2528: [Part 2] Is Eating Late at Night Bad for Weight Loss? by Christian Finn of Muscle Evo on Body Composition

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[00:01:28] Now, today's episode is Part 2 of a longer post.

[00:01:32] So if you missed Part 1, then I'd recommend going back and listening to that episode first.

[00:01:37] That was Episode 2527.

[00:01:40] But if you're all caught up, let's jump right in and hear Part 2 and continue optimizing your life.

[00:01:58] Researchers assigned a set of overweight and obese subjects to one of two groups.

[00:02:03] The first group ate progressively smaller meals over the course of the day.

[00:02:07] Breakfast contained 700 calories, lunch 500 calories, and dinner just 200 calories.

[00:02:13] The second group did the exact opposite.

[00:02:16] They ate a small breakfast, 200 calories, and a large dinner, 700 calories.

[00:02:22] After 12 weeks, here's what happened.

[00:02:25] The big breakfast group lost on average 19 pounds or about 8.7 kilograms.

[00:02:31] The small breakfast group lost just 8 pounds or about 3.6 kilograms.

[00:02:36] Both groups lost weight for the first couple of months,

[00:02:39] but the small breakfast large dinner group fell off the wagon at week 8

[00:02:44] where they started to regain some of the lost weight.

[00:02:47] This isn't surprising given the large difference between the two groups

[00:02:51] in terms of hunger, the physical need for food, and satiety,

[00:02:55] the sensation of feeling full after eating.

[00:02:59] Average daily satiety scores were around 30% higher in the small dinner large breakfast group

[00:03:05] compared to the large dinner small breakfast group.

[00:03:09] Differences in weight loss between the two groups may have had more to do with

[00:03:13] the large protein-rich breakfast suppressing hunger during the day

[00:03:17] than it did with a large dinner somehow slowing weight loss.

[00:03:21] By the way, the large protein-rich breakfast contained about 55 grams of protein.

[00:03:27] In addition, subjects were prescribed just three meals a day.

[00:03:31] The meal plans given to the police officers in the earlier trial

[00:03:34] included a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack.

[00:03:37] This may have blunted their hunger, making it easier to get through the day

[00:03:41] without deviating from the diet.

[00:03:44] What's more, this wasn't a study where the subjects were living in tightly controlled conditions.

[00:03:49] They were given some diet plans and met with a dietitian every two weeks.

[00:03:53] Other than that, they were on their own.

[00:03:56] What happens when compliance is taken out of the picture?

[00:04:00] In other words, how does meal timing affect body composition

[00:04:04] when subjects are confined to a metabolic ward

[00:04:07] where food intake is supervised a lot more closely?

[00:04:10] That's what a research group from the U.S. Department of Agriculture wanted to find out.

[00:04:15] They took a group of 10 women aged 23 to 39 and assigned them to one of two groups.

[00:04:22] Both groups were given a diet providing an average of 1,911 calories daily.

[00:04:28] For six weeks, the first group ate most or about 70% of their calories early in the day.

[00:04:34] Group two consumed the majority or 70% of their calories later in the day.

[00:04:40] For the second six weeks of the study, the group switched to the alternate meal pattern.

[00:04:45] As I mentioned earlier, this was a metabolic ward study.

[00:04:49] Rather than being given some meal plans and told to go away and get on with it,

[00:04:54] the women taking part in this study lived in a metabolic suite 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

[00:05:00] This gave the researchers a lot more control over what their subjects ate.

[00:05:04] During both periods, subjects received four meals daily.

[00:05:08] Breakfast was served between 8 and 8.30 am.

[00:05:12] Lunch between 11.30 am and 12.00 pm.

[00:05:15] While dinner was eaten between 4.30 and 5.00 pm.

[00:05:19] An evening snack was served between 8.00 and 8.30 pm.

[00:05:23] During the PM meal pattern when calorie intake was greatest in the afternoon and evening,

[00:05:28] the women consumed 15% of their calorie intake at breakfast,

[00:05:32] 15% at lunch, 35% at dinner and 35% at the evening snack.

[00:05:38] This pattern was reversed during the AM meal pattern.

[00:05:42] Seven days each week, the women walked outdoors for approximately 60 minutes.

[00:05:47] They also performed five additional bouts of aerobic exercise, treadmill walking or cycling,

[00:05:52] and each bout burned around 300 calories.

[00:05:56] Three circuit training sessions were also included in the program.

[00:06:00] At first glance, the results appear to support the popular recommendation to avoid larger meals later in the day,

[00:06:07] as the greatest weight loss occurred with the large morning meals.

