Timing of Your Meal Matters If You're Trying To Lose Weight: Study

The timing of dinner could influence a person’s body weight. Eating a late dinner could cause a 10% reduction in fat burning, finds a new study.

The researchers at John Hopkins University reported that, for people trying to lose weight, dinner timing plays a crucial role in their metabolism and affects their body weight.

The Study:

It included 20 participants (10 male and 10 female) who wore trackers to monitor their activity and sleep habits. They were randomly sorted into two different groups:

Group 1: 10 people were asked to eat an ‘early dinner’ at 6 p.m.

Group 2: 10 people were asked to have a ‘late dinner’ at 10 p.m.

They then performed another round of observation when both the groups of people were asked to switch their mealtimes and all of them were asked to hit the bed at 11 p.m.

Findings:

• Consuming a late dinner resulted in a 10% reduction in fat burning overnight compared to those who ate an early dinner
• While they didn’t really notice any weight gain, they observed that such behavior, in the long run, might lead to weight gain

Here’s why a late dinner might cause weight gain:

When a person falls asleep, their metabolite rate tends to drop. This is because there is no moving around, exercising, or performing other activities that require a lot of energy. Thus, when a person eats and is immediately inactive, it could lead to less fat burning.

Another possibility is that the change in metabolism could be associated with a person’s circadian rhythm. During the transitions to night, the digestive system and energy expending system could change. This might decrease a person’s ability to deal with the fat a person consumes at that point.

“For people that are interested in weight loss, our study would suggest that front-loading calories in a day, such as having a big breakfast and eating smaller meals in the evening might help you lose weight if you adopt that pattern,” Jonathan Jun, M.D.- the study’s lead author and associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore told Bicycling.

The findings of the study highlighted that apart from the timing of a person’s meals, their sleep habits and circadian rhythm also influence their weight.