The first thing people tell me when they are losing weight is that they never eat ‘carbs’ after 7pm and that’s great because they probably don’t really need the energy, however, there are several myths about how eating carbohydrates (foods such as bread, pasta, rice or cereal) in the evening results in fat gain.
Carbohydrate is the body’s preferred source of energy so it makes sense that if you are not being particularly active in an evening then you don’t need a carbohydrate-rich meal. It would be like filling up the car with petrol and then parking it on the drive and not using any of the fuel.
Similar to the car, you shouldn’t need to top up with fuel in the morning because you’ll still have some energy stored inside. The trick is to use your stored energy to fuel the first few hours of your morning and that includes exercise if you are usually active in the morning. Unlike the car, however, if you don’t use that excess energy then it will be stored by the body and can cause weight and fat gain – especially if you do it frequently enough.
Some people say they can’t exercise first thing without having eaten breakfast and others say the opposite, and the truth is everyone is different so you need to work with your own preference. The reality is, however, that the body can store approximately 2,000 kcal worth of energy in the muscles which is nearly enough to fuel you for a marathon so providing you’ve eaten a healthy balanced meal the evening before and you haven’t burnt most of the energy overnight then you will have enough energy to fuel a workout in the morning.
Getting back to the question “Should I eat carbs after 7pm?” – the answer depends on your lifestyle and activity. If you do a PT session straight after work and don’t get home for dinner until 7pm then yes you can still have carbohydrate at 7pm because you are refuelling after exercise. If, however, you have your evening meal at 5pm and sit on the sofa for the next 2 hours and your only activity for the evening is getting up and going to bed then the answer is no, you shouldn’t be eating any food after 7pm unless you are hungry and ideally you would choose something light like a small handful of nuts.
If you do eat late at night because you’ve been out for dinner or you got home late from work then it would be best to choose something light and protein-rich such as chicken or prawn stir fry with lots of vegetables and no rice or noodles. You can also burn off the energy first thing in the morning with some exercise before breakfast or you could delay eating your next meal so you have a chance to burn off some energy and prevent it being stored by the body as fat.
Any questions, just ask as this topic can be a bit confusing and there is lots of misleading information out there from different sources.