Weight Loss

If you ate fast food at 1:30 am on (say) a Monday night, before you went to bed, but on the calendar Tuesday and after your Burn Meter had flipped over to zero again, would you log it as Monday's calories or Tuesday's?

I log mine as Tuesday.  I do the midnight to midnight day.  I work nights and get up at different times and eat at different times.  The whole burn meter is logging as if you are asleep right after midnight.  Eventually the burn meter will catch up during the day.

I also work nights (11pm -7:30am) so I tried dealing with the logs on my actual sleep schedule (waiting til after midnight to start logging for a 'day' that begins at 10pm) for the first week or so and it drove me crazy. So after that first week I started doing as missechelle above states and just using midnight to midnight.  It really doesn't matter when you eat or sleep, 24 hours is 24 hours, so I just make sure I keep my calories in range for that 24 hour period and it's been working just fine.  I usually go to bed between noon and 2pm and wake up between 8pm and 10pm, so I just make sure I am about 300-400 calories under my goal when I go to sleep so I can eat a snack or light meal before going work, then the counter resets at midnight after I've been at work for an hour.  I find that works the best for me, but in the end, it's going to be whatever is easiest/works best for you.  As long as you meet your calorie goals, the logging is entirely incidental.

I would definitely log the late night snacks/binges (whatever!) as the night before.

That way when you are looking back at your eating habits on CC, you can get a more accurate picture.  Plus when you start the next day you can wipe the slate clean in effect, whereas if you log the fast food on the next day, you're already starting at a disadvantage

of course, our bodies dont really care either way!

I hate to disagree with previous posts....but your body most certainly does care when you eat something. 

Eating at night, close to when you are going to sleep - is much more damaging to your waistline.   If you get up at 8 am, eat your meals all day and then are out at night and hit the junk food, it  is part of that day (you haven't gone to sleep for the night yet...so it's the same day). 

The fact that your total for the day will be very high is the just the unpleasant truth.  Plus, if you aren't seeing the results you want, you may find you are indulging in late night eating too often.  

If you want an accurate measure based on how your body reacts, I would add 25% to anything you eat within 3 hours of bed.  So if you have a 400 calorie snack at midnight and go to sleep at 2, log it as a 500 calorie snack.  That way you won't have any nasty suprises on the scale.

I log it in whatever day I still feel like it is (so in your example Monday).  If I haven't gone to bed yet, it isn't a new day.  That is my 2 cents anyway!

Slrogersvancouver - there's argument over whether or how much it matters. I suspect that any nasty surprise isn't going to be from your body magically sucking more power out of food, but more from the fact that, since we all tend to weigh in at the morning, more food in your system.

I don't see why not to log it on the day you eat it, even if there's the flip. I think there's a method behind the other technique (espeically if you have a late night schedule), but I don't see one as superior.

I imagine, however, consistency is the key. Pick one way to do it and stick with it, just so numbers remain steady. (And, if you do it infrequently, I'm guessing that on-day is easier).

I live in the Central time zone, but I've got my settings set on the Pacific -- that way my meters don't turn over until 2:00 am... That works really well for me.