In the winter, with the shorter days, we tend to eat earlier ... usually around 6. As the days get longer it's more like 7 or 8. It's the same when we dine out.

We eat dinner quite early -- sometime between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm. :) Then we have a cup of tea later in the evening before bedtime ....

Of course -- the wonderful thing about eating around that time of the evening is that we enjoy "cocktail hour" specials at many of the resturants around town! :)

Teacats, happy hour is a plus to early restaurant dining! ;) Sometimes we'll hit happy hour for half price appetizers and drinks and call it a night. Kona Grill and Bravo Cucina Italiana offer great food at half price.

I was raised, and raised our children, having dinner at 5pm. DH has been getting up by 4:30am to work out since we married almost 30 years ago.

Now, the just the two of us, we eat out a few times a week. I called it lunner. Lunch/dinner. When we eat at home, it's anywhere between 4-5:30, depending on what we're doing that day.

When we meet family, we tend to hit a place between 1-2pm so the crowd will be gone. My parents (and DH) have a hard time hearing when there is a crowd. Going out with friends it's more of the regular 5:30-6:30 meeting, depending on who is coming and if they work/etc.

When we had a place at the beach, we would go eat dinner by 4pm to beat the dinner crowd. Waiting for 30 minutes to 1.5 hours and/or sitting down to eat anytime after 7pm is just not for us.

Typically around eight. Sometimes later, like 8:30 if I'm still cooking, sometimes earlier, 7:30, if we want to start a movie.

We eat at 6:00 at home, but if we go out, we'll eat earlier, around 5:00 to 5:30 because we're old and we are too impatient to wait. DH would prefer to eat even earlier than 6, but I don't and I'm the cook. :)
Dee

We eat around 7 at home, and later when we go out. If you eat at nice restaurant too early, the kitchen's not really in full swing, and I think you get haphazard service. In bigger cities, people tend to eat later if they're going out.

Allison, growing up we always ate at 5, but that would be extremely rare these days. I garden and often don't come in to shower until 4:30 or 5. Then meal prep and cooking easily has me serving dinner at 7 or later. When we used to go home to see my mom I'd do most of the cooking during our visit. There too I worked in the yard and it was a real struggle to get a meal served by 6 to accommodate my brother and his weird schedule.

If you do eat dinner later, later for me is around 7:30 or 8:00, what time do you go to bed?

I am wondering if we should change our dinner from earlier to a little later, so we won't be so hungry in the evening. Of course, I go to bed around 11:30 during the week, but we put our DS to bed around 8:30 during the school year.

I remember when we moved (in the very early 1970s so I was a teenager) to Montreal where folks tended to eat very late -- and long hours -- in the evening/nighttime.

After a few occasions when the late hour actually upset my poor mum and dad's stomachs .... they started having tea-and-toast around 5-6 pm just so they could have drinks-and-supper much later in the evening! :)

And yes! we have had big family-type meals set at 2 pm on Sunday -- like Christmas or Thanskgiving .... and then snacked/nibbled on bits-and-pieces later in the evening ....

So -- of course!:) -- my sister and I (and our DHs) now do the same thing .... if we expect that dinner/supper will be later in the evening then we make tea-and-something to "tide us over" the later setting! :)

Generally dinner is between 7 and 7:30. I work, and so there is no way to get home and have a dinner on the table much earlier. If I do something in the crockpot so it is ready, we might be able to eat by 6:30.

DH goes to bed the earliest, at around 10-10:30. Otherwise, the rest of us are midnight or later. He wouldn't mind eating earlier, but he has yet to volunteer to take over the cooking so that can happen. LOL

I grew up eating dinner at 6:30, in accommodation of my dad's hours at his law office, and frequent evening meetings in the community. My mom didn't work outside the house, so she was able to do that with no problem.

My dear friend and her DH generally eat dinner between 4:30 and 5 PM. But she is a substitute teacher, so home most days, and she goes to bed by 9 PM, so eating much later wouldn't work for her.

We try to eat no later than 7:00 because we feel it is healthier. I work part-time and am home around 5:00 - 5:30 on days I work. Hubby is never home before 6:00 and does not like to eat the minute he walks in. I like to be in bed around 10:00 - at least relaxing/reading, etc. so like to have food settled before.

On days we are both off, we enjoying doing an early dinner - maybe 4:00ish and skipping lunch. Breakfast would be later on those mornings also. We do have one set of friends that we go out with quite often who like to eat late and I hate it. LOL

tina

DH gets home from work after 6 so we generally eat about 6:30. Sometimes, like days he's particularly late, I end up eating a salad before he gets home because I'll end up overly hungry & cranky if I wait too long to eat.

I don't like to eat too late so even when dining out we like to be seated at 7-7:30 at the latest. It might not be fashionable but it suits us.

Looks like we eat pretty late. Generally, between 8:30 & 9. If we go out to a regular restaurant we eat a little earlier but if it's a nice restaurant we make a reservation for 9:30. We also stay up pretty late, usually midnight or a little later.

