Back when Scott was updating us on his diet (last October/November) he mentioned a few times that he was following a 12 hour diet.

Does this mean that you don’t eat or drink anything in the evening after your 12 hours is up? I can manage the no eating bit but I do like to have a cup of coffee in the evening.

Hey -

Since I’m hangin around MTM this morning I thought I would take this one.

The 12-Hour Diet simply means from your first meal of the day to your last, get them all in within 12 hours.  I’m normally a 7:30 AM to 7:30 PM guy.  The diet works because it matches the way your body burns calories - and my limited 1/2 the day, just makes is easier.

You can certainly drink all you wish anytime you wish.  As long as it’s not adding any additional calories to your day.  Water, Tea, Low cal drinks - it’s all fine.

I’m going to do a show soon and chat about this more since so many folks have had success with the 12-Hour Diet.

This is a wonderful concept, and I’ve already started embracing it.  And it proved itself on the scales.  Thanks a lot!!

I saw this today in a newspaper article, and it made me think of the 12 hour diet:

“Once the calories from your evening meal have been used up you begin to burn your energy stores. Although you switch to fat-burning mode after three to four hours, there is a significant increase in this metabolism after about eight to nine hours. It stops the moment you eat breakfast.”

I don’t know what the scientific backup for this is, but it does seem to help explain why not eating close to bedtime can make such a different in weight loss, when in theory it shouldn’t matter when you eat as long as you stay within your calorie limit for the day.