Eating at night while trying to lose weight

I heard on NPR a few months ago about a study that showed that people who ate most of their calories at night were no less likely to lose weight (which of course goes against the advice of hundreds of sites & programs).
I'm trying to find that study -- can anybody help?

I guess that's my question in a nutshell. I'm working with a weight coach and she insists that evening calories detract from weigth loss (even if under an appropriate caloric ceiling). I'm willing to give it a try, even if it is an urban legend, but in the meantime I want to research the issue.

Could this be a reference to the same study?

a calorie is a calorie, but night eaters overeat those calories.

Feeding a monkey at night while giving it the same amount of calories as given to the controls, is not the situation that is faced by night eaters, who do not have their calories restricted by experimenters.

i http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi? cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract& list_uids=11449453
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi? cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract& list_uids=14994360

Try searching for "night eating syndrome" or "nocturnal eating syndrome" in Medline.

You will find numerous studies linking night eating with obesity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi? cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract& list_uids=11449453
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi? cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract& list_uids=14994360

I'm sure you realize that this is a generalization that does not apply to everyone. There's nothing magic about the sun being down that causes everyone to turn into a binge eater. For me, there's no difference in behavior or effect whether I eat in the daytime or the evening.

My overeating trigger is parties .

Oh, I see, well, you made a good point. Some people eat at night due to work schedule or some such..

Thanks for the reference. I can't be sure, but I thought the study in question involved humans. Though this one does back up the premise I was wondering about. Thanks again.

Why do you assume that this is the case? I typically have about half of my calories before 5 pm and the other half between 5 pm and 10 pm. Does that mean that I overeat? Uh, no. I think think that some other folks that regularly participate in this forum are the same way.

You're making the assumption that anyone who eats more at night than during the day has "night eater" syndrome. That's not always the case. I was under the impression that the OP was asking about people who just happen to eat more at night than during the day, not necessarily "night eaters"; people who work the night shift, for example...

That's been my experience. I've lost 113 lbs. eating whenever I felt the need.

A calorie is a calorie, but some people find that when they eat at night, they find it hard to control how much they eat. I am such a person and I am far from alone. Search medline and google for
"nocturnal eating syndrome". I used to eat at night and even woke up sometimes to graze on something.

"A calorie is a calorie at any time of the day, say experts"

Makes sense to me, but some myths are hard to overcome...

I don't see how one could justify this belief. Does daylight make calories work differently?

I suppose this isn't really about time of day per se, but about eating close to bedtime -- some theory that if you're more active after eating your calories will get used up better or something. I have never seen any evidence of that. It sounds like all this food is coming into your body and thinking, "Okay, is there someplace I can go get burned up right now for energy? Nope -- this guy is asleep -- guess I have to turn into fat." I don't think it works that way.

That's correct.