Why eating close to bedtime may actually help you lose weight!

by Rich Fahmy

Tis the season of resolutions so I thought a little discussion on a popular weight loss myth would be a nice blog post for January. The myth is one we hear a lot, especially in the form of random advice people start dispensing immediately upon hearing that your resolution is to lose weight. It comes in a few different forms but it usually sounds something like this: “Don’t eat past *insert favorite time here* o’clock because food just sits there in your stomach and turns to fat while you sleep!”

Let’s take a look at this one with a little common sense and a little science and hope we can debunk this one for good!

A little common sense:

First and foremost, digestive and metabolic enzymes don’t wear watches. Science has yet to find an enzyme that at 6:30PM says “Halt!! All calories consumed from here until sunrise will now be shuttled to fat stores!!” And what happens if I’m on a flight from LA to NYC, do I have to stop eating at 3:30? So unless you can convince me of the magical Fat Fairy that flies around at night causing all calories consumed within 3 hours of bedtime to be stored as fat, I’m not buying it.

You may then ask, then why did it work for my office mate or friend? Well very simply, it was an easy way to cut calories. To lose weight, we need to move more and eat less. And if I’m the type of person that normally plows through two servings of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey at 8PM; and I now suddenly stop because of this myth then it’s not because of the timing, it’s because I removed 600 calories from my day. So it made me eat less automatically, irrespective of time of day.

A little science:

The myth often rests its logic on the idea that we must somehow metabolically shut down so everything we eat just “sits” in our bellies and we don’t do anything with it but store it as fat. The truth is that even though our internal organs only make up about 5-6% of our body’s total mass, they make up for a whopping 60% of our resting metabolic rate. For example, the brain alone burns about 109 calories per pound of its mass per day which means a 3.1 pound brain (or about 1400g, the average for an adult human) would burn about 338 calories a day just on its own! What’s the point here? Most of the energy we expend is expended to keep us alive and functioning and since when we sleep, we need to be alive and functioning too, we don’t necessarily shut down or down regulate vital functions, and these vital functions burn a hefty amount of calories.

If we try to examine actual numbers, available studies reveal that sleeping metabolic rate is about 95-97% that of waking metabolic rate for an equivalent amount of time. That is, if I were to burn 1492 while awake and not doing anything but sitting there and hardly moving for 10 hours, I would burn 1416 calories while asleep for the same 10 hours. That’s not enough of a difference to account for the massive weight gain that people blame on this myth. Remember though this compares sleep to just sitting there awake fairly motionless, so think of it like this: if you surfed the web for 8 hours and slept for 8 hours, the number of calories you burned would be within 3-5% of each other.

So how does the bedtime snack help?

Well, one of our main goals when losing weight is to not be hungry. To put it simply, we overeat when we’re hungry. So appetite control is vital during our battle of the bulge this resolution season. So long as in a 24 hour period, I’ve burned more calories than I’ve consumed, I will lose weight in that same period even if some of those calories came at 9PM. If a little snack closer to bedtime will keep you from waking up at 1AM and taking out one of those familiar white cartons of leftover Chinese food in the fridge, then for Pete’s sake have the snack! It can actually help keep your calorie intake in check.

Happy New Year and here’s to a great 2010!

About the author:

Rich Fahmy M.S. is the Director of Education for Oracle Fitness Education, a company that specializes in online education for health and fitness professionals. His only New Year’s resolution is to not make resolutions, which either makes him a master of irony or a hypocrite. That part is still up for debate.

References:

1. M Elia Organ and tissue contribution to metabolic rate. In: JM Kinney, HN Tucker, eds. Energy Metabolism. Tissue determinants and cellular corollaries. New York: Raven Press, 1992:61-77.

2. L Garby, MS Kurzer, O Lammert, E Nielsen. Energy expenditure during sleep in men and women: evaporative and sensible heat losses. Hum Nutr Clin Nutr 1987; 41(3):225-233.

3. GR Goldberg, AM Prentice, HL Davies, PR Murgatroyd. Overnight and basal metabolic rates in men and women. Eur J Clin Nutr 1988; 42(2):137-144.

4. H Kumahara, M Yoshioka, Y Yoshitake, M Shindo, Y Schutz, H Tanaka. The difference between the basal metabolic rate and the sleeping metabolic rate in Japanese. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo) 2004; 50(6):441-445.

This entry was written by rfahmy, posted on January 10, 2010 at 12:37 am, filed under Fitness, Food, Life is Fitness, Los Angeles, Nutrition and tagged , , , , , , . Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Don’t get mistaken for Santa this Holiday Season!

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A better balance during the Holiday Season

by Rich Fahmy

Ah yes, the holidays! Parties, gatherings and get-togethers all with one main event: your family? Nope, the food. Here are a few tips on eating less and moving more during the Holidays to help you survive the annual pre-resolution calorie debacle.

The idea is to burn either as many, or more calories than we eat this holiday season. This means we’ll either lose weight or at the very least maintain it. Finding the right energy balance of calories in versus calories out will be your best defense against looking more like the jolly guy in the red suit. So these tips are broken into two sections: burning more calories and eating fewer calories.

Burning more calories…

Park farther away from the mall even if the parking happens to be great

Take a few laps around the mall before you begin shopping

While you’re closing out the year at work…

Use a restroom farther from your desk than usual

Stand up and pace for phone calls that last 5 minutes or longer

While you’re on a conference call, do squats, lunges, jog in place, exercise with hand weights, just move more (you’re on mute anyway!)

Instead of a text/IM/intercom page/phone call/email, actually walk over to a co-worker’s desk and speak in person

While you’re eating on the go in between all the shopping and errands, walk into the restaurant instead of the drive-thru

When you’re cleaning house for the big shindig, use your non-dominant hand to vacuum, wipe, sweep, etc. The awkwardness of it will burn more calories than usual

Take along some bands or light dumbbells on vacation and be sure to be active while away, even if it’s nothing but a simple walk with a loved one

Be the person that passes out the presents and cleans up afterward

Offer to help with kitchen clean up duties

Eating fewer calories…

Before you go to a party, eat a healthy snack! The fuller you are before you arrive, the less munching you’ll do

Stay hydrated! Our body can mistake thirst for hunger, so keep the water flowing and avoid that classic pitfall

Brush your teeth after meals; the change of taste in your mouth will signal you’re full

Whatever you do, distract yourself from being near the buffet or snack table, focus on keeping a ten foot perimeter around it

Bring healthy dishes and snacks to the pot-luck

Go after leaner cuts of beef and poultry, and load up on veggies to keep you full

If you are to snack on some fudge, cookies, and so on, take only a few pieces, put them on a plate and WALK AWAY, do not graze at the table. This also assumes only ONE trip to the table.

Put these strategies to use and avoid having to say “Aw heck, I blew it! I might as well let it all loose till my New Year’s resolution!”

Have a safe and joyous Holiday Season!

Until next time,

Rich

About the author: Rich Fahmy, M.S. is a respected industry authority on personal training. He owns Oracle Fitness Education, a company that provides continuing education designed for fitness professionals. Visit www.oraclefited.com for more information.

This entry was written by rfahmy, posted on December 4, 2009 at 12:42 am, filed under Food, Life is Fitness, Nutrition, Press and tagged , , , , , . Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.