Does dinner "time" matter?

So, my dilemma for this week is, "Does dinner time matter?" Now, I don't mean this literally, I mean, I do, but my emphasis is not actually on the dinner part of dinner time...of course dinner is important. It could be a good time to bond with family, get caught up with friends, try a new recipe and/or relax from the stress of the day. But, what I'm talking about is the actual "time" dinner takes place. When is the optimum time to eat dinner? Is there a magical hour after which you should not eat a big meal or eat a meal at all? Some people think so. But if you ate the same amount of calories, fat, protein, etc would it really matter to your body what time it was consumed? Oh the questions. Hmmm.

Why do I care, you ask? Well, because yes, I had to pay again Saturday at Weight Watchers. My attention was really not on this at the meeting because after all my friend hit her goal of losing 100 pounds!!! Yahoo!!! Word for SR!!! Anywho, but Saturday has passed and I figure I better deal with this. So I'm 5 pounds over my goal weight and just three pounds over my "have to pay" amount. What's the deal? As I've blogged about in past entries, we are a football family once again and are trying to maintain the family meal at dinner...you know the whole "keeping the feast" thing? This has meant that I'm cooking or reheating at 8pm. I'm just wondering if this change in timing of our dinner has had any impact on my recent scale happenings. Not sure I can know for sure.

So, this week, I'm going to try an experiment. I'm going to go home first, eat dinner myself at a normal time, and then sit with my family after practice while they eat. No, it is not ideal, but I gotta try somethin' I'll let you know what happens. Oh, and I have to run again regularly too...now that could be something...