Question from Susan: I work late and then go to the gym. I usually end up eating dinner at 9 pm. Is this making it more difficult for me to lose weight?

Answer from Martha: Eating late dinners is a problem for many people. Maybe in suburbia people eat dinner at 6 pm, but most of the city girls and guys I know eat at 8 pm or later. You are not alone!

So this brings us to the question - will eating late at night contribute towards weight gain or make it more difficult to lose weight? Most health experts agree that it is the total amount of calories that you consume in a day that has the greater effect on your weight as compared to the time you eat.  So technically, if you eat dinner at 9 pm versus 7 pm, it should not make a difference one way or another when it comes to your weight… as long as you are sticking to your daily calorie goal.

If you are diligent about sticking to your weight loss calorie goal (more on determining these calorie goals will come in a future post), you should be able to lose weight despite eating a late dinner.

However, if you find your weight will not budge (despite being careful with your total calories), you might want to try to eat a lighter dinner. I would suggest that you eat a good sized snack (~ 200 calories or so) prior to working out.

Suggestions for snacks include:
- 1 T. peanut butter on a small banana 
- 4 oz cottage cheese and fruit
- a string cheese and 100 calories of whole grain crackers
- energy bar

Then eat a light dinner (300-400 calories) after working out.

Suggestions for dinners include:
- egg white omelet with veggies and whole grain toast
- steamed Chinese food with 1/2 cup brown rice
- miso soup, salad, 3 pieces of sushi and 3 sashimi
- 4 oz chicken breast or turkey burger and 2 cups veggies
- frozen dinner and veggies  

One more thought…while your total caloric intake is what is most important when it comes to weight control, we can’t totally discount the way you space out your calories. Eating multiple meals or “feedings” as I like to call them, tends to help speed the metabolism more than just eating 1-2 large meals - even if the calories were the same for the both scenieros. I have many clients who eat minimally during the day and then gorge at night. Your best bet from an energy standpoint as well as from a metabolism standpoint is to eat something every few hours.

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