Shlup

Just so you know, there have been no studies suggesting unamibiguously that eating before bed leads to weight gain. While there seems to be a correlation between being fat and eating late, it's more likely that fat people just eat often, including before bed. That doesn't mean anything causal.

It seems more and more likely all the time that all that matters is calories in vs calories out. Interesting thing to look at recently was the Twinkie Diet. Granted, this isn't a scientific study but rather just a guy doing something on his own. It still seems to suggest that the calorie count is more important overall, though obviously there would be other side-effects to eating a diet that was so unsound nutritionally.

Eating before bedtime making you fat can likely be filed away with the other things we commonly accept without thought. Problem is, it's hard to even question things like this or look up real results because the internet is flooded with common knowledge stuff. This is especially true with weight training. Light, high reps vs heavy, low reps to get lean or bulky respectively is also unsupported, but everyone knows it's true.

What seems to be most true and supported is that burning a lot of calories quickly is more efficient than doing things that burn it more slowly. A study (I can't find at the moment) showed that across a spectrum of different exercises tired, lifting weights was the best exercise for losing weight. It's a high, fast burn activity. We all think cardio is the best, and it's great, but not necessarily for losing weight (but great for conditioning). A brisk walk or jog just doesn't compare to something like weight lifting and you're essentially spending more time than you need to just to burn the same calories.

That said, the benefit of light cardio (especially for less healthy people) is that they are less likely to injure themselves or overstress their hearts (jumping on the treadmill at 90 mph).


Just some "food" for thought. Be really careful in vetting any health and weight questions. Most of these things I've always taken for granted because they were so ubiquitously shouted from all sources, but when you actually look for the evidence supporting the claims we all belief, it's severely lacking.

I just don't like eating before bed because it seems like a waste to not sleep on an empty stomach, thereby slowly burning extra calories all night without actually feeling the discomfort of being hungry. And then when I wake up I can feel better about having a very satisfying breakfast.

You're right that looking up weight loss tips is an epic pain; there's way too much information out there, a lot of it unsupported and a lot of it conflicting.

I came here to make a pregnant joke but got cold feet. Instead, I'm curious as to how you knew the guy was dead. Did he have a badge or a sign or something, or was this a judgement call? I'll trust your judgement but I'm curious.

I don't think you lay quite like that when you're alive.

Maybe he just ate...