Eating Early in the Day Vs. Eating Late at Night

Balancing your meals evenly throughout the day may help increase energy levels.


The phrase "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper" is often given as advice for those trying to lose weight. This suggests that an effective way to diet is by tapering your calories throughout the day -- that is, eating a large breakfast, a moderate lunch and a small dinner. When it comes to losing weight, however, when you eat doesn't matter nearly as much as the amount you eat.

A Big Breakfast

Getting a healthy breakfast is important for providing energy for the rest of the day. Breakfast helps you concentrate and can keep you feeling full up until lunchtime. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a good breakfast should include lean protein, such as Canadian bacon or eggs; whole grains in the form of bread, muffins or cereals; and fruits and vegetables.

Late-Night Issues

Late-night eating is often demonized and blamed for weight gain, based on the theory that calories eaten late in the day are more likely to be stored as fat. According to an article from the Community Wellness department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, however, the time you eat your calories doesn't matter. Five hundred calories consumed late in the day will have the same effect on your body as 500 calories consumed at breakfast or lunch.

Think About Training

If you're partaking in regular, intense exercise, a better way to schedule your meals is around your training sessions, write Dr. John Berardi and nutritionist Ryan Andrews in the book "The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition." Nutrition is critical around the times you work out, so you should plan to eat your biggest meals around two hours before and two hours after your sessions. Berardi and Andrews advise this practice no matter what time you train.

A Matter of Calories

Whether you reach your goals depends on your total calorie intake for the day, not the times you eat, notes Jacquelyn Rudis of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The only potential issue, however, is that those who tend to eat late in the day may be more likely to make poor food choices, which can increase total calorie intake. Therefore, if you find that you succumb to late-night, high-calorie snacking, you may do better eating earlier in the day and skipping the prebed meal.

The Satiety Influence

One other factor to take into consideration is the satiety effect of eating at certain times. Results from a study published in a 2004 edition of "The Journal of Nutrition" suggested that eating in the morning is more satisfying than eating at night, which can reduce overall calorie intake through the rest of the day. Eating late isn't as satiating and therefore can lead people to consume more calories.

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