Weight-Loss Late dinner?

Weight-Loss
frog0726

frog0726

New member
I work part time at night in a restaurant. This restaurant isn't the type of place I'd want to eat dinner at every night: pizza, calzones, pasta and subs, oh my! I go into work at 4:00 or 4:30 and don't get home until at least 9:30. The boss buys us a dinner, but like I said, I don't really see anything on the menu I'd want to eat while trying to get rid of my spare tire :p A turkey sub, maybe, but he has no whole wheat bread. It's alllll white, refined carbs. I eat before I go in, but Captain Obvious says eating at 4:00 and not eating 'til the next day makes me a hungry gal, plus it would seem it isn't great for my metabloism. I'd take my own meal in, but 1. There is no microwave to heat anything up and 2. We're always busy, so I'd be doing good to get 2 bites in while working. What would you recommend? Should I eat after 8:00 (I'm usually in bed by 11) so I don't starve? Or take in some veggies (even though there is nowhere to store them~food safety laws say employee's food is not to be stored with food served to customers) and snack on that when and if I can? I don't want to screw up my metabolism.
 
The idea that you shouldn't eat anything after 7pm or you'll gain weight is nothing more than a gimmick to get you to have a calorie deficit for the day. If you're running a deficit each day, it doesn't matter when you eat your meal -- you could eat only one 2,500 calorie meal just before bed, and if you were expending 3,000 calories a day, you'd still lose weight. Well, come to think of it, you might not, because you'd probably sleep so poorly that would affect your metabolism.

But you get the point - a calorie is a calorie; it doesn't matter when you ingest it. So yes, as long as you're running a deficit, go ahead and eat at 8 pm. And snack on the veggies, too.

Good for you for resisting all the junk sold at the restaurant!
 
Do you think perhaps I'd be better off just taking a protein shake to work and drinking it? I can easily guzzle that down in between tables. I don't get a break, so bringing my own fruits and veggies will be a big PITA. I just don't want to screw up my metablosim by going from 3:30 or 4:00 until 9:30 or so when I get home without eating a bite. And I don't know how many salads I can tolerate, as that is the only decent thing they really serve (and all the salad dressings are full fat).
 
A protein shake isn't an ideal replacement for a meal, but in a pinch it's a lot better than eating a slice of pizza! If you eat a good healthy meal right before you leave, and then another one when you return, you should be OK with just a shake in between them.
 
Just count your calories. I lost almost 7 stones by eating meals at like 3 o' clock in the morning, as long as you are counting the calories you eat, you are fine.
 
plus, I have to be honest and say that I don't care much about the hours I eat, or the gaps between. Sometimes I eat four meals per day, every three or four hours, sometimes I eat two meals with a 7+ hours time gap.

Has worked fine for me so far.
 
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