You want to eat healthy, which is no problem during the day. But what can you eat in the evening without gaining weight and unnecessarily stressing the body? Here comes the answer!
You know that feeling when you've really gone overboard and can barely move? The feeling of fullness after dinner is anything but healthy - what a surprise.
If you've been dragging yourself from the couch to bed with a full belly the last few times and then couldn't sleep, it's no wonder.
Sleeping with a heavy stomach is miserable. Now it's time to change your eating habits. Otherwise, you'll soon be round as a ball and permanently sleepless.
But what can you eat in the evening without gaining weight? Food without calories? Just skip the carbs or even go to bed with a growling stomach? That does not have to be.
There is hardly a topic around which so many myths entwine as around dinner.
Some say: Better not eat anything. Others say: You can eat whatever you want, as long as there are no carbohydrates, and still others prefer to eat only a salad in the evening for fear of not gaining weight.
Here you will find the answer to the burning question and more: We recommend a program that will help you stay fit and enjoy a healthy dinner: "Try We Go Fit!“
Table of contents
- Does it make sense to skip dinner?
- When can you eat in the evening without gaining weight?
- Small breakfast, big dinner - or better the other way around?
- What can you eat in the evening without gaining weight?
- Why tryptophan is important at dinner
- Delicious recipe ideas for the evening
- What foods should you avoid in the evening?
Does it make sense to skip dinner?
When it comes to losing weight, you often hear the tip to cut out dinner. This can definitely help, especially in the context of interval fasting or other clever nutritional strategies.
But let's be honest: Who wants to go to bed hungry? If you fall asleep with a growling stomach, it can not only be unpleasant, but also disturb your sleep and slow down muscle building.
And if you cut too many calories, it can even be counterproductive and lower your basal metabolic rate. So instead of skipping dinner altogether, you should pay more attention to what you eat.
With the right choice of food in the evening, you can boost fat metabolism, promote muscle building and improve your sleep. You'll stay healthy and happy - and full.
When can you eat in the evening without gaining weight?
What can you eat in the evening? Before we approach the answer to this question, you should first ask yourself: when should you eat before bedtime. Because this is at least as important.
On an average day where you go to bed between 10pm and 11pm, you should eat your dinner between 5pm and 7pm.
This gives your body enough time to digest and metabolize the food. As soon as you get tired, you switch into economy and sleep mode for the night. Your metabolism slows down and digestion comes to a standstill. If you've just eaten something really hearty and heavy, your body won't like it at all.
However, the widespread opinion that you can't eat anything after 6 p.m. is wrong. What you can eat in the evening without gaining weight depends very much on your energy balance. That is, how much you have already eaten during the day.
And, of course, how late you stay up after dinner. If you're a night owl who stays up until 11.30 pm, you can of course eat something after 6 pm.
If you look around a bit in our neighboring countries, it quickly becomes clear. Customs and traditions are different everywhere. The French, Spanish, Portuguese eat very late in the evening and then also in large quantities.
This is the influence a selenium deficiency has on weight gain!
Small breakfast, big dinner - or better the other way around?
In general, it depends on how much you have already eaten during the day. The calories that you have eaten throughout the day are decisive. If you have eaten only a few calories during the day, you will of course be hungry in the evening and may also eat.
What you can eat in the evening without gaining weight depends very much on what you ate during the day. If you eat a kebab for lunch and a chocolate as a snack, you'd better not eat any more pizza in the evening.
So you really need to keep an eye on your basal metabolic rate. If you consume more calories than you burn in a day, you will gain weight quickly.
Calculate here in the free calorie calculator, how many calories you should really eat per day. This value is the starting point for everything else.
What is the right time for dinner?
No matter what your eating habits are, the following applies to all of them: If you eat very late in the evening, you will be hungrier in the morning. That's pretty mean and a vicious circle. The reason for this is our digestion.
When we eat a lot late at night, our body is busy digesting all night. In the morning, it immediately reports back because it has nothing more to do.
Your organs urgently need the break from eating. During the break, the liver can deal with detoxification processes and does not have to worry about the utilization of food.
You're interfering with fat burning, which is normally at full speed overnight.
Keep food breaks of at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. Even better are breaks of 14 to 16 hours - you know these food breaks as Intermittent Fasting.
Keep an eye on calories with We Go Fit*
Thereby our We Go Fit nutrition plan* support. After all, we know from our own experience that it is often very difficult to eat right.
Especially when it comes to recipes, you can quickly reach the limits of your creativity. That's why it's worth making a cooking plan. It's best to plan what you're going to eat for a week in advance.
A conscious diet will not only bring you closer to your dream figure. You will also change mentally. If you eat healthy, you'll be in a better mood and have more power.
So that you can succeed, you can take part in our We Go Fit Program* Create your personal nutrition plan. You choose the category "Lose weight" from four plans.
We calculate your calorie consumption, calorie deficit and create a diet plan that fits your needs and that fits you 100%. It's very easy. Give it a try :)
Click here to put together your personal nutrition plan!
