Later Evening Meal Versus Earlier Evening Meal for Weight Loss

A really cool study recently examined 82 women on a hypocaloric diet, who were randomly assigned to an ‘early evening meal group’ (EEM; 7:00-7:30pm) or a ‘late evening meal group’ (LEM; 10:30-11:00pm) for 12 weeks.¹

The EEM group did lose a little more weight, about 4.5 lbs, on average, than the LEM group (15 lbs vs.10.5 lbs), leading the authors to conclude that, “eating an earlier evening meal resulted in favorable changes in weight loss during a 12-week weight loss program.”

However, could there be other factors at play?

While participants in this study were provided individual diet programs of 500-1000 kcal energy deficit, the authors note that, “there was no particular nutrient composition recommendation for the evening meal.”

In other words, WHAT was eaten, was not measured.

Is what you eat different at 7pm or 11pm? When you get hungry at 11pm, do you reach for the cruciferous vegetables and a big bowl of greens?

In meal timing studies, we must also consider what was eaten. So, while plausible, we still need more research to help confirm the potential of early versus late evening meals for weight loss.

RELATED: Nibblers, Gorgers and Weight Loss 

References

1. Madjd, A., Taylor, M. A., Delavari, A., Malekzadeh, R., Macdonald, I. A., & Farshchi, H. R. (2020). Effects of consuming later evening meal versus earlier evening meal on weight loss during a Weight Loss Diet: a randomized clinical trial. British Journal of Nutrition, 1-25.