‘I Stopped Eating After 7 P.M. Every Night For A Month—Here’s What Happened’

I generally eat dinner with the kids around 6, so for my new experiment I made sure that we were all done by our 7 PM cut-off. Of course, it’s after dinner that the cravings often set in. I’m trying not to eat sweets for dessert, so instead I eat a piece of fruit or maybe cheese to end my meal. Then around 8, I tend to eat another piece of fruit or cheese (or if I’m having a particularly bad day, a KitKat). Cutting off all food by 7 was in some ways easy and in some ways hard. The easy part was that instead of a more vague, “no snacking before bed,” a hard rule of “no food after 7 PM” was actually easier to follow because it was so rigid. After a few slip-ups in the beginning, I soon fell into a pattern of eating dinner, then brushing my teeth immediately after. I found that once I brushed my teeth, I didn’t want to snack, because it would get my teeth dirty (and I’m too lazy to brush twice in a night).

The one challenging part is going out to dinner. If we go out with other couples, which we do frequently, we don’t often eat until 8 or later. By the time we finish up it’s well past 10, and when we get home I want to go right to sleep. I couldn’t figure out a way to not eat two hours before bed on date night (except to stay up later, but that wasn’t realistic). I tried suggesting an earlier dinner, but nobody seemed to be game (as someone who was brought up in the Midwest, a 6 PM dinner is normal, but for New Yorkers, it’s way early).  So, during my month, I was pretty good when I ate at home, but not so good on date night (which was maybe four times during the month). I consider that a success. Having a hard and fast food cut-off time may seem rigid to most, but I tend to do well with strict rules when it comes to food (if I have one cookie, I’ll eat the bag, so I generally have none).

Even though it’s been over a month, I’m going to try and stick to my 7 o’clock food cut-off time. Already, what started as an experiment for me has turned into a healthier lifestyle adjustment for my whole family.

The article I Stopped Eating After 7 PM Every Night For A Month, And Here’s What Happened originally appeared on Prevention.