I had an ex-girlfriend who wouldn’t eat after 6 p.m. She thought eating at night made her body more likely to store fat.
I’ve personally lost a lot of fat ( over 30 pounds), yet when I told her the science behind losing body fat, she still wouldn’t listen.
Alas, she never ended up losing weight.
You see, to lose body fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit ( eat fewer calories than you burn).
Because your body consumes fewer calories than it needs, it burns your body fat stores to make up for the calories you’re not consuming.
You will lose body fat like clockwork if you consistently maintain a calorie deficit.
For example, here’s how I burn a pound of fat weekly.
I need to eat 2500 calories every day to maintain my weight.
If I put myself in a 500-calorie deficit, eating 2000 calories daily for a week, I’d be in a weekly calorie deficit of 3500 calories ( because 7×500=3500).
And in a pound of fat, there are roughly 3500 calories.
So as long as I eat 2000 calories daily, I lose a pound of fat weekly.
It doesn’t matter when I eat those calories; all that matters is that I don’t go above 2500 calories ( my total daily energy expenditure, TDEE) and don’t gain weight.
We gain weight when we eat more calories than we burn.
You Only Gain Body Fat When You Overconsume
If you are eating more calories than you burn, then it doesn’t matter if you don’t eat at night; you’re certain to gain weight.
Weight gain works similarly to a calorie deficit but in reverse.
Say you eat 500 calories more than you burn every day over the week.
In that case, you’ll gain roughly a pound of body fat weekly.
Because a pound of fat contains 3,500 calories, 7 x 500 calories = 3,500 calories gained per week.
This fat storage will go straight to your belly ( especially if you don’t exercise or lift weights).
The Bottom Line
Many people don’t understand how energy balance works. I hope this article can help free these people from the chains of not eating after 6 P.M.
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