Eating Earlier Helps You Lose Weight
What You’ll Learn:
- New studies show that people who ate their main meal before 3pm lost more than those who ate later in the day.
- If you eat too much before you go to sleep, your insulin gets elevated and stays elevated all night, which makes your body gain weight.
- The importance of shifting your “hunger habit” to earlier eating times.
Hi. my eating habits are normally very healthy as I am a whole food plandbased and high carb low fat vegan. I try to consume the least processed food/ sugar and fats possible. I also try to eat intuitively. unfortunately in my job as an enrolled nurse, my eating habits HAS to follow strickt times, which is not very productive in my journey.
my biggest problem are the night shifts. I crave high sugar/fat processed food during the night as a lack of total energy and sleep.
how can I stop those cravings, I can’t go to sleep on night shift 😉
As I got older, I have change my last meal time from 6:00 to about 3:30 or 4:00. If I eat after 6:00 I do not sleep good. I do drink water, but if I don’t eat lunch and eat at 4:00, I want sometime after 6:00, I go ahead and eat salads or fruit.
I wanted to ask about the many types of juicing and smoothie? Is smoothies okay at night? Is juicing better then smoothies? Which is better?
Hi Violet,
If you are still hungry after having dinner, on the days that you skip lunch, it would be better not to miss your lunch. However, either a juice or a smoothie would be great for after dinner.
Best regards
Den – GM Team
Hi Jon,
I’m curious how then come that people living in areas where it’s very hot during the day and they eat naturally later in the night don’t get overweight?
Looking forward to hear your opinion on that 😉
Annette from Denmark
The time you eat is one small consideration in the grand scheme of things. It only becomes relevant when someone already has a weight problem, they you need to look at issue like these that can potentially slow down your progress.
Hi Jon,
It is my first time here and I am so excited to start, I am still waiting for my book to arrived, but cannot wait to join the group and ask so many questions. I hope you don’t mind. I am a nurse, and my work schedule is shifting, sometimes I worked at night, sometimes in the morning.. that is why my eating habit is not fixed at all. How can I shift my hunger habit?
Thanks very much and looking forward to your response.
Hi Melissa,
What’s particularly relevant for you is reducing stress and getting good quality sleep. Also make sure you keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day ( your day) by eating frequent high quality meals and snacks, composed of protein, live food and omega 3 fatty acids.
hi Jon!
I am so thrilled to be a part of your support group and in community with so many others who are invested in a healthy mind-body approach to their health and weight-release journey.
I am totally on board with this tip to eat dinner early and have your main meal be breakfast or lunch.
My question is: On the weekends, I am awake with my young children at 6am. My husband sleeps in and then takes them for their morning outing/daddy time around 9am. I am often so tired that I take a morning nap when they leave for a couple of hours (catch up on sleep on the weekends!). If I have breakfast at 7 or 8am does the same “3 hour gap between eating and sleeping” principle apply for a nap? Should I be concerned that I am sleeping only 1-2 hours after having eaten say, two hard-boiled eggs?
Hi Marisol,
No this only applies for evening. Having a mid morning Nap is the perfect thing for you to be doing on a weekend!
Join
My body wakes up any time between 2am and 4am. I don’t like to get up that early because I don’t think I have gotten enough sleep since I go to bed by 9pm.
I try to eat breakfast with about 30 G protein at 6 am after excerising. Then lunch is eaten at noon because. Are you saying eat all your meals before 4pm or just your main meal.
My main meal is breakfast and lunch and the last meal is pretty small.
Even with that, I don’t seem to be losing much weight.
I think that my sleep needs to be improved but I don’t know how to do that.
Do you have some comments on that Joh?
Hi Paula,
Not I’m not saying eat all your meals before 4, but it’s great if you eat finish your last meal 3 hours before you go to sleep. When you wake up in the middle of the night, try listening to the evening visualization. It may put you back to sleep again.
Jon
Bought a book called the Daylight Diet……sadly havent read it yet!!!
I always seem to get hungry about 10pm. Drives me nuts. I know I shouldn’t be eating at that time but I’m just so hungry. Clearly, my fat programs are still on. Probably doesn’t help that my partner always requests supper at that time.
Would changing my meal times and making lunch my largest meal help shift my hunger habits or do I need to turn off my fat programs at the same time?
Yeah eating a bigger lunch and breakfast and having a snack around 4 pm could help. Let me know how you go.
What is the ideal eating time for lunch and dinner? And also I get very hungry evening @ around 5-6 and I eat some biscuits and drink tea with milk to satisfy it which makes me take dinner late night. Any solution for this?
5-6 is a perfect time to have dinner if that’s at all possible.
What a nice thing this support group is. I’ve never talked to people on line before. At first, yesterday (ugh), after writing something I was be really embarrassed. Had a chocolate attack over the anxiety of talking about being overwt. I was a second shifter for 11 years. Never thought about it but gained a lot during that time. Now, I am on first for 6 mo. and still don’t know how or when to eat. Getting use to having a breakfast was oh so challenging. I am really sympathetic to the third shift challenge, I couldn’t mange thirds at all, but it makes sense to eat at 5 or maybe for. That always seemed to be when my body knew it was challenging the norm, also the time we would hit the coffee and snacks. Health fresh food might really work.