[00:06:11] However, the increase in weight loss was actually due to greater muscle loss.

[00:06:16] Women consuming more calories in the morning lost an extra couple of pounds or around 1 kg of muscle

[00:06:23] than subjects consuming the majority of their calories in the afternoon and evening.

[00:06:28] What about body fat?

[00:06:30] Timing of the meals had no consistent effect on body fat.

[00:06:34] During the first six weeks of the study, women given the majority of their calories later in the day lost the most fat.

[00:06:42] During the second six weeks of the study, there was no statistically significant difference in fat loss between the two groups,

[00:06:49] although there was a trend towards greater fat loss in women following the AM meal pattern.

[00:06:55] When the results from both periods were combined, there was almost no difference in fat loss between the AM and PM meal patterns.

[00:07:03] One of the main limitations with the study is that bioelectrical impedance analysis, or BIA, was used to track fat loss and muscle growth.

[00:07:13] BIA is not a very reliable way to estimate changes in body composition, with some studies showing that it's less accurate than BMI.

[00:07:21] The small amount of muscle loss seen in the AM group could simply be because of measurement error.

[00:07:27] That limitation aside, this was a very tightly controlled study.

[00:07:32] It's the only meal timing trial to include a structured training program and does hint at a small advantage to increasing calorie intake towards the end of the day.

[00:07:42] Final thoughts.

[00:07:43] You can drop fat with a wide variety of diets and meal timing patterns, with your ability to stick to the diet being more important than anything else.

[00:07:53] If you find that the conventional large breakfast and small dinner advice leaves you hungry, try doing it the other way around.

[00:08:01] It's up to you to choose the one that fits your lifestyle.

[00:08:04] There's no strong evidence to suggest that either dietary strategy delivers vastly superior results.

[00:08:11] As long as you adhere to a few basic dietary guidelines, the way you distribute your calories over the course of the day can be left to personal preference

[00:08:20] and won't have a great deal of impact on your progress one way or the other.

[00:08:29] You just listened to part two of the post titled, Is Eating Late at Night Bad for Weight Loss? by Christian Finn of MuscleEvo.net

[00:08:36] and I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:10:03] You don't just go for a road trip. You ATV and zip line through the jungle.

[00:10:08] You don't just go somewhere new. You rappel down waterfalls and discover ancient temples because this isn't just any vacation.

[00:10:15] This is all the vacations. Come seek the Royal Caribbean.

[00:10:20] Ships registry Bahamas.

[00:10:22] Dr. Neal here for my commentary.

[00:10:24] So to answer Christian's question, is eating late at night bad for weight loss?

[00:10:30] It seems like the answer is no it's not bad for weight loss.

[00:10:34] To quote Christian, it's up to you to choose the one that fits your lifestyle.

[00:10:38] You can drop fat with a wide variety of diets and meal timing patterns.

[00:10:42] Your ability to stick to the diet is more important than anything else.

[00:10:47] And in fact this was a relief for me. I am not a big breakfast eater. I never really have been.

[00:10:53] Anytime I eat a large breakfast, it makes me feel sick and it actually ruins my workout.

[00:10:59] Luckily, Christian's conclusion is also similar to what multiple meta-analyses have found.

[00:11:06] I like looking at results from meta-analyses because of the way those studies are conducted.

[00:11:11] Meta-analyses are giant research studies, hence the term meta.

[00:11:16] They look at findings from studies that were already published, studies that were conducted on a similar topic.

[00:11:22] They then lump them together and do one large analysis on all of them.

[00:11:27] For example, authors of a meta-analysis that want to know whether a Mediterranean diet helps with fat loss,

[00:11:34] will find already published studies that looked at Mediterranean diets and fat loss.

[00:11:40] And then they'll summarize the findings from those studies by doing one large analysis on all of them.

[00:11:46] This makes meta-analyses super helpful when we want to find an answer to a highly debated question, like today's question.

[00:11:53] So when it comes to weight loss, multiple meta-analyses are finding that being able to stick to your meal pattern

[00:12:01] is likely most important when it comes to fat loss as opposed to meal timing.

[00:12:07] So again, as Christian said, think about finding a balanced diet that you can stick to over the long term.

[00:12:14] That's probably what's most important when it comes to true long-term fat loss.

[00:12:20] Alright, that'll do it for today. Thank you so much for coming back to listen every day and sharing this show with someone.

[00:12:27] I hope you have a great start to your week and I'll see you back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.