I often get asked about the relevance of meal frequency/food distribution throughout the day. Especially the topic of carbs after a certain time 'carbs after dark' seems to be a bit of trend at the moment, I especially LOVE a bit of late night carbs. So why are carbs after dark seen as such a bad thing? A  lot of people insist that foods with a high fat/carb quantity past a certain time of the day are bad in that your body stores this as fat. Uhhh..no. In fact, a fairly recent study was taken to examine whether carbs later at night make a difference. A group of people where split into 2 (both groups ate a calorie controlled diet of the same calories/fats.carbs/protein), one group ate carbohydrates throughout the day, the other ate 80% during the night. The results were that the group who ate their carbs mainly at night actually lost more weight! not only did they lose more weight, they weren't as hungry. 
So where did this bro science rumour come from?
It seems logical to think that our metabolism slows down at night right? FALSE. 
In fact, if anything it speeds up. Data suggests that lean individuals' sleeping metabolic rates are faster than their metabolic rates during the day time. Whereas in obese individuals, when they are asleep their metabolic rate is slowed significantly. 
Another assertion is that to build the body you need to maintain carbs every 2-3 hours, this is supposed to keep glucose levels 'steady' but this isn't the case. When you eat carbs, the body releases insulin to drive blood glucose into cells, the release of this insulin actually makes you hungry. Eating carbs every 2-3 hours actually makes you crave carbs like clockwork, making you think that you actually need carbs every 2-3 hours.  I eat 4 large meals a day, and a few snacks, I find it easier to achieve with my lifestyle. 

On looking into eating in the night, I've found some interesting points. One reason why we tend to eat in the night is because psychologically it makes more sense to eat lighter during the day and reward ourselves in the night, the other way around it simply does not seem right!  (to eat a lot during the day and consciously eat less at night)
However, in my case I have to eat a lot throughout the day to get my macros in.


As long as you account for total calories and food choices, meal frequency and food distribution is less relevant in terms of fat loss, though it makes sense to eat more at night. The key is to make the diet fit your life, not the other way around, to give you the best chance of succeeding.

Carbs I eat after dark: 
-Rice cakes, peanut butter and banana, sprinkled with cinnamon . I usually have 2 rice cakes, 1 tbsp of peanut butter and half a banana. 
Calories : 200
Fat: 8.5
Carbs: 27.7
Protein : 5.8 
- Natural yogurt (200g)  and whey protein (1 scoop)
Calories: 255
Fat: 10
Carbs : 10
Protein : 25
-Banana (split in half) covered in peanut butter with dark chocolate chips
Calories: 244
Fat: 13.1
Carbs: 29.43
Protein: 5.9

If I'm particularly low on carbs for that day I'll have some Sweet potato with cinnamon (200g)
or some oats (70g)