Studies show that if you eat on the run, or if you eat while working or watching TV, your awareness of actually eating is not high. The result is that you will generally end up consuming more calories than you need. Night crawlers should also consider arranging their evenings so that they don't end up with too much unstructured time or food on their hands. The fact is, if you're exercising, you're not at home eating more than you should be. But to avoid landing in the kitchen in lawnmower mode after a particularly tough Spinning class, Heber warns, keep up blood-sugar levels by eating a yogurt or a protein bar before working out.
Studies vary on the effects of late-night eating.
Nutritionists do agree that it generally is not a good idea to have a huge meal before going to sleep, if only because the body's metabolism slows at night. Which means that the mega bowl of food stuffs wolfed down at 10 p.m. has no place left to go but to your thighs. Also, says Oz Garcia, Most of the body's repair is done during sleep. The gut needs to rest. If your stomach is full, you rekindle the whole digestive system, and all that work disrupts your sleep patterns.