Hi Jon. I am 69 years old and I have been overweight for as long as I can remember. I have absolute faith in you so I bought your book years ago I have listened to your night time meditation for months, I have bought your cd’s and cook book, but it just doesn’t help me lose the weight. I have been on every diet you can imagine so this has been a life time battle which I am so sick of. I am new to the support group [on a trial basis ] but I would love to talk to you about this though when you say to call in on your chat show I don’t know how
Hi Denise,
Our next call in day is Oct 16th 9pm NY time, which is Oct 17th 11:00 Am Sydney time. Here’s a link to the page https://members.thegabrielmethod.com/ask-jon-29/
Call in and press 1 and we’ll take your call. I’d love to talk with you and help you in any way that I can.
Jon i really struggle with this. As a child my mother would always make a treat like chocolate popcorn balls and we would all gather around the TV and eat these before bed. Now as a 40 year old mother, i never do this with my children but as soon as they are in bed it’s like i can’t relax until I watch some tv and have something sweet or a drink. For years this was how my husband and I enjoyed the few hours of quiet time once the kids were all in bed. When i try to break this i literally pace the house. Any suggestions because just stopping has put me in a will power battle that i lose.
Hi Angela,
I totally understand. What about making some raw chocolate, with chia seeds and sweetened with coconut palm sugar and maybe stevia. Stevia’s tricky for chocolate, but give it a shot, with those two sweeteners. That way you’re at least eating a healthy sweet.
Also, as an alternative way to calm down at the end of the day, try taking a real hot shower, and doing some very light stretching and maybe even a 10 minute visualization, before you start watching tv and munching. You might find a big difference in your desire to consume.
Hi. I’ve just started the support group after many, many months of considering it! I’m so overburdened by weight loss plans because I literally have attempted everything. I discovered The Gabriel Method while researching another program. And after further research decided it was the best method for dealing with emotional eating disorders. Because I have been overweight my entire adult life (I am now 60) my approach to new ideas is “cautious!” For whatever reason, I trust Jon Gabriel! Which is something new for me. My hope is that through eating more nutrient-dense foods, doing the visualizations and using the support group, I will FINALLY let the weight go and live my life!
Hi Jane,
Nice to meet you!
I’d love to have a chat with you if you can call into one of my ask jon shows.
Hi Jon,
I have a problem eating at 5am when I get up a couple of days a week. I feel I eat at about 10am but its usually food that is quick and is either eggs and bacon roll. Because I am so hungry by that stage. So I should make my lunch the biggest meal then?
Try to have a green juice/ smoothie/ protein shake/ some breakfast snack balls or some kind of nutrient dense quick easy snack by no later than 7:30 or 8:00 am.
That way you won’t be so famished at 10 and you’ll make better food choices the rest of the day.
Hi Jon
I work from 10PM til 7AM. We have ‘dinner’ at 2am. I take a healthy meal for this meal. I sleep in the day. When I come home from work I eat a good breakfast, but need to sleep not long after eating breakfast. I usually have a smaller meal at around 7pm. I get a lot of physical activity through my job during the night. Do you suggest anything different? I’m finding I’ve lost a little weight, I still have quite a lot of fear and concern in my life. I’ve started the visualisations and find these run through my mind during the day. (In my case night). I work hard and hope for a better job that is n the day, but work seems extremely hard to come by in US now so grateful I have one, doesn’t relieve stress levels as finances are extremely tight. Have any suggestions or changes I should make?
Hi Lorijoy
I completely understand and can directly relate to everything you are saying – I used to be in a similar situation with work, etc (only in Australia, not the US!). I found a solution that personally worked for me – yoga. I found doing a yoga class after waking, before going to work (which for most would be in the morning but for us is in the evening!) really assisted in reducing stress levels, connecting the body, mind and soul and really achieving a steady and mindful focus throughout the night during work, but also in the choices I make with my diet. Another benefit I found is that the calmness and spiritual connection of yoga helps me feel ‘complete’, helping me forget about junk foods or other things that provide temporary satisfaction, excitement or happiness.
I am now lucky enough to have a day time job and I still do yoga every morning upon waking. The change it has made to my life is indescribeable – for the first time ever my stress levels have dropped dramatically, the financial difficulties are still there but they’re not affecting me so negatively and I have truly learnt to love myself and my life.
Just thought I would share my story in case it may help you! xoxo
Thank you so much, ladies. Your stories echo my own and it is encouraging to know you are not alone. I live in U.S. and work night shift, well 2nd shift from 5:00 p.m. til 2:00 a.m. and have a long arduous commute on both ends of work through extremely congested city traffic. I find myself out of sink with linking up to yoga, meditation & other helpful groups with my schedule. I am 62 and job availability is not optimistic – being older and heavy doesn’t help in U.S. where employers pay large part of health insurance premiums. My wages have been frozen several years while my expenses steadily increased. I am single. I am borrowing money thru home equity & retirement to survive – VERY STRESSED. I eat similarly to Lori Joy. Unfortunately, can’t get to sleep without food in tummy and will wake up if hungry and not get back to sleep w/o a snack. This is gonna take a bit of work. Would be interested in mutually supported one another with similar challenges.
Try eating something around 5AM, instead of right before bed. See if that makes a difference.