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Dave:
Believe it or not, I allow my clients to eat as late as they want as long as they follow a few simple rules. These rules are designed to get your metabolism working for you so it naturally burns more calories even at rest. Here’s how:

Rule #1 Eat several small meals a day. First of all eating too few meals will actually slow your metabolism down and will cause your body to hold on to unwanted fat. Therefore when you skip meals at night you are only making things worse.

I urge my clients to eat 5-6 meals a day. These meals are usually divided into 3 meals and 2-3 snacks. All meals are spread out approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours a part if possible to allow your body time to digest them. As soon as your stomach is empty it’s time to feed it again. If you stop eating at 6:00 pm you won’t have enough time to get all of your meals in and you will slow your metabolism down by convincing your body that you are starving. Remember you body doesn’t know how much food you have in your refrigerator. It only knows whether or not its’ being fed.

Rule #2 Reduce portion size. Many Americans today super size everything they eat. They eat 2-3 times a day and are starving by the time they sit down to eat meal. It’s no wonder they eat huge portion sizes. The end result is the food that is not used as energy is stored as fat.

This problem can be solved by spacing meals out every 2 ½ - 3 hours and reducing the portion size. Portion size has a lot to do with the size of your body and how active your lifestyle is. When you eat at night you should pay particular attention to the size of the food you eat because you will obviously be less active.

Rule #3 Make good choices. In the evening when you are winding down from a hard day of work you will need to choose your foods wisely. Stay away from complex carbohydrates such as pastas, potatoes, rice and breads. These foods are great for increasing your energy levels but if you consume them at night before you go to bed they will be converted to fat. Instead substitute foods such as lean meats, vegetables, salads, salt free peanuts or fruit.

Remember restricting how frequently you eat will cause more damage than good. I’m not sure where the idea of not eating after 6:00pm came from but I can assure you it’s not good . The fact of the matter is your stomach doesn’t know how to tell time. All it knows is whether it getting the proper nutrition or not. If it doesn’t get fed for long periods of time it will signal your metabolism to slow down to conserve energy in the form of fat cells.