We used to have a neighbor from Argentina and they wouldn't eat dinner until 10pm.

Guess we eat early compared to most. Usually dinner is between 5-6 PM. I do work full time but am home shortly after 4 PM so do have time to prepare the meal. During the summer on weekends we tend to eat a late breakfast/brunch and then an early dinner also, having skipped lunch.

Dh gets home from work around 7:30 most nights, though so that's when we eat. He leaves for work between 6:00 and 7:30 in the morning, and we klonk out between 10:00 and 11:30 most nights.

Don't you mean "supper"?!!??

"Dinner" is @ NOON don'cha know...;-)

We're usually having supper by 6:30. If we go out, it's often around the same time, maybe a little later.

Faron

Usually around 6:00. There are some friends I do things with who eat as late as 8 or 9, and I struggle to be polite on the evenings when we're having dinner together. When they have dinner parties, I usually offer to bring an hors d'oeuvre. They don't make hors d'oeuvres themselves, and having some food that's meant to be eaten earlier keeps me from wanting to snap at everybody. They can go for an awfully long time without eating, but I sure can't.

tina, that's what I was wondering, FOR ME, since I still have 19 pounds to lose (lost 11-yea!), eating later might not be in my best interest. Of course, if you don't have my problem, whatever works-LOL!

I think eating earlier, and not snacking before bedtime, does encourage weight loss. If you can stand it, not eating anything after 6 or 6:30, will help you lose weight, even if you don't cut down much on your eating the rest of the day.

The best way to gain weight is to eat a just-before- bedtime snack! Those Special K commercials showing people eating cereal as a late night snack to promote weight-loss are ridiculous.

It depends on the kids' sports schedules. Right now, DS2 isn't playing any sports so it's a little easier. DS1 gets out of wrestling practice at 5:30, so we try to eat at 6:30 most evenings. On nights when DS1 has a meet, DS2 has pizza & popcorn at the match and the rest of us eat supper afterwards around 9-9:30. On Fridays before a tournament when DS1 has to make scratch weight, we eat as soon as he gets out of practice ~5:45 because he can't have anything to drink after 6:00 to ensure that he makes weight in the morning.

In the spring and fall when DS2 plays sports and DS1 plays 2 sports, the supper schedule gets much trickier.

I'm feeling a bit envious of the empty-nesters here.

LOL laxsupermom - I can only imagine!

tina

I get home between 5:45 and 6:30, depending on what's going on that day. DH is never home before 6:30. Most "regular schedule" days we eat supper around 7.

Before we retired, we ate dinner around 6, due to the fact we went to bed around 10. After being retired a couple years, we gradually moved to dinner around 7:30. NOW since I am again trying to shed this extra 30 pounds, we have decided to have our main meal mid-afternoon. Around 3:30 - 4:00. And just have a cup of tea in the evening.

It's a myth that eating late inhibits weight loss. Calories in, calories out - it doesn't matter when you eat them it only matters how much.

That being said, it can be an effective calorie control strategy by limited the amount of hours in a day you allow yourself to eat.

I think it also has to do with how calories are burned. When the days are longer, we try to eat before later taking a walk, which helps to burn some of the calories. I think the later you tend to eat, the less likely you are going to burn those calories. Especially if you then sit in front of the tv or go to bed soon after.

tina

My ideal is 5:30 but my reality is 6:30 :(

jennava, I have a friend who eat ANYTHING she wants before 3:00. I'm talking even a candy bar etc. Then she doesn't eat the rest of the day, and lost about 20 pounds, which is all she needed to lose anyway. I tried it though, and since I have to make dinner for DH and DS, I couldn't resist dinner.

Olliesmom.... i may try that. i do love chocolate! We just joined a local gym also. Trying to get there three days a week at least. Starting slow since I am 60, overweight and out of shape, but I think anything you do is better than just giving up and doing nothing.

kellyeng.... i do understand that it is how many calories you eat. I have just found, that for ME, i am better off not eating my biggest meal late any more.

I think it also has to do with how calories are burned. When the days are longer, we try to eat before later taking a walk, which helps to burn some of the calories. I think the later you tend to eat, the less likely you are going to burn those calories. Especially if you then sit in front of the tv or go to bed soon after.

I'm sorry, but this is absolutely 100% incorrect. Calories eaten and calories burned is accumulative. You don't burn the calories that you just ate. The calories you eat and the calories you burn from living and exercising happens over days & weeks. There is no scientific data available that says otherwise.

Not eating late at night works for many because it is a time/calorie management control but it has absolutely nothing to do with biology.

olliesmom, That sounds a lot like the Fast Five diet. You eat only during a consecutive 5 hour period. It's really just another way of restricting calories, which is the secret to any weight loss. I definitely agree with Kelly on that point. Different eating strategies help different people achieve that goal. For me the advice to eat every three hours or 6 mini meals doesn't work. That type of plan makes me constantly think about eating and food!

Here is a link that might be useful: Fast Five diet