The best time to eat
For weight, how much you eat over the day matters far more than when you eat it, but timing can help with hunger, training performance, muscle gain and sleep.
On this page
The short answer
| Your goal | Timing that helps |
|---|---|
| Losing fat | Whatever pattern helps you stick to your calories. A bigger breakfast may leave you less hungry. |
| Building muscle | Protein spread over 3–5 meals, including one within a few hours of training. |
| Training performance | A carb-containing meal 1–4 hours before hard sessions. |
| Better sleep | No big meal right before bed, and no caffeine in the 6 hours before it. |
Breakfast: eat it or skip it?
Research spotlight
Across 13 trials, people who ate breakfast ate about 260 kcal more a day in total than people who skipped it, and weren't lighter, so breakfast isn't a weight-loss trick.
Eat breakfast if it keeps you full and helps you train; skip it if you're not hungry. Both are fine.
Meal frequency
Eating 6 small meals doesn't "stoke your metabolism". In a review of the evidence, the number of meals a day made no meaningful difference to weight loss2. Choose the number of meals that suits your hunger, schedule and protein target.
Intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating
Research spotlight
In a year-long trial of 139 adults with obesity, eating only between 8am and 4pm led to no more weight loss than the same calorie cut spread across the whole day.
In another trial, a 16:8 schedule (eating only from noon to 8pm) didn't lead to more weight loss than 3 regular meals, and the people whose body composition was measured lost more lean mass on it4.
Is eating late bad for you?
In a tightly controlled lab study, eating the same meals 4 hours later in the day made people hungrier and slightly reduced the calories they burned5. But in a 4-week trial, a big breakfast didn't lead to more weight loss than a big dinner with the same calories, although it did leave people less hungry6.
The bigger risk with late eating is usually extra snacking in the evening. If late meals fit your training and your calories, they're fine.
Timing for lifters
- Spread your protein. In one study, 4 servings of 20 g of protein every 3 hours stimulated more muscle building over 12 hours than 8 smaller or 2 larger servings7. See Protein timing.
- Eat before you train. A meal with carbs and protein 1–4 hours beforehand fuels hard sessions8. See Pre- and post-workout nutrition.
- After training, there's no rush. The "anabolic window" is hours, not minutes: eat a proper meal within a few hours9.
- Protein before bed (30–40 g of slow protein like Greek yoghurt, cottage cheese or casein) can help overnight recovery and muscle gain1011.
Common myths
MythEating after 6pm makes you gain weight.
FactWeight gain comes from eating more than you burn over days and weeks. The clock doesn't turn calories into fat.
MythSkipping breakfast slows your metabolism.
FactThere's no good evidence for this. Breakfast is a choice, not a metabolic requirement1.
MythFasted cardio burns more fat.
FactIn a 4-week trial with a calorie deficit, fasted and fed cardio led to the same fat loss13.
Track this in NutriLog
See when your calories really land
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References
- Sievert K, Hussain SM, Page MJ, et al. Effect of breakfast on weight and energy intake: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ. 2019;364:l42. doi:10.1136/bmj.l42
- Schoenfeld BJ, Aragon AA, Krieger JW. Effects of meal frequency on weight loss and body composition: a meta-analysis. Nutr Rev. 2015;73(2):69-82. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuu017
- Liu D, Huang Y, Huang C, et al. Calorie restriction with or without time-restricted eating in weight loss. N Engl J Med. 2022;386(16):1495-1504. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2114833
- Lowe DA, Wu N, Rohdin-Bibby L, et al. Effects of time-restricted eating on weight loss and other metabolic parameters in women and men with overweight and obesity: the TREAT randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2020;180(11):1491-1499. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.4153
- Vujović N, Piron MJ, Qian J, et al. Late isocaloric eating increases hunger, decreases energy expenditure, and modifies metabolic pathways in adults with overweight and obesity. Cell Metab. 2022;34(10):1486-1498.e7. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2022.09.007
- Ruddick-Collins LC, Morgan PJ, Fyfe CL, et al. Timing of daily calorie loading affects appetite and hunger responses without changes in energy metabolism in healthy subjects with obesity. Cell Metab. 2022;34(10):1472-1485.e6. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2022.08.001
- Areta JL, Burke LM, Ross ML, et al. Timing and distribution of protein ingestion during prolonged recovery from resistance exercise alters myofibrillar protein synthesis. J Physiol. 2013;591(9):2319-2331. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2012.244897
- Kerksick CM, Arent S, Schoenfeld BJ, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: nutrient timing. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:33. doi:10.1186/s12970-017-0189-4
- Aragon AA, Schoenfeld BJ. Nutrient timing revisited: is there a post-exercise anabolic window?. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2013;10(1):5. doi:10.1186/1550-2783-10-5
- Res PT, Groen B, Pennings B, et al. Protein ingestion before sleep improves postexercise overnight recovery. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012;44(8):1560-1569. doi:10.1249/MSS.0b013e31824cc363
- Snijders T, Res PT, Smeets JS, et al. Protein ingestion before sleep increases muscle mass and strength gains during prolonged resistance-type exercise training in healthy young men. J Nutr. 2015;145(6):1178-1184. doi:10.3945/jn.114.208371
- Drake C, Roehrs T, Shambroom J, Roth T. Caffeine effects on sleep taken 0, 3, or 6 hours before going to bed. J Clin Sleep Med. 2013;9(11):1195-1200. doi:10.5664/jcsm.3170
- Schoenfeld BJ, Aragon AA, Wilborn CD, Krieger JW, Sonmez GT. Body composition changes associated with fasted versus non-fasted aerobic exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2014;11(1):54. doi:10.1186/s12970-014-0054-7