SHOULD YOU EAT AFTER 6 PM FOR FAT LOSS?

DON’T EAT AFTER 6PM TO LOSE WEIGHT

For decades, people looking to lose weight and body fat have been told not to eat after 6 pm. Does eating in the evening result in greater fat storage? Researchers explored if the time you ate affected fat loss and weight loss. Is there a best fasting schedule for weight loss? Researchers divided subjects into two diet groups: subjects ate 500 calories less per day.

In the early time restricted eating group, subjects could eat at 7 am and quit eating after 3 PM (8-hour eating window). The other group was placed on a 12-hour eating window. The subjects were also told to exercise between 75-150 minutes per week. The subjects were required to attend a group fitness class. They subjects met with a dietitian throughout the study to ensure they followed their diet. The subjects took pictures of their food before and after meals which were sent to the researchers via the Remote Food Photography Method to estimate how many calories they consumed.

DOES NOT EATING AFTER 6 PM RESULT IN GREATER FAT LOSS?

At the end of the 14-week study, the early time restricted eating window lost more weight than the 12-hour eating window. The early eating group lost nearly 14 pounds, whereas the 12-hour eating group lost 8.8 pounds. The early time restricted eating group also lost more body fat. Other benefits of time-restricted eating included greater decreases in diastolic blood pressure (i.e., improved cardiovascular health), decreased fatigue, and increased energy levels. This study suggests that eating earlier is more beneficial for weight loss than eating later in the day. Eating earlier also seems to have more beneficial cardiovascular benefits as well.

The study’s authors suggested that eating in the morning is more aligned with our body’s natural circadian rhythm in metabolisms, such as improved insulin sensitivity and greater thermic effect of food. (Poggiogalle et al., 2018) Studies have also shown that late-night eating is worse for blood pressure. (Scheer et al., 2009; Shea et al., 2011) Another important finding of the study was that there was no loss of lean muscle even when the subjects stopped eating at 3 PM. There has been speculation that time restricted eating causes muscle loss, but numerous studies have not found time restricted eating to result in muscle loss. (Domaszewski et al., 2020; Martens et al., 2020; Moro et al., 2016; Tinsley et al., 2019)

SHOULD YOU EAT AFTER 6 PM FOR FAT LOSS SUMMARY

In summary, not eating after 6 PM has merit for improving weight loss and fat loss. If this program fits your lifestyle, give it a shot. The benefit of this type of program is that there are no counting calories or having to calculate prescribed calorie ranges for every meal.

REFERENCES

Bo, S., Broglio, F., Settanni, F., Parasiliti Caprino, M., Ianniello, A., Mengozzi, G., De Francesco, A., Fadda, M., Fedele, D., Guggino, A., Ghigo, E., & Maccario, M. (2017). Effects of meal timing on changes in circulating epinephrine, norepinephrine, and acylated ghrelin concentrations: a pilot study. Nutr Diabetes, 7(12), 303. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41387-017-0010-0

Domaszewski, P., Konieczny, M., Pakosz, P., Bączkowicz, D., & Sadowska-Krępa, E. (2020). Effect of a Six-Week Intermittent Fasting Intervention Program on the Composition of the Human Body in Women over 60 Years of Age. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(11), 4138. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/4138

Garaulet, M., Gómez-Abellán, P., Alburquerque-Béjar, J. J., Lee, Y. C., Ordovás, J. M., & Scheer, F. A. (2013). Timing of food intake predicts weight loss effectiveness. Int J Obes (Lond), 37(4), 604-611. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2012.229

Jakubowicz, D., Barnea, M., Wainstein, J., & Froy, O. (2013). High caloric intake at breakfast vs. dinner differentially influences weight loss of overweight and obese women. Obesity (Silver Spring), 21(12), 2504-2512. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.20460

Liu, D., Huang, Y., Huang, C., Yang, S., Wei, X., Zhang, P., Guo, D., Lin, J., Xu, B., Li, C., He, H., He, J., Liu, S., Shi, L., Xue, Y., & Zhang, H. (2022). Calorie Restriction with or without Time-Restricted Eating in Weight Loss. New England Journal of Medicine, 386(16), 1495-1504. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2114833

REFERENCES

Martens, C. R., Rossman, M. J., Mazzo, M. R., Jankowski, L. R., Nagy, E. E., Denman, B. A., Richey, J. J., Johnson, S. A., Ziemba, B. P., Wang, Y., Peterson, C. M., Chonchol, M., & Seals, D. R. (2020). Short-term time-restricted feeding is safe and feasible in non-obese healthy midlife and older adults. GeroScience, 42(2), 667-686. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-020-00156-6

Moro, T., Tinsley, G., Bianco, A., Marcolin, G., Pacelli, Q. F., Battaglia, G., Palma, A., Gentil, P., Neri, M., & Paoli, A. (2016). Effects of eight weeks of time-restricted feeding (16/8) on basal metabolism, maximal strength, body composition, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk factors in resistance-trained males. Journal of Translational Medicine, 14(1), 290. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-016-1044-0

Poggiogalle, E., Jamshed, H., & Peterson, C. M. (2018). Circadian regulation of glucose, lipid, and energy metabolism in humans. Metabolism – Clinical and Experimental, 84, 11-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2017.11.017

Ryan, D. H., & Yockey, S. R. (2017). Weight Loss and Improvement in Comorbidity: Differences at 5%, 10%, 15%, and Over. Curr Obes Rep, 6(2), 187-194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-017-0262-y

Scheer, F. A. J. L., Hilton, M. F., Mantzoros, C. S., & Shea, S. A. (2009). Adverse metabolic and cardiovascular consequences of circadian misalignment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(11), 4453-4458. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0808180106

Shea, S. A., Hilton, M. F., Hu, K., & Scheer, F. A. J. L. (2011). Existence of an Endogenous Circadian Blood Pressure Rhythm in Humans That Peaks in the Evening. Circulation research, 108(8), 980-984. https://doi.org/doi:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.110.233668

REFERENCES

Tinsley, G. M., Moore, M. L., Graybeal, A. J., Paoli, A., Kim, Y., Gonzales, J. U., Harry, J. R., VanDusseldorp, T. A., Kennedy, D. N., & Cruz, M. R. (2019). Time-restricted feeding plus resistance training in active females: a randomized trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 110(3), 628-640. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqz126

Wolff, C. A., & Esser, K. A. (2019). Exercise Timing and Circadian Rhythms. Curr Opin Physiol, 10, 64-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cophys.2019.04.020

Xie, Z., Sun, Y., Ye, Y., Hu, D., Zhang, H., He, Z., Zhao, H., Yang, H., & Mao, Y. (2022). Randomized controlled trial for time-restricted eating in healthy volunteers without obesity. Nature Communications, 13(1), 1003. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28662-5