'I'm a nutritionist - you can lose 1st 6lb by not eating after a specific time of day'
A nutritionist told slimmers to cut down their eating window
GETTY IMAGES / YouTube / Autumn Bates
Everyone knows that what you eat is essential if you want to lose weight, but when you eat is also important.
A clinical nutritionist told slimmers that a simple way to shed fat is to avoid eating after dinner.
In a YouTube video entitled '20 easy ways to lose 20lb' (1st 6lb) Autumn Bates advised those trying to lose weight to cut off their food consumption after their final meal of the day. This hack could help them lose 1st 6lb.
The expert advised: "Stop eating after dinner. Eating too close to bed can actually hinder your sleep quality and poor quality sleep directly increases your hunger hormone - ghrelin - the very next day.
The nutritionist advised that your dinner should be the last thing you eat in a day
GETTY IMAGES"Plus, the evening is when we're more insulin resistant, meaning that anything we consume right before bed is more likely to be stored anyway.
"Just by stopping the snacks after dinner, you can significantly help to achieve your weight loss goal."
In a Harvard study, researchers asked 16 overweight or obese participants to test two different meal schedules with identical diets.
For six days, participants ate breakfast, lunch and dinner, finishing their last meal six-and-a-half hours before they went to bed.
In another six-day period, subjects ate the same meals but four hours later in the day. This meant they ate their last meal two-and-a-half hours before bedtime.
Executive editor of Harvard Health Letter Heidi Godman said: "During the study, scientists measured participants' appetite-regulating hormones, body temperatures, calorie expenditure, and fat cells.
"Eating later in the day increased participants' hunger, decreased the number of calories they burned, and promoted fat storage.
"Over time, those effects could lead to weight gain. So while it won't hurt to have an occasional late supper, try not to make it a habit."
Autumn also offered some advice for slimmers who have little ones at home: don't eat your children's snacks.
The nutritionist said: "Kids' snacks are so tempting because they typically are so refined, overly processed and high in sugar.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
'Anything we consume right before bed is more likely to be stored'
GETTY IMAGES"They can be quite addictive and hard to pass up, but these higher-sugar kids' snacks tend to really spike the storing hormone insulin and cause the body to shift out of a state of fat burning."
Autumn told slimmers that snacking is fine, as long as they go for healthy options that are low in sugar.
In other weight loss news, a slimmer who lost a whopping 8st in one year said that a specific routine was key to seeing results.
You may like
