Is it bad to go to bed hungry?

If you wake up a few hours after going to bed and you feel like you really need to eat is it okay to get up and get a little snack?

Some nights, like last night for instance, I went to bed pretty much with nothing in my stomach, I woke up 3 hours later and I was really hungry. I went to the kitchen and got a few tiny pieces of chicken, just about 3-4 bites. I went back to sleep and woke up at my normal time, yet again really hungry. Was that bad of me to do or does it not matter? should I eat more for a late night snack?

In my opinion, one should never go to bed hungry. Try to eat something that sets well in the stomach, like oatmeal which keeps you full for a good amount of time. If you wake up in the middle of the night and eat and go back to sleep and end up sleeping normally I do not see much of an issue. Only problem is of course that you are disturbing the deep sleep fase and since you get up to eat you might not get back into deep sleep the rest of the night. My suggestion is simply to eat good food before going to bed.

Awesome! Thank you! Also, I eat every 3 hours, should I eat if I gst hungry before my next meal or snack? Or should I wait for the 3 hours?

No problem, happy to help !
I usually eat every 2-3 hours but I can easily eat to big dinners with only 20 mintues of space if I am hungry enough. But this depends on your goals. If you want to gain muscle, eating clean, healthy and often is beneficial for clean gainz. However if you want to lose fat, maybe just eat some fruit and unsalted natural nuts as snacks between meals.

Matt,

It depends on your daily calorie goal. If you have eaten all your macros and calorie count for the day and you are still hungry, I would not eat. You release the most growth hormone when you sleep and when your glucose is low you torch fat while you sleep. If you have not hit all your macros and calories for the day, eat something light like some fruit or a small bowl of oatmeal. Avoid protein as this will keep you up. Carbs have a calming effect. Just remember, growth hormone is not released when isulin is released so eating carbs before bed will reduce the amount of fat you will burn while fasting during sleep.

If this is a consistent problem, you need to eat bigger meals with more protein and fiber to fill you up. Many small meals are over-rated. It is better to eat all your required macros and calories in 3 big meals than 6-7 small ones. People who eat many small meals tend to be constantly hungry as the body really wasn't designed to digest many small meals over a long span of time throughout the day. The claim that it speeds up the metabolism is false as is the claim you need to eat when you first wake up to keep your metabolism high. Intermittent Fasting has proven these 2 theories incorrect - our ancestors never always had food available first thing in the morning or ate more than 2-3 meals a day.

John

Your goal is to lose fat according to your profile, so if you ate all your macros and you're a endomorph (easy to gain and lose weight), I would try to conserve a high protein-low calorie meal before bed so you don't go to bed hungry. Ectomorphs have a hard time gaining weight, and are recommended to eat before bed so their muscles don't go into muscular atrophy (muscles eat themselves to sustain life, basically). I try to conserve one high-protein meal about an hour or so before bed, and I sleep a full 6-8 hours, then I'll eat another meal...it's a bad habit for me to get into snacking all through the night and interrupting sleep (Once my feet touch the ground, I'm awake for the day). Hope this helps!

Kevin,

A slight correction if I may - Ectomorphs just have a more efficient metabolism and insulin response than endomorphs. The body does not cannibolize muscle tissue until after 80 hours of fasting/starvation. At 80 hours and more, the body experiences true PHYSICAL hunger and goes into survival mode - which includes cannibolizing muscle tissue. Any hunger pangs one experiences each day is purely MENTAL. If the body ate muscle as you suggest, then people who do Intermittent Fasting where we have no food for at least 16 hours everyday would lose lots of muscle mass. I can tell you from personal experience this is not the case :-) The problem with eating a high protein meal before bed is it can interfere with your sleep as protein requires more energy to digest as you pointed out. The body wants to conserve energy and rest at bedtime not be processing a meal.

If an ectomorph mis-calculates the actual amount of daily calories they need to sustain bodily functions and growth simultaneously, then going to bed hungry will be a frequent occurence. The fix is to up the calorie intake during the day and keep the protein, fiber, and essential fats higher to promote satiety longer :-)

John

@Kevit07 @William_Steinset
I'm not too sure if I am an ectomorph or an endomorph. I do lose fat easy, and don't really gain mych weight, but I am trying to lose the last bit of fat on my stomach. My stomach has that "bloated" look to it. I have been thinking and could that be because my stomach is too big? because I know when you eat a lot your stomach grows, but to get a lean, flat stomach means you eat just the right amount of foods. So if I continue to eat just enough will my stomach lose that "bloated" look? Also, I am trying to keep carbs at a defecit til I get a little leaner, 7-8% body fat then I am gonna increase my carbs to get lean and big! will that work?

Matt,

Your stomach does not grow for eating. A bloated abdomen is caused by 3 things and 3 things only: large amounts of visceral fat (the fat that surrounds organs not the fat under your skin), food allergies/digestive issues like colitis, crohns disease, etc., and taking too much growth hormone. I doubt it is the last instance in your case :-) As for allergies, gluten, dairy, beer/hops, and nuts are the biggest offenders. What are you eating for carbs? Are you drinking beer either frequently or infrequently?

Increased visceral fat is a byproduct of eating too much sugar and processed foods and metabolic syndrome. Again, I doubt this is applicable here unless you are following an IIFYM type of meal plan - which is pure rubbish and shouldn't even be called a meal plan.

John

I don't drink, and I don't eat sugars rarely ever or processed foods. For carbs I eat oatmeal, rice, on occasion whole wheat bread, veggies and fruit. I think i'm just being a little impatient with my body? unless I am actually doing something wrong.

That bloated look can also be a case of too much sodium, and even not enough water.

It could also be a lack of muscle? You can have low body fat but un-defined muscles too.

Another thing...do you focus on keeping a tight core, or are you letting your posture slouch? That can actually be something that makes you look more bloated than you really are.

Have you seen something like this for example? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0m6UVZD7G4

The way you actually hold your posture can create illusions...

It takes time for sure - be patient, keep training hard and eating right and results will come.

Jordan

hahaha that was a pretty funny video! So it is normal for your stomach to expand a little after eating, right? It definitely is miss informing (the before and after pictures) because they always say it only took that person 30 days to get that big of a change. It's ridiculous!! lol

My sodium is very low. I hardly have any sodium if any in my meals. I might add a tiny bit of seasoning with my dinner that has sodium in it but for the most part I don't have sodium to my diet. I drink a good amount of water every day, about the recommmended amount per day.

I have a pretty good amount of muscle on my abs but definitely am working to increase it.
I think I am sloutching a little so I've been working on my posture for sure cause i've noticed thats actaully made a difference on how my stomach looks.

Thank you for the reminder and encouragement! I'm learning on how to be more patient with myself and my results :)

That's great to hear @MattMiller!

Yeah just those little things can make a big difference.

Sounds like you are on track...keep up the hard work! #HTH

Jordan

Spot on @jmboiardi

I space my macros to have one last "meal" before bed. I don't go to bed full... but not starving either.

I usually have 1 cup of greek yogurt with two scoops of DNA Series Whey by BSN. One last shot of protein (70ish grams) before bed. I love it!