night metabolism

[anthrax]

What do you think of the above article ?
It sounds strange to me ....

Myth: Fitness fanatics have been scared of eating late at night because of the rumour that your metabolism - the process by which your body breaks down food for energy - slows down during the day.

Common folk law says that eating a large meal last thing at night means it would be sitting around in your digestive system for longer, building up fat stores that are harder to shift.

But studies conducted by the Human Nutrition Research Centre in Cambridge have found that people who ate a large meal at 8pm burnt exactly the same amount of calories as those who ate a main meal for lunch.

These findings have been backed up by more research. A recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity confirmed that your metabolism is still working late into the evening, burning calories even while you sleep.

The researchers concluded that it is the amount of calories you eat every day that makes a difference to your waistline rather than the time of day you eat them.

 

[The Dude]

Interesting. It makes sense to a point. One does eat for what one is about to do or to replenish energy stores, etc. after vigorous activity. In the long run, however, I don't think you can dispute the simple fact that it all comes down to calories in and calories out.

 

[anthrax]

Sure, calories in vs calories out

but your activity level is is less during the night than during the day
so your metabolism could be slower too...

 

[The Dude]

BUT, in the end, you gain or lose weight on whether or not you run a calorie deficit or suplus. It's not rocket science.

If you eat more at night, then you'll probably need fewer calories overall, but not much.

 

[Vageta]

Read last week's T-Mag issue and find the article called "Lean Eatin" by John Berardi. He goes over many studies to prove that there is more to losing fat than calories in and calories out. He points to a study involving police officers eating a 2300 calorie diet. These guys weighed over 200 pounds so obviously that is hypocaloric for them. However when the officers ate 50% of their daily calories for dinner they actually gained fat over a 12 week period. The ones who at the same foods and calorie intake but got most of their calories during the day actually lost fat. In this instance calories in versus calories out didn't work.

That's something to think about.

 

[FitnessFrk]

Cals in vs Cals out only holds true if meals are glycemically acceptable. Fat storage can occur at any time of the day.

The metabolism naturally slows at night as does insulin sensitivity. 2 reason why the officers who ate 50% of there calories at night gained body fat.

 

[FitnessFrk]

WTF are you trying to say ?

 

[plornive]

This is getting kind of interesting to me. I believe that insulin sensitivity is lowered at night, but I also believe that basal metabolism is still running. Brain activity is high as well, which burns some glucose. This leads me to believe that a low GI meal is acceptable, even carbs. Blood only holds about 20g of glucose at baseline, so if glycogen stores are not full, low GI carbs will not lead to much spillover of liver glycogen or storage in fat cells.

The missing piece of the puzzle for me is how serum fatty-acid levels are regulated. If insulin is low and fatty acids enter the bloodstream, does this cause any fat storage at night? My theory is that there is no siginificant increase in fat storage at night unless insulin levels are high. Fat doesn't need insulin for storage in adipose tissue, but there doesn't seem to be a true excess of fat at night --- sleeping for 8 hours burns more calories than walking around for a few hours. High insulin levels at night seems to be the culprit to me.