to start.

3. Grab a FREE copy of my Ultimate Health Guide for Entrepreneurs by Clicking here now

(1) Ruddick-Collins, L.C. et al. (2022) “Timing of daily calorie loading affects appetite and hunger responses without changes in energy metabolism in healthy subjects with obesity,” Cell Metabolism, 34(10).