It’s obviously a generalization, but Americans are pretty consistent in how they eat. Most of us eat a mid-sized breakfast, a larger lunch, and a gargantuan dinner.
The problem lately is that we’re starting to skip straight to gargantuan for every meal.
This does your body very little good. Back when I felt roughly the size of Kansas, I used to stuff my face late at night, even if I went to bed 30-60 minutes later. Think about that. I just gave my body a ton of fuel, then didn’t burn any of it. My body said, “Well, I guess he meant for me to save this stuff. Gut, here’s another deposit!”
When you eat large meals just before bed, you don’t do yourself any weight loss favors. You also increase the likelihood of getting some serious acid reflux (heartburn), which isn’t good for you in the long run. There’s a better way.
Eat a big, healthy breakfast. Follow that up with a smaller, healthy lunch. Finish the day with a healthy snack.
That gives your body maximum time to consume the fuel you put in your mouth. That means you won’t store as much as fat. There are exceptions to this, of course, but those are mostly for athletes in training. You just want to lose a little weight.
Notice that I emphasized “healthy” for all your meals. If you start the day with a half-dozen biscuits slathered in butter, it really doesn’t matter that your body has all day to process that. You’re still going to pick up some fat, unless you’re a marathon runner.
If you focus on eating healthy foods, and you eat progressively smaller meals throughout the day, you’ll be helping your body help you lose weight.