17 September, 2007

Ask the coach: Do you put on more weight when you eat late at night?

Some people say that a calorie is the same at any time. A calorie at noon is different to a calorie at night-time. If you are counting calories and you consume most of them at night, you will gain bodyfat.

Authors of the book Protein Power, Mary and Dan Eades, cite a study on sumo wrestlers. They eat once a day just before bed. And if you choose to follow their eating patterns, you will become fat.

So what is the alternative? Well, if you eat consistently, you will burn off the fuel earlier in the day as your daily activities require fuel. When you have an early breakfast you have started the flames of metabolism and your body has energy to burn. These flames will continue to burn at each following meal.

It is better to graze than gorge, so eat five to six meals throughout the day to keep your blood- sugar levels balanced.