What can you eat in the evening, without to increase?
You now know that breaks between meals are important and you should pay attention to the number of calories. But what can you eat in the evening to be able to sleep relaxed and not worry about your weight?
There are a few foods that aren't heavy on the stomach, boost fat metabolism, improve sleep, and build muscle.
Provided you keep the meal breaks of at least 12 hours.
These are the top 5 best foods in the evening
Low fat dairy products like curd cheese, cottage cheese, skyr or a low-fat yogurt are filling for a long time. You can mix them with some nuts, oatmeal or fruit and enjoy. In these foods you will find a lot of protein and few carbohydrates.
Tofu and lean meat provide high-quality protein that promotes muscle growth and satiates. Both ensure that a blood sugar level remains constant and the cravings in the morning are absent.
Fish is a very good source of protein. Choose from salmon, herring or tuna to benefit from the valuable omega-3 fatty acids. You'll also find the amino acid tryptophan, which is a precursor of the "happiness hormone" serotonin. If that doesn't make for relaxing dreams?
Avocado contains a lot of fat and calories, but they are healthy fats. The oleic acid in the fruit supports weight loss and keeps you from cravings.
Eggs are also a good choice if you're wondering what to eat in the evening. They have a very high value and should definitely be on your menu if you want to build muscle. They are said to have a calming effect and therefore a relaxed sleep. Again, the amino acid tryptophan is responsible for this.
Very well combine these foods with cooked vegetables, salad and healthy sources of carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, rice, quinoa, millet, chickpeas, beans or other legumes.
Easy-to-digest vegetables like zucchini or steamed celery sticks may also end up on your plate.
Snacks in the evening
You love to eat chips in front of the TV in the evening? Or sweets? You should get out of that habit as soon as possible. If you like to have a snack in the evening, then you are better off with a yogurt.
As a rule of thumb, evening treats should not exceed 200 calories.
- Just 100 grams of chips - that's just a good handful come to 539 calories.
- And 100 grams of milk chocolate also come to a whopping 535 calories.
How about a yogurt with nuts like almonds or walnuts? The nuts also contain many calories, but at the same time important nutrients, which you can not say about chocolate and chips.
Try eating fruit that contains little fructose. This keeps your blood sugar level constant and prevents cravings. Mixed with nuts and yogurt a really tasty snack.
Put these fruits on your menu if you like to snack in the evening
- Raspberries
- Cranberries
- Blackberries
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Watermelon
Why tryptophan is important at dinner
Your body needs all amino acids. A distinction is made between essential and non-essential amino acids, some of which your body can produce itself, the others we must supply it with through the diet.
Tryptophan is one that we need to take in through food. And this one should land on our plate, especially in the evening.
This protein building block ensures that serotonin (the happiness hormone) and melatonin are produced. By the way, melatonin is also called the sleep hormone because it ensures that we become tired.
Serotonin and melatonin in the evening are an unbeatable combination for a relaxed sleep.
Put these foods on your menu if you want to wake up refreshed
- Salmon
- Milk
- Soybeans in the form of soy milk, tofu, tempeh and co.
- Cashews*
Delicious recipe ideas for the evening
You'll wake up even more rested if you cleverly combine foods. How about this:
- Salmon steak with brown rice and an egg
- Fried egg with avocado
- Yogurt with blueberries, raspberries and nuts
- Vegetable skillet (zucchini, celery) with quinoa and chickpeas (if you tolerate legumes in the evening).
- Tofu vegetable skillet
- Zucchini noodles (zoodles) with sauce
- Avocado au gratin with egg
My favorite: pasta from vegetables
If you eat pasta made from wheat flour, you're eating a big load of carbohydrates late at night. If you've had a lot of them throughout the day, then you should go low carb in the evening.
You can easily replace pasta with a low-nutrient, low-calorie option. To do this, simply use zucchini. Use the spiral cutter to shape them into noodles and fry them briefly in a pan. That's it. Add a light tomato sauce with basil and you're done.
What foods should you avoid in the evening?
The blood sugar level is the alpha and omega when it comes to a successful diet. But not only that: a good night's sleep also depends on it.
But beware of carbohydrate-rich foods in the evening! They make the blood sugar ride a roller coaster and drive us into hunger mode again.
If you eat a greasy or highly processed diet in the evening, you'll soon realize that a heavy stomach doesn't let you sleep well. So it's better to eat light and wholesome - and resist sweet temptations!
Our conclusion
What can you eat in the evening without gaining weight? That depends on what you ate at lunch and in the afternoon. If you've already eaten your full load of calories during the day, then you should definitely cut back in the evening.
Make sure you don't eat anything for at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast to take the strain off your organs.
Avoid very heavy foods such as pizza, kebabs and the like, and instead opt for low-calorie alternatives such as a fish fillet, eggs or a yogurt with nuts. Enjoy it!
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