Does eating in the evening make you fat?

24. February 2021

In everyday life, the time of day is not the determining factor, but the food itself.

We constantly hear talk about how eating in the evening makes you fat. But is this really true? No. Or yes. Well now what? The solution: you can choose the answer you want.

If, for example, you already eat enough food before the evening meal to meet your daily caloric requirement, then eating in the evening will make you fat. However, even this is not always true, because it still depends on what you eat. And if your first ever meal of the day is in the evening, you are hardly likely to get flabby at all.

The fact that eating in the evening generally makes you fat is nonsense. What really counts is the overall balance. There are no valid reasons for eating – or not eating – certain nutrients after a certain time of day. Unless you want to sell a diet. Or motivate people to eat less in general.

Athletes should be a pragmatic about this. Because anyone doing a lot of sports on a regular basis usually needs the entire day to consume enough energy and nutrients. In such cases, skipping a meal is often counterproductive and not particularly conducive to boosting performance.

Foto: iStock.com/gilaxia