At the end of a busy day, food can go from simple sustenance to a source of relaxation and even stress relief. Often the food choices we make at night are impulse foods and cravings we give in to as inhibitions lessen with fatigue. As a result, the evening hours can become prime time for loading up on empty calories that fail to fill you up — and trigger the body to store more fat, she notes.
It doesn’t have to be this way, of course. By building healthier nighttime eating habits, you can train yourself to avoid the obstacles that stand in the way of your weight-loss goals. Here, are some smart strategies to try.
- Eat Dinner, Not Snacks
Do your nighttime calories tend to come in the form of a constant stream of nibbles, instead of an actual dinner? It can be tempting to grab a snack when you finish up work — and continue having a munch here and a munch there throughout the night.
But grazing can bring on blood sugar spikes and dips that increase fat storage — even if calorie intake is the same as what you’d get from one larger meal. Eating less frequently and not snacking are key strategies for weight management
- Eat on the Early Side
When it comes to picking a dinner time, you’re better off being an early bird than a night owl. Adults who ate dinner at 6 p.m. burned 10 percent more fat and experienced blood sugar peaks 20 percent lower compared to those who waited until 10 p.m. to eat, according to a June 2020 study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
- Downsize Your Dinner
If dinner tends to be the biggest meal of the day and breakfast tends to be the smallest, try flipping those proportions. The body’s metabolism works at a significantly higher rate in the morning compared to later in the day, according to findings published in February 2020 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. As a result, you’ll burn off more of the calories from a big breakfast than from a big dinner.
- Sit at the Table — and Don’t Look at a Scree
Make dinnertime its own special event free of multitasking. Eating with distractions like TV or your phone makes it harder to pay attention to your hunger and fullness cues, which can cause you to eat faster and take in calories that you don’t actually need – Instead, simply sit at the table and focus on your food. Practicing mindful eating techniques, including eating slow and without distractions.