After Six Diet

healthy appetite

By Natural Health+

The after-six diet is the modern version of the old saying “breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” The premise of the diet is this: eat whatever you want and not gain weight as long as it is done before 6:00 PM. This is because calories eaten during the day are supposed to be not stored in the same manner as calories eaten at night.

Benefits

Many weight loss experts claimed that calories eaten at night are stored more easily than calories eaten during the day. This is because there are fewer bodily functions happening while a person sleeps, thus less energy is extended. Therefore, most of the dinner goes into storage.

The assumption that fewer calories are burned while you sleep is correct because you are obviously not moving while you are sleeping. It is also true that the calories you eat during your 7:00 PM dinner will mostly be stored. However, this storage is only temporary since those same calories will be used up the next day.

Assessment

It is the total number of calories consumed throughout the day that matters most.

The worst misconception that many people have about the “six o’clock diet” is the idea that they can eat with total abandon during the day; and expect those calories to magically disappear just because they consumed them before 6:00 PM! If a person overeats during the day, they will still gain weight.

Another disadvantage of the “six o’clock diet” is the disruption of the bonding time during the family get-together during dinner. This happens when one family member who is on a diet, would skip dinner because it is too stressful and too tempting to sit and watch everybody else eat.

The after six diet is good diet to try in the short term. But it would be lonely and stressful to maintain in the long run.