When should you be eating your biggest meal? (2024)

FAQs

When should you be eating your biggest meal? ›

Studies show that for optimal health, it's best to consume most of your calories earlier in the day rather than later — for example by eating a large breakfast, a modest lunch, and a small dinner.

Most people are brought up thinking that dinner should be the biggest meal of the day, meaning they opt for a light breakfast and lunch. However, research has found that a smaller dinner and larger lunch could be the key to helping you shift those weight.

While estimates vary, most experts recommend eating a meal two to four hours before bedtime. People who eat meals well ahead of bedtime have enough time to properly digest their food. Taking time between eating and lying down also reduces the risk of GER symptoms and poor sleep.

Overall, although there are benefits related to fasting and calorie restriction, research suggests that consuming two or three meals per day is likely a better option for overall health than eating one meal a day.

Though there's not a lot of scientific research behind the question of timing meals for optimal digestion, expert advice has long hovered in the three- to five-hour range. "For the average person, spacing out meals this way is probably the better route to go.

There's no set time you should stop eating to lose belly fat, but, as a guideline, you should avoid eating two to three hours before bed to stop it from disrupting your sleep and body clocks, which can cause belly fat gain. Studies show early dinners can help people lose weight.

You should step on the scale first thing in the morning. That's when you'll get your most accurate weight because your body has had the overnight hours to digest and process whatever you ate and drank the day before.

How to time your nighttime eating. Research suggests that, if possible, it's best to avoid eating for three to four hours before your usual bedtime, Dr. St-Onge said. That timing is likely better for your long-term health, and may also reduce symptoms of acid reflux, which can interfere with sleep, Dr.

Should You Eat If You're Hungry before Bed? It's okay to choose to sleep over food IF you've eaten well throughout the day and feel a little bit hungry very close to bed. Your metabolism slows down and prepares for sleep around your regular bedtime so go with the flow and have a good night's sleep.

Eating too close to when you go to sleep can lead to acid reflux, indigestion, poor sleep, and even weight gain. Experts recommend waiting two to three hours after eating solid foods before going to sleep.

Which meal is best to skip? ›

Although it's more common to skip breakfast or dinner, some people prefer to fast during the mid-day and skip lunch. There are not a lot of scientific studies on skipping lunch, but one research study revealed that skipping lunch and breakfast lowered total diet quality more than skipping dinner did [3].

The two meal a day diet has gained popularity over the years amongst those trying to lose weight. Not only can you save money by eating less often, you can also drop fat and eliminate mindless snacking. Two meals a day won't appeal to everyone but there are some serious advantages.

To reap benefits that facilitate weight loss, fat burning, metabolism and management of appetite and cravings, make sure there are at least 12 hours between dinner and the next day's breakfast. An easy way to achieve this is to push dinner a little earlier or skip the late-night snacks.

A big breakfast and a light dinner

And for some people, like night-shift workers, it's impossible not to consume meals late at night. But for those whose schedules permit, research suggests that having your biggest meal of the day in the morning or afternoon rather than at night could be beneficial.

When exactly is the best time to eat breakfast? Experts say that you should always have breakfast within two hours of waking up in the morning. So, if you are an early riser, you will have an early breakfast. The reason is if you have breakfast soon after waking up, then it will speed up your metabolism to the maximum.

If you're weighing yourself weekly, research shows that we're generally at our heaviest on a Sunday night and at our lightest on a Friday morning, so weighing in before breakfast on a Wednesday can give us the most accurate reading of our current weight [6].

The reported findings predict the best time to eat a high-fat meal is early in the morning and probably the worst time is late at night. So, it's not just what you eat, but also when you eat it.

“Eating between 5 to 7 p.m. would be ideal,” says Dana Cohen, M.D., integrative medical doctor and co-author of Quench. “However, the later it gets the less food you should consume.” One study published in Cell Metabolism found that people who ate meals at 5 p.m. burned 60 more calories than those who ate dinner later.

Remember, all food has weight, so you're going to weigh more after eating than before, but some foods can carry over long after the meal and cause temporary increases in your weight.