N.O.W. - Late night eating & weight gain

Is it true that if I eat food late at night I am more likely to gain weight from those calories than if I ate them earlier in the day?

You gain weight when you overeat too much food or calories - period. It does NOT matter when you eat those calories. What matters is how much you eat. Calories are units of energy that come from food. When you consume too many of them, they are then stored as fat. People tend to lose weight when they follow the rule of not eating late at night simply because they are restricting calories. Many times people will eat mindlessly in front of the television to relax or as a way to unwind.

Most of the time people get enough food to sustain their body's requirements through-out the day and the late night snacking ends-up being extra food that is serving more of an emotional than a physical need. The key is to start to listen to your body's needs. Are you truly physically hungry when you start to eat at night, or is there some anxiety, fear or other emotions that are calling to be "fed". Start a food journal and begin to see the patterns of your late night over eating.

In the end, be kind to yourself and create change slowly. If indeed you need a late night treat, eat 1/2 a cup instead of 1/2 a box of ice cream. Make room in your eating plan if you know you just need a treat that night by eating a smaller portion during one of your meals through-out the day. And if you can't eat your dinner until later in the evening from some reason, that is OK. As long as you don't eat more than you need, you won't get fat just because you ate past 6